Gameweek 25 – Saturday 12th February – Sunday 13th February
The One to Watch:
Mighty Fine Feeling (Premier League) Vs. Drafty (Premier League)
The obvious place to start our preview of the next round is with the current holders Drafty. The new IML Champions have been drawn against the current Champions League champions and Premier League rivals Mighty Fine Feeling.
For the third consecutive season, MFF and Drafty are both competing in the Premier League and just last week they showcased the tie with their third league face-off. The first was won by Drafty, 53-47 in Gameweek 4 (a match that was also featured in the Champions League that week) but then nine weeks later Mighty Fine won the return game 57-30. Since then MFF had been cruising in the top three, but a persistant Drafty (who suffered badly at the start of the season), rose up the League from last place to steal Third away from them with a 59-43 win.
Overall MFF are still 10-6 over Drafty (including 4 wins and 2 losses against them in CL competition) but this will be the first time they’ve met in the Cup. The Spring Cup winners have only lost four games from nineteen matches in the BFFA Cup. They have won the tournament twice – last summer against Gloopy Yarbles and in 2017 in a 44-40 victory over East Loop United. Side note: MFF also made the Semi-Finals that year before being knocked out by ELU and, for the record – they would’ve won that Final with a score of 64FPts, had they made it that far.
The rest of the Second Round fixtures:
About to Get Messi #34 (League One) Vs. Banana Swans #36 (League One)
Messi and the Swans last met in gameweek eighteen where they played out a very simple 13-13 draw, but with BattleVAR and Cornballers losing to the top two that week, a point each meant that they both climbed a place in the League. Nine weeks before that, About to get Messi took away all three points with a 27-13 win over the Swans.
Messi have gone out in the Second Round in the last three attempts, but stand a good chance of making it to the Last Sixteen here against a team 36th in the Best-ish rankings. Banana Swans have had moderate success in the Cup, winning six and losing six in their previous attempts, including a run that took them to a Quarter-Final in 2018, but have struggling for points in the last few months.
All Star Gunners #24 (Premier League) Vs. Ardoyne Aardvarks #39 (League Two)
Despite their success in the Champions League – one title, three Semi-Final appearances and more CL wins than any other team – ASG have only recorded three Cup wins in eight tournaments and reached the Last 16 for the first time in the Spring Cup early last year, after a narrow 34-33 win over Barons FC (then RelicFC).
Managerless Ardoyne Aardvarks go into the Second Round ranked 38th of 39, but are known for causing the occasional upset. They have taken points from six of their nine league opponents, including thrashing Fergi Time (currently Second in L2) 72-56 in the third highest-scoring game of the season so far. Though they are without a number of players due to illness, suspension and transfers, they still have a select few star players turning out for them, including two high-scoring ‘keepers in Hugo Lloris and Nick Pope, one of whom will be playing behind triple-figured Aymeric Laporte and seven-goal Raheem Sterling. And of course, they are the only team with a 100% record in the Cup having played one and won it.
Atletico Top Chico #5 (League Two) Vs. The El Dude Brothers #3 (League One)
Two of the top five-ranked sides clash here after ATC turned their fortunes ino something good. After finishing a lowly ninth in League Two last year, they are now back with a vengeance and gunning for the title. Currently eight points clear at the top with the best points tally in the league, they begin their Cup campaign with a difficult game against a team that beat them five-times-out-of-five in the league last season. El Dude Bros are also fighting for promotion this season in an ever-changing promotion battle, they currently have a better tally than ATC and will be looking to overcome the disappointment of finishing runners-up in the Champions League.
BattleVAR Galactico #29 (League One) Vs. FC Santa Barbara #31 (Premier League)
These two have both seen some success in recent tournaments and are both capable of stringing a few Cup wins together too. That said, both teams have had a difficult time getting wins recently.
The only time a League One side has knocked out a Premier League team out in the round-of-32 was in 2018 when Wijnaldum Leviosa knocked out the team who were then second in the Premier League, Sporting Wicker Park. (Wijnaldum were later knocked out by team at the top of the PL, Bigo1, in the QF). BattleVAR will go into this fixture as favourites, but with a double gameweek for Shane Duffy and Kyle Walker facing Norwich again, this could go either way.
Harambe Hotspur #32 (League Two) Vs. Boss #4 (Championship)
Despite these two teams playing in their sixth and seventh season this year, this will be the first time they’ve met. Both are former Semi-Finallists and both went out in the First Round of last season’s Spring Cup – Harambe were beaten 33-32 by Banana Swans and Boss drew 33-33 against Vanishing Spray before being knocked out in the replay. Wildly different points tallies at this stage of the season indicate that it could be a one-sided affair, however, with both sides presumably still wielding Mo Salah and a double-helping of Paul Pogba, that advantage may be negated. Harambe will be backing another thrashing for Norwich by Man City with Walker, Zinchenko and Grealish all expected to start; City have beaten the Canaries 5-0 in both of their last two meetings, with Walker playing the full ninety in both and Grealish scoring on his home debut for the sky blues.
Housewives Favourite #1 (League One) Vs. Ole’s At The Wheel #16 (League One)
Now this pair of teams, relatively new to the BFFA, already have a lot of shared history having joined the association in the Nashunal Leeg in 2019 and both earning consecutive promotions along the way. Their first encounter ended in a 40-40 draw but since then Wives’ Fave are 7-3 up. Two of those seven wins came on the same weekend last season when Wives’ Fave knocked Ole out of the Cup (44-27) and beat them in the League in GW9. So far this season, it’s been going all Wives Fave’s way, beating Ole all three times and going top of the Best-ish table.
Hung Like A Bony #12 (League One) Vs. Gloopy Yarbles #15 (Championship)
The last time these two sides met was in last season’s Winter Cup Quarter Final where Championship Hung knocked out League One Gloopy with a score of 40-32. During the summer the two sides switched leagues and now, with both holding fourth place in their respective divisions, they meet again in the Cup. Historically, Gloopy have had the better of their exchanges, winning 5 of 8 so far, but they come into this weekend with a poorer points total across the season, averaging about 2FPts per week less that their League One opponents.
Jaysokker #20 (League Two) Vs. StillluvQPR #22 (Championship)
Both Jaysokker and StillluvQPR come into this fixture with very similar records – Jaysokker have nine wins from their 916 fantasy points scored and Stillluv have ten from 911. Last year, both finished the season in fifth place and both left the Spring Cup at the Third Round with a losing score of 41FPts. Had they both won those matches, they’d have played each other in the Quarter Finals too.
The Winter Cup winners and Champions League Semi-Finalists, StillluvQPR, will be missing the Chelsea pair of Azpilicueta and Hudson-Odoi, while Jaysokker will be without the Arsenal duo of Tierney and last week’s goal-scorer Gabriel, and the midfield threat of Chelsea’s Mason Mount too. Focus will instead be on the pointscoring abilities of 8-goal Ronny Ronaldo (Stillluv) and 7-goal Bruny Fernandes (Jaysokker) in their double-home gameweek against So’ton and Burnle’, but ultimately the tie could hinge on who puts out the most complete XI.
Peltier #14 (League Two) Vs. SB Town Baggers #19 (Premier League)
This is Peltier’s first appearance in the BFFA Cup and they will be facing the team that began their Cup history by going nine games unbeaten, winning two trophies along the way. Not long ago, Peltier also did something incredible by beating all nine league opponents one after the other in a run that lifted them up from rock bottom to fourth in League Two and, after a couple of off-weeks, they are back in-form again with three wins in a row. SB Town haven’t had quite the same success in the League this season and will be hoping for some Cup magic to turn their season around and inspire them to recapture some of the glory of the good ol’ days.
Route 57 FC #6 (Premier League) Vs. Fergi Time #8 (League Two)
Route 57 have been flirting with the top of the Premier League for most of the season while Fergi Time have been steadily creeping up the league like ivy taking over a house. Fergi Time’s first BFFA Cup game will be a tough little fictional trip across the M4 to Oxford to face a team that made it to the Quarters in the last tournament and recently won their 100th league game, but Fergi Time will be going in on the crest of an 8-game undefeated streak.
Smash & Grab #13 (Premier League) Vs. AFC Chester #17 (Championship)
Smash & Grab are another up-and-coming team that scraped the bottom of the barrel but are now challenging for the prize money. Last week a 37-34 midweek win, thanks to an 11 for de Bruyne, over top-of-the-league Money Team moved them up into the money spots at the expense of MFF.
AFC Chester have had the opposite luck across the season, starting like champions before falling away. They’ve been up and down over the last few weeks, but after losing last week, the pattern suggests that this week will be a winner, at least in the league. In the last tourney, both teams were knocked out by eventual winners Drafty, so no doubt they will both be hoping to make it through and draw the holders in the next round for a shot at some sweet, sweet revenge.
Sporting Wicker Park #11 (Championship) Vs. Webuiltthis City #21 (Championship)
We’ve met before, Wicker and I, in the ill-fated Cup of 2020. It started off on a beautiful sunshiney day, I was enjoying a tour of London’s Bermondsey beer mile, Oxford came from behind to beat Blackpool 2-1 and Wales thrashed Italy 42-0 in the rugger. This match however, was a pretty dull affair. City scraped through with a measley 28points and the tournament was cancelled a month later.
This season, fate brought us back together in the Championship, probably just to remind me who was the boss. (It’s actually Boss by the way, since they’re top of the league now). But it definitely isn’t Web City. Wicker Park have won this matchup twice already this season, 51-40 and 34-28, and the odds are very much in their favour.
Sugar Daddies #28 (League Two) Vs. Vanishing Spray FC #25 (Premier League)
League Two’s Sugar Daddies exited the tournament in the First Round in both the Winter and Spring Cups last year, but were granted a First Round bye this year by the grace of having above-average points at the deadline. But that’s not to say that the Daddies aren’t capable of getting a win here, or even going on to win it all. They made the Quarter-Finals in 2019, losing 51-44 to Smash & Grab who went on to win it. But, had they been winners that weekend then the Sugar Daddies would’ve also beaten PSV in the Semis and Wijnaldum in the Final. Oh what could’ve been! Vanishing Spray are no strangers to the final stages either. While SDFC were focusing on the league last season, VSFC were making life difficult in the QFs and taking their Spring Cup SF against Gloopy to a replay. So both teams have it in them to go all the way, but of course only one can step up into the next round.
The Money Team #7 (Premier League) Vs. AC Reykjavik #40 (Championship)
Two teams having very different seasons are the team at the top of the Premier League and the team at the bottom of the Championship. Money Team, whilst setting the bar in the PL, won’t want to bet the house on this one though; AC Rey did put up a huge 69points in the last Cup weekend and this unpredictable tournament can cause an upset on any given gameweek. The last two times these teams met both ended in a draw (41-41 & 22-22), so this game could be a lot closer than the form suggests.
Wijnaldium Leviosa #10 (Championship) Vs. East Loop United FC #18 (Championship)
The second all-Championship Second Round tie sees third-placed Wijnaldum, the BFFA’s most in-form team, face off against ELU in the Cup for a third time! In 2017, ELU won 38-37 in the QF; in 2020 Wij won 56-36 in the First Round. This Second Round rematch comes on the back of two league wins for Wij over ELU and immediately after Leviosa completed a six-game win streak with a giant 82-43 win over top-of-the-league SWP. It’s looking good for Wij, but ELU have three players set for a double gameweek, so may have an advantage with more minutes on the field.
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