NMA Blog Cup Semifinal Results

GW-16 saw the semifinals of the blog cup, and with the current round of midweek games going on (well some of them), that makes this coming weekend the final. If the games go ahead!

32 qualifying teams took part in the semifinals, and the top 20 advance to the final. This was a week with a wide range of scores, where a few players who were not universally picked scored big, including Leicester’s James Maddison, Palace’s Conor Gallagher and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling. Having two of them in your lineup probably meant you were going through. Picking Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka in goal wasn’t a great idea though; he earned hapless fantasy managers minus 11 points.

Scoring among the contenders varied from an impressive 164.5 for Smoke & Mirrors down to a disappointing 60 from Le Titans 11 who sadly didn’t live up to their name.

Here are the results in full

So a three-digit score failed to guarantee qualification for the first time in the competition — 105.5 was needed. It is interesting to note that 105.5 points was the joint-68th best score for the week, so there were 47 previously eliminated managers who scored above the cut. Give yourselves a pat on the back and feel good about your chances in the next cup later in the season.

Coming first in a qualifying round counts for nothing; PPQ topped the scores in the quarter finals, but has fallen this time round. Quite a few managers who narrowly scraped through will be both surprised and relieved I think, including blog editor Jeff for the second round in a row. Are his Alehouse WAGs going to come good in the only round that really matters?

Adding spice to GW-18 is the Covid postponement of the Manchester United vs Brighton match. It would have been the one early match giving Fantrax managers two confirmed lineups. With it out of the way, the Fantrax deadline has already been revised to 15:00 GMT when four matches are scheduled to start simultaneously. If that schedule holds, then our finalists should see EIGHT confirmed lineups (AVL, WHU, SOU, BRE, WAT, CRY, BUR & NOR) during the countdown hour! The schedule is so fluid that we should just tune in Saturday to find out if GW-18 can even go forward.

Six of the league’s top 10 teams have made it through, so there is going to be plenty of tough competition for the final, where the top-ranked team of the 20 qualifiers will be crowned NMA Blog Cup Champion 2021!

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How did you do? Did you fall at this hurdle? If so, which players let you down? Or did your team sail through easily? If you fell out earlier but scored above the cut, does it feel like an accomplishment or missed opportunity (“Could’a been a contenda”)? Please let us know in the comments!

And finally, whom do you fancy to win the final? Could Team stallexpress follow up its 2021 NMA F-11 Cup win to do a 2020 cup double? Could Blog manager David’s Team DavidBrian come good? Or perhaps 92nd placed Bottlers will fly in the face of their name and position?

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