(READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM THE EURO CUP! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.)

The quarter-finals were a time for heroes. Heroes at the front and back. Not to forget those in the middle, too, as you’ll see. The 4 quarter-finals produced 4 clean sheets and 9 goals, though this doesn’t tell the whole story as 6 goals were in one crazy game. It was the surprise goalscorers for the big guns that decided this award.

I judged the award by the rules posted here. http://uefaffs.weebly.com/7/po.....alour.html

 
Written by LightKnight -
Order of Extreme Valour - FFS Euro 2012 - Matchday 4 Award

(READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS EURO 2012 ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM THE FRIENDLY WORLD CUP! THERE WILL BE A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is dissention in the ranks. Some people on FFS are claiming that certain Council member(s) have done a Jimmy Carr and avoided playing by the rules of the Award in order to increase their chances of victory in a truly unvaliant turn of events. Others have graciously accepted the bravery needed to make such bold decisions and their success. A few have claimed that England deserved to go through last night... only kidding. I would just like to clarify however that there is no limit to the number of differential picks one manager can make to remain eligible for the Award. And now in a totally unrelated matter, let's focus on handing out the award for a Matchday that at one stage looked destined to be heavily dominated by one man....

I judged the award by the rules posted herehttp://uefaffs.weebly.com/7/post/2012/06/the-order-of-extreme-valour.html

To recap:

A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. The awards will be given on these criteria:
- Underappreciation
- Overachievement
- Underdog team
- Captaincy

Honourable Mentions - A couple of decisions which were worthy of note if not the award:

-Mac chose the right Portuguese midfielder in Moutinho whose assist contributed to a 7 point haul. This plucky choice has seen Mac in the running since the start of the Matchday and has earned him is first honourable mention of the tournament.

-Parmtree and Drinky were courageous and spent the extra 1.5 on the more adventurous of the Spanish pair of holding midfielders, Alonso. His spot kick duties also contibuted to a spectacular 14 points which no doubt left his owners jumping for joy

-Demented Flamingo made the unique decision of having a player in his side who was already eliminated in Andrews. Although next Matchday this will be unexciting, it was something certainly worthy a mention this week

And now for the winner:

The German defense found itself heavily invested in. No one seemed to give the Greeks a chance of scoring despite having found the net in their last 12 internationals. As it turned out one man believed in them and gave the armband to Salpingidis. ENR was this man and he was rewarded with a goal and an assist. This valorous choice has been favourite for the award since Day 2 as it ticked all the boxes for the neccesary criteria.

ENR has earned back to back Awards now , so it is time for others to come to the fore and start taking even more risks. With only 2 Matchday's to go, time is well and truly running out.

Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!
 
Note: This is the report for the FFS Euro 2012 award only; there is a separate report for the FFS Friendly World Cup!

So it finally looks like ENR has some competition this week. While it had been looking like a whitewash, Drinky and Parmtree have popped up at the back post a la their player, Alonso, to give ENR a run for his money. The Spaniard finally got the chance to convert a penalty too and so pulled in a 14 point haul to delight their courageous owners. Elsewhere last night, the Spanish shut out validated In Like Flynn and Milanista’s brave selections of Ramos and Pique respectively.

 
As the hobby of watching paint dry exploded in popularity during last night’s Spain-France snoozefest, the simple story was that Spanish differentials won and French differentials lost. Nasri and Cabaye were lucky to get touches on the ball, let alone points, in a limp French performance. Spanish defenders finally returned a high-price clean sheet, with Sergio Ramos bagging 6 points for Teddy and Arbeloa 7 points for Mull.

 
Edit: I accidentally left the eliminated players out of the report up to now - my apologies! - I have now added them. The only difference so far is that Coentrao (7 points) was owned by Teddy as well as Forca Inter, and Pepe (7 points) was owned by The Giggs Boson as wel as JKisthe1. 

Amid scenes of weeping as the coffin of the German clean sheet was wheeled into the crematorium, there were two attendees quietly smiling to themselves. Yes, Emperikal and Catmac hit gold with their pick of Sami Khedira who played in attacking midfield for the entire game and scored to return 8 points for his owners, who now share the lead for the award. The only other differential to start, Sifakis (Gargamel, Kostja, Teddy), was the victim of that goal and three more. Chalkias and Fortounis remained firmly on the bench and got a big fat 0. Commiserations to ILA for whom Podolski didn't even start.

Tonight Spain collide into France in a massive encounter for fantasy players both at the front and back. Did anyone have the bravery to pick French defenders? You betcha. Debuchy (BonZ, Terry) is the big defensive differential and according to the latest reports is set to start out of position in midfield! We have Cabaye (Djerbil, Kostja), Diarra (Snowy84) and Nasri (Canadian Football, Aatish, ILA) with the latter two not assured of a place in the starting eleven according to today’s latest rumours. 
Riding the Spanish wave, we start from the back with Arbeloa (Mull) and Sergio Ramos (Teddy). Next up is James_Fitz's choice of penalty taker Xabi Alonso. Finally, game for the big gamble are Catmac and Teddy who has punted on Fabregas. Another center-forward spot could well put him in the hunt for the award.
 
Note: This is the report for the FFS Euro 2012 award only; there is a separate report for the FFS Friendly World Cup!

Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you but in just our 2nd report of this Matchday, ENR has found himself dominating this award. He was the only manager brave enough to spend 8.0 on a German defender and got rewarded heavily when Lahm scored against the Greeks. Both he and In Like Flynn selected Khedira who scored his second ever international goal last night with a venomous volley. Both of these differentials are however dwarfed by ENR’s decision to pick (and allegedly captain) Greek forward Salpingidis. His goal and assist have left his owner delighted and no doubt left him confident of claiming his 2nd Order of Extreme Valour Award.

Looking towards tonight’s game, we can see a wide selection of French and Spanish differential players. From Les Bleus, Diarra(Sporting ABG), Cabye(Doosra, Ginkapo and Roscola), M’Villa(Gaz) and Koscielny(ENR and Ginkapo) have all been courageously chosen despite them facing the World Champions. As for the Spaniards, supersub Navas is Ginkapo’s 3rd player involved in this evening’s match. Ramos has been selected by that man again, ENR, Pique has found himself in Milanista’s squad while Drinky and Parmtree are valiantly hoping for a Spanish penalty with Alonso in their team

Stay tuned for our Day 3 report and preview of Day 4!

 
Note: This is the report for the FFS Friendly World Cup award only; there is a separate report for the FFS Euro Cup!

The knockout rounds have changed everything. Price is king.

With people scrambling to grab top assets and the recognized bargains, differentials have thinned out. That’s not to say they’ve stopped, though. Or that they’re not paying off. Quite the opposite. In the first quarter-final last night, Portugal eliminated Czech Republic 1-0 in a match where the Czech attack posed little threat (cue weeping from yours truly) and the main question was when Portugal would finally finish a chance. As such, people who punted on the Czechs left empty-handed, or more specifically with 3 points, a score that the entire side seemed bloody determined to get. Archie left with 3 points for Cech, while Sleep Talk, Gargamel and Archie shared my sorrows with 3 point returns from Jiracek. So the only winners on the day were those with Portuguese defenders: JKisthe1 who owned Pepe, and Forca Inter who owned Coentrao, both claiming 7 points and the lead.

Needless to say, those who included Czech reserve keepers Drobny (James_Fitz) and Lastuvka (Catmac, 4vets) got nothing. I was wondering whether to leave reserve keepers out of the awards, but I am a romantic and I am keeping my fingers crossed for the match one comes on. Plus, you can tell loooooooooooooooads of things from who someone picks as a reserve keeper. For example, James_Fitz’s pick of Drobny tells me that he is a Leo and enjoys pipe smoking around 9pm every Friday. Have a good one in a few hours James!

The expected slaughter of Greece commences tonight with much expected of the Germans. I won’t go into detail about the massive rumours Germany will rotate some or all of their front three, but for the record I would like to say JOACHIM LÖW IS A BELL. Thank you, that feels a lot better.

Differentials lined up today start with the man of the moment, Greek keeper Sifakis (Gargamel). Someone had to try it, and Gargamel gets special credit for spending a precious 0.5 more on a man commonly thought to give the Titanic cause for optimism. Snowy84 went for injured backup Chalkias, and I wouldn’t like to think of the scenes if he started and kept a cleanie. Goldstonemr has gone for Greek midfielder Fortounis, clearly with his eyes on a few recovered balls if he starts. Will he? Bild? Bild, can you let us know? The only German player owned by 3 or fewer managers was Khedira (Emperikal, Catmac) – and as an unnerving aside, by my opponent in the cup. We’ll see, Sami.

Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!

 
Written by the Light Knight - currently slugging it out in the cozy comforts of Afghanis.. scratch that Poland.
Reporter  - Do you copy?
Lightknight : Sir... yes sir, I've just gotten over with my meeting with the women of the seedy underbelly of Poland and hear's..
Reporter- Excuse me??!?? Did you say women of the seedy underbelly? What the F!*^& are you doing there?
LightKnight - ....  -.- Do you REALLY want me to describe that 'meeting' to you? Anyway's I've positioned them to spy on the teams and hear's what they reported... *whispers giggle giggle stop it sasha you naughty girl you* 
Reporter-  -.- You have a mike attached you dumbwit.
Lightknight - Errr... yes the report well so it goes.... 

Here we are at last. The knockout stages. A place where our brave managers can’t even choose a Portuguese super sub and expect to qualify for the Order of Extreme Valour Award. While it was a disappointing night for anyone with a punt or 4 ( I’m looking at you, Isacki) in the Czech team, CR7′s teammates provided much more joy. Portugal’s clean sheet pleased the courageous owners of their defenders, with ENR ( be prepared to see his name several times this week) and Mac ultimately deciding to go for Alves and Coentrao respectively. Mac however has stolen a march on the competition by selecting their midfielder Moutinho, whose assist has catapulted his owner to the front of the race for this Matchday’s award. Mark must also be applauded for valiantly choosing Meireles, and was rewarded with a 4 point haul.
With FFS rife with rumours of the German frontline being rested, those who went with the crowd and chose Gomez have been left sweating. In an equally awkward position are the owners (ENR, Childish Gambino and Doosra) who have given Tom Selleck an idea for a new sequel “3 men and a Muller” . ENR and In Like Fynn have also selected Khedira in the hope that he can add to his one international goal. No prizes for guessing who covered their bases with a German defender and Greek forward. Yep, ENR has cunningly chosen Lahm and Matchday 1 goalscorer Salpingidis.

Stay tuned for our Day 2 report and preview of Day 3!

Reporter - That sounds like someone's dog wrote it.Lightknight do you copy, lightknight are you there. Lightknight what are those pillow noises....
 
READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS EURO 2012 ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. KEEP UPRIGHT. CONTENTS MAY HAVE SETTLED DURING TRANSIT. THANK YOU.

This was the hardest decision yet. You guys could have made my life easier by not going for such ballsy captains, giving me a nasty shock when I went through your final teams. You could have done the sensible thing and not hope for clean sheets from Greece and Sweden. You could have kept your hands off JKisthe1′s Danish one-night-stand. But no, you had to make life hard for me, and that’s why you have extreme valour. There isn’t even really space to include everyone in the honourable mentions without turning it into some kind of messy free-for-all. Special commiserations to those who grabbed unexpected clean sheets – it would have taken a captaincy to get into contention points-wise. So, here goes…

I judged the award by the rules posted here (http://uefaffs.weebly.com/7/post/2012/06/the-order-of-extreme-valour.html).

To recap:

A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. The awards will be given on these criteria:
- Underappreciation
- Overachievement
- Underdog team
- Captaincy

Honourable Mentions:

* In Like Flynn believed Sweden could score against France, and this belief led him to Ibrahimovic (6 points) who triggered a serious upset against the fancied French.
* Mark chose Greek keeper Sifakis (7 points) against the might of Russia. Sifakis won, Greece made the quarter-finals, and the rest is history. (Hopefully not, I could only live through Euro 2004 once).
* Doosra and Roscola captained Rooney (C) (6 x 2 points) against Ukraine and despite every tabloid building him up, he didn’t fall, scoring a headed winner. While there was an element of expectation here, they were the only managers here to pick him (along with ENR who didn’t captain him). Giving him the last captaincy of the matchday counts for something too.
* Jiracek (8 points) was chosen by that guy again, Mark. With goals from the Czechs hard to predict, this punt against a well-matched Poland paid off in style. 
* Ginkapo hit a bullseye against Germany with professional clean sheet destroyer Krohn-Dehli (8 points). For underdog value, overachievement and obscurity this punt takes some beating. The only box it didn’t tick was captaincy.

And now for the winner:

* ENR wins the award for captaining Jiracek (C) (8 x 2 points). While this was a close one, it was difficult to say no to this punt once I saw the captaincy on him. ENR’s punt yielded, after captaincy, 4 more points than the nearest differential, with a goal and clean sheet against the tournament hosts. He also resisted three chances to twist captaincy, although admittedly his points probably weren’t of concern to him.

I hope you appreciate how difficult it has been to select this award and join me in congratulating all concerned.

I am also pleased to announce that not only will we continue to award the Order of Extreme Valour for the knockout stages, but it will be issued to all managers whether they qualified or not. It’s the least we could do.

Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!

 
READ THIS FIRST: THIS IS THE AWARD FOR PLAYERS OF FFS FRIENDLY WORLD CUP ONLY AND DOES NOT INCLUDE PEOPLE FROM FFS EURO 2012! THERE HAS BEEN A SEPARATE AWARD FOR THAT. THANK YOU.

What a way to finish the group stages. England progressing to the quarters and France throwing a massive wobbly against the already eliminated Swedes. It has been somewhat of a slow burner this Matchday for courageous picks, with every success being tinged with a failure. This hasn’t prevented though a truly spectacular performance from leaving the rest for dead.

I judged the award by the rules posted here

To recap:

A “successful gamble” is defined as a single player choice that returns an unexpectedly high number of points. The awards will be given on these criteria:
- Underappreciation
- Overachievement
- Underdog team
- Captaincy

Honourable Mentions – A couple of decisions which were worthy of note if not the award:

-Kostja toed the line between bravery and insanity by making the madcap choice of the benched Balotelli. He arose from the bench and secured his noble owner 5 points with a sweet overhead kick. 

-Sleep Talk was richly rewarded for taking a punt on Greek central defender Kyriakos Papadopoulous. Not only did he manage to pick the right Papadopoulous, he also correctly picked a defender who helped to shut out the fearsome Russian attack, accumulating 6 recovered balls en route.

And now for the winner:

France had been favourites to become group winners from the outset. Only 1 goal conceded in 2 matches and a 20+ unbeaten run made selecting French opposition players truly unappealing and a task only to be undertaken by the most valiant of managers. Step forward Messimerized. He bravely chose Seb Larsson whose vicious volley and deadly delivery earned him and his owner 11 points.

And with that the group stages are over. Congratulations to Messimerized and commiserations to JKisthe1, who failed to make the Awards post for the first time. We have one day off now before the quarters so be sure to spend this time selecting the most obscure and talented players still in the tournament to see if you can win yourself an “Order of Extreme Valour” Award.

Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!