Hola! It’s time for day two of the 2021 CM Cup where we’ll see 8 more teams make their bow. We’ll see four of the blog squad, two debutants and two regulars. It’s an exciting time and to start, we’re off to the Verbiststadion.
Group C
Verbist_Philip vs Winkveron
Philip might be making his CM Cup debut but we’ve seen his form in Champions League Manager and it’s exceptional. Keep an eye on him – he’s got a fancy Nikolai non-symmetrical formation too, so you know he means business. Henry and Yorke is a great partnership.
Dan Williamson was the inaugural winner way back in 2017 and has a tremendous chance of going deep here with this selection of players. I will probably say that about a lot of teams. He’s adopted the tried and trusted 2-3-1-2-2 which mashes the AI but has struggled against human opposition.
Philip is out of the traps at 100mph (or kmh for our European readers) and into a two goal lead thanks to Yorke and Henry. From there though, Dan finds his feet and makes a number of chances which they don’t convert – George Weah is particularly culpable. Boban goes off injured to be replaced by Veron who is then sent off but that seems to spur Dan on, with Signori pulling one back and Van der Sar over employed to retain that lead. Philip holds on but food for thought for both managers.
A fairly even game for chances, but did the red card make that much of a difference?
Fundamentally, Dan’s players didn’t take the chances but Philip’s goalkeeper was a big part of that.
On to match two then…
TomReedWriting vs CornishZak
Tom has competed in all five CM Cups and will be confident of causing some problems here with Rivaldo, Batistuta, Brian Laudrup and the legend that is Tom Youngs.
Zak another lopsided formation, purely designed to take down Philip but this will be an early test.
Oliveira gives Zak the early lead and De La Pena doubles it. It’s not the most attacking of fixtures but it is sparked into life when Batistuta pulls one back. It’s not enough for Tom though and Zak picking up an away win will give him every chance of progressing.
The stats show Tom actually shaded it but just couldn’t create the chances.
De La Pena takes man of the match but Klos would have deserved it.
Things are looking good for Philip and Zak
Let’s see what Group D has to offer…
Group D
KingOfTheRooks vs Matt_C_Wills
It’s a Blog derby to begin with. El Blogico? That won’t catch on. What might catch on is Andrew not playing a goalkeeper and hoping Phil Neville can pull double duty as a left back and a goalkeeper. Paul McGrath helps out.
Matt is using trusty 2-3-1-2-2. Dion Dublin protecting the back two will be an interesting experiment.
Enrico Chiesa is an animal. We hadn’t really thought of that but it makes sense, he is rather bloody good. His son is now really bloody good too, such is life. Future Nottingham Forest manager Lamouchi makes it 4-0 before Ehiogu pulls one back.
It’s a clear win but the stats show there wasn’t much between the two teams.
Maybe Songo’o will be the problem here. Well that and Blomqvist.
That puts Andrew is a great position to advance but let’s see what our final match of the day has to offer.
Charlemaagne vs 90sFootball
Our debutant Charlemaagne has opted for the sweeper keeper and a bit of lopsidedness. Nikolai presumably has had an influence here.
Paddy has gone for the 4231 and despite Ian Walker being in goal the team is pretty strong throughout.
It’s a bit of a battering but poor finishing means it’s 0-0 at half time. Zamorano does break the deadlock but Romario rolls back the years to equalise. Game on…for 6 minutes, when Del Piero is able to slot a penalty to win the game.
It was a bit of a battering in the end but the theme of today is that missed chances win matches.
Walker takes man of the match, a definite two fingers up to me for my opening comments.
That leaves the table looking like this:
With four of the best third placed teams going through it’s likely that 4 points will be enough, of course the safest thing to do is finish in the two. More great insight tomorrow.