The opening game of Cup XIX is now one for the history books as we begin our quest for a new Champion of the FC Dynasty universe.

Group F got us started as FC Not Very Athletic opened their doors and 36,157 fans watched their boys take on Canadian club SwampDragons United. The home fans didn't have long to wait when an early corner kick by Finn McRickard found the head of Scully Malon, who nailed it past a frozen dragons goalie Treshawn Aznar into the back of the net for the 1-0 at the three minute mark. Lindsay Hynes then stretched the Athletic advantage to 2-0 when he dove forward and beat Aznar to the corner in the 31st.

Desperately needing something to change the momentum, the dragons changed their tactics and pressed for the last 10 minutes of the opening half and created a couple of chances, finally capitalizing in the 41st minute when Jai Richard beat Athletic netminder Derrick Richardson up high to go into the break only down 2-1.

However, to start the 2nd half, Athletic made some adjustments of their own and completely controlled the flow as the final 45 minutes began. Owning possession and placing constant pressure on the dragons defense, it finally yielded the third and final Athletic goal in the 60th minute when London Jamison out-jumped everyone in the box to make it 3-1, which is how the game ended to give the Group favorites all three points.

There is another game this evening and two more tomorrow before the tourney really starts to heat up on the 19th.

Oh boy.

A statement was made this evening out of Group G where the Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. were playing their first ever FC Dynasty Cup game against the Cup XIV Champion the crutchanators of soccer. crutchanators established their presence early when Ville Koivula weaved his way through the Scorpions defense and knocked one in off the underside of the crossbar in the 6th to take the 1-0 lead. After Vegas tied the contest off a header by Bromleah Rodríguez, who benefitted from crutchanators goalie Rueban Lazar muffing the ball, the visitors scored two out of the next three to take a 3-2 lead a few minutes before halftime.

The makings of an exciting 2nd half went out the window in the 43rd minute when crutchanators' veteran left defender Raymond Vela picked up his 2nd yellow of the half, being sent to the showers after a silly foul. Rodriguez made them pay on the ensuing resumption of play as he netted his 2nd of the game to tie it at 3-3 going into the break and the Scorpions never looked back. The 2nd stanza was a blowout as Vegas scored 5 times, including a pair by Borivoj Fales to post an unexpected 8-4 rout over crutchanators. If there was a silver lining for the former Champs, it was that they netted four away goals which will be good for tiebreaker purposes. However, giving up 8 goals is never a positive.

I'm glad I put my teenage Dutch team into this group...they're going to get slaughtered. See you tomorrow.

Had a minor error to correct in the Group F standings but it is all sorted now.

Talking about Group F, FC Not Very Athletic has opened Cup XIX with a very good start as they take their 2nd straight home victory, this time a 4-1 decision over Hardknoxs F.C. After a scoreless first half where both teams had decent looks at the goal, Athletic broke the deadlock in the 51st when London Jamison scored on a ball that beat Hardknoxs goalie Gervase Hyland to the far post to make it 1-0. Although the American club was able to tie the game at 1-1 in the 59th, Athletic had too much firepower, primarily in the form of Lindsay Hynes, who scored twice in 6 minutes late to put the game away and give team from England a 4-1 win.

Athletic sits atop the standings with 6 points while Hardknoxs and Swamp U have almost identical records at the bottom of the table in the early going. Both teams get to improve their lot when Hardknoxs hosts the dragons in the lone game this evening, which is looking like an important matchup for both clubs for playoff implications even though the tournament has barely gotten underway.

Group F had its 3rd game this evening as Hardknoxs F.C. and SwampDragons United were both looking to bounce back from difficult losses in their openers. Unfortunately, the difficulty continued for the host club as the dragons won convincingly on the road 5-1, burying the American club into a hole they're going to need to quickly climb out of.

Swamp U scored off a corner in the 11th minute off the head of Winslowe Grey and Cup XVI Golden Toe winner Jerrad Forko had the Midas touch twice to lead the dragons. Javaughn Galey, who has been the lone offensive weapon for Hardknoxs in the tournament, scored for the 2nd game in a row but it was nowhere near enough. The result gets the dragons into the plus side for goal differential and gives them 5 away goals, which is always useful. Hardknoxs fall to 0-2 and a -7, as their next game is looking like must point if not a must win.

There are 5 contests tomorrow as we head into a game-heavy weekend.

We finally had a close game in the Group Stage after a couple of days of multi-goal wins. FC Not Very Athletic improved to 3-0 in Group F but they had a serious test when first-time Cup participant Jonzo's Gongers rolled into town and pushed them to the limit. The Gongers, the first team we've had from Portugal in a while, got most of the best chances in the opening half, although neither team was able to convert. Athletic broke the tie in the 52nd when Lindsay Hynes scored his 4th goal in three games but the Portuguese kept the pressure on, knocking one off the post a few minutes later off a shot from Alexander Arellano. The Gongers generated 16 shots but couldn't find a way past Athletic goalie Derrick Richardson, who made 7 saves and preserved the shutout. The win brings Athletic close to clinching a knockout round spot (already) as it looks like the other three teams will be battling for 2nd place.

Another close match was in Group G where Las Vegas Scorpions F.C., riding high off their inaugural Cup win, got brought down to earth a little bit as they fell 3-2 to Not Very United and its lineup of veterans. 50 year old Tate Papia opened the game with a perfectly placed header to give Not Very the 2nd minute lead. Czech midfielder Borivoj Fales then tied the game at the 10 minute mark when he hit a grass burner that slid underneath the outstretch arm of Not Very goalie David Silva and teammate Leif Bbjornstrand scored right before the halftime whistle to give the Scorpions the 2-1 lead at the break. What was looking like another group home win fell apart in the closing 15 minutes as Not Very drew level off Benny Perea's blast and Inocencio Sierra got the game winner when his effort in the 80th was bobbled by Scorpions goalie Duysek Cernik, as the Vegas dream of going undefeated died hard.

The last two games of the morning were a pair of 4-0 thrashings. FC Stolpen Steamroller opened up Group B play with an easy win over Brighton AFC in Lower Saxony. Rey Jaime scored a hat trick before the 30 minute mark and teammate Alfred Dull knocked one in at the 43 minute mark as the German squad simply coasted in the 2nd half. Brighton's best chance to score came off the foot of London Cuesta, whose shot got past Steamroller goalie Saul Hussey but the ball was cleared by a defender right before it went over the line. In the other 4-0 result, Metropolitan Eagles opened their Cup at home in Stockholm and was handled by Southeast Indiana Football Club in Group C. Englishman Zowie Champneys scored twice and Dayshawn Rickworth netted off a nifty strike to give Indiana all three points to disappoint the 34,960 Swedish fans in attendance. The Screaming Eagles had their chances but didn't possess the quality needed in the attacking third to capitalize on their 21 opportunities.

We have a single game this evening which I'll post sometime after 7pm.

Sorry for the late update. Real life threw a curve ball this evening.

First of all, I had Hardknoxs F.C. misspelled in the game summaries, although it was correct in the standings...so my apologies and the summaries have been updated. Second, Hardknoxs dropped their third straight Group F game, losing 3-2 at home to Jonzo's Gongers, making the American club's task to advance a difficult one. Jahiem Goodenouth wasted no time getting the Gongers on the board as the Portuguese club capitalized on an early corner kick to grab the 1-0 lead. Rey Bejo was able to draw Hardknoxs level but a goal right before halftime by Brazilian Ander Calamaro gave the Gongers the lead for good. The teams traded 2nd half scores but the Hardknoxs tally by Jakob Sacheverell came in the 85th and there wasn't enough time left to find the equalizer as the Gongers literally played keep away to run out the clock.

A note about one of the games tomorrow morning. Slough FC hosts FC Kingston in Group E play at 7am but there are two games at the same location in the same exact time slot. I will be recording the result that appears first on Slough's schedule since it is their home game...in other words, right below the Slough 4am league game.

There were four morning games that went final and, ironically, the duplicate game between Slough FC and FC Kingston out of Group E didn't matter since both games finished with the same score. Conner Hernández got the only goal of the 1st half to give Kingston the 1-0 advantage when he got one to float over the outstretched arms of Slough goalie Kaemon Kakutani in the 34th. Unfortunately, whatever momentum the Cup XII Champion had was wasted when Otilio Jorge picked up his 2nd yellow and forced his team to play a man down for the rest of the game. Slough made them pay, getting a side-footed shot by Takeshi Takada in the 59th to tie the game. Adjusting to the handicap, Kingston scored on the counter-attack to grab a 2-1 lead but fatigue cost them as Slough applied constant pressure in the last 30 minutes, finally drawing level in the waning moments off the head of Lorenzo Armando to cap off the scoring as the game ended as a 2-2 draw, the first draw of the tourney.

Not to be outdone, newcomer Queen City FC played its first Cup game at home against Cup X Champion Merchiston FC in Group H play as it produced the 2nd draw of the day and another 2-2 result. Argentine midfielder Andres Lavezzi got Queen City off to a fast start when he placed a perfect header into the corner in the 4th minute and teammate Ramm Molyngton extended the advantage to 2-0 in the 38th as the massive crowd of 52,702 started to sing. However, that set the stage for Dutch legend Thomas-VanLuijk De Meyer, who at age 72 is still getting the job done. With a few moments left in the half, De Meyer hit a powerful header that Queen City goalie Kory Taylor got his hands on but couldn't stop from crossing the goal line. A Math Boyes score in the 66th completed the comeback as both teams split the points.

Godai Hiroshima, yet another new Cup participant, showed they mean business by picking up an impressive road win over Brighton AFC in Group B, taking all three points in a 4-1 triumph. After the teams traded goals in the 1st half, Godai poured it on in the final 15 minutes, scoring three times from three different players, disappointing the Brighton sellout crowd of 45,000. Japanese defender Toyozo Hirano hit a highlight reel shot as he volleyed a one-timer in the 74th that was hit so hard, Kingston goalie Kolton Rimando just watched it sail past him. With the loss, Brighton falls to 0-2 and has a big differential to make up if they want to think about advancing.

The last game of the morning was an impressive 5-2 road win for FC Trojans of SC over North Polar Dragons FC out of Group D. Statistically, the game was even. The difference was the Trojans capitalized on their opportunities and only Colombian striker Valdo Ernesto possessed the quality to score for the Dragons as his excellent game was wasted. Janyd McGourty scored twice for the Trojans and veteran Mohamed Burch added one as the 3rd Place finisher from Cup XVIII are looking strong in their quest to have an even better tournament this time.

There are several afternoon games which I will record this evening.

the crutchanators of soccer have bounced back from a bad opening loss in Group G by trouncing Not Very United 6-2 on the road to give them a super-impressive 10 away goals tiebreaker. Dropping their first contest 8-4, crutchanators were able to keep all 11 players on the pitch and put on an offensive show. Finn Ville Koivula led the charge with a pair of goals as the midfield scored 5 of the team's 6 goals, giving the forwards the night off. Not Very was led by Tate Papia, who scored in his 2nd straight game but a poor performance from young Brazilian goalie David Silva, who saved less than half the shots he faced, doomed the Canadian club to their fate.

Swamp City Dragons, always a favorite to advance to the knockouts, opened their Cup with a 3-1 road win over Southeast Indiana Football Club in Group C action. Zowie Champneys scored again for Indiana but the Dragons scored twice in the 2nd half to break a 1-1 tie. Arley Movsisyan, the 122 year old all-time leading Cup scorer, sealed the deal in the 70th when he found himself open in the middle and fired a nasty ball that beat goalie Patrick Borgman, 87 years his junior, clean to the near post.

The final game of the day was yet another 2-2 draw when Wolfsburg Dynamit and Swampdragons FC got Group A underway. Gervaso Gonzalez placed Wolfsburg up 1-0 when he showed off his vertical leap and rose above a sea of players in the box after an early corner kick. The dragons then converted a couple of corners themselves to take the 2-1 halftime lead but Kamatari Yoichi's strike in the 85th got past Issiar Fillel and the teams had to settle for splitting the points. All four goals were scored off headers from corner kicks, so the game was a set piece exhibition.

There are no less than 12 games tomorrow, so I'll have to break that up into several updates. Also, I will be posting the list of unscheduled Group Stage games as we have less than a week to get them on the docket.

This is the first of 3-4 updates for today.

Newcomers BC Timber Wolves got their Cup career off to a good Group A start when they hosted German club Wolfsburg Dynamit and won 3-1 in front of a touch over 23,000 in attendance. Jeovânio Javier Pedro weaved his way through the defense and scored unassisted after his shot beat Dynamit goalie Arik Strub to break a 1-1 tie and give the Timber Wolves the lead for good. However, there was some late game drama as Pedro was red carded in the 60th for knocking his mark to the turf. Wolfsburg had several excellent chances at the end, including a shot by Witter MacMorrow that clipped off the post but the Canadians held on till the final whistle.

Brighton AFC recovered from their opening losses out of Group B to score a vital three points as they beat FC Cackalacky 4-2 on the road. Things were looking dire for Brighton as Cackalacky scored twice in the first 7 minutes off goals from Adriel Rowley and Magne Persson as the prospect of falling to 0-3 looked like a reality. Veteran American forward Jessie Moose had different ideas and started a furious comeback that saw Brighton score four unanswered to close the half. By the time Somerset Keckilpenny tallied right before the break, the momentum was firmly on their side and Cackalacky couldn't muster anything else for the rest of the match. The win gives Brighton some hope for advancement, although they have some work to do to erase a bad goal differential. Cackalacky has plenty of games to bounce back.

To wrap up this update, Godai Hiroshima has firmly established themselves as the team to beat in Group B after their 2nd straight 4-1 win to open Cup play, this time over a very solid FC Stolpen Steamroller squad. Jacoby Bowne scored a hat trick to lead the Japanese team and goalie Hokusai Tokugawa almost posted a shutout but was beaten by a great individual effort when Lichuen Farías bent in a ball like Beckham from way outside that would have beaten any netminder playing the game. Godai now sits atop the group with a +6 goal differential and is looking good.

I'll post another 3-4 results around 1pm or so.

Four more games have been added to the standings on this first big day of the tournament.

FC Trojans of SC won their 2nd straight 5-2 decision out of Group D, this time beating Fortuna Düsseldorf in Fortuna's inaugural Cup match. The Trojans jumped on them early with an 8th minute score from Morrey Sumner and the lead was 3-0 before the tournament jitters finally wore of the German squad.. Baldwin Buchman got Düsseldorf on the board but the Trojans had too much talent, Janyd McGourty added a pair of goals as the team from So Cal sits atop the standings at 2-0 and a +6, looking like a playoff team for sure.

Bad News won their opening Group D game with a 2-1 home victory over North Polar Dragons FC, who fell to 0-2 in the early going. The game was scoreless going late into the 2nd half when the offense finally came out of hibernation. Xever Mariano Andrés and Oumar Ribéry scored a few minutes apart to give News all three points. North Polar was able to erase the goose egg in the 89th when Emilio Costellanos connected on a header to finally get the Dragons on the board and minimize the goal differential hit as they will be needing a positive result soon to keep their playoff chances alive.

A couple of games in Group C round out this update as Swamp City Dragons jump to the top of the standings with their 2-2 draw against Metropolitan Eagles, the 3rd 2-2 draw of the tournament up to this point. The ageless wonder Arley Movsisyan scored again in the 53rd, as the centenarian elevated to beat Metro Eagles goalie Dickie Grosskopf with a header but the Swedes were able to manage the tie when Bolek Horejsi scored in the 88th to salvage a point to the relief of the 43,500 watching in Stockholm. Also, FC Winnipeg Royal Lions won a tight game against Southeast Indiana Football Club in Indiana. Another massive crowd watched Indiana goalie Patrick Borgman make save after save but Lions forward Nyék Sallay got lucky in the 32nd when his shot deflected off the leg of a defender and went in for the only goal of the 1-0 victory, ruining an excellent individual performance by Borgman, who was otherwise the player of the game.

There are still 5 more games which I will update this evening as well as add all of the goals to the Golden Toe tracker.

Made a slight change to the Fortuna Düsseldorf summary write-up as I had stated that they hailed from World 91, which is incorrect. They are a World 63 team. We haven't had a German World 91 team compete in the Cup (where the tournament originates from) in a very long time, sadly.

The L'Orteil D'or (The Golden Toe) tracker has been updated with the goals scored through the 2nd update today with Lindsay Hynes (FC Not Very Athletic) and Janyd McGourty (FC Trojans of SC) tied for the top spot with 4 goals.

Picked up the couple of games that had already completed while I wait for the 7pm games to sim.

Las Vegas Scorpions F.C. got some revenge on Not Very United in the return game in Group G as they split the series with a 3-1 road win. The Scorpions dominated play but couldn't break through in the 1st half as the contest went into the break scoreless. That all changed right after the whistle to resume play. Borivoj Fales nailed a header in the 46th minute and teammate Evzen Jirak duplicated the feat a couple of minutes later as Vegas pulled away. Senon Digao was able to get one back for Not Very but they had only one more shot on goal for the last 35 minutes of play and that was an easy save for Scorpions goalie Duysek Cernik.

Merchiston FC and Queen City FC played their return game in Group H after drawing their first game 2-2. Queen really came out swinging as they scored four goals in the 1st half, twice by veteran Spanish defender Victorio Linares to build up a 4-1 halftime lead. Merchiston was able to right the ship in the 2nd half as they slowly worked their way back into the match, getting a pair of goals midway through the 2nd stanza from Demy Pocognoli but 4-3 was as close as they could get. Math Boyes almost tied it in the 70th as Queen goalie Oswaldo Cortina had to punch the ball over the crossbar and substitute Downing Pearson clipped one off the post but Queen was able to hold on to take all three points and move to the top of the standings.

The 7pm games should be firing off in the next few minutes and I'll start on the summaries in a half hour or so.

Merchiston FC's time out of 1st place lasted a few hours as they crush my Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V. squad 6-2 on the road in Group H. Mano Araña scored twice for The Billygoats to give them a 2-1 lead before everything fell apart. Merchiston, annoyed by the home crowd's chanting, laid on a beating in the 2nd half. Math Boyes scored twice and MacPherson MacLeay scored in the 66th as the team from Scotland scored four times in 10 minutes, shutting up the Cologne fans for good. Merchiston jumps back in front of Queen City FC for the top spot, which they had lost earlier in the day.

FC Gimli Vikings got their Cup XIX off to a good start after beating Slough FC 4-3 in a game of two evenly matched teams out of Group E. Momentum swings were the name of the game as Gimli scored twice in the first 13 minutes followed by Slough scoring back to back goals seconds apart before halftime. After Connor McCarty and Takeshi Takada traded goals early in the 2nd half, the draw was finally broken in the 81st when Kubas Hlavin beat the fullback on the edge of the box and ripped a shot across the goal face that beat Slough goalie Kaemon Kakutani by a hair and knocked off the far post and in for the win.

North Polar Dragons FC got their first win of the Cup and erased most of their bad goal differential after a 6-3 drumming of Fortuna Düsseldorf in North-Rhine Westphalia. Lorah Ausubel got the Germans off to a good start by scoring in the 11th off a swinging corner kick but that was the last of the lead they would see. Isdel Rosas started the party for the Dragons as he scored the first of his two goals in the 28th and his followup 12 minutes later. By the time Ilias Lesberg netted for North Polar in the 70th, the lead was up to 6-2 and Fortuna, to their credit, played hard the rest of the game and got one right before time expired in extra time when Lambret Haas gave the F95 fans a positive note to go home with.

Lastly, Swampdragons FC jumped over BC Timber Wolves in Group A as the Scottish Dragons picked up the 3-1 road victory. Tobias Márquez broke the scoreless tie in the 31st with a header and the lead was 2-0 before the Timber Wolves finally got on the board.when Tyron Herbert went unassisted and fired a ball past Issiar Fillel to give the Canadians a goal. The dragons sit with a 1-0-1 record and 4 points while the Timber Wolves hold 2nd place with an even record of 1-1. Of course, everyone in Group A is waiting to see the defending Champs Rushmore FC start their tourney and see what kind of team they have assembled for their title defense.

Alright, if today was busy, wait until tomorrow. We have 16...that is SIXTEEN games on the docket. That is going to take me just a bit of time to write up and record all of those matches. 16 sets a record for the most games in one day in Cup history, so I wouldn't be surprised if a team or two come close to clinching a playoff spot and earn some blue highlighting. See you tomorrow.

I have one more bit of info. On the first page, right below the Golden Toe tracker, is the unscheduled games post. We currently have three games that are unscheduled. Here is a copy of the post. Let's give those three games a date...

Unscheduled Games - 3

Group A

Rushmore FC home to Swampdragons FC (Rushmore sends the challenge)

Group E

FC Kingston home to FC Gimli Vikings (Kingston sends the challenge)
FC Gimli Vikings home to Club Deportivo Baile Brian (Gimli sends the challenge)

OK, I will be doing four batches of four games for today and the first games have now been added. Due to the number of games, the summaries will be a little condensed.

The defending Champion Rushmore FC got their repeat quest underway with a statement game, winning 5-0 on the road in Group A against Wolfsburg Dynamit, answering the question about what kind of team they have assembled. Rushmore came out of fire, scoring three in the first 17 minutes and then converting the tourney's first penalty kick when Wolfsburg's Witter MacMorrow took out his mark with a late sliding tackle. Amerigo Siviglia, who scored a Cup XIX-leading 4 goals in the contest, calmly measured up his shot and buried it in the upper corner.

In a strange pattern, Godai Hiroshima has played three group stage games in Group B and all three games have gone final with the same score, 4-1. Unlike the first two matches, Godai lost this one, as FC Cackalacky won at home to give the Japanese squad its first defeat in Cup play. Over 56,000 celebrated the American club's win as they never trailed. Emile Vessels scored twice and Adriel Rowley scored late off a shot that went off the hands of Godai goalie Hokusai Tokugawa with only minutes left to give Cackalacky all three points in a very tight group. Godai's lone goal in the 31st off the foot of Nachton Peter

Bad News improved to 2-0 as they beat FC Trojans of SC 1-0 as the French club plays its 2nd straight game with a stingy defense that has only given up a single score. The one offensive highlight came in the 15th when Oumar Ribéry received a cross and headed a ball towards goal. Trojans goalie Dantrell Gonzalo was in position but muffed the save and it rolled past him into the goal for the News game winner. Both teams are sitting at 6 points with 7 Group D games remaining.

To wrap up this update, FC Kingston and Club Deportivo Baile Brian played to a 3-3 draw in Group E, as all four teams are separated by only 2 points. Benoni Händzel scored a hat trick for Kingston and it looked as if they were going to coast to a home win being up 3-1 with only minutes left to go. It didn't happen as Baile Brian found two late goals to salvage the point. Dionte Gray scored a rare header off a free kick rather than a corner in the 84th and teammate Ossnait Delahunty received a swinging cross outside of the goal box and blistered a shot that beat Kingston goalie Kenyon Harris to the corner.

I'll post another four games around lunch time.