Here are the Sandy Cup first round matchups (which are based on the Sand league standings) and starts with the Dec 26 Boxing Day games. The format of the SC tournament is a two leg first round (quarterfinals), followed by a two leg semifinal round, and then lastly a single matchweek final to decide the 2025-2026 SC champion. With the strong parity we have in the league, there's likely to be a first round upset or two. Also during the tournament you're free to use any chips that you might still have left (bench boost, triple captain) to increase your weekly score. Good luck to all! (1) FC Epikoinos vs (8) BlueItAgain (2) Seagullz vs (7) Stormin Gunners (3) Tangers FC vs (6) Toffee'd Up (4) Lokomotiv Lewisham vs (5) Mighty Q
Here are the Sandy Cup quarterfinal results from the first leg games: (1) FC Epikoinos [39] vs (8) BlueItAgain [41] (2) Seagullz [76] vs (7) Stormin Gunners [47] (3) Tangers FC [72] vs (6) Toffee'd Up [62] (4) Lokomotiv Lewisham[47]vs (5) MightyQ[25] The 1-8 and 3-6 matchups are close contests going into the second leg games (which start tomorrow), but the 2-7 and 4-5 matchups have a large lead for the favorites. However since the triple captain chip is still available for both teams, there is still the chance for the upset. The big surprise so far is the slight lead by the 8th seeded team BlueItAgain, a potential top seed upset in the first round would be a first for the tournament in its ten years in existence. We're already off to an exciting start, good luck to all in the second leg! I'll need it the most against Seagullz, his team is on fire and is now top of the Sand table after a 76 point gameweek. I feel like a team down 3-0 at halftime, but in the wise words of NY yankees icon Yogi Berra "it ain't over til its over"
with my (up until now) consistent striker Joao Pedro putting up one lousy point today, giving me a whopping three points as my triple captain, it's safe to say its game over for my team. So congratulations to Seagullz for being the first team to advance to the SC semifinals. As of now, the other three semifinal spots are up for grabs (with some matchup wins likely decided by single digits). Great parity in this league
and luckily Arsenal is looking much better than my fantasy team, so at least there's a balance anyway. The 4-1 result today vs Aston Villa was sweet indeed
Here are the Sandy Cup quarterfinal results from the first leg + second leg games: (1) FC Epikoinos [39+24=63] vs (8) BlueItAgain [41+51=92] (2) Seagullz [76+43=119] vs (7) Stormin Gunners [47+39=86] (3) Tangers FC [72+51=123] vs (6) Toffee'd Up [62+46=108] (4) Lokomotiv Lewisham[47+32=79] vs (5) MightyQ[25+46=71] The most surprising result was the 1-8 seed upset with BlueItAgain winning by almost 30 points, and the highest scorer was from Tanger's FC to advance to the next round. The other two matchups showed the number two seed winning by a significant margin over stormin gunners and locomotive progressing after a very close result against Mighty Q.
Here are the Sandy Cup semifinals: (8) BlueItAgain vs. (3) Tangers FC (2) Seagullz vs. (4)Lokomotiv Lewisham Good luck to the final four!
First leg results of the Sandy Cup semifinals: (8) BlueItAgain[31] vs (3) Tangers FC[52] (2)Seagullz[48] vs (4)Lokomotiv Lewisham[44] Still anyone's guess who will be in the final, although Tangers has a significant 21 pt lead. So BlueItAgain needs to have a big week in the second leg, while Seagullz and Lokomotiv are neck and neck going into the second leg. Good luck and we'll see next who makes it into the final!
Here are the results of the second leg of the sandy cup quarterfinals, and the final will be Tangers FC vs Lokomotiv Lewisham! (8) BlueItAgain [31+36=67] vs (3) Tangers FC [52+61=113] (2) Seagullz [48+39=87] vs (4) Lokomotiv Lewisham [44+48=92]
The winner of the Sandy Cup will be decided tomorrow, definitely exciting way to finish it in the final game! Tangers needs to get at least three points from his two Brighton players tomorrow to win it. But if not, then Locomotiv wins it. Should be a great finish
If it ends in a tie, Tangers will win since they are the higher seed. That's never happened that a SC final ended in a tie, but you never know. We had a 8 seed upset a 1 seed this year, which was a first for the tournament also. Locomotiv still has a chance since the two Brighton players have recently put up low points, could be right down to the wire. Going to be an interesting game to watch as a neutral for me, I'll post the winner right after the game (any bonus points after the match won't affect who wins) and the trophy will be presented by former Fulham goalie (and former USMNT goalie) Kasey Keller!
It was a yellow card of doom for Tangers squad today, it was looking like a tie where he would win the tiebreaker, but with the yellow card picked up by Welbeck, it dropped one point to give Locomotiv the victory instead. It's safe to say there's never been a final this close before, that's actually gone down to a yellow card making the difference between who wins and loses the final. Congratulations to Locomotiv for winning the Sandy Cup and for Tangers making it the closest final in Sandy Cup history. I'll post the trophy later today. Thanks all for another great Sandy Cup tournament