Ladies and gentlemen, I am relieved to announce that we have had our first differential goalscorer of the week. In a role reversal of a couple of Matchdays ago, Menly’s Di Natale started last night for the first time in the tournament and failed to do anything of note except lose his supersub title to his replacement, Balotelli. “Super Mario” was only selected by one valorous manager, Slovenia’s Kostja. Unfortunately, one brave decision back fired when Andrews earned himself a red card for dissent, no doubt enraging his boss, Sleep Talk.
Tonight, the chants from the dugouts of our noble managers are a heady mixture of “Allez les Bleus” and “Come on Eng-er-land”. From the French team, Aatish and Gargamel have chosen Ribery over the more popular Nasri, while JK is the only one with central defender Rami. As far as the Euro 2012 winners-elect go, we see assist merchant Gerrard bravely picked by Catmac, Snowy and The Giggs Boson while Huth your Daddy and Catmac ( a true Anglophile) have gone for Welbeck. Elsewhere in the group, Messimerized has selected set piece specialist Larsson from the already eliminated Swedish team and Canadian Football has shown a lack of faith in the English backline by choosing Yarmolenko.
This is the final report of Matchday 3. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Friendly World Cup Matchday 3 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes!
So this is it. The final report of the group stage. The Order of Extreme Valour has seen blindingly obscure master-picks take fantasy football by storm. St Ledger. Kuba. Cabaye. Andersen. Torres. Krohn-Dehli. Krohn-Dehli. Krohn-Dehli. Sorry, I seem to have got stuck in a loop there…
Anyway, I’m looking forward to presenting the FFS Euro 2012 Matchday 3 award tomorrow (would prefer tonight but life, as usual, intervenes…). With Ginkapo the leader with a goal from that man Krohn-Dehli, the onus was on the challengers to produce an even bigger shock. Still, it couldn’t be upsets all the way, and wins to nil from Italy and Spain meant all the points went to the usual suspects in defence. Or should I say, all but one. Doosra was shockingly unlucky to lose Chiellini to a hamstring injury on 57 minutes, just 3 minutes short of the 60 minutes required for a clean sheet. ENR also gets credit for getting 5 points out of Balzaretti, who had not played a single minute until now. With this being one of the quieter nights, Ginkapo stays in the lead.
Onto the last night of the group stage and the last chance to wrest the trophy from Ginkapo’s brave, valorous, strong, rugged, beautiful…. *AHEM* hands. Yes. England v Ukraine and France v Sweden. First, let me describe what it was like reading through your squads.
Debuchy
Lescott
Benzema
Debuchy
Lescott
Benzema
Debuchy
Lescott
Benzema
Yes, with 14, 20 and 22 picks respectively, a lot of people seem fairly certain about those results! So who thought different tonight? First up we have two Swedish players: Jafalad has gone for J Olsson and In Like Flynn has interestingly picked Ibrahimovic to surprise the French. For France, in defence we have Lloris (Doosra, Drinky), uncertain starter Clichy (ENR’s Valour XV) and Mexes (In Like Flynn, Mark). Ribery is picked by surprisingly few players (The Light Knight, Roscola, Count of Monte Hristo). Out all alone like the shy (“fat”? Hmmm… I think I’d better stick with “shy”) kid at the school disco is ENR who has dropped a bombshell in going for Diarra.
In a surprisingly patriotic twist, only one person/traitor/cheese eating surrender monkey has gone for Ukraine and what a surprise, it is ex-French manager ENR who has backed keeper Pyatov to stop our brave, stupid boys! In a lovely end to the group stage campaign, English differentials abound. Hart is picked in goal by three (Ginkapo, Jafalad, Gaz Downright), while Count of Monte Hristo goes for Ashley Cole. Things really hot up though in attack, with supersub Walcott (ENR), Gerrard (Billy Ketsu, Count of Monte Hristo) and our cheeky chappy Welbeck (Ginkapo, Jafalad, China Mag). Last, but not least at all, we round up our differentials with Wayne Rooney, owned by ENR, Roscola and… fittingly, the ever brave Doosra.
Thank you all. This is the final report of Matchday 3. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Euro 2012 Matchday 3 Order of Extreme Valour tomorrow!
Michael Krohn-Dehli opened the group stages with a goal and a FWC Valour Award for his manager, and it would have been safe to assume he stood a great chance of finishing the group stages with the same feat when he scored last night against the German’s. One thing stood in his way however, not a single FWC manager owned him. There was more disappointment for our brave competitors last night with no cleansheets for the 6th time in the tournament and every selected differential player failing to be one of the goalscorers. For us, fans of unique choices, there was some comfort to be taken from Epic Fail’s punt on Perreira. The Portuguese right back provided an assist for CR7 and gave his noble owner a nice 5 point haul.
Tonight, the Italians boast the largest number of valorous owners. 3 managers have taken a long shot on Marchisio; step forward JK, Mull and Gargamel. Kostja has thrown caution to the wind and gone with Citeh nutter….. I mean eccentric, Balotelli, while Menly keeps the faith with (until today) supersub Di Natale. Elsewhere, Catmac has selected tricky Spanish forward Silva and Sleep Talk has held onto Andrews, no doubt hoping that the overdue “luck of the Irish” will make an appearance tonight. While there is not as many differentials this evening compared to yesterday, it could well be a case of quality over quantity.
Stay tuned for our Day 3 Report and preview of Day 4!
Europe waited with bated breath to see if Group B’s climax would produce a shock of Greek proportions. While I will cut the story short by saying it didn’t, Denmark left us with one last beautiful memory from a wonderful tournament. Lightning struck twice. With Germany a goal up, Michael Krohn-Dehli (8 points) pounced to grab his second Euro 2012 goal and return richly-deserved reward to one of our hardest-working differential machines, Ginkapo – with his partner Doosra consistently making similarly superhuman efforts. In the process, the Dehli also destroyed multitudes of German clean sheets that had been expectantly lined up, so you know who to send your hate mail to. The other two valorous successes on the night both belonged to the conspicuously brave Chrissy Waddle, with Joao Pereira (5 points) and Mr Unreliable Luis Nani (5 points) both returning assists. Chrissy may wonder if he could have been a contender, as Nani wasted a glorious one-on-one opportunity early in the first half. Maxing out on the underdog factor and the obscurity factor, Ginkapo catapults into the lead.
Could I also put it on the record that Rui Patricio is crap. Thank you.
Tomorrow brings two clashes of interest both in fantasy terms and qualification terms. Italy play eliminated Ireland with the knowledge that Spain and Croatia could both qualify with a 2-2 draw. The majority of our differentials are the lower-profile members of the Spanish team. In defence, we have Casillas (The Light Knight), Sergio Ramos (In Like Flynn) and Arbeloa (TW, ENR). Milanista plumps for Fabregas, no doubt in anticipation of a center-forward spot, while In Like Flynn is the only person to pick midfield metronome Xavi. Up front we have Silva (Doosra, Pratik, In Like Flynn) with his goal against Ireland fresh in the memory. Who knows where the Spanish goals will come from? Only one person thought Croatia would score though – step up ENR who chose Croatian midfielder Perisic in his ‘Valour XV’.
In the Italy – Ireland match the selections had a defensive flavour. TW punted on uncharacteristically hapless Ireland goalkeeper Given, while the Italian defenders chosen were Chiellini (Doosra) and Balzaretti (ENR again). Finally, Demented Flamingo showed romance wasn’t dead with his pick of Andrews. That boy might hit the target some day you know…
Stay tuned for our Day 3 Report and preview of Day 4!
Here we are at Matchday 3 and it is the final opportunity for half of the FWC managers to win an Order of Extreme Valour Award. Without further ado, let’s kick things off with a review of last night’s acts of bravery.
After a couple of shock 1-0′s, we have been left applauding 2 noble defensive choices. Sleep Talk chose a different path to the Greek defence, settling on Papadopoulous over the cheaper and more popular Maniatis. His courage was rewarded by an extra point and that warm fuzzy feeling one gets when mentioned in one of these posts. Forca Inter also distinguished himself from the crowd by choosing FFS nobody, Sivok. The unexpected shut out for the Czechs no doubt delighted our mild mannered Croatian. In an otherwise quiet night, Bal4tom’s selection of Salpingidis was certainly valiant in it’s intention if not in it’s delivery.
Looking forward to tonight’s games, there is far more scope for successful punts. Predictably the Germans and Dutch have the largest pool of selected differentials including: Sneijder (Porkie and Evs), Muller(Porkie), Huntelaar(Optimus), Badstuber(BonZ), Schweinsteiger(FC Borcelona) and Khedira(Shipstontrev and Snowy) As far as tonight’s underdogs go, we see a possibly inspired choice of Denmark’s Zimling by The Giggs Boson. Two truely courageous managers are standing on the brink of fame and glory by selecting players from the Danish and Portuguese defences, with BonZ choosing Jacobsen from the former and Epic Fail going with Perreira.
Stay tuned for our Day 2 Report and preview of Day 3!
With the FFS Friendly World Cup grabbing recent headlines for a spate of outrageous differentials, the Empire of FFS Euro 2012 has very much struck back. Counting up the differentials this Matchday, defined as a player owned by 3 or fewer managers, we have exactly the same number as those in the Friendly World Cup last Matchday – 58!
In last night’s action Greece shocked Russia 1-0, seemingly disappointing pretty much every manager except Mark who bagged a totally improbable clean sheet and a save point from Sifakis (7 points). With the only goal coming from midfielder Karagounis, everyone who backed the Russian and Greek attacks, as well as those who picked Russian defenders, drew a blank. The Czech Republic also overcame Poland 1-0 and this produced slightly more joy. The Light Knight picked up a clean sheet from Cech (7 points), which was a brave gamble for anyone who had actually watched him play. The biggest winners of the round were ironically the already-eliminated duo of ENR and Mark who correctly predicted the goalscorer Jiracek (8 points). Quite a bullseye in that midfield, and you’d have to say Jiracek and Sifakis are pretty neck and neck for the lead. Good going ENR and Mark.
Tonight in Day 2 the titans clash in the Group of Death. Germany v Denmark is first up, with a German whitewash predicted –perhaps even more expected than the Russian win, mind you. German differentials include non-starting Klose (ENR – presumably going absolutely mental with the differentials this round??), Hummels (Jafalad, Camzy), Muller (Count of Monte Hristo, The Light Knight) and my favourite midfield choice Schweinsteiger (Doosra, Super Dunny). Going forward or going back, that man is a machine, and with that ringing endorsement the worst match of his career is inevitable. Did anyone go for the Danes? We are in the presence of players of extreme valour. Of course they did! None other than Doosra went for the harebrained option of Jacobsen, while his comrade-in-craziness Ginkapo has gone for fantasy legend Krohn-Dehli. Finally, the insanity continues with. Ginkapo, ENR and Gaz Downright choosing Poulsen.
In the tricky Netherlands v Portugal game, a few have grimly stuck to their guns and embraced Dutch strikers, who now are in the surprise position of differentials. Van Persie has been backed by only two (Mark and Demented Flamingo), while Huntelaar was picked up by Tommy Tour and ENR. One-man am-dram Robben has been backed to fire his selfish way to glory by Demented Flamingo, In Like Flynn and Jonty. Portuguese defenders and midfielders have been punted upon by a select few. It’s slightly unnerving that goalkeeper Rui Patricio has been picked only by me and sacked French manager ENR. Joao Pereira has been endorsed by Chrissy Waddle, rampaging fullback Coentrao by The Light Knight and Roscola, and midfielder Joao Moutinho by that man Ginkapo. Finally, we have Luis Almeida da Cunha – also known as Nani – owned by our adventurous Chrissy Waddle.
Stay tuned for our Day 2 Report and preview of Day 3!
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.
You can tell it’s a good week when you can’t even include in the honourable mentions highly credible punts which registered some success – players such as Krohn-Dehli, Obraniak, Gerrard, Larsson, Welbeck and Coentrao. Even picking Rami over Lescott… you know who you are. No, this week was a bumper week. An absolutely huge week. I almost didn’t want to create a winner because that meant creating losers… fortunately, I quickly snapped out of that and returned to being a cold-hearted, merciless tyrant. 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: - Teddy, James_Fitz for picking Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski (8 points) who smashed a sublime curling equaliser for Poland against Russia. A brave pick who flew under the radar relative to options such as Lewandowski and the Russian attack. - Djerbil for being the only person to pick a goal from a thoroughly unlikely source in the French midfield – Yohan Cabaye (9 points). Nominally the passer, Cabaye popped up a with a great finish to seal the win for the French – and while this is not considered in the award, he was a coat of paint away from grabbing a second goal which quite possibly would have won Djerbil the award. - Optimus, JKisthe1 picked a striker who was not nailed on, commonly regarded as mentally broken and in a team that could quite literally score from anywhere. Fernando Torres (10 points) grabbed two goals in the demolition of Ireland. The only major detracting factors were that Spain were the complete opposite of an underdog team, and captaincy would have helped of course. And now for the winner. Or should I say, winners? Yes, three people – three from thirty-two – made what I regard as the most successful gamble of the week. As such, they share the title of Matchday 2 winners. JKisthe1, Forca Inter and Eoin not only picked but captained Gomez (C) (10×2 points) who fired two beautifully-taken goals in the crunch match against Netherlands. With a limited competitive record for Germany thus far, and his striker starting spot only just won, all three of these managers captained him against one of the pre-tournament favourites in a match that was extremely difficult to call. Thank you for your incredible efforts on Matchday 2. I don’t know what the heck you guys are going to do on Matchday 3 – once you’ve been to the Dehli you wonder if you can go anywhere better – but I’m sure The Light Knight will enjoy finding out as he returns to write your reviews. Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2! Check out manager reactions here
(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.)In a week when much maligned, managerless strikers (Bendtner, Torres, Carroll) scored and only 4 clensheets occured, this Matchday’s bravest successful selections hailed from the midfield. Courageous picks such as Coentrao and Welbeck weren’t too far away in the end, but the expected superiority of their sides over their opposition ultimately held them back. 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: - ENR and last week’s winner, Ginkapo, both chose popular Italian playmaker, Pirlo, but followed it up by handing him the captain’s armband. The midfield maestro lived up to their expectations and brought home 8 points with his deftly executed freekick. - Ginkapo showed real steel, backing Krohn-Dehli to deliver for a second week in a row. His 5 point haul validated Ginkapo’s decision and earned his manager his second honourable mention of this Matchday. And now for the winner: Only 2 people saw the potential of the Polish captain against Matchday 1′s rampaging Russians. Only 1 of those showed the valour to hand the armband to Kuba and he was rewarded by a sweet left shot into the Russian net. This courageous owner then turned down the option of switching to favourites such as Robben, Iniesta and Ribery.. This pick ticks all of the boxes and it is my pleasure to announce that this week’s “Order of Extreme Valour” Award winner is the one and only Mark. Sincere thanks to all managers who had a valiant go and tried to be original this Matchday. I would also like to move to quash any rumours that an offer of free FFS membership for next season in anyway influenced my decision. There has been no such offer ( although one would be appreciated ). Stay tuned for our Day 1 Report and preview of Day 2!
Opening shot of a man walking past an old beggar on the street and throwing a coin into his hat“Thank you, young man.” Extreme close-up of the old beggar’s wrinkly face“Listen to what I have to say.” The man walks over tentatively“Gomez. Get Gomez. He’s gonna score twice.” “What?? Against the Netherlands? What’s his record like for Germany anyway??” “Take it or leave it. Michael Krohn-Dehli, too.” “You’re having a laugh. Lightning doesn’t strike twice!” Extreme close-up of the beggar’s eyes“Torres.” “You’re crazy!!!!!” “Only two people have listened to me today. Their names are JKisthe1 and Optimus. Blessed are they, for they shall inherit the points.” So with that exhaustive overview of Day 3′s action out of the way, we look ahead to tonight’s matches with France v Ukraine our appetiser and England v Sweden offering the hefty main course. You know what, you FFS Friendly World Cup guys are absolutely amazing. There is no other way to put it. Do you know how many differentials were selected tonight, on the final night of action? 17. Yes, 17 players were selected by 3 or fewer managers. FFS Euro 2012 eat your heart out. Long breath. Okay, Ukrainians first. We have dual wingers Konoplayanka (Eoin) and Yarmolenko (Canadian Football). For France we have Mexes (WazzaGoal), Rami (FC Borecelona, JKisthe1, Snowy84), pricey Evra (BonZ), interesting midfield choice Cabaye (Djerbil) and model of the year Ribery (Aatish, Gargamel). For Sweden it’s keeper Isaksson (Djerbil), defender Granqvist (Goldstonemr), winger Larsson (Djerbil, Messimerized) and everyone’s favourite striker Ibrahimovic (FC Borecelona, BonZ). And finally, those who picked English differentials went for rock-solid Hart (Archie, WazzaGoal, Shipstontrev). Ashley Cole (BonZ), card machine Parker (WazzaGoal), Gerrard (Giggs Boson, Catmac, Snowy84) and Welbeck (Catmac, Huth Your Daddy). Oh wait, there’s one more. Yes, none other than my favourite England player, the Ox himself. Kostja picked Oxlade-Chamberlain. Special thanks to those who just keep picking differentials. While the award will, as stated on the website, be given based on the best individual pick, you’re just giving yourself more chances to win. This is the final report of Matchday 2. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Friendly World Cup Matchday 2 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes! Meanwhile, catch some manager reactions here
Note: This is the report for the FFS Euro 2012 award only; there is a separate report for the FFS Friendly World Cup!
Another pair of matches gone, another unowned FFS laughing stock scores a brace. Last night, it was Fernando Torres who took the plaudits for putting a brittle Irish defence to the sword. As far as selected differenials go, it is more a case of commending the brave rather than congratulating successful picks. Andrews(Camzy and Demented Flamingo), Xabi Alonso(Ginkapo) and Marchisio(The Light Knight, TommyTour and Sporting ABG) were courageous selections yet failed to deliver anything but 2 points. You know it wasn’t a great night for punts when Xavi’s 3 points was the best performance of the night, giving some crumb of comfort to In Like Flynn.
As far as tonight’s games go, many eyes turn towards the England team for a valorous choice to come off. Last week’s goalscorer Lescott is the widely selected defender so Terry and Cole have each found themselves a steely owner in Mark and Count of Monte Hristo respecively. The Count not just has one English differential but 2 (ah ha ha….) with set piece man Gerrard. Mexes is the alternative in the French defence chosen by ENR and In Like Flynn. From the 2 unfashionable teams in the group, Yarmolenko(In Like Flynn and TW) and Larsson(Sporting ABG) are a pair of plucky selections worthy of note.
This is the final report of Matchday 2. Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner of the FFS Euro 2012 Matchday 2 Order of Extreme Valour after Day 4′s action finishes!
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