Playoff Panic in Oceania

OrangeStar takes a look at the biggest playoff games across the country in this supersized article. Just because the action is quiet on the field doesn't mean we don't have a jam packed issue in store! Featured matches in today's issue include the Pacific Premier Playoffs: SuperBoy77 vs Kilcoy Yowies (597543742) and Arms and Legs vs Unilaterals (597543743) as well as the following Second Division Playoffs: The Flycatchers vs Heroes & Villains (597543746), Mangrove Mariners vs Pancreas Pantaloons FC (597543750) and fabregas the king vs Banfana Boyzz (597543749).

Hello and welcome to this special supplementary edition of The Oceanian! OrangeStar here, counting down the days until the start of Oceania's Season 52 with all of you! Of course, before we get to all that, we have to get through the Playoff weekend - teams all across the country will be competing to stay alive in their current division, or make a claim for a spot in a division above their own - we will bring you some of the biggest matches from the top two divisions in the country! In addition, we will also have results from the Pacific Premier, Second Division and the World Cup. Don't forget to check out Slugwatch, where we profile another of our U20 prospects for the future. Let's get underway!

Pacific Premier (3208)
The match of the round in the Pacific Premier last week was the clash between UNPREDICTABLE DYNAMITE and SuperBoy77, with a place in the Pacific Premier for Season 52 on the line (590445317). Things started poorly for DOOZER as he watched his side concede a penalty goal after just four minutes. DYNAMITE fought back, only for Super to take the lead again just six minutes after DOOZER's equalising goal. Trailing at half time, the DYNAMITE manager demanded his players lift, and they did. After equalising again in the 62nd minute, they unfortunately fell behind in the 68th, before a last-gasp goal in the 83rd minute from Riccardo Battiato tied the scores at 3-3. Despite giving it everything they had, the draw was not enough to save UNPREDICTABLE DYNAMITE from automatic relegation, especially with Arms and Legs defeating Candy 9-0 in their match (590445319).

Other games in the top flight last weekend saw Mascot Musketeers fight out a 1-1 draw with Cotchin FC (590445321), which was the second time this season that Adam_F_Duritz failed to lead his side to victory in two consecutive games. The final match of the day saw Pauldo Bay United fans ringing in the New Year in style with the home side dominating recently crowned champions Hewish FC 7-2 in front of a sold out crowd at St Pauldo's Park (590445320). Pauldo Bay scored the first six goals of the match, and it was all over by the time Hewish FC turned up to the party with their first goal in the 77th minute. Ernest Taputu's (347501265) brace clinched the Golden Boot award for the 32-year-old Oceanic striker, who is now just five goals away from scoring 150 goals in a Pauldo Bay shirt. Taputu's 12 goal haul for the season places him in elite company - no player has scored more than 12 goals in a season since Thomas Kapetenakis (292493712) did so for Waverley Hawks in Season 44. Another highlight of the match was a superb hat-trick from Gale 'Force' Nicoski (340860595), the 16th hat-trick of his career for Pauldo Bay. Nicoski also passed 230 goals scored for the club in this match. It was a disappointing finish for Hewish FC fans after claiming the title last week and posting four divine sector ratings this week, but dave3889 will be happy to add a Pacific Premier title to his trophy cabinet.

Turning our attention to this weekend's Playoff matches now, and Arms and Legs will have a difficult match keeping Unilaterals out of the Pacific Premier (597543743). Vasquezbt has been active on the transfer market since the start of 2017, bringing central defender Dwayne Relay (381289317) to the club for $3.5 million. Relay is almost certainly a starter for Unilaterals this weekend as vasquezbt looks to overcome his side's TSI gap to armsandlegs' men. A potentially serious injury to star midfielder Tom Ryba (391229163) will also hurt Unilaterals' chances, as the 26-year-old is set to miss about three weeks of action.

The second Pacific Premier Playoff match sees Kilcoy Yowies making the long trip to New Zealand to take on SuperBoy77 (597543742). SuperBoy77 has led his team to a remarkable fifth place in the Pacific Premier this season, being unbeaten in his last five competitive fixtures to go into this game on a high. Carligula (10404480) is a US manager who is looking to win a place in Oceania's top flight for his second team. Carligula's first team finished the season in second place in the MLS, meaning if his side is successful this weekend, he will be managing two top flight teams come next season - a fantastic achievement.

Second Division
The surprise of the round in the Second Division came in II.4, where league leaders Loz's Lovable losers were defeated 2-0 by Collingwood Sherbets (590445544), having been comprehensively outclassed by Sherbets' midfield. The loss, coupled with Kilcoy Yowies' 4-2 away win over Whites Wongs (590445543) saw loveloz's side fall out of first place, with Yowies stealing the Playoff match for the Pacific Premier on the final day of the year. In II.1, Kick Backs suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of It's Friday FC (590445376) and as a result of The Rat's 3-1 win over Pig Hunters (590445375), flashes' side has been automatically relegated to Division 3.

At the other end of II.2, both The Flycatchers and Mangrove Mariners will be fighting for survival in the Second Division, hosting playoff matches against Heroes & Villains (597543746) and Pancreas Pantaloons FC (597543750) respectively. Heroes & Villains manager ikarusOne has said it is probably too early for his team to think about promoting to the Second Division and being competitive, but Lord_Y_Schmergen will need to make sure his players remain focused just in case ikarus' competitive streak comes to the fore. The Flycatchers have a much lower TSI than Villains, and a smaller squad too. The addition of Ky Gallagher (395433601) to the Villains squad in the past week for just shy of $4.7 million will also aid ikarusOne's cause. The second Playoff match in II.2 will be an interesting contest between Mangrove Mariners and Pancreas Pantaloons FC, with Pancreas clearly outclassing Mariners in terms of TSI - kab08 will be hoping his side has what it takes to stay up.

Three-time Oceania National Team head coach born2reign should find his side's Playoff match for a place in II.4 a fairly simple affair (597543749). Bafana Boyzz give up a considerable margin when it comes to TSI against fabregas the king, and the home ground advantage should be too much for Bafana to overcome. Additionally, the suspension of 31-year-old inner midfielder Tanin Wattanasiri (365270838), who received his third yellow card in Bafana's 11-0 drubbing of Woburn Warriors last weekend will not help wanted7's cause.

Slugwatch
Last weekend marked the end of Oceania's tenuous involvement in the World Cup Finals, as both Croatia and Belgium were eliminated as the competition progressed to the final eight teams. After starting Stage 4 with a convincing victory over reigning World Champions, Italy, Croatia stumbled against Poland and crumbled in the second half of their match against Germany to lose 4-2 (597051813). Similarly, Belgium never seemed to get themselves going in Round 3, and finished the stage without a win after drawing their third game, this time coming from behind to finish 1-1 with the Netherlands (597051828).

The final eight countries remaining in the World Cup are the Austria, Mexico, Poland and Slovenia in Group 1, and Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Russia in Group 2. Slovenia, Poland, Russia and the Netherlands all managed wins in their opening group matches and are favourites to claim spots in the Semi Finals, but with two matches to play in Stage 4, anything could happen!

Oceania's U20 National Team, the Sea Slugs, played the 12th match of their qualification campaign early last weekend (596051453). While many pundits had written them off before the match, the young Slugs worked exceptionally hard against Senegal and after taking the lead from a brilliant free kick in the 24th minute, almost managed to hold out the Senegalese attacks. Unfortunately, the home side proved to be too strong, scoring in the 77th and 80th minute to secure the win and the three points, pushing Oceania dangerously close to falling outside the top 100 U20 nations. This weekend sees Oceania play their penultimate game of the campaign, hosting a Belgian squad who have already secured progression to the World Cup Finals (596051458). Continuing where we left off last week, we will take a look at a you Sea Slug star of tomorrow, Kevin Babulbabul (418555919).

Kevin Babulbabul	(418555919)
Age	18 years
Club	Brisbane Eagles (37486)
Youth Academy	Brisbane Eagles Youth (396223)
Caps	1
Specialty	Quick
Position	Inner Midfielder
Career Goals	1 (club) 0 (U20)

Kevin Babulbabul graduated from the Brisbane Eagles Youth Academy as a 17 year old just under two seasons ago. Within seven months of his graduation to the Brisbane Eagles main squad, manager Red_Mist got the call-up for Babulbabul to pull on the Sea Slugs jersey in the closing matches of the U20 World Cup Qualification campaign. Throughout his time with the Eagles, Kevin's incredible pace has shone through as he makes many sparkling runs through the centre of the park, both with and without the ball. Babulbabul put in a 90 minute shift for the Sea Slugs on debut against Senegal on New Year's Eve, and will look to make 2017 his own as he prepares for the next U20 World Cup Qualification campaign in Season 53.

That's all we have time for today! Thank you for joining us again for your weekly dose of Oceanic News. Be sure to let us know if there is anything you would like to see featured in future issues! Good luck to all teams competing in Playoff matches this weekend, and we will see you next week for all the fallout and a massive preview of Season 52 in Oceania! Until then, stay tuned for the next issue!

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