The Madaschi Cup

[ManfredSchaefer]

43 minutes ago, mack said:

Ward didn't just have one game, he also played a trial game for us at campbelltown iirc, I think in our first season, and played one of the worst games I've ever seen.

Still remember watching Jake Barker-Daish on trial with us at Deakin against Canberra FC. Now there was a candidate for the Madaschi Cup we just missed out on.

As for Group D which closes at midnight tonight it looks as if it's going to be Griffths in 1st place and Ruka in 2nd. That will lead to two very tasty match ups for the Group A & D qualifiers.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Group D Results are in:

• Ryan Griffiths: 15 votes
• Sam Gallaway: 4 votes
• Reece Caira: 4 votes
• Nikita Rukayvtsa: 9 votes

So this leaves us with the following match ups for the round of 16:

There are some fascinating duels coming up, with Kuzmanovski vs Rukavytsa and Tongyik vs Griffiths possibly being very tight.

Just a reminder that Groups E and F end tonight at midnight:

Group E: https://linkto.run/p/2S2MZ3EN

Group F: https://linkto.run/p/JYT0L8LU

Group E is neck & neck between Sotirio (10), Mahazi (9) and Fitzgerald (8)

Group F is a lot more settled with Borda (19) and Pinatares (7) almost certainly locked in for the round of 16.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Just ran a bit of a simulation & I reckon we could be seeing a Borda vs Adeleke GF...

[StringerBellend]

1 hour ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Just ran a bit of a simulation & I reckon we could be seeing a Borda vs Adeleke GF...

Now there’s a surprise 

[ManfredSchaefer]

12 minutes ago, StringerBellend said:

Now there’s a surprise 

Watch for the semi finals...

[StringerBellend]

9 minutes ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Watch for the semi finals...

Borda has to win although he’s currently lighting up the Spanish Third tier 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aritz_Borda

sorry must be the wrong guy 

“Borda is described as a central defender with a very good aerial game. He is strong in the challenge and passes well with both feet; additionally, his building up process is interesting as well as his capacity to score goals in set pieces in attack”

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by StringerBellend

[ManfredSchaefer]

Group E & F are done, and here are the results:

Group E:

• Mario Shabow: 1 vote
• Rashid Mahazi: 9 votes
• Jaushua Sotirio: 10 votes
• Nick Fitzgerald: 8 votes

Group F:

• Bruno Pinatares: 7 votes
• Vitor Saba: 4 votes
• Daniel Alessi: 0 votes
• Aritz Borda: 19 votes

So now we only 2 groups to finish with 4 spaces up for grabs.

Group G: https://linkto.run/p/BDSP2RTY

This group is easily the most one sided...Pio is romping it in with 26 votes so he is virtually locked in to go up against Pinatares.

Group H: https://linkto.run/p/H1VK0O8J

Kwabs is another virtual lock for winning his group, whereas McDonald and Scott are neck & neck with 7 & 6 votes respectively. 

Once voting closes for these two groups (which happens at midnight tonight) the quarter finals will be confirmed and then on Monday we'll start the knock out stage.

[Unlimited]

How is McDonald even up there

Clearly Scott is the worse of the two and should be the runaway group leader. At least Appiah won our club ACL player of the year award

Did Scott even score for us in like 800 appearances?

[ManfredSchaefer]

5 hours ago, Unlimited said:

How is McDonald even up there

Clearly Scott is the worse of the two and should be the runaway group leader. At least Appiah won our club ACL player of the year award

Did Scott even score for us in like 800 appearances?

Appiah won our ACL player of the year?

And yes, Scott did score for us, unlike Kwabs or McDonald

[Unlimited]

10 minutes ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Appiah won our ACL player of the year?

And yes, Scott did score for us, unlike Kwabs or McDonald

Second paragraph 

https://www.a-league.com.au/news/appiah-joins-wanderers-exodus

[ManfredSchaefer]

7 minutes ago, Unlimited said:

Second paragraph 

https://www.a-league.com.au/news/appiah-joins-wanderers-exodus

Christ the judges must've been blind or drunk or both.

If anyone deserved an ACL medal in THAT campaign it was either Trifiro or Cole. They were legends.

[matty]

How did Saba not get through!? The guy did nothing and was a prima donna to boot. At least Pinatares' first season with us was a solid one. 

[ManfredSchaefer]

1 hour ago, matty said:

How did Saba not get through!? The guy did nothing and was a prima donna to boot. At least Pinatares' first season with us was a solid one. 

Truth be told I thought Group F was the group of death and I would nto have been surprised if Saba and Borda, or Saba & Pinatares got through.

Pinatares only had the one season and was neither adequate nor egregiously woeful. I think what may have put him down for more votes than Saba was that the Brazilian did have a few moments where his tekkers & his personality papered over his obvious faults. For example there is no doubt he played a role in our ACL championship. I tend to think that he was (like Pio) the victim of his own ego to some extent, and also the victim of some shoddy officiating that had a negative impact on his drive to play well for us. Of course better players with a more solid character would've worked through those issues.

Anyway he misses out on a match up with the winner of Group G who is...

 

I'll reveal all later today.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Okay, the group stage of the Madaschi Cup has finished and boy oh boy do we have some round of 16 match ups!

First off, here are the results for Groups G & H.

Group G:

• Matt Sim: 2 votes
• Nick Kalmar: 0 votes
• Federico Piovaccari: 27 votes
• Antony Golec: 0 votes

It's patently obvious that Pio put in a stunning performance in this group, blowing away his opposition & claiming the most votes for any one player, easily surpassing pre-tournament fave Seyi Adeleke. As both Golec and Kalmar got 0 votes when the Madaschi Cup returns they'll be pushed out in favour of potential new qualifiers such as Nizic, LLorente, Fofannah etc.

Group H:

• Jerrad Tyson: 0 votes
• Kwabena Appiah-Kubi: 16 votes
• Josh McDonald: 7 votes
• Lachlan Scott: 8 votes

Whilst Kwabs had, just like his on pitch work in red black, all the running the race for second place qualification between McDonald and Scott was very close. That Scott bounced McDonald at the death shows a finishing touch we would've loved to have seen him show more often as a tyro striker.

So, here are the qualifying match ups as we enter the knock-out stage:

I will set up the polls so that the qualifiers can start on Tuesday at midnight, with two per day and each poll lasting 72 hours. Each qualifier will be previewed and of course any comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks to all who voted in the group stage and I hope you return for the round of 16. If you haven't voted before please jumpei on borda from here on.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Looking back on the group stage there are some interesting results.

First off it may be argued that Saba & Kusukami were lucky/unlucky not to get through to the round of 16. If either had been in Group A or Group H they would have had a better chance of qualifying. Of course the results for Group C have been discussed in more detail beforehand however it was a surprise that Ward from that group.

Tyson and Carrusca were controversial entrants and their nil votes indicate that they were probably better left out of the group stage. When it came to identifying goal keepers for the group stage the options were limited, based on those who had left the club and played in an A-League, FFA  Cup or ACL game. Redmayne did come under consideration however to be honest I thought he has shown that with the right coaching staff & a solid defence in front of him he can be more than adequate. That Tyson has had a desultory career since his first departure from the Wanderers plus his focus on cooking gives one pause to think about what he really offered us on the pitch. Of course off the pitch he was a legend. 

Unfortunately I couldn't justify either Saliadarre nor Hall for a GK pozzie in the group stages as the former never played a single minute for us (I believe...happy to stand corrected) whilst Hall only played in a couple of friendlies (I recall an abominable effort against Apia out at Marconi). Maybe I should've looked at Bouzanis more closely, and when their contracts are finished Nizic and Janjetovic will definitely be worth a look at.

It has to be said that the younger players who were included might have been unfairly selected, and some of the cameo players were also harshly treated. From the former ranks the likes of Youlley, McDonald and Scott could just have easily been replaced by Majok, Fofannah, Perkatis & Aspro. Ditto Sim and Ward being supplanted by longer serving players such as Minnecon or Mebrahtu.

However, when push comes to shove I would argue that the final 16 reflects pretty accurately the players who have been the least successful, been the most egregious in not performing up to the standards expected of a Wanderer. And just like a 'real world' cup there will always be aberrations and surprises.

[sonar]

11 minutes ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Looking back on the group stage there are some interesting results.

First off it may be argued that Saba & Kusukami were lucky/unlucky not to get through to the round of 16. If either had been in Group A or Group H they would have had a better chance of qualifying. Of course the results for Group C have been discussed in more detail beforehand however it was a surprise that Ward from that group.

Tyson and Carrusca were controversial entrants and their nil votes indicate that they were probably better left out of the group stage. When it came to identifying goal keepers for the group stage the options were limited, based on those who had left the club and played in an A-League, FFA  Cup or ACL game. Redmayne did come under consideration however to be honest I thought he has shown that with the right coaching staff & a solid defence in front of him he can be more than adequate. That Tyson has had a desultory career since his first departure from the Wanderers plus his focus on cooking gives one pause to think about what he really offered us on the pitch. Of course off the pitch he was a legend. 

Unfortunately I couldn't justify either Saliadarre nor Hall for a GK pozzie in the group stages as the former never played a single minute for us (I believe...happy to stand corrected) whilst Hall only played in a couple of friendlies (I recall an abominable effort against Apia out at Marconi). Maybe I should've looked at Bouzanis more closely, and when their contracts are finished Nizic and Janjetovic will definitely be worth a look at.

It has to be said that the younger players who were included might have been unfairly selected, and some of the cameo players were also harshly treated. From the former ranks the likes of Youlley, McDonald and Scott could just have easily been replaced by Majok, Fofannah, Perkatis & Aspro. Ditto Sim and Ward being supplanted by longer serving players such as Minnecon or Mebrahtu.

However, when push comes to shove I would argue that the final 16 reflects pretty accurately the players who have been the least successful, been the most egregious in not performing up to the standards expected of a Wanderer. And just like a 'real world' cup there will always be aberrations and surprises.

Up until his injury I thought Aspro was one of the better "youth" performers. I rated Majok as better than Scott even though he has boots made of concrete ( if his touch is anything to go by ).  I agree about Carusca.....had a bit of skill about him.

I wonder if you may want consider to doing a poll on the players that never made the start list.....ie Shinji....Santalab etc as the "best of "to wear our colours.

[ManfredSchaefer]

1 minute ago, sonar said:

Up until his injury I thought Aspro was one of the better "youth" performers. I rated Majok as better than Scott even though he has boots made of concrete ( if his touch is anything to go by ).  I agree about Carusca.....had a bit of skill about him.

I wonder if you may want consider to doing a poll on the players that never made the start list.....ie Shinji....Santalab etc as the "best of "to wear our colours.

Oh I am definitely thinking about that. Maybe name it the St Dino's Cup.

Also looking at putting together a worst  XI based on these cup votes.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Meine Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Monsieurs, Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the beginning of the knock out phase of the Madaschi Cup.

As per previous posts we are now in the Round of 16 where those who finished first or second in their respective groups now must duel against each other for the right to be known as the winner of this inaugural WSW least satisfactory player honour.

Each match in this round will be open for voting for 3 days (72 hours) and it goes without saying that double voting will be considered very naughty & deserving of a smack on the botty.

When casting your vote you may wish to consider bare statistics (e.g. goals scored, tackles made, wins). Or you may wish to also bring into the equation how your preferred player disappointed you on one or more occasion. Did he come into the club a big signing with huge dollars and then before the season was over end up in Popa's bad books? Did they fail to make an impression on the club and left with hardly a wet eye among the supporters? If a young Wanderer was their career with us one short shining example of incompetence or a long drawn out stumble (hello Jaush!).

Ultimately this is a subjective choice and as  FC Brondby striker 'Noddy' Polonius said in the second half of the Danish FC Cup Final played at Elsinore. 'to thine own self be true'.

Round of 16: Match One (Voting starts midnight Tuesday October 1st)

https://linkto.run/p/LS2XE63C

Steven Kuzmanovski (Group A winner) versus Nikita Rukavytsya (Group D Runner Up)

K-Man as he was known was a young tyro who came to WSW from the AIS and ended up playing 8 games during our disastrous 2014/15 season (with only 3 of these as part of the starting line up). For all his tekkers he never scored for us in the HAL and was dropped from the squad at the end of that season. Sadly his career went into a spiral including a serious injury & playing biefly for Melbourne City (the later being worse for his hopes of becoming a successful player). 

Ruka was our big Australian signing of the same 2014/15 season and came to us from Bundesliga club FSV Mainz. He played a total of 28 games for WSW (23 HAL, 4 AFC & 1 CWC) for a total of 4 goals (3 HAL, 1 AFC). Those of us (like @FCB) who greeted his signing soon realised we had a recruited a player who was over-valued and had speed to burn & a football brain that also must've been scorched. Without doubt his efforts in our club's colours were nowhere near what we deserved or what the suits paid for.

My Pick for the Winner: Rukavytsya has to be the fave here. K-Man was ordinary but he was cheap & young. Plus he never finagled himself into a Socceroos squad after playing for us as has Ruka.

Voting ends midnight Friday October 4th

Round of 16: Match Two (Voting starts midnight Tuesday October 1st)

https://linkto.run/p/ETMSL9BV

Ruon Tongyik (Group A Runner Up) vs Ryan Griffiths (Group D Winner)

Tongyik was one of the 'The Good, The Bad & the Ugly' trio that was signed by dud coach Josep Gombau just before he was rightfully given the arse. Lumped into Babbel's 2018/19 squad he went onto a spectacularly underwhelming career of 2 HAL appearances before being released in January 2019. 

Griffiths joined the Wanderers during the January 2017 transfer window and made a far bigger impression with his mouth off the pitch than with his feet on the pitch. He played 5 HAL games with only one start for a total of 117 minutes and nil goals, and 2 ACL matches for 108 minutes and again, nil goals. He wasn't even listed in the squad for our last semis appearance under Popa. Griffiths has been one of the least influential & successful players we actually brought into the club so as to supposedly improve things.

My Pick for the Winner: Has to be Griffiths. Unlike (for example) Carrusca who many argue made a difference to a struggling squad, Griffiths may have actually decreased the squad's effectiveness. 

Voting ends midnight Friday October 4th

[ManfredSchaefer]

Holy snapping ducks' nuts...

Round of 16 hope Rashid Mahazi has scored a goal in for his Korean club Incheon...

https://twitter.com/NickRupolo/status/1178421692714176513?s=20

[WHACKO]

Trifecta

Adeleke  Borda  Pinatares

[ManfredSchaefer]

15 minutes ago, WHACKO said:

Trifecta

Adeleke  Borda  Pinatares

No love for Pio?

[WHACKO]

1 hour ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

No love for Pio?

First four.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Voting for Round of Sixteen matches one & two are now open.

[ManfredSchaefer]

10 hours ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Voting for Round of Sixteen matches one & two are now open.

Early days for the first two match ups and, without divulging the count so far, there's a 60/40 split in both cases. There may be a boil over in one if the trend continues.

Will be posting details of the next two matches later today with voting in those kicking off at midnight tonight.

[StringerBellend]

On 29/09/2019 at 12:08 AM, matty said:

How did Saba not get through!? The guy did nothing and was a prima donna to boot. At least Pinatares' first season with us was a solid one. 

I think you are getting Pinatares mixed up, with Dimas 

Pinatares was crap 

you are right about Saba though 

Edited October 1, 2019 by StringerBellend

[ManfredSchaefer]

Well folks, it's another magic day in the Madaschi Cup and we're kicking off two more round of sixteen match ups from midnight tonight. Before I get into them just a quick update on the first two polls. Without giving exact results one duel is now tied & one is now only split by 2 votes.

Now, for the details of the next matches:

Round of 16: Match Three (Voting starts midnight Wednesday October 2nd)

https://linkto.run/p/Q1VYBO8J

Josh Risdon (Group B Runner) versus Seyi Adeleke (Group C Winner)

Now this will be an interesting pairing. Adeleke has a lot of supporters and we all recall his fantastic work in impersonating a FIFA 2014 character with the dual shock control pad broken. He started in 4 HAL games and aside from giving away a pen or two, getting a couple of yellow cards and generally being a dud, he did get to play for 360 mins in that league without being subbed (our stocks were that shite in 2014/15). He also had two 'did he really play' appearances in our CWC campaign with no cards. He must be well in with a shot of winning the Cup.

However don't discount Josh 'I pissed off to the green & black when I knew Babbel was tired of my incompetence' Risdon. With 31 appearances for the red & black in HAL & FFA comps and a very strong effort of 13 yellows in that time, he definitely left us looking back with fond memories of Scott Neville. His ordinary form for the Socceroos was about the only bright spot in his time with WSW, and we recall his shocking profligacy with inaccurate crossing. To be blunt Risdon's only positive contribution to our club culture was giving a few of us a name for a trivia team.

My Pick for the Winner: Whilst Risdon was a dud and a long term local one at that, surely Adeleke has this sown up. He was without doubt one of the least capable international players to ever come to Australian soccer...he almost made William Gallas look good.

Voting ends midnight Saturday October 5th

 

Round of 16: Match Four (Voting starts midnight Wednesday October 2nd)

https://linkto.run/p/G2SVFZEL

Chris Herd(Group B Winner) versus Nick Ward (Group C Runner Up)

There's already been a few keystrokes wasted over how Ward got through instead of Kusukami, so the bottoml ine here is does an injury replacement player in our worst season, who got injured in the only HAL game he ever played for us, beat a player with  European experience & genuine Socceroo hopes who literally went MIA in our second worst ever season. A January 2018 reject who departed during the Gombau-Wow era, Herd came into the squad looking half decent. Instead he spent more time worrying about his missus and as rumoured other players' missuses too. He should have been a key part of our 2017/18 campaign and from the little we saw of him when fit & motivated he could've been the goods. However he wasn't, and with the money that must've been thrown at him as well as the importance of his tenure at WSW being basically sabotaged by his own BS he really deserves to be listed here.

My Pick for the Winner: Chris Herd 100%. Ward doesn't have the litany of woe to back up his winning this.

Voting ends midnight Saturday October 5th

[ManfredSchaefer]

Day two of the Round of 16 match ups and so far matches one & two are both split by only one vote, whilst its way too early for matches three & four.

Later today match five and six will be previewed before they kick off at midnight.

You can vote here:

Match One: https://linkto.run/p/LS2XE63C

Match Two: https://linkto.run/p/ETMSL9BV

Match Three: https://linkto.run/p/Q1VYBO8J

Match Four: https://linkto.run/p/G2SVFZEL

[ManfredSchaefer]

The penultimate brace of Round of 16 matches kick off at midnight tonight and it could be said these represent the dashed hopes of four young hopefuls who didn't reach the heighst we all hoped:

Round of 16: Match Five (Voting starts midnight Thursday October 3rd)

https://linkto.run/p/7FJC85K7

Jaushua Sotirio (Group E Winner) versus Lachlan Scott (Group H Runner Up)

Sotirio is arguably the best performing player to have been drawn into the Madaschi Cup and is definitely at another level in terms of of his WSW achievements as a round of 16 contenders. With 90 appearances for the Wanderers across the A-League, FFA Cup, ACL & Club World Cup he was the junior player who somehow, someway kept a position in Popa's, Gombau's & for one season, Babbel's squad. With 12 goals, the same number of yellows and a red card he has plenty of serious numbers to back up his campaign to win the coveted Madaschi. However Jaush's stats don't tell all the story. For those of us who have watched him these last 7 seasons we have season the unwieldy caterpillar transform into...um, an unwieldy older caterpillar. With pace to burn and two footballing feet that are as connected to his brain as Cardinal Pell is to celibacy Sotirio has always delivered face smacking moments.

Lachie Scott on the other hand is a neophyte, a young lad who has hardly come up to the same standards of Sotirio. A promising forward when at the NYL level, he had a few moments of glory in the Wanderers 2017 ACL campaign. However off pitch discipline and other issues look to have undermined his hopes, and considering he possibly had the best opportunity to turn his apprenticeship into a long term career at WSW last season when Babbel played so many babes, to have dogged it with only four HAL games shows he had only one option at season's end...off to the 'Gong.

My Pick for the Winner: Sotirio in a canter. One of our heroic misadventures.

Voting ends midnight Saturday October 6th

 

Round of 16: Match Six (Voting starts midnight Thursday October 3rd)

https://linkto.run/p/DGWCZIO1

Rashid Mahazi (Group E Runner Up) versus Kwabena Appiah-Kubi (Group H Winner)

Mahazi may go down in WSW history as the least satisfactory signing from Babbel (assuming Ziegler gets on the park a few times this season). A long term squaddie at Melbourne Victory, he was brought to the Wanderers from the fabled ranks of Moreland Zebras, and went on to play 16 games for us last season. He came into his own at the end of our 2018/19 campaign with 6 starts in that last seven rounds, logging plenty of minutes. However would he have been in this position if both Ziegler and Doherty were fooked for the season? Probably not. He's now in the K-League and has scored a goal for Incheon, so perhaps the Mahazi story still has some chapters to go.

The legend that is Kwabs will always resonate for true Wanderers fans. Part of the original three who signed for us back in 2012, Appiah (using his post-WSW name) was arguably even faster than Sotirio and less skilled, yet he couldn't match JS for club longevity. As reported earlier he was named by the club as the player of our 2014 ACL campaign, which indicates the boys must've really hit the piss in Riyadh after knocking off Al-Hilal. Sadly Kwabs never scored for us, unlike his later career at Dynamo Woy Woy. So for all that speed and lack of control he failed to put the ball into the back of the oppo's net.

My Pick for the Winner: Gotta be Kwabs. A foundation misfire that still brings a smile to all sokkah fans dials.

Voting ends midnight Saturday October 6th

[ManfredSchaefer]

Today is the last day for voting on the first two match ups in the round of sixteen. Without going into who is polling what, the Kuzmanovski vs Rukaytsya match up is very tight whereas Tongyik vs Griffiths is a bit more certain.

Also later today the last two match ups will be previewed before they kick off at midnight tonight.

[ManfredSchaefer]

52 minutes ago, ManfredSchaefer said:

Today is the last day for voting on the first two match ups in the round of sixteen. Without going into who is polling what, the Kuzmanovski vs Rukaytsya match up is very tight whereas Tongyik vs Griffiths is a bit more certain.

Also later today the last two match ups will be previewed before they kick off at midnight tonight.

Just a reminder that if there is a tie in any of these polls the determining factor will be who played the most competitive (i.e. HAL/FFA Cup/ACL/CWC) games. If that is tied then it's who had the most minutes on pitch. If that is tied then I'll try and find some other bullshit criteria or just go have a beer and pick one at random.