The gameweek is underway and we have four very well-built teams battling out for the Champions League and the IML trophies*. One Final will put together two teams that have never met before, the other Final reunites two league rivals that met just last week! These four warrior-like managers are currently heading up teams occupying third, second and first places in their respective leagues, plus the reigning Premier League Champions. None of these four have won a BFFA inter-divisional competition before. This weekend, two of them will no longer be living in the shadows of those teams before them, this weekend two more managers will be entered into the history books as Champions!
*Trophies are only imaginary until the victorious managers go out and purchase one for themselves.
The Champions League
This is the third time that Gloopy Yarbles have qualified for the Champions League and the first time that they have got past the first round. Not only did they escape from the group stage this time, they won their group with the best points total of the four and took on a fearsome opponent in the Quarter-Finals. There they faced Boss, who had beaten them on all four occasions in the Championship last season as Boss literally bossed it all the way to the title. However, this season the band of droogs came out on top, winning the first match by nine and losing the second by just three.
In the Semi-Finals, Gloopy took the game to Peltier – the Group A winners and a team that a fifteen point deficit to qualify for the final four – and outscored them with three very crucial goals from Eduoard, Haaland and Alvarez. The Palace striker’s strike was the only goal in their win over the Saints, while the City pair were the difference-makers in their 2-1 win over Fulham.
In preparation for the big Final, Edouard has left the group and made way for the Leicester hotshot Patson Daka; Henry and Justin are also out, replaced by Konate and Digne.
On the other side of the park is Fergi Time. Group B winners in the first round, these rookies are strongarming their way into the BFFA consciousness via multiple avenues. They finished third in League Two last year, rightly earning a promotion and a place in the Champions League, and are now third again in League One, currently just two points off the top. They may be top again by the end of the week!
After drawing their first Champions League match 45-all with fellow-promoted Housewives Favourites and later losing 33-8 to top group stage pointscorers The El Dude Brothers, they still managed to top the group and book themselves a QF against Barons FC. Barons, who had been promoted in both of the last two seasons, looked like they were too big a team to be outgunned by the new recruits. They won the first meeting 51-44 and simultaneously claimed third place in the Premier League too. However, after a midweek shake-up, the two teams returned for gameweek 13 and Fergi Time hit back, smashing Barons by nearly a score and flew like a phoenix into the semis with the second-best aggregate score of the round, just one point behind We have Kompany.
Kompany & Co. were the next hurdle for Fergi to take on. Second in the Premier League and riding high after winning their second CL QF, WhK came out with guns blazing in GW14 scoring 44, the best of the first leg, and held a two-point advantage at the halfway point. But then, once again, Fergi Time made full use of their “home advantage”, knocking back the fifth-season Premier Leaguers with an almighty 17-point triumph and blazed a path into the Final. So, it appears that Fergi Time do indeed do well over longer matchups, but can they do it when limited to just 90 minutes? Find out next week…
The Intramural League
The good thing about having a matchup between two teams that share the same league is that there will be no duplicate players – one Jesus, one Bowen, one Firmino and one ASM. The two teams could in theory be trading and transferring all season to get an advantage for this Final. They will be able to see each others teams and play each other in serious competition in the preceding weeks.
Such is the way of the matchup here. Route 57 and Sporting Wicker Park have met in the Premier League twice already, including just last week when Wicker walked out comfortable winners, 47-39, and moved up into second place. Before that SWP took the three points and used them to move up from seventh into fourth. This week, the matchup is a little bit more important than three league points, this week it is worth a title!
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