Welcome 2014! Happy New Year to All! 

The Group Stage is over with a little drama and a lof of sadness to us in the Canadian League:

Group A:

BWD and Los Cruzados have alreday secured their places in the Round of 16 yesterday so today was all about the placement. BWD kept their 1st place after a big win over Halifax who finished in an impressive 4th place. Cruzados wiped off Baia Mare with a 3:0 but stil finished 2nd. This is the first time ever that the BWD made it to KOs.

"My group wasn't very hard, I had only one match with Los Cruzados, which I wasn't sure. My next opponent Levski has a great team, he also won the Super Cup last season so for 100% he is favourite of this match, but I will try to make a surprise and eliminate him." (Mateusz Jankowski, Black and White Dreamers' manager)

"Well, first when I watched the draw I thought that it would be a tough race between four teams. But then Comtek and Phoenix Baia Mare lost a lot of points early in the groups stage and it was obvious that my team and Black and White Dreamers would advance.
For me it doesn't matter which team I get in the KO stage, since almost all team now have similar Q and team stats higher than me. Unfortunately my team have lost some important team stats the past days, but hopefuly we can give Beachlife a tough match. A big confusing to face a team with that name when you travel to England, but he's in the top of one of the toughest league so I guess he's doing something right. I will do my best to break the English dominance and I remember very well the last time a team from another country won.." (elajo, Los Cruzados' manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	BWD	19	16
(=)	2	Los Cruzados	17	15
(+)	3	Parma	11	6
(-)	4	Halifax	10	-3
(=)	5	Baia Mare	8	0
(=)	6	Las Leonas	7	-4
(=)	7	Red Warriors	3	-14
(=)	8	Comtek	2	-16

 

Group B:

Beachlife secured a KO berth yesterday and today they secured top place after a win over bottom side P1cass0. Brescia neeed to win and they defeated TELC 0:6, but they also needed help from Craiova. However the Americans lost to Levski who advanced from 2nd place.

"" (Beachlifeuk, Beachlife's manager)

"" (Zlostar1111, Levski Bugaria's manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Beachlife	18	11
(=)	2	Levski	16	10
(=)	3	Brescia	14	15
(=)	4	Craiova	10	7
(=)	5	TELC	8	-8
(+)	6	All Spurs	7	-7
(-)	7	Royal	6	-9
(=)	8	P1cass0	1	-19

 

Group C:

KA Barcelona squeezed through and they have to thank both Kavalacio and Timberwolves for that. Timberwolves were held to a dramatic draw yesterday against Rene1293 and today they were defeated by the Greeke to finish 3rd. A great results for the Canadaian Champs. but dissapointing as they needed just 2 points from their last 2 games to advance. Kavalacio finished 1st without a single lose and made it to the Round of 16 for the first time, with Barcelona 2nd.

"" (Bill The Italo, Kavalacio FC's manager)

"It was more difficult to fight for advance as it wasn't only up to me! Now my destiny is in my hands. We got the hardest possible opponent. But my team is not weak. I think the Norwegian was not happy for getiing my team either" (Klucsesz, KA Barcelona's manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Kavalacio	19	22
(+)	2	Barcelona	16	12
(-)	3	Timberwolves	16	5
(=)	4	Busby	9	-2
(+)	5	Rene1293	7	-1
(-)	6	Zaragoza	6	-5
(+)	7	Aslansaray	6	-16
(-)	8	NanGo	3	-15

 

Group D:

Ghostriders, who made it yesterday to the Round of 16, booked the fixture against Barcelona after a comfortable win against Royal Arsenal. Hotspurs needed only a draw against GPRO to advance and that's exactly what they got. This is the first time Hotspurs made it through.

"It became a close raceto advance to the KO stage but made it and very happy about that. It should not been so close, but lost against Future Ghosts because of resting some players, which was a mistake. My team isn't preforming so good this season as the last due to a loss of a lot of teamstats, so it will be a hell of a fight against KA Barcelona. Hopefuly I can find some good tactics to counter for that and win against klucsesz and reach the QF" (Mr Krokkert, Ghostriders' manager)

"After losing to Ghostriders I was worried and knew I couldn't afford to lose another game. Luckily enough I won the next 5 games and got myself in a good position. The knockouts shouuld be interesting and I'm sure nobody will be a pushover" (Spudgreg, Hotspurs FC's manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Ghostriders	18	16
(=)	2	Hotspurs	16	14
(=)	3	GPRO	14	6
(+)	4	Future Ghosts	13	13
(-)	5	Royal Arsenal	12	8
(=)	6	Krazy Kickers	4	-9
(+)	7	Boom	3	-19
(-)	8	Desportos	1	-29

 

Group E:

Giarra, who were surly through, needed just one point to secure 1st place but they got all 3 against Gr8 Angelz. Zi Huha's players held their nerves and outclassed Lyngby all the way to the Round of 16 and they seek a first win in the knockouts. Amethyst defeated More Beer but it was not enough.

"Finally through after a year absence from the knock outs. For the final game I was pondering which team to put out as I had a tough league game coming up next and didn't want to lose morale. In the end decided to field a relatively strong team that would would try and get me a result. Luckily Gr8 Angelz fielded a weaker team so was an easy win in the end. Will be taking 1 game at a time and looking to try and win the competition" (Advent, Giarra Djinns' manager)

"" (Đỗ Thị Hạnh, Zi Huah's manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Giarra	19	28
(=)	2	Zi Huha	16	16
(+)	3	Amethyst	15	12
(-)	4	More Beer	12	15
(=)	5	Gr8 Angelz	10	1
(=)	6	Grobari	6	-9
(=)	7	Sergipe	3	-19
(=)	8	Lyngby	0	-47

 

Group F:

No surprised at all. Sauda finished 1st and Connemara 2nd. This is the first time in the Round of 16 for both teams.

"I was surprised that it went throught so easly, but when Black Pearl and Antartis didn't send their best out there I was pretty confident that I most likely to finish at top 2. Zi Huha will be a good and close match, hopefuly I can beat him and on to the next round, but my team haven't preformed as I would have hoped for this season so it's gonna be close" (Deus87, Sauda's manager)

"I have admired advent for many seasons and his league form for the past 20 or so seasons shows how strong and great manager he is. This will be a very difficult match for me. We have met three times in the past, lost in all formal matches but won one player cup match though. His team is young and is very strong especially around the midfield area. I just hope that is a tight entertaining match and that my team will not be booed off the pitch" (csiremar, Connemara United's manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Sauda	19	30
(=)	2	Connemara	19	21
(+)	3	Antartis	12	-13
(-)	4	Kamu	9	1
(-)	5	ITB	9	-2
(+)	6	Black Pearl	9	-5
(-)	7	Avengers	6	-8
(=)	8	Imparaveis	0	-24

 

Group G:

Koszule made it to another Second Stage after finishing 1st in one of the toughest groups this season. The Kings did just enough to finish 2nd and grab the second ticket.

"" (my1900, CzarneKoszule's manager)

"The Group Stage was very tough with no easy matches with a few close shaves. Next opponents will be tough having won their goup, They have shown they are very capable and we will not take the match lightly" (Klaebs, Klaebs Kings' manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Koszule	18	10
(=)	2	Kings	16	5
(=)	3	Dune	13	2
(+)	4	DansendHert	11	1
(-)	5	Trini	10	4
(=)	6	FF	8	2
(=)	7	Seventh Heaven	4	-2
(=)	8	Dilligaf	0	-22

 

Group H:

Steaua1971 and NEAB didn't work hard to confirm their KO berth. This is a great achievment for the Romanians debutants finishing 1st beating the Turks by GD only.

"" (s manager)

"Group Stage was decent as there were good teams. However, half of them didn't care the CL & played with second teams. Well, it's good reaching KO stage. My goal is doing as much as I can do. If I am very lucky, I might win the CL" (NotBot, Not Exactly A Bot's manager)

Final Standings:

	Place	Team	Pts	GD
(=)	1	Steaua1971	18	19
(=)	2	NEAB	18	16
(=)	3	NL	16	8
(=)	4	OGs	13	2
(=)	5	Melres	7	-12
(=)	6	Viitorul	5	-7
(=)	7	Ruwenda	3	-12
(=)	8	Tropancho	1	-14

 

Round of 16:

These are the fixtures for the Round of 16:

Black and White Dreamers - Levski Bulgaria
Beachlife - Los Cruzados
Kavalacio FC - Hotspurs FC
Ghostriders - KA Barcelona
Giarra Djinns - Connemara United
Sauda - Zi Huha
CzarneKoszule - Not Exactly A Bot
Steaua1971 Dragasani - Klaebs Kings

Round of 16 will be played on Round 19 at 12:00 System Time. Follow all the action right here on DJ Blog!

 

Have your say! What is the most surprisng result/team of the Round? Answer in the comments

 

Help Wanted!

Covering everything in ML is hard (and even harder to an EE student!) so anyone who wants to help PM me:DonJuan 

 

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