Final Group Tables
It was an incredible end to the group stages for the teams in Group B. All four teams finished with three wins and three losses; Gloopy Yarbles & Bigo1 finished with exactly the same number of matchpoints!! More on that later.
Group A
Mighty Fine Feeling stumbled at the end of the round giving three points to Reykjavik (not that they needed them). But they’ve shown the rest of the competition that they’re vulnerable. Still, MFF eased through as Group winners, Rey.B.C. march on as runners-up. East Loop beat Relic convincingly and earned themselves a place in the Europa League Quarter-Finals.
Group B
This is what everyone’s been talking about. Who clawed their way out of the Group of Death? Well, you’ll have seen above that Smash & Grab emerge on top despite losing their final game to the eventual runners-up Bigger Than Brolin.
Gloopy Yarbles beat Bigo1 by three and brought themselves perfectly level on League points and matchpoints. It went down to who had the most goals scored. In the last six weeks Gloopy has scored 8 real-life life-altering goals; Bigo1 only collected six. Even though neither team made enough matchpoints to push past Brolin or S&G, the majority goals scored gives the Yarbles a second shot at silverware in the Europa League.
Group C
Tralfamadore Zoo had already got top spot sewn up, but still came out with a respectable 48. Vanishing Spray, now picking up speed, hit them back with an impressive 61. The parking lot went wild.
Unfortunately for the Spray and for those poor reserve unicorns, All Star Gunners also had a thriller at home, flying to 51. ASG broke through to second place in the final game and book a place against the winners of Group D. Gene’s Unicorn Reserves face League One side Yer Man next in the Europa League.
Group D
PSV Wide Open beat DC LFC and qualified for the Quarter-Finals with their fourth win. This meant that Goleta Hotspur needed to win and outscore PSV by six to top the group and avoid the Zoo. Goleta also faced PSV in the League this week so outscoring them would mean a valuable League win too. They managed it with a 48-41 win over the Warriors and a 48-40 victory in the League. The 8-point difference was enough to put Goleta top in Group D and set up a Quarter-Final against Championship rivals ASG.
Chucky Pad’s score of 41 was enough to keep them above DC in the Group to secure third place and a EL tie against Championship Banana Swans.
Quarter-Finals
1st Leg: Gameweek 11
Mighty Fine Feeling -v- Bigger Than Brolin
These two teams have never met but both are very familiar with Cup runs. They’ve both lifted silverware (and been graced with that tiny little star above their crests!) Mighty Fine are, of course, the current holders of the CL and Brolin won the BFFA Cup in 2017. MFF were the only team to pass 300 matchpoints in the Group stage this year but BtB were only 5 points shy of the mark. This should be a very high-scoring tie at The Mosh Pit.
Tralfamadore Zoo -v- PSV Wide Open
PSV travel to Tralfamadore Zoo, one of only two teams unbeaten at home in the CL this season. This is another pair meeting for the first time. Both teams qualified for the Champions League by winning their divisions last season. This season Tralfamadore are currently top of League One and have won their last four games. PSV have fallen to sixth after losing their last two.
Smash & Grab -v- AC Reykjavik BayCobblers
Smash & Grab, who won all three home games, will welcome AC Reykjavik BC this weekend. In this all-Premiership fixture, these teams have met only once before, on the first game of this season. S&G won 49-45. Since then both teams have won five and lost four in the League. Reykjavik won one game more than Smash in the Group Stage but Smash scored better. This game really could go either way.
Goleta Hotspur -v- All Star Gunners
Hollister Avenue will showcase a historic game for these two teams this weekend – this will be their tenth meeting and the first time in a cup tournament. ASG have had the better of Goleta so far – winning five, losing three and drawing once. Last season these two teams finished 4th and 5th, both with the same record (W19 D1 L18); this season they are currently 3rd and 4th with the same record (W6 D0 L4). ASG won this matchup in GW 1 this season, 47-38 so Hotspur will be looking to regain some pride here.
The Quarter-Final 1st Legs will kick-off on Saturday in Bournemouth, who’ve won five of their last six, and finish next Monday at bottom-of-the-League Huddersfield who’ve not won since they beat RB Leipzig away in August.
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