CL Last 16 Fifa 15 Tournament Review

The 23rd Tyke Fifa Tournament ‘The Champions League Last 16’ has concluded, here is the review of which I hope you enjoy.

Starting in the first of two five player groups is Group A consisting of Greg and Mike who are playing their second tournament, ever-present Tyke, two-time champion Saggy and four-time champion Kent, with four qualification spots up for grabs in both groups there was plenty to play for at this stage. Kent and Saggy have been the dominant forces since the switch to PS4 and that was highlighted in this Group with both finishing comfortably in the top two. Kent with Bayern Munich beat everybody apart from Saggy himself, his Manchester City team beat Kent 2 – 1 but due to dropped points elsewhere it was Kent who took the top spot. Whilst Greg finished his fourth, his qualification was sealed early on due to a 2 – 0 victory against Mike and a 1 – 1 draw with Tyke meaning he qualified for his first knock-out stage with Juventus.

The drama just like last tournament was with Tyke and Mike. Before these two both did battle, Mike had just defeated Saggy and was resting on three points, Tyke however had just the one point with one less game played. So if Mike with Chelsea beat Tyke’s Arsenal then it was game over for Tyke. It was a tight contest and Mike was winning 2 – 1 with three mins to go, however a late (very late!) Oliver Giroud strike gave Tyke a slender lifeline and left Mike sweating. This was because Tyke had to beat the already-qualified Saggy who I had only ever beaten once and I wasn’t finding any rhythm with Arsenal. However a strange Ozil strike at the end of the first-half cancelled out an early goal from Saggy and a Walcott header from a corner in the mid-second half saw Tyke hold on for an unlikely victory. A measure of revenge was gained from Tyke after the semi-final defeat of last tournament by Mike, Mike joins that small club of players who have had strong debuts but find it tougher on the second showing.

Group B now and this was the Group of returning players! Voom, Virus and Flip all returning for the first time on PS4 and the first time since 2013, tournament regulars will remember Voom as a three time tournament champion who broke the legendary SpursBoy’s dominance. Also present was Junior the winner of the first ever Tyke Fifa Tournament and three times champion, making his long awaited debut on PS4 and was last seen in 2013. To complement their presence was Crouching an ever-present player.

Absence had clearly not affected Voom’s Fifa skills too much, he racked up 9 points with his Porto side which included a 6 – 2 smashing of Junior. This meant he topped the group. Virus suffered his only defeat in this group against Voom, but this did not stop him and his PSG side taking second place with a close 1 – 0 victory against Junior and another close 3 – 2 win against Crouch a 2 – 2 draw with Flip made sure of progression. Flip who didn’t lose a game, but drew three with his only victory against bizarrely this group’s top player in Voom was enough to see his Real Madrid side into third.

Poor old Junior with Dortmund never got going in this tournament drawing just one game against Flip 2 – 2 and losing the rest including the aforementioned 6 – 2 against Voom. This meant Crouch could profit and secure a rare progression beating Junior 2 – 1 and drawing with Flip 0 – 0 to take his Atletico side to the Quarter-Finals!

The first Quarter-Final now and I apologize if some of these reports are lacking, but not many of the players gave me information about their matches to work with. Anyway it was an instant re-match when Tyke was drawn against Saggy, Arsenal v Manchester City once more. This game was extremely tight with Saggy having more possession but unable to find that killer ball in the final third, a cheap penalty in the 28th min resulted in Tyke going 1 – 0 up and it continued that way throughout the remainder of the half. The second-half was just as tight with Saggy creating a few half-chances but no success. Frustratingly for him a well-worked goal finished by Diaby in the 81st min saw Tyke go 2 – 0 up. Saggy did get one back, but it was in the 94th min and despite a very late free-kick hitting the bar, it was too late for him to get that equalizer. So Tyke after going without a victory against Saggy for so long gets two wins in succession and is through to the semi-final. Saggy suffers an earlier exit that what he is accustomed to.

The second Quarter-Final was two players who easily negotiated their respective groups with Kent’s Bayern Munich taking on Flip’s Real Madrid side. The match finished with a 4 – 1 victory to Flip, judging from Kent’s comments it seems like Flip was utterly dominant and it must’ve been a class performance to beat Kent by that margin. However tournament regulars will remember Flip wasn’t exactly a pushover either. So Kent goes out in the Quarter-Final not really getting close to equalling that five trophy record of SpursBoy, yet. Hope he doesn’t retire and we see him in the remaining Fifa 15 Tournaments. Flip is in the semi-final!

Next was Crouch v Voom these two played out a 2 – 0 victory to Voom in the group stages and it would be a proper Champions League earlier knock-outs contest between Atletico and Porto. Not much info was given but Crouch was denied the chance to go 1 – 0 up thanks to a magnificent save from the Porto keeper which must’ve fired Voom into life as Crouch was really complimentary about Voom’s performance who won 2 – 0. Voom through to another semi-final in pursuit of that fourth title and Crouch happy enough with a Quarter-Final finish, but must work on his poor knock-out record.

The last Quarter-Final was Virus v Greg, PSG v Juventus. Two players completely unknown to each other about to do battle, Virus was lamenting having to play Juventus but it clearly motivated him to do well as he ran out a 3 – 0 winner over Greg who felt he deserved more from that match and Virus was in agreement claiming it was his start to the match which won it. Virus takes his place in the semi-final whilst Greg makes a reasonable progression from the last tournament.

CONTINUED IN FIRST POST