The Big Shiny Trophy: Congratulations to...?

[Aguazul]

La Verdad

Estudiantes de Íguen depressingly boring

Estudiantes de Íguen played a competitive match against a team from another country and actually played like we expect them to, losing by a single goal in an excruciatingly defensive way. The win was rather characteristic of their opponents, Napoliroma Legion, as well; the team from Tarrentum took the pitch looking like they might spark some offense, a possibility which lasted, like, sixty seconds.

"This tournament places a special emphasis on honoring and adding to club identities," said Oscar Plazas, "and I know our fans who made the trip were treated to some impressive tactical moments from both sides." Plazas then went on to concede that his team really hadn't played well at all.

Darius Cassiro scored the only goal of the game, off a pass from Jusef Zastromanni, four minutes before halftime. The visiting fans compared the match unfavorably to certain others that they have been involved in internationally, though this might have just been because they won some of the latter. Continuing the theme of the tournament organizers taking the club identity thing way too seriously, Estudiantes de Íguen are being allowed to host the second leg.

In other news, San Pablo demonstrated once again why winging isn't everything and why they are being relegated, losing to Belgium FC after Ricardo Kiko's pair of goals proved less than Kelli Alder's pair and Cassie Dayton's strike.

[The Babbage Islands]

The Big Shiny Trophy
Results - Second Leg - Round of 16

Petardos S/A 6-0 Woodstock Wild (8-4 agg)
Schialtas Niaghuan 1-1 FC Jabay (2-3 agg)
Quarterfinal Match: Petardos S/A x FC Jabay at Belgium.

Neurologists 4-0 Norrion Rovers (7-1 agg)
Belgium FC 2-3 San Pablo (3-3 AET, 6-5 agg)
Quarterfinal Match: Neurologists x Belgium FC at Belgium.

Burningham City FC 0-1 Wild FC (1-3 AET, 2-3 agg)
Estudiantes de Íguen 1-0 Napoliroma Legion (2-0 AET, 2-1 agg)
Quarterfinal Match: Wild FC x Estudiantes de Íguen at Baden.

AS Bezieres 6-1 Grasshopper Turic FC (10-2 agg)
América 2-2 Cordian City Rovers (5-4 agg)
Quarterfinal Match: AS Bezieres x América at Baden.

Quarterfinal matches (one-and-done, not two-legged ties) scorinate on Friday, October 8.
Semifinals on Monday, October 11; final and third place match on Friday, October 15.

[Aguazul]

La Verdad

Free football all around

Both San Pablo and Estudiantes de Íguen played extra time in the Big Shiny Trophy round of 16; Estudiantes won to make the quarterfinals while the Pumas were defeated. The extra time goals came from Damián Sámarez and Jeremy McAllister Jr of Belgium FC.

First came the ninety minutes of regulation, both games finishing with the same score of the previous leg but in opposite direction. Clemente Rubruquis scored Estudiantes' goal, 33 minutes in, after receiving a pass from Lino Sebrian and muscling past Brocci. The Pumas, on the road, were much more attacking; Leon Alzugaray scored on a header in the eighteenth minute off a cross from Alejandro Gasquilan, but Belgium FC quickly equalized through Cassie Dayton.

A dribbling run from Alexander Roch gave the hosts a brief lead, but with the Umafu'alafa brothers marking Ricardo Kiko, Pancho Monentes took his own shot to tie the game shortly thereafter. Dolores Henchoz passed to Ángeles Arnal, who gave the Pumas a lead in the individual match, but it was only good enough for a tie in the overall matchup. When McAllister Jr finally broke though, it was the hosts who advanced. Sámarez, however, had actually had a decent shot in injury time of the second half that was cleared by Peter Jacobson. But the second chance would be enough, and Estudiantes progressed to the quarterfinals. (They'll be on neutral ground, in Baden; Belgium FC will actually be in their home stadium for their quarterfinal against the Neurologists.)

[Aniporo]

Jabay Tribunal

Up, Up and Away: FC Jabay move on to the Quarterfinals

Thanks to another away draw, this time against Shialtas Niaghuan, FC Jabay advance to the quarterfinals of the Big Shiny Trophy tournament. This time, FC Jabay opened scoring with Gregory Kaiser's 4th goal of the tournament in the 33rd minute on a nice header. Then it was a rather dull game until the 75th minute when Scott falkner eventually broke through for Shialtas Niaghuan to even the score and make the last quarter hour interesting. However, the game ended in a draw and FC Jabay now face #1 Petardos S/A in Belguim, hoping to continue their magical run in their inaugural international tournament. Malinho has expressed great confidence in his players and believes "the biggest upset has yet to come." Club and international Captain Darioa Navarro Sanchez even chipped in this little blurb: "Soon, we'll have to clear out some room in the clubhouse for our new trophy." Bold words from a Bold team. Let us all hope they can fulfill on their promises.

[The Babbage Islands]

The Big Shiny Trophy
Results - Quarterfinals

The shock result of the tournament came from Belgium in the quarterfinals, as Neurologists from Estresse Intenso thrashed the Belgium FC eleven by three goals on their home ground. Earlier on top-seeded Petardos S/A from Cafundéu needed all of 120 minutes and kicks from the mark to fend off a game FC Jabay club from Aniporo.

Petardos S/A 1-1 FC Jabay (2-2 AET, 4-3 PKs)
Neurologists 5-2 Belgium FC

At the other quarterfinals site in Baden, a defensive struggle saw Estudiantes de Íguen from Aguazul through 1-0 over the Vortiganica entry Wild FC. The nightcap saw the second Cafundelense side advance to the semifinal with América taking a 3-1 decision from Valladares' AS Bezieres.

Wild FC 0-1 Estudiantes de Íguen
AS Bezieres 1-3 América

Semifinals on Monday, October 11; final and third place match on Friday, October 15.

[Vortiaganica]

Siam Meow has congratulated Wild F.C. on making it this far, but it is with a heavy heart that they admit defeat, despite being a very, VERY close match.

[Cafundeu]

TRIBUNA DE LASFT
Nosso estado, nossa cidade, nosso povo!

---

And the Cafundelense teams, both representatives of our great city of Lasft, are proving that they are favourites in any competition. Playing with all their star players and having a reasonable support from the people in The Babbage Islands, thanks to the fame conquered by the Primeirona all around the world and the presence of several players from the country in both América and Petardos S/A, both teams involved in the competition have reached the semifinals. After an easy first stage, in which they weren't threatened for a single minute, things were different in the second round of the competition. For América, the previous Cafundelense champions before the recent Cafundó do Juta title, the victory went with calmness and without major worries: the win in the away match gave the Lasft Devils the advantage of drawing the second leg, and they played by the rules in holding the tie at home. Real danger involved the Billionaires of Petardos S/A. An impressive loss against Woodstock Wild, by 4x2, made many experts believe that the major upset of the competition was about to happen. But the Cafundelenses didn't perform badly in the home leg, and at the Obelisco Monumental they showed their strength and why Petardos S/A is respected all around the world: they crushed their opponents, not giving them a single opportunity of creating danger. With six goals, they shut up all the critics.

At the quarterfinals, América had a solid victory over AS Bezieres with three goals scored by Ikles Razov, while Petardos S/A nearly got upset. Once again the team didn't do well, with stars such as Laborious Hawk and Tegan Nash failing to explore their full potential. This lead to a tense match, in which the Cafundelense team played with much more ability but making several mistakes, while surprise package FC Jabay played with passion and seemed to overcome the techinical inferiority really well, making them a name to be followed in the future. In the end, for the surprise of everyone in Belgium the game went to a penalty shootout. And the save of Dacil Taniquentar in the last penalty shot by FC Jabay sent the Billionaires to the semifinals. For the next match, they must not have the loss of performance that happened previously, since their opponents are the experienced doctors from Neurologists, one of the best clubs in the world and the one which defeated the home team, frustrating the fans at The Babbage Islands. Meanwhile, América will face Estudiantes de Íguen, in what promises to be a disputed match, though our Lasft club seems to have advantage.

[Aguazul]

La Verdad

That one actually went in

BADEN, Dayler, The Babbage Islands, Minute 37: According to the slightly drunk dude sitting behind you, that one actually went in, giving Estudiantes de Íguen the first lead of the game. This fact appears to be corroborated by the local supporter in front of you, although as she is speaking German it is not entirely clear.

That one, which is believed to have originated in the right side of the box, probably curled around a man who has been tentatively identified as Ozzie Carol. It went on to scoot past the fingertips of Clint Kare and proceed from there into the far end of the net, if the latest eyewitness reports are to be believed.

Assuming it crossed the goal line, that one distinguished itself from all the others, which failed to go in. The others, which took place at both ends of the pitch and were precipitated by various people, were characterized as being "timid" (especially coming from Estudiantes de Íguen) or "overexcited", especially coming from the Wild Football Club, which has so far lived up to its name with erratic play and clumsy tackles. One of those tackles, by Nikolas Sigvard on Mireya Gaspar, resulted in a free kick. Lino Sebrian was unable to make anything of that opportunity, however, in keeping with the bland nature of this particular match.

The amount of cheering prompted by that one suggests that that one might turn out to make the difference in this game. Indeed, if further attempts at offense are to prove as weak as their predecessors, that one might well be the only goal of this quarterfinal.

On the other hand, that one might prove to spark Estudiantes de Íguen to win by multiple goals, given that they are currently on pace to win by, like, 2.43. The guy two seats to your left, however, points out that Wild FC haven't demonstrated their notorious aggression yet and may well score four or five before the night is out.

[The Babbage Islands]

The Big Shiny Trophy
Results - Semifinals

Petardos S/A 2-2 Neurologists (2-2 AET, 2-2 agg, 3-0 PKs)
Estudiantes de Íguen 2-0 América (2-0 agg)

Third Place Match in Baden: Neurologists x América
Championship in Belgium: Petardos S/A x Estudiantes de Íguen

Final and third place match scorinate on Friday, October 15.

[Aguazul]

La Verdad

Ooh, big shots win on aggregate

Oh, wow. Estudiantes de Íguen won, two goals to none, over América to advance to the finals of the Big Shiny Trophy competition. They even won on aggregate. Heh. Get it?

They think they're so special.

Clemente "I play for Estudiantes and I actually score goals sometimes" Rubruquis duly blasted in a short but accurate pass from Betinho with twenty minutes remaining in the first half. Estudiantes settled in to defense, as is depressingly usual, in a manner befitting a side that had to, say, hold a lead for 155 minutes.

Plus stoppage time.

América were listed second in the billing for this match, which may have propelled them to retreat into the defense characteristic of their away matches despite it meaning absolutely nothing at all. Certainly, Phyllis Reeves seemed relatively solid on (well, due north of really) home ground, while Stephanie Farison was probably not experiencing as much cognitive dissonance as the CCFM would usually produce. Rodríguez, however, was caught out of position by Gladis Lozada, who scored nine minutes into the second half and gave a "ooh, where's your home leg now?" smirk. Possibly.

Visiting fans...that is to say, visiting fans of América quickly realized that, although they were not suffering the misfortune of visiting Estadio Gavaje, they would not get to host a return leg either, and had to content themselves with cracking jokes about the yearly frequency of basic hygiene among locals. (Answers in the double digits may have been genuinely humorous in the original German, but they suffered from translation into Portuguese and were all but incomprehensible by the time they got to Spanish.)

In the final, Estudiantes will face Petardos S/A, who advanced on penalty kicks after the aggregate score was tied.

[The Babbage Islands]

The Big Shiny Trophy

Third Place Match
Neurologists 1-0 América

Championship
Petardos S/A 1-1 Estudiantes de Íguen (2-3 AET)

Congratulations to Estudiantes de Íguen, and thank you to all who took part!

[Aguazul]

La Verdad

Dramatic finish brings Big Shiny Trophy to Íguen

After a thrilling period of extra time against Petardos S/A, Estudiantes de Íguen emerged triumphant to claim the Big Shiny Trophy. Though they blew an extra time lead, Raúl Xalmiento would give them another to mark a final thirty minutes more offensive than the preceding ninety.

Those had been tense ones, with Petardos relentlessly attacking enough to counterbalance even Estudiantes. It was Laborious Hawk who scored first, off an assist from (another!) Stephanie [Reeves], 32 minutes into the game. Estudiantes didn't seem to be mounting much in the way of a counterattack, but Clemente Rubruquis broke into a solo run 77 minutes in, outrunning Bruno Pinto to break through and equalize.

Daniela Ubidia had already entered the game by then, but the substitutions afterwards concentrated on preparing for extra time if not beyond. Wanderley's speculative chance six minutes after the equalizer was the closest the game came to excitement in the remainder of regular time, though Amaral and Suero Cordero had both received yellow cards for unrelated fouls in the first half.

Three minutes into extra time, Betinho dribbled past Jacob Pond and shot too quickly for Dacil Taniquentar to intercept the ball. For once (actually, it's been a lot more than once. But come on, uncharacteristically), even Estudiantes' defense wasn't enough; eight minutes later, Allandren Fresco blasted the ball beyond Vedillo Bazán's lunging reach to tie the game up once again.

Petardos had needed penalty kicks in both of their previous two legs; Estudiantes had required some in the round of sixteen, but the first seeds seemed more concerned about trying to attack and secure the win then. Perhaps that was what cost them; with even their defenders coming forward, Rocío Sanchez' long pass found Xalmiento, and he maneuvered forward to score the winner.

"This was a tremendous game," declared Oscar Plazas. "I'd rather it hadn't needed to be so dramatic at the end, but that's not important right now."

"Such an exciting end deserves a trophy," he mulled. "Ideally a big and shiny one."