Winter Cup – First Round Replay & Second Round Preview

BFFA Cup 2020

Catchy title, huh?

First Round Replay
Bielsaball 31 – 27 Boss

After a low-scoring draw last week, it was perhaps appropriate that the game was won for Bielsaball by a Patrick Bamford hat-trick. However, despite Bamford putting three past a previously unbeaten Villa side, Bielsaball only got past the Premier League’s Boss by four matchpoints. With three players absent and only 685mins played of a possible 990, the League’s #40 team did leave the door wide open for Boss to take advantage, but goals from Vardy and Berge in the PL denied them of vital clean sheets and only Michail Antonio’s goal against Man City did anything to give them hope of closing the gap. Bielsaball go through and face the team third in the Best-ish table.

Bielsaball:
Goals: Bamford (55′, 67′, 74′)
Min: 685 G: 3 AT: 1 YC: 2 RC: 0 GA: 3 CS: 3 Sv: 1

Boss:
Goals: Antonio (18′)
Min: 760 G: 1 AT: 0 YC: 1 RC: 0 GA: 2 CS: 2 Sv: 1

The Second Round

This weekend the Second Round shapes up like this:
(#20) AFC Chester (Cha.) -v- (#11) Tralfamadore Zoo FC (Prem)

These two teams have been become familiar with each other over the last two seasons. They shared League One in Season 5, were promoted as first and second then fought for the Championship in Season 6. Tralfamadore Zoo have had the lion’s share of the victories when these two have met, but this is a new season and these two new squads will be playing for Cup Glory this time.
Both teams exited the Cup in this round last season so one of them will successfully progress to the Third Round this season. Both teams also currently feature Ollie Watkins.

(#35) Atletico Topo Chico (L2) -v- (#32) Mighty fine feeling (Prem)

This season is Mighty fine feeling’s fifth in the BFFA. They have won the League and the Champions League, but they have never won the Cup. They came closest in their first season, 2017, when they got as far as the Semi-Finals, losing out to the Premier League’s ELU. Had they won that SF, they would’ve thrashed Bigger than Brolin in the Final and won that too.
Atletico Topo Chico

(#40) Bielsaball (L2) -v- (#3) RelicFC (L1)

First Round survivors Bielsaball will face Relic this weekend. Relic have enjoyed some Cup success in their time with the BFFA, only once failing to get past the Second Round, having been knocked out 39-28 by Hung last year. They will come into this tie on the back of a 5-game winning streak, currently the best form of all forty teams and third best points tally overall. Bielsaball have not won since GW2 and are in desperate need of a change of fortune.

(#24) Chicken and Bacon Sane (L1) -v- (#26) Webuiltthis City (L1)

Two weeks ago, Chicken and Bacon Sane took all three points from their match away at Webuiltthis City. Both teams had goals from defenders – Balbuena (v Spurs) for ChickBac and Wan-Bissaka (v Toon) for Web City. The game was ultimately decided by a goal for Mo Salah and a clean sheet for Ngoyo that give ChickBac the win.
While Web City were fighting off a second consecutive relegation at the end of last season, they continued to excel in the Cup, reaching the Quarter-Finals just as the 2020 Cup was abandoned and the Semi-Finals the year before. ChickBac however will be eyeing up the Third Round draw with expectant eyes, having outscored their opponents not just in their last meeting, but across all six games so far.

(#15) Cornballers (Cha.) -v- (#2) Route 57 FC (Cha.)

Just last week, Route 57 beat Cornballers by 5 points, 43-38, to continue their unbeaten start to the season. Again, Patrick Bamford’s hat-trick was key to the win. The two teams, currently first and third in the Championship, also met three times in League One last season. Both were promoted by the grace of Championship teams dropping out of the League; Route 57 ended in sixth place while Cornballers finished the Season in top spot, despite losing to R57 twice in their three meetings.
In last season’s Cup, Cornballers were unlucky not to get past the First Round. They were the Round’s highest-scoring losers, going out 60-55 to SB Town who, coincidentally played and lost to R57 in the following round. And for the record, Cornballers would have beaten R57 in R2, but also would’ve lost in R3 had they made it that far.

(#16) Cumberland FC (L2) -v- (#10) Klopps and Robbers (L2)

Again, here are another pair of teams that have already met this season. In their second match of the season, K&R thrashed Cumberland 70-33 despite scoring less goals, four to Cumber’s five! Rodriguez, van de Beek, Kane and Chris Wood scored for K&R while Cumberland enjoyed a Calvert-Lewin hat-trick and a Mane brace. However, six assists and three clean sheets for K&R moved the win far out of reach of the Northerners.
In a similar scenario to the R57 v Cornball matchup above, these two played each other three times last season and Cumberland, who finished second in the League and unbeaten in last season’s Cup, lost twice to their opponents, who went out at this stage last season. Currently this season K&R have marginally outscored Cumberland, but sit sixth after losing last weekend whilst Cumberland turned their season around early on and are riding on a 4-game winning streak into the Cup weekend.

(#33) East Loop United (Cha.) -v- (#23) AC Reykjavik CobbleHill (Prem)

This is a fixture that feels like it has been coming for a while. Both teams have been in the League since the start but didn’t meet until Season 3. East Loop had two wins and a draw that season and contributed to ReykHill’s relegation. ReykHill won the Championship the following season and then they took two wins and a draw from their four League meetings that season. They also met twice in the Champions League, each winning one game. Currently, the only thing separating the two on record are three matchpoints (ELU 384, ReykHill 387 from 10 games).
Last season both teams went out in the First Round so they’ve both already done better than last season, however both teams have shown the potential to do very well in the Cup. In Season 1, AC Rey reached the Semi-Finals and in Season 3 ELU were Runners-up to Bigger than Brolin. The winner of this match could easily go on a Cup run this season.

(#39) Fossvogur FC (L2) -v- (#4) All Star Gunners (Prem)

The ASGs are the top pointscorers in the Premier League, but currently sit in third. ASG have never won a Second Round match but will fancy themselves this weekend after a terrific start to their season.
Both teams have very strong forward lines – at time of writing we are looking at a potential shootout between Mahrez, Sterling & Rashford for Fossvogur against Ings, Jimenez and Kane.

(#8) GoFYS FC (Cha.) -v- (#11) FC Santa Barbara (Prem)

Two very strong teams meet here for the first time in the Cup. Both go into this match with a W4L2 record; FCSB boasting a four-game winning streak. Both teams have finished the season top of the Premier League, but neither team has won the Cup…yet. For GoFYS, the Quarter-Finals have always seemed to be out of reach but FCSB have been there three times already, losing by a single matchpoint in S2, winning in S5 but were KO’d in the Semis, and reaching the QF’s last season before the tournament was abandoned.
Both teams have Jamie Vardy in their squad and it may be risky for either team to bench him this weekend. A key matchup to watch out for may be Rashford (GoFYS) against Willian (FCSB) on Sunday.

(#11) Harambe Hotspur F.C. (L1) -v- (#9) Bigger Than Brolin (Prem)

On their way to becoming 2017 Cup Champions, Bigger than Brolin had to get past Harambe Hotspur in the Semi-Finals. They won 68-37, but the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect the level of the match. Big Brol finished the season as League One Champions and Harambe were runners-up in League Two; Big Brol won 24 League games, Harambe won 23.
So far this season, the Premier League team have won five of their six games while the League One side have won only three, despite there only being a difference of only five matchpoints scored (237-232). This could be a very close match!

(#19) Housewives Favourite (L2) -v- (#17) The Money Team (Prem)

Money have started the season W2D2L2 (220 Fpts) and Housewives Favourite have begun W4L2 (214 Fpts). Money will no doubt be disappointed that they didn’t win one or both of their two draws, especially as they are now four points shy of fourth place. WivesFav, who are in fourth, lost their only Cup game 39-22 to Voyageurs last season so will be looking for their first victory here this weekend. Money, who have twice been to the Quarter-Finals, also lost in the Cup at the first attempt last season, 41-40 against stilluvQPR.
Keep an eye on Liverpool vs. West Ham this Saturday as Michail Antonio (WivesFav) will be playing opposite Sadio Mane (Money).

(#21) Jaysokker (L2) -v- (#30) Vanishing Spray FC (Prem)

Last season, both Jaysokker and Vanishing Spray were knocked out of the Cup in the First Round. Jaysokker were very unlucky on that occasion as they were second highest-scoring losing team in the Round. Only seven of the thirty-six sides in that round scored more than Jaysokker, and unfortunately for them, they drew Bigo1 who outclassed them 63-46.
Spray have been to the Cup Quarter-Finals before, back in 2016, when they were knocked out 35-33 by eventual winners SB Town United Athletic Onion Baggers. Had they just another 3 fantasy points that week, they would’ve won the Cup with the scores they got in the following weeks.

(#28) Ole’s at the Wheel (L2) -v- (#7) The El Dude Brothers (L2)

These two are both experiencing the Second Round of the Cup for the first time, by the grace of a bye week. This does of course mean that one will reach the Third Round for the first time too. They both share a League but haven’t played each other yet, that game is due next weekend (GW8). Currently Bros are fifth in League Two having W3,L3, despite having the second best fantasy points tally and OatWheel are eighth. Both teams won their last game but lost the previous, so you could argue that either team could win this here, but Bros are clear favorites.

(#5) Smash & Grab (Prem) -v- (#22) Hung Like a Bony (Cha.)

Two teams that finished last season in second place play each other here and they have mixed Cup histories. Smash famously won the Cup in Season 5 (2019) after previously dropping out in the Semi-Finals twice before. Hung joined the League in Season 4 and have been getting progressively better each year. In their first season they were knocked out in the First Round, then in the Second Round in their Sophomore year, then last year they reached the Quarter-Finals unbeaten. This season however, if they are to reach the QFs again, they will have to get past the team at the top of the Premier League.

(#6) Sorry not so sorry (L2) -v- (#1) Gloopy Yarbles (L1)

Newcomers Sorry not so sorry have started the season incredibly well but have been put up against the #1 team in the Best-ish table – Gloopy Yarbles. GloopYa have had three seasons in the BFFA so far but unfortunately have never got past the Third Round. On their current form though, this may be their best-ever chance at the trophy. Both teams come into this fixture with four wins and two losses in the League; Gloopy have scored considerably better (302-245 FPts), nearly +10 FPts per week.

(#14) stilluvQPR (Cha.) -v- (#18) Banana Swans (Cha.)

Finally in the Second Round, another fixture that has already been played out this season. These two met in the very first week of the season and Banana Swans took all three points in a 42-36 home win.
This will be the first time that the two have met since Season 3. In 2016/17 they met five times in League One, both in their rookie season, and shared the spoils. Both won two games and draw the other. Also, both teams have reached the Cup Quarter-Finals before, but no further. Currently there are only 4 places between the two sides in the overall table, but it is stilluvQPR who have scored better despite being lower in the Championship than their opponents.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and don’t get too spooked out by the neighbourhood kids!

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