Reviewing my preseason Predictions - Cup Edition

[Rylakn]

For one of my very first articles, I previewed the season ahead. At the time I had very little understanding of the league or the teams at the time. I still don’t have a full understanding of how the teams are playing, as I have largely been focussed on the Academy season exclusively, and in my free time I have been working on branding for the expansion org 2. I thought it was about the time I looked at how my preview was holding up. I think for the purposes of this PT though, I will focus solely on the cup, and I will be relying on the portal for this update, so lets hope it is updated.

I am going to start by comparing how my top 8 looks against what has actually happened and then dive into any major surprises.

My quarterfinalists
CF Catalunya
Krung Thep
Shanghai Dragons
Schwarzwälder FV
Hollywood FC
CD Tenochtitlan
Reykjavik United
União São Paulo

After looking into the portal, I am absolutely stunned to see that this is actually the exact same list as who is actually playing in the quarterfinals. Slight spoilers I guess, as I released the script ahead of the season. So that kinda ruins the rest of the article. I guess I will have to go into the remaining match ups and spoil the rest of those results for you now too.

Initially I had Catalunya over Krung Thep, Shanghai over SFV, Hollywood over CDT and Reykjavik over Sao Paulo and I think honestly I will stand by these picks. After writing that last sentence I went to see when the QFs were going to be played and it turns out they were on yesterday/today depending on time zones, so I want you all to know that everything up to this point has been blind and I am now going to chuck on the youtube video to see who won the matches, before returning to finish this article.

First up we have Reykjavik against USP
So this got ugly fast and ruined my predictions. I had Reykjavik winning the cup and after 90 mins USP came out on top 5-2. Not only is this my first incorrect guess, it blows up my whole bracket. I guess by default I am going to have to cheer for USP now for the sake of the rest of my bracket.

Game two is CDT vs Hollywood
Oof, two games in and two incorrect predictions. Looks like I’m not as omniscient as I thought I was when I started writing this article. Sorry Hollywood, I guess my QF curse is real. Lets move on to game three and see if it continues.

Game three is Shanghai against SFV
This one wasn’t close, and for the first time today, I was correct in the pre-season. Shanghai walking away with an easy win over an undermanned SFV.

Game 4 is Catalunya Vs Krung Thep
Back to back big wins for the teams I predicted, with Catalunya taking this one easily, scoring 4 goals in the first 50 minutes.

At this stage I don’t know who I should be rooting for. I have no draft prospects to protect and no stake in the game. I have USP who knocked out my champion prediction or the two teams that I picked to make the Semi Finals. I think from here I am declaring myself rooting for Catalunya, because they are the team I had making the final initially. Even though I predicted they would lose to Reykjavik, I am now jumping off the sinking longboat and rooting for Catalunya.

Good luck to all.