National Cup Season 41 Update by tree_amigos (RA)

The quarter finals of the US National Cup Season 41 will be played March 10^th, the semi-finals on March 13^th, and the Finals on March 15^th, so there’s a potentially busy week in store for some of the teams mentioned below. All of the teams who have reached the quarter finals had placed first in their groups so the quality of the teams is definitely high and the matches should be hotly contested. Congratulations to all the teams for progressing this far in the Cup.

Three of the top ten scorers for the competition are present in the eight remaining teams. The match between Cascade Park West and Atherton will have two of those strikers. Jeremy Simons is in the number seven spot and plays for Cascade Park West who advanced after topping group 8 with a 12-0-2 record. In their last match, a 3-1 victory, they scored all the goals due to an own goal which fortunately did not affect the final outcome. Atherton, with fourth place leading scorer Anton Nica advanced to the quarters with a 5-0 romp. Nica scored four of those goals, so Cascade Park West may have their hands full trying to contain him. Atherton advanced out of group 15 with a 13-0-1 record.

Second match on the docket is C.A. Ituzaingo, who advanced out of group 7 with a 10-2-2 record against RIVER PLEI from group 11 (11-1-2 record). C.A. Ituzaingo’s last sixteen round match against Ithaca Black Eagles was a case of scoring early and holding on for the win as all the goals were scored by the 17^th minute. RIVER PLEI on the other hand rallied back from a two goal deficit to win 3-2 over El Paso FC with goals late in the second half.

The third match is between DIABLO ROJO CALIFORNIANO from group 6 (11-0-3) and River Plate DB (group 10, 13-0-1). River Plate DB features the number two goals scorer for the competition; Viorel Chirita, who had two goals in their last match. River Plate DB’s other two forwards also contributed 2 goals a piece. River Plate DB’s performance may be hindered though by the fact that they are with out two very productive defenders who are serving suspensions for yellow card accumulation.

The final quarter final match is between AC Milan (group 14, 11-2-1) and Creekers (group 1, 15-1-0). Both teams are missing a defender due to yellow card accumulation and both squads managed 1to win by one goal in their last matches. Creekers are the only team in the final eight to have played 16 matches in the group stage, so the question is did the extra games help them to gel as a squad or will those extra two matches and lack of a break between the group and the elimination stages prove two matches too many. We’ll find out as the teams face off in these quarter final matches.