FIFA 17 Revival Tournament Review

12 February 2017

Hello one an all, welcome to my review of the Fifa 17 Revival Tournament. A spiritual successor to the tournaments I used to host on here and hopefully the start of many more successful tournaments. This tournament consisted of 12 players who each picked a team 4 star or lower and were put into 3 groups of 4 with the top three all going through bar one play-off game. Here is my review of the tournament, I hope you enjoy it!

Starting off in Group A we had Hugo, Kami, Nadz and Nick. I knew about Kami and Nadz due to previous tournaments and Pro Clubs. Whilst I expected Nadz to do well in this tournament, Kami I didn’t really think would make much of an impact. As for Hugo and Nick, unknown quantities. Firstly get it out of the way and say Nick was a let-down who didn’t maintain the required communication thus his matches were voided and everybody else got 3 – 0 wins. It was Hugo who took the initiative in this group winning every match apart from a 2 – 0 loss to Kami which in hindsight was an impressive result by Kami. Following Hugo was Kami in second, despite Nadz taking 4 points off him. Nadz failure to take any points off Hugo saw him pipped by Kami on the virtue of plus three goal difference. Nadz as the second best third place finisher would go into the play-offs.

Group B now and this was the group most likely to produce the tournament winner as two self-proclaimed tournaments favourites in Tyke and TopLad were both in this group, along with the unknown Hoop$ and previous tournament whipping boy Trebs. It proved to be a strange group, whilst Trebs was beaten in every game bar one, some close, some not. Hoop$ proved he could mix it with the big boys taking all 6 points off Tyke and then disappointingly for him dropping 6 points against TopLad and drawing with Trebs, but he finished as the best third third, which meant he was automatically through to the next round. The Tyke and TopLad matches saw the former take 4 points, but TopLad due to his results against Hoop$ meant that he was the one who topped the group, with Tyke second.

Group C could be described as the weakest of the groups. Three of the players from past tournaments: Oscar, 1man and Ludy ranged from steady performers to whipping boys and we also had the unknown MTC. Oscar was the dominant force in this group, taking 16 points with only MTC able to get a point off him. MTC and Ludy fought a close duel for second place, but it was the former who just edged it despite his inability to beat Ludy. Ludy would go into a play-off against Nadz, whilst 1man secured just the solitary victory and finished at the foot of the group.

So with 7 players already through, it was the two third-place finishers for the final berth: Ludy against Nadz. Didn’t see this match but I know Ludy took the lead and almost saw the game out until Nadz scored in the 90th minute. However Ludy showed great mental strength to recover from this and snatch the win on golden goal. I expected Nadz to go much further in this tournament so well done Ludy.

CONTINUED IN FIRST POST

comment by BraveheartTyke (U6173)

posted on 12/2/17

The first of these knock-out games which consisted of two legs with away goal counting, came in the form of Hugo v Ludy. I didn’t see this game, but the home leg was Hugo’s first and he took advantage of this with a 1 – 0 victory, denying Ludy a crucial away goal and he did exactly the same thing in the second leg, denied Ludy a goal and secured another 1 – 0 win to make it a 2 – 0 win on aggregate. Hugo the unknown quantity was now in the semi-finals!

The second knock-out tie saw joint-tournament favourite TopLad take on rank outsider Kami. Kami was going to have to pull off something special to eliminate TopLad over two legs and he did the opposite. TopLad romped to a 3 – 0 away win in the first leg, virtually ending the tie as a contest, whilst further solidifying his dominance with a 2 – 0 home win making it 5 - 0 on aggregate. TopLad was in the semis and for Kami it was a rare foray into the latter stages of a tournament and the steepest of learning curves!

The next knock-out game saw another joint-tournament favourite Tyke take on the unknown MTC. I was obviously no stranger to knock-out football, but MTC could prove a dangerous opponent to face this stage. Luckily for me that wasn’t the case, the game was over in the first leg when I secured a 5 – 0 home victory, recovering from a slow start which MTC really should’ve took advantage of. The formality of the second leg saw a 4 – 1 away victory for Tyke with MTC putting in an improved performance and taking the lead. However the stark facts are it was 9 – 1 aggregate victory and that is embarrassing for any player. Hopefully will see more of MTC in future tournaments to prove he can play knock-out football.

The last knock-out match between Oscar and Hoop$ was the closest of the lot, but also the most boring. Both ties finished 0 – 0 meaning we had to go to golden goal to settle this one. Overall I would say Oscar played better and should’ve put his chances away, but it is goals that count and a converted penalty kick saw Hoop$ win this tie and make his first tournament semi-final!

The first semi-final saw TopLad’s Lyon take on Hoop$’s Lazio and as you know these two faced off in the group stages with TopLad winning both ties by 1 – 0 and 2 – 0 respectively. Was that an indication of how this match would go? No it wasn’t! The first leg was TopLad at home and he suffered a major setback when Hoop$ scored not once, but twice in a dominating first-half performance that deserved more than two goals. TopLad rallied in the second half and pulled one back to keep this tie alive.

The second leg saw TopLad continue straight from where he left off, whilst Hoop$ was displaying some rather nervous play. TopLad got his goal in the first half and needed only one more to put himself in front on aggregate, however he huffed and puffed whilst Hoop$ displaying some solid defensive skill, held out and reached the final in his first ever JA606 tournament! TopLad once again seemed burdened by the tag of ‘favourite’ and exited the tournament earlier than expected.

The second semi-final saw tournament favourite Tyke take on Hugo, Hugo surely buoyed by the efforts of Hoop$ who knocked out the other tournament favourite, TopLad. It was Tyke’s West Brom vs Hugo’s Leicester! The first leg was held at Leicester’s ground and a relatively even first half saw Hugo take the lead and looking like another wasn’t beyond him. The tide turned in the second half when Tyke was awarded a penalty which he duly despatched to give him the away advantage in the tie. Disaster then struck for Hugo who conceded another away goal and Tyke secured a 2 – 1 win.

With many not betting against Tyke to reach the final, Hugo had other ideas withstanding some early pressure to go up 2 – 0 by the end of the first-half. However just before the half ended Tyke squeezed in a goal to balance out the tie. Inspired by this turn of fortune, it was not long till another goal came and the start of the second half saw Tyke score again to make it 2 – 2 and 4 – 3 on aggregate and this was how it finished. A true classic semi-final saw the tournament favourite triumph and for Hugo a solid tournament debut which he will be hoping he can build on!

So here we are, the revived JA606 tournament had its first finalists: Tyke and West Brom v Hoop$ and Lazio. Hoop$ bested Tyke twice in the group stages 1 – 0 each time, suggesting this would be a close final. It was Tyke who had the possession in the first half, but I was only really creating half-chances, then Hoop$ gets one decent chance and boom, 1 – 0 Hoop$. This changed the game slightly, but Hoop$ did seem more content with keeping the lead than going for a second. The second half saw frustration after frustration for Tyke and it looked like Hoop$ had done yet another number on him, when Tyke scored a thunderous drive in the 84th minute to breathe life into this final and send it to golden goal where we saw a relatively mundane first half. Early in the second half though, Tyke took his chance and won the final, securing his maiden trophy in the revived tournaments!

So that was that, commiserations to Hoop$ who made a great case for himself that he could consistently challenge at these tournaments. However I proved that self-belief goes a long way, I had possibly the worst team in the shape of WBA, went behind in both the final and semi-finals and gave my opponents extra inventive to beat me. In the end though I am YOUR tournament champion, regardless of how it was won, I am the winner and I challenge anybody reading to sign up to the next tournament and come see what you can do!