Third Anniversary Fifa Tournament Review

Firstly I would like to apologize for the lateness of this review and I can promise that my subsequent Fifa Tournament reviews will be uploaded to this site within 48 hours of the tournament finish. So here is the ‘Third Anniversary Tournament’ review, I hope you enjoy it.

Unfortunately this tournament had just the six players and the one group due to pull-outs for one reason or another, but it was six of the best which remained! Tyke, Crouching, Saggy, Mon, Viva and Wenger contested this group with an assortment of different teams. Firstly a mention to Viva who had a decent team in Besiktas but for one reason or another completely flopped at this tournament losing all of his matches scoring none and conceding fifteen in the process. Needless to say he finished rock bottom.

For the others it was a much tighter affair, occupying the top two spots were Saggy and Tyke with only one goal difference separating them, but they had both experienced defeat and the group wasn’t plain sailing for either. Saggy with Manchester United was beaten in a mini-thriller 3 – 2 by Wenger’s Palermo, whilst Tyke’s Sunderland were defeated by Saggy in a laboured 1 – 0 match. Most importantly though, both progressed.

The last two places of third and fourth is where the group got really interesting, in the end just one point separated third from fifth. Wenger failed to defeat either of his rivals in this mini duel losing 3 – 0 to Mon and drawing 1 – 1 with Crouching, however he managed to take three points off one of the top two in Saggy and this coupled with a win over Viva to the tune of 6 – 0 saw him take third place and progression to the semi-finals.

In the end for Crouching’s Southampton and Mon’s Sassuolo it was their match which decided the fates of both players, a scrappy 1 – 0 win from Crouching ultimately eliminated Mon and Crouching took the last semi-final spot by the skin of his teeth.

The first semi-final saw 1st placed Saggy take on 4th placed Crouching in a Premiership tie of United v Southampton. The match started pretty open and was more of a midfield duel up until the 36th minute when Crouching fluffed an opportunity from a cross only for Saggy to go straight up the other end and make it 1 – 0 which is how it stayed for that half. The second half saw Crouching get back into the match earlier on via another cross which he put away this time, however not long after a defensive mistake enabled Saggy to reclaim the lead. It was all Crouching after 75 mins, but it was to end in the ultimate frustration with chances missed including an open goal. Saggy got the win and the opportunity to do the official – spin-off tournament double, whilst Crouching can take heart from the experience of a rare semi-final foray.

The other semi-final was 2nd v 3rd with Tyke taking on Wenger, and considering the teams both had in Sunderland and Palermo these two arguably put in the best performances of the group. The match started with Wenger dominating, he really imposed himself on this game and got his reward early on going 1 – 0 up. This domination abated only slightly in the second half but lucky for Tyke the score remained 1 – 0. The second half started more evenly and a nice goal from Tyke mid-way in the second half saw the game level. However Wenger once again found his rhythm and Tyke had to do some pretty last ditch defending which worked… until the last moments of the game. A series of corners saw one eventually result in a goal and Wenger got the reward his performance deserved.

So the fourth ever spin-off tournament final saw two players who are both making their debuts in this type of final with tournament favourite Saggy and Manchester United taking on Wenger’s less fancied Palermo, it’s worth mentioning that Wenger beat Saggy 3 – 2 in the group matches.

The match started just how Saggy would want it to against this type of opponent with an early goal via Di Maria creating a 1 – 0 lead for him. Wenger didn’t muster too much of a response creating half-chances without ever really troubling Saggy in the first half. The disciplinary theme of Saggy continued through the second half too with Wenger once again being kept at bay and not causing too much trouble for Saggy. The 86th min saw Saggy wrap up the win and the title making it 2 – 0 with a Rooney goal.

So firstly well done to Wenger for getting to the final with Palermo the experience will serve him well. However I’m running out of words to bestow on Saggy who wins yet another tournament and becomes only the second person to win three titles in a row and complete the famous ‘spin-off’ and ‘official’ tournament title double! Will he be able to make it an unprecedented four titles in a row and become only the second person ever to win three ‘official’ tournaments in a row? See you on Sunday April 12th as we contest England’s second tier, the Championship!