Poland. For someone like me with a background in 1.6 Poland means one thing - Pentagram but since they're not involved here I had better ditch that line of enquiry and move along. Made up from players from sources including Deadly Bullets and Vision of Excellence the Polish starting five will quite probably be well known to many of you though will be planning a smash and grab raid on the Welsh team here tonight. Individually I have to say I know less about the individual players here than their opponents which always makes you lean towards what you know though the teams the players are drawn from certainly know one end of an m4 from the other. A close match could well be in prospect here.
Probable team : splitterek, dvn, disek. skater, tokz
With their player/manager/mascot Jafro on board the Welsh are always going to be in with a chance. The big question is of course who will be backing him up? Complete Control, Random Five and perhaps the single Cotch player in particular will be the ones making a difference here tonight against the Polish fraggers. Questions were asked of course why Wales was afforded a slot of it's own and not included as part of a UK team? Well Wales may be a small country on the map to many of you but thoroughly deserve the right to represent themselves just as much as any other country in the cup. Hopefully tonight the boys will come through and prove their worth, they have some talented players on show and this is the time they need to shine.
Probable team : jafro, jimazing, jason, carrel, bios.
Finland vs
Netherlands
Immediately upon looking at the Finland roster I am greeted with a list fo names I'm more than familiar with from previous SGL events. As one of the major CSS playing nations Finland are perhaps under represented in the CCL and could use a few more teams registered to get their own national division (
applications close this evening - dont delay!!). Advert over - back to the team where you will obviously see the Cadre/4K influence straight away, combine this long term force with hausfrau and you probably have a as strong a line up as could be formed from within the Finnish borders. If these guys perform to their reputations then you know you probably won't be in for a near four hour epic match from this fixture.
Probable team : eversor, god , angeldust. late, deemi.
Another country that could well do with a few more CCL applications- the Netherlands were not seeded highly in the cup and could perhaps count themselves as being unlucky to meet a team like Finland so early in the event. with players plucked from dhe and dcc gaming it does look like slim pickings for the national side and there does seem to be a lack of activity in the NL scene at this time. Every country with a number of classy teams generally has a good number of smaller sides plying their trade beneath them and giving a pool of players that clamber their way to the higher levels. Whether or not this is the case in this tie remains to be seen but the facts are that the NL team are very much up against it here and could well have benefitted from a greater pool of players from which to draw.
Probable team : legalize, edit'ed, caveman, foodas, ylss..
Germany vs
France
Germany are of course one of the real powerhouses of European gaming and as you would expect have both a lot of players to choose from and a good deal of quality on offer too. One of the larger rosters in the cup points to a really busy national scene of course which produces great players by the bucketload. This is all just as well as this could turn out to be a very evenly matched affair and the German side will be looking to their big name players to take the leads here, with teams such as attax, hoorai, faculty and speedlink providing the lions share of the squad there is no doubt on the quality this side bring to this match tonight. If any of the other admins are reading this, forget it, I'm adminning this one.
Probable team : syrox, steff, titan, bishop,leut.
The French teams have been on a good run of late and that was surely topped off by the WebOne win over fnatic recently. The CCL French national division is going to be the scene of some intense competition over the coming months and much like the Germans (though not to the same extent) there is a groundswell of activity in the French scene at the moment giving this national side a good variety of picks to choose from. Creativ', webone, redline and emulate provide the players here tonight and as stated above I have high hopes for this game being a really good spectacle, Overall the French team look to have a little less firepower by comparison but I honestly think I will be adminning three maps here tonight.
Probable team : regnam, smithzz, rflex, f-x, jojo .
Denmark vs
Czech Republic (This match is live on QuadV.com)
Fingers crossed this tie doesn't go full term and take us to the early hours! MYM are in action earlier in the evening and as such the match has been put back to 9pm*. Obviously there is a strong MYM flavour to the side then starting of course with the manager himself incre who I'm assured is no stranger to this type of event having locked horns with Sweden in the CB NC last time out. Being in separate hallves of the draw does of course leave us with the possibility of a rematch there but I shouldn't get ahead of myself as there are plenty of matches between then and now. Now, I'm going to suggest that the Danes will come out on top in this tie but I doubt it will be a clean cut affair and they could find themselves with a real tough match here but I do expect them to win out in the end. PS - more Dansk teams for the CCL please ....
Probable team : incre, orga2k, exce, h0lm, tabztar..
Last one for now - the Czech Republic. Remember I see things entirely from one point of view and don't have the time or interest to follow results outside of theSGL for the most part so I'm not surprised to find a roster made up from esuba, necroraisers and neophyte.intel. The first two of these teams have played great in previous seasons at theSGL and esuba in particular have been more than impressive upon occasion (and I think we know which match I'm referring to there). As you can see above I dont expect them to win this tie outright but I know they will be a tough nut to crack and will give an excellent account of themselves. They could of course just hit the ground running anf wipe the floor with their opponents tonight, I just can't see it though. The best of luck to you though guys.
Probable team :majkl_go, str, pr, ice, duke.
As for the revised odds.... Sweden shortened up again overnight after their win over Ireland, Denmark are also strongly fancied with England and Hungary both coming in to 7/2 after wins last night. Germany and France are still both at very good odds which will shorten quickly after tonight no doubt.
Also please note that applications for the CCL end tonight. We have " a lot" of teams signed up now but there is room for loads more (especially central europe. poland, baltic , russia, sweden and southern europe, greece, romania, italy etc...