The BE-Cup is back -- "You don't have to be first! Just don't be worst!" Immunity: BE-Cup immunity has again been awarded based on last season's results in league standings and the eliminators (using the same award system as recent years): 3 gws - Journeymen (Small 1st) 2 gws - Aviators (VSR 1st), Starboy XI (Sand 1st), and n/a (SE-Cup winner) 1 gw - n/a (Small 2nd), ColdDogSoup (VSR 2nd), FC Epikoinis (Sand 2nd), and n/a (SE- Cup runner-up*) The SE-Cup winner (Starboy) and runner-up (Journeymen) already had immunity based on their league standings and you cannot run multiple immunities consecutively, so there are fewer teams with immunity this season. But, one does play a role in GW1, so surely @DrHeckle will have something to say about it.... Tiebreakers: 1. Did any team use a chip (triple captain, bench boost, wildcard, etc.)? Edge to the non-chip user(s), and the additional points will be removed as the first tie breaker (i.e., points from players picked up via wildcard will be removed as will the tripling of captaincy or bench boost points, with a decision to be made about the mystery chip once it is unveiled (if it can be used at all in our leagues)). 2. Captaincy points -- which team scored more points without captain points being doubled. 3. Auto-subs -- which team scored more points without the benefit of auto-subs. 4. Bench scoring -- which team had more points scored by its bench (after any auto-subs are processed). If still tied, then the tied teams will both/all be eliminated, unless that would result in fewer than 10 teams remaining, in which case no teams will be eliminated that GW and an extra team will be eliminated the following week.
24. Real Newark - [30 points; GW1] Only 5 teams had immunity in GW1, and one of those five needed it! ColdDogSoup stumbled out of the gate upon the return to the top division. Even with two auto-subs kicking in, @lobomojo managed just 29 points to end up with the bottom score of the opening week. But immunity kicked in for CDS, as last year's 2nd place team in VSR. So, we turn to the next lowest score, which also was in Small Rocks, to find Real Newark at 30 points. 6 points from Saliba and Bernardo were the top scores for Real Newark, while @bobfest left 11 points from Wissa on the bench. "We picked him up in the 12th round. It was never the plan to get him in this week. He's certainly given us something to think about as we move forward." Dangerzone was Kopite Jrs (33), Soccer Steve (35), and Living in Dreamland (39). CDS just had immunity for 1 week (along with FC Epikoinis), so they are now both at risk as we head to GW2. Starboy and Aviators have 1 more week of immunity, while Journeymen will be safe for 2 more weeks. Plan accordingly.
First Quarter -- The First 6 Eliminated 23. Morning Glory - [30 points; GW2] 24. Real Newark - [30 points; GW1] It is an early BE-Cup departure for Morning Glory, even with Robinson (7) and TAA (6). Robinson's and TAA's contributions ended up being over 40% of Morning Glory's total as 1s, 2s, and 3s from the rest add up to a total of 30 points. Note: for the second week in a row, 30 is the "elimination" number. Dangerzone was Kopite Jrs (31), FC Epikoinis (33), and DizzyAndDaffy (34). It's two dangerzones in a row for Kopite Jrs, and with 4 teams squeezed in between 30 and 34, one of the tighter finishes we've had in a while. Going into the final game, Morning Glory trailed Kopite Jrs by 2 but had TAA and Szoboszlai up against Kopite Jrs' Konate. With the defenders presumably matching each other if not tilting slightly in Morning Glory's favor, the odds looked okay for Morning Glory, as an additional midfielder point for a clean sheet would send Kopite Jrs packing. However, a Szoboslai yellow card canceled out that additional point and meant that the two teams would be even with their two LIV defenders squaring off. Still a reasonable position for Morning Glory, but then TAA gets pulled after 71 minutes while Konate sneaks in for one bonus point -- the critical one point margin of survival for Kopite Jrs. Aided by Journeymen's successful triple captain play, the All Rocks scoring average for GW2 jumped up to 56.1 from 49.0 in the opening week.
First Quarter -- The First 6 Eliminated 19. 20. 21. 22. DizzyAndDaffy - [23 points; GW3] 23. Morning Glory - [30 points; GW2] 24. Real Newark - [30 points; GW1] To revisit the Small Rocks draft, with pick 4, the then-manager went with Foden rather than the more conventional Saka pick. We're three weeks in and Foden has yet to play while Saka sits 5th among the midfielders with 24 points. With the inherited top pick Foden missing from the MCI roster again, it's another rough week for DizzyAndDaffy (23), who see a quick exit from the BE-Cup. Captain Odegaard blanks, while Zinchenko, Martinelli, and Gakpo only see substitute minutes. The always active TAA scored early only to have it called back due to an odd-looking but correct offside call against Salah -- but a defender goal for TAA might have made the BE-Cup difference for D&D. Dangerzone: blechs_dawgs (29), BiggerBoat (31), Lokomotiv (31), and Tangers (31). First visits to the dangerzone for all three. As a carrot for those already eliminated as well as those of us whose teams are struggling and soon to be eliminated, a second chance will come soon as the Double Eliminator Cup will start in GW5....
First Quarter -- The First 6 Eliminated 19. 20. 21. Tangers FC - [16 points; GW4] 22. DizzyAndDaffy - [23 points; GW3] 23. Morning Glory - [30 points; GW2] 24. Real Newark - [30 points; GW1] One GW ago, Tangers and Lokomotiv were tied in the dangerzone at 31. This GW, they squared off for the bottom score. Two enter, one survives. Or something like that. When the final whistle blew and the dust settled, Tangers FC (16) had set a new low mark for the season and became the 4th team to exit. It ended up a tight match this week with Lokomotiv (19) just 3 points clear. With Isak (c) to play on Sunday, Tangers expected to have a shot to leap to safety, but with Isak forced off at halftime with an eye issue or something like that (reports that I've read haven't been clear what happened), Tangers ended up locked in the bottom slot. The coach was clear postgame that the team would have a talk about discipline (with 5 yellow cards this week making the difference between 16 and departure vs 21 and survival), but emphasized that he doesn't mind the cards that come from hustle or even cynical tactics. "There's a smart yellow and there's a dumb yellow. And at this level, they have to know the difference!" Dangerzone: Lokomotiv (19), FC St Pauli (27), and Living in Dreamland (29). The league score average was 43.3, which is the lowest average for a GW this season (so far). And, we now have 2 eliminations in each of Small and VSR, while Sand still has 8 teams in the competition.
First Quarter -- The First 6 Eliminated 19. 20. FC Epikoinis - [26 points; GW5] 21. Tangers FC - [16 points; GW4] 22. DizzyAndDaffy - [23 points; GW3] 23. Morning Glory - [30 points; GW2] 24. Real Newark - [30 points; GW1] Even with the armband shifting to the highest scoring player on the team (vice captain Watkins (6*2)) when captain D.Jota didn't play, FCE could only get 14 points from the remaining 10 players. Two 0s (minutes but no points) and four 1s. Yikes! Dangerzone: Zico Freako (32); Stormin Gunners (34); Living in Dreamland (38). 3rd visit in 5 weeks for Dreamland, while 1st visits of the season for ZFreako and Gunners. One more week to finalize the first group of 6 to be eliminated. Sand still has 8 teams in the competition.
First Quarter -- The First 6 Eliminated 19. blechs_dawgs - [27 points; GW6] 20. FC Epikoinis - [26 points; GW5] 21. Tangers FC - [16 points; GW4] 22. DizzyAndDaffy - [23 points; GW3] 23. Morning Glory - [30 points; GW2] 24. Real Newark - [30 points; GW1] After a reasonable start on Saturday, the dawgs were done in by a disappointing Sunday, highlighted by the Bruno F red card. With 2 points being all that was needed to survive and the red card being -3 (as well as blocking him from getting to 60 minutes), the red card decision was BECup decisive. It is always hard to know if bias is kicking in on these situations, but the red card when he had clearly slipped seemed harsh to me, and at least one "VAR expert" agrees and was surprised that it wasn't overturned on review: https://www.givemesport.com/var-expert-verdict-on-bruno-fernandes-red-card-in-man-utd-vs-spurs/ Dangerzone: Zico Freako (28); Living in Dreamland (28); Bigger Boat (31). 4th visit in 6 weeks for Dreamland (including 3 in a row now), while ZFreako returns for the second week in a row and BBoat returns for the second time this season. With that, the first group of 6 eliminees is finalized. And Sand still has 8 teams in the competition. Note: While Aviators ended up avoiding the Dangerzone and while the dawgs would have avoided the bottom but for the red card, Monday started with Aviators at the bottom of the weekly scoresheet with 22 points (including an anticipated autosub point). BUT Evanilson (9) and Tavernier (4) came through and Aviators escape the bottom.