2026-08-07, 04:52 AM - Word count:
Shanghai Dragons Football Club vs Uniao Sao Paulo
Predicted Winner: Shanghai Dragons
Score: 2-0
I'll keep this one brief since it's my article and I can do what I want.
Shanghai: Shanghai earned the top slot in majors division two (good job) and look to cap off their excellent season with a cup win. Their average TPE is up to 1779, with only 2 players under 1500. They have an great offense lead by a 2100 TPE player, and several WB up over 1900. It's a midfielder heavy roster with 5 so I assume they're playing all over. Their keeper is over 1900 as well, unlike the USP keeper.
Sao Paulo: Sao Paulo is peaking at over 1800 average TPE, with several players over 2000. Again, they have a lot of TPE on defense but their keeper is down at 1202 TPE. It's a battle of strength on strength with the USP defense vs the Shanghai offense. The USP attack is good, but flawed, with only 2 forwards + 3 midfielders. Ultimately it's the difference in keeper TPE that worries me, and shows in their match history.
Majors Promotion / Relegation
Athletice Clava Romana vs Club de Futbol Catalunya
Predicted Winner: CF Catalunya
Score: 2-1
Rome: Rome is trying to usurp Catalunya and earn their spot. They have some highlights to the roster, including a forward and midfielder over 1900 TPE, but otherwise it's a pretty bleak state. They're rostering 2 players under 1000 TPE and have no defenders over 1400. They scored almost 50 goals this season but I think that's more due to the TPE advantage of their forwards + offensive midfielders. The defense and goal keeper (there's 2 for some reason, both under 1100 TPE) worry me in a promotion match.
Catalunya: Catalunya took the oops all midfielders approach. They are a very well balanced team with all players but 2 between 1400 and 1800 TPE. There's an over 200 point gap in average TPE over Rome. They have 3 defenders with one over 1900 TPE which should help to mitigate the big players from Rome. And, frankly, I'm not sure Rome has enough defensive power to keep up with the attack from Catalunya. They only scored 21 in the season but that was against majors rosters, not ones where they had a sizeable TPE advantage.
Minors Promotion / Relegation
Montreal United vs Inter London Football Club
Predicted Winner: Montreal United
Score: 1-0
Montreal: I think Minors rosters tend to just be more of, "what do we have on hand?" than anything particularly crafted for success. Especially with young, recently drafted players I just get that vibe. The Montreal team scored 22 goals and allowed 20, just enough to get second place. Their four highest players by TPE are either CD or CDM, following by two strikers and a goal keeper. I expect them to do a pretty good job holding the offense down, but I'm not sure how much they can really score themselves. The aforementioned high TPE players, by the way, are 900+ for the CD/CDM group, with only one surpassing 1000 TPE. It's a different ball game in the minors!
London: Both parts of the Rome/London org are playing in promotion games. London has a much more complete roster than Montreal, and notably don't have quite the same "lows" in terms of TPE. Some Montreal players are sitting in the 400s, while nobody on London is lower than 615. They did give up a lot of goals during the regular season, though, but luckily the Montreal strength doesn't appear to be in scoring. They have two midfielders and a striker over 1,000 (and a RAM + CM in the 990s) so it's another strength on strength: London offense vs Montreal defense.
I decided to get cheeky with it and have an upset, with Montreal promoting. Just so I could feel alive.
Predicted Winner: Shanghai Dragons
Score: 2-0
I'll keep this one brief since it's my article and I can do what I want.
Shanghai: Shanghai earned the top slot in majors division two (good job) and look to cap off their excellent season with a cup win. Their average TPE is up to 1779, with only 2 players under 1500. They have an great offense lead by a 2100 TPE player, and several WB up over 1900. It's a midfielder heavy roster with 5 so I assume they're playing all over. Their keeper is over 1900 as well, unlike the USP keeper.
Sao Paulo: Sao Paulo is peaking at over 1800 average TPE, with several players over 2000. Again, they have a lot of TPE on defense but their keeper is down at 1202 TPE. It's a battle of strength on strength with the USP defense vs the Shanghai offense. The USP attack is good, but flawed, with only 2 forwards + 3 midfielders. Ultimately it's the difference in keeper TPE that worries me, and shows in their match history.
Majors Promotion / Relegation
Athletice Clava Romana vs Club de Futbol Catalunya
Predicted Winner: CF Catalunya
Score: 2-1
Rome: Rome is trying to usurp Catalunya and earn their spot. They have some highlights to the roster, including a forward and midfielder over 1900 TPE, but otherwise it's a pretty bleak state. They're rostering 2 players under 1000 TPE and have no defenders over 1400. They scored almost 50 goals this season but I think that's more due to the TPE advantage of their forwards + offensive midfielders. The defense and goal keeper (there's 2 for some reason, both under 1100 TPE) worry me in a promotion match.
Catalunya: Catalunya took the oops all midfielders approach. They are a very well balanced team with all players but 2 between 1400 and 1800 TPE. There's an over 200 point gap in average TPE over Rome. They have 3 defenders with one over 1900 TPE which should help to mitigate the big players from Rome. And, frankly, I'm not sure Rome has enough defensive power to keep up with the attack from Catalunya. They only scored 21 in the season but that was against majors rosters, not ones where they had a sizeable TPE advantage.
Minors Promotion / Relegation
Montreal United vs Inter London Football Club
Predicted Winner: Montreal United
Score: 1-0
Montreal: I think Minors rosters tend to just be more of, "what do we have on hand?" than anything particularly crafted for success. Especially with young, recently drafted players I just get that vibe. The Montreal team scored 22 goals and allowed 20, just enough to get second place. Their four highest players by TPE are either CD or CDM, following by two strikers and a goal keeper. I expect them to do a pretty good job holding the offense down, but I'm not sure how much they can really score themselves. The aforementioned high TPE players, by the way, are 900+ for the CD/CDM group, with only one surpassing 1000 TPE. It's a different ball game in the minors!
London: Both parts of the Rome/London org are playing in promotion games. London has a much more complete roster than Montreal, and notably don't have quite the same "lows" in terms of TPE. Some Montreal players are sitting in the 400s, while nobody on London is lower than 615. They did give up a lot of goals during the regular season, though, but luckily the Montreal strength doesn't appear to be in scoring. They have two midfielders and a striker over 1,000 (and a RAM + CM in the 990s) so it's another strength on strength: London offense vs Montreal defense.
I decided to get cheeky with it and have an upset, with Montreal promoting. Just so I could feel alive.
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![[Image: Seth-Mc-Neil-Sig2.png]](https://i.ibb.co/BKHRWXxn/Seth-Mc-Neil-Sig2.png)
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