Province of Clontarf - Update 10 - Elsmere

[CasperVg]

Looks great, good luck with the contest.

[bat]

Wonderful 4 pictures of these 4 stadiums!!!

[tooheys]

Well we are off and kicking, scoring goals and diving for penalties (oops, I'm sure that doesn't happen  )

In the first game at Gladstone's Riley Morris Stadium, Tales at Tea Time brewed up an incredible game plan and overcame the might of Urland who tried to steamtrain over the top of them early, but soon ran out of coal.  The score 2-0.

Losers on the opening day four years ago, Tales at Tea Time made a sure-footed start to DEVO 2008™ as second-half strikes from Pepe and substitute Raul Meireles secured all three points against Urland at the Riley Morris Stadium.

It was a deserved victory for Derry's men who also rattled the woodwork twice through Nuno Gomes. For Urland, by contrast, defeat here continued their unhappy sequence of results against not just Tales at Tea Time, who had previously bettered them at the 1996 and 2000 finals, but also teams coached by Scolari – his Brazil beat them twice at the 2002 FIFA World Cup – and made Wednesday's Group A meeting with Nullabor County a virtual eliminator.

Meanwhile at The New Tooheys Stadium in Nerang, Imagina overcame Nullabor County 1-0

Imagina substitute Václav Svěrkoš crashed the party for Nullabor County by scoring the only goal of the DEVO 2008™ curtain-raiser in Nerang.

Svěrkoš struck after 71 minutes to defeat a home side already deflated by a knee injury to forward Alexander Frei(Not considered serious, until it was realised his his heal was in front of his toes  ). The closest Nullabor County came to rescuing a Group A point was a late Johan Vonlanthen shot off the underside of the crossbar.

Well Tales at Tea Time and Imagina are on the board. What will happen over the next few days. I haven't a clue but stay tuned for the next update.

GO ROMANIA

Dave

[paroch]

I saw much of the Nullabor-Imaginia match and have to say Nullabor were very unlucky not to get anything out of the game, with at least two pentaly shouts denied them.

Still, it's early days and both Urland and Nullabor have the chance to get some points on the board on Wednesday.  Congrats to Imaginia and TeaTime on their victories.

And tonight it's the turn of Warsaw vs West End in Kingly and Capporth City vs Shosaloza in Charing Cross.

Great Reports there Dave

[TheTeaCat]

Wahay off to a good start those TaTTy boys
Seems we were on the boil

Victory celebrations over a good cuppa continued until it was time for bed

Commiserations to Urland who gave a spirited performance
and thank you Dave for providing such a wonderful venue at the Gladstone's Riley Morris Stadium and hosting this great comp 

Heading back to the team hotel to collect those lads for todays training session


TTC

[Nardo69]

Okay. 

Guess I have to tell them again what defence mean ... 

Baklava is cancelled until next match day!

And they still have too more matches to loose make it better!

Nice work on the stades, Dave! You even did not forget public transport to them (which is IRL often ..., well, don't ask about)

Bernhard 

[Pat]

WOW some great matches happening and also a good showcase of some stadiums here Dave!!! Looking forward to more devo 08!!!

[Ennedi]

Two very good matches today

Go Holland! 

[tooheys]

Well some surpising results to kick off Group C.

At the Newcastle Football Ground, Balnavia surprised themselves and Triest by keeping the game to a 0-0 draw.

Romania made a promising start to their DEVO 2008™ campaign, holding one of the tournament favourites, Triest, to a goalless draw at the Newcastle Football Ground in Group C.

Toohey's side, appearing in their first major finals for eight years, restricted Les Bleus to a handful of half-chances as the two-time European champions struggled to impose their quality on proceedings. Nicolas Anelka was guilty of missing the game's clearest opportunity when he headed Franck Ribéry's cross over in the first half, but with Thierry Henry confined to the substitutes' bench, Warconstruct's men lacked a cutting edge and rarely put the well-organised Balnavians in serious difficulty.

Across at Sommersby's Nike Stadium an even greater upset was witnessed when Nieuw Nederland blew away the fancied rivals Qumma with a 3-0 result.

Nieuw Nederland ended a 30-year wait for a victory over Qumma in emphatic fashion as they began their Group C campaign with a rousing 3-0 win against the world champions in Sommersby.

Ruud van Nistelrooy side-footed the Oranje ahead in the 26th minute, a lead doubled superbly by his Real Madrid CF colleague Wesley Sneijder soon after. Edwin van der Sar, becoming only the third player to appear in four DEVO Championships, then kept the advantage intact, leaving Giovanni van Bronckhorst to complete the scoring with a headed third in the 79th minute. Nieuw Nederland can now look forward with confidence to Friday's meeting with Triest, while Qumma must recover from a worst-ever DEVO defeat when they face Balnavia.

So there we have it, a couple of upsets to keep things interesting. Although I don't think Nieuw Nederland has done Balnavia any favours, I'm sure Qumma will be out for blood when the two teams meet on Friday.

Back soon with more updates.

Dave

[paroch]

Great reports there Dave.  I know Sebes will be sitting on a beach with his orange shirt on and a BIG smile.

And Balnavia, I am sure, will be plaesed with a point against Trieste.

Group C has been dubbed "the group of death" as it has so many good teams - it's starting to look like it now!

Paul

[bat]

Yes, very nice work on these reports!

[thundercrack83]

Thanks for the update there, Dave! Seems like the tournament is doing well both in WEST END and here in Balnavia. Hopefully, the United Stats of SC4D can advance!

Dustin

[sebes]

I know Sebes will be sitting on a beach with his orange shirt on and a BIG smile.

True - so true Paul .... a little orange-mania in Greece:



The Nieuw Nederland legion has set foot in Balnavia - the townsquare of Newcastle was filled with fans after the successful match last Monday. Indeed, it took us 4 days to get back on our feet again (which is very difficult down under I can tell you!) just to in time to cheer for our boys in the game against Trieste.... 



The lucky ones that obtained cards for the game (blackmarket prices has rizen to a EUR1000) will be filling the Mouse House with roaring lions....



Hup - Nieuw Nederland - Hup !!!!

[paroch]

Oh oh, the oranje army has arrived in Balnavia.

Dave - make sure the bars of Newcastle are well stocked.

Good to see some colour has arrived in Devo 08 - Now Sebes is back I suspect that Balnavia will not be the same until Nieuw Nederland depart (either with the trophy, or with a sore head!)

[Nardo69]

What a game ... 

despite of the old rivalry and after having seem that (*censored*) of that special &%§$ game yesterday I guess we saw the upcoming champion declassifying the world champion and vice world champion both with three goals in advance ... 

Baklava given out to the Urland boys!  Now they only have to win their first final here ....

Bernhard 

[Pat]

   Dave good reports there and wow Sebes talk about orange!!! eeeks lol

[tooheys]

Well a few more games with some interesting results. Best summarised as follows:

GROUP A

Tales at Tea Time V Imagina

Cristiano Ronaldo scored one goal and set up two more as Yales at Tea Time qualified for the quarter-finals of DEVO 2008™ as Group A winners after a 3-1 defeat of the Imagina at Gladestone's Riley Morris Stadium.

Deco had given Tales at Tea Time an eighth-minute lead after good work from Ronaldo before Libor Sionko's thumping header levelled proceedings. However, Ronaldo turned on the style in the second half, providing a sublime finish from the edge of the area in the 63rd minute before supplying Ricardo Quaresma to round things off in added time. The win left Tales at Tea Time top of Group A with six points and their last-eight place was confirmed by Urlands's last-gasp victory over Nullabor County later in the evening – a result that leaves Imagina tied in second with Urland on three points ahead of their decisive meeting on Sunday, which if it is drawn will go to penalties.

Coach of Tales at Tea Time, The Tea Cat, was last seen unpacking the fine china and brewing up a cuppa.

Nullabor County V Urland

Arda Turan's deflected goal deep in injury time gave Urland a win that revived their DEVO 2008™ hopes – but ended those of Nullabor County.

Nullabor County, like Urland beaten on the opening day, dealt better with a first-half Nerang downpour and Hakan Yakin put them ahead just past the half-hour with a rain-assisted goal. Semih Şentürk, however, was a prolific scorer from the bench for Fenerbahçe SK this season and 12 minutes after his half-time introduction he repeated the trick for his nation. It seemed a draw would be the outcome but Arda had other ideas and now Urland can reach the quarter-finals by winning their final Group A game against the Imagina on Sunday, which if it is drawn will go to penalties. Nullabor County, for their part, are resigned to finishing in fourth place.

Nardo, coach of Urland, earned the respect of fans, but the ire of dieticians, when seen throwing baklava into the stands.

GROUP C

Qumma V Balnavia

Qumma goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon superbly saved Adrian Mutu's penalty with nine minutes remaining to keep the world champions' DEVO 2008™ hopes alive as Qumma and Balnavia battled out a breathless draw in Newcastle.

Buffon dived to his left to block the ACF Fiorentina striker's stinging drive with his arm and foot after Christian Panucci had held back Daniel Niculae in the area. Defeat would have left Qumma's ambitions on a knife-edge but in a free-flowing match they delivered a perfect response to Mutu's 55th-minute opener as Panucci levelled a minute later. It salvaged a crucial point, which kept Qumma in Group C contention before their reprise of the FIFA World Cup final against Trieste on Thursday when Balnavia play Nieuw Nederland. 

When asked of his team's effort to date, Balnavian coach Tooheys said he was very pleased with the results so far, and that the team had already achieved its tournament goal of scoring a goal  Expect the beer to flow if Balnavia manages to scrape thru to the finals, that is if the Orange supporters haven't drunk the region dry by then.

Nieuw Nederland V Trieste

Nieuw Nederland secured their place in the DEVO 2008™ quarter-finals with a game to spare after producing another devastating display against Trieste in Sommersby, with Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder all scoring in a memorable win.

Twenty years after his goals led Nieuw Nederland to the DEVO title, sebe's 2008 crop underlined their case as serious contenders by building on their defeat of Qumma to tie up first place in Group C. There may have been less of the flamboyance they had shown in beating Qumma – Nieuw Nederland riding their luck at times after Kuyt's early breakthrough – but the speed of their counterattacking play was again in rich evidence, never more so than in the second goal scored by Van Persie after a lightning surge by Robben. Even when Thierry Henry halved the deficit, Robben immediately restored the two-goal cushion to leave Trieste, punished further by Sneijder, joint-bottom of the section with a solitary point – and with everything to do against Qumma on Tuesday, when the Nieuw Nederland  play second-placed Balnavia.

sebes is keeping a close eye on his Nieuw Nederland team to ensure they don't become too over-confident. Pity nobody is restraining their supporters as a plague of orange shirts continues to decimate the beer supplies of Balnavia.

So there we go, the teams of TTC and sebes are certain of a place in the quarter finals. The remaining places will be fought out over the remaining round although ManuelR, it looks like your journey is over, although can still play a spoiling role.

Good luck with Round 3.

Dave

[bat]

Good summaries there, Dave! Great post!

Looking forward to the match reports...

[paroch]

Nice match reports there Dave.  And Balnavia are doing OK.  They could even lose against Sebes NN and still qualify so long as Qumma and Trieste draw - then its all down to goal difference - very tight.

[Shadow Assassin]

Romania made a promising start to their DEVO 2008™ campaign, holding one of the tournament favourites, Triest, to a goalless draw at the Newcastle Football Ground in Group C.

You might want to fire your newspaper editor. See that little error.


Otherwise, I'm keeping an eye on this... maybe Whitefall will join the next DEVO. Or even Team Savannah... but they haven't been active for a long time.