With DP away doing Eurostars things and the rest of our editors and contributors being slightly tied up, we didn’t have an opportunity to get a preview for Open ready before the tournaments. However! Today will be the big qualification day in both the North and the South, so let’s take a look at where we stand.
NORTH
There are semi-finals and a power pool going on today in Salford. The semis will pit Chevron against Leeds while EMO take on Manchester. Those games should really be a formality if everyone has brought a full squad, and EMO vs Chevron will very likely be the Regional final. All four teams, though, have qualified for Nationals. There are six spots in the North, so the power pool is the really interesting bit.
Alba and The Brown have each carried through unbeaten records against their pool opponents. The Brown have victories over Vision and BAF, while Alba won a squeaker in sudden death against SMOG. Alba play Vision first thing this morning while The Brown get a break. The key game is likely to be The Brown against local rivals SMOG.
If The Brown beat SMOG, they have the inside line to Nationals and their final game against Alba will simply be for seedings in Birmingham. SMOG need to win in order to finish second, too, so the game is a de-facto knockout game (if SMOG can beat BAF this morning, as expected). It should be a spicy one at 11am.
PREDICTION
Chevron
EMO
Manchester
Leeds
Alba
SMOG
The Brown
Vision
BAF
SOUTH
The South division also features semi-finals today with Clapham playing Devon and an all-London game in Fire vs Kapow. All four are through to Nationals and can finish no lower than sixth.
The South has eight spots for Nationals, so the route there is a little more complicated. Reading 1 play Fire 2, and Flump play Brighton Legends, at 9.20am this morning. The winners of those games are guaranteed a spot at Nationals and will make up the final two in the 3-6 playoff bracket with the losing semi-finallists. The losers of those two games go into the brutal 7-10 bracket, where only two teams will qualify. They’ll be joined by the winners of two more games; Brighton City vs Reading 2 and Bristol vs Camden.
Predicting this group is a tough one after the first few games. Realistically, Reading 1 will beat Fire 2. Brighton City should beat Reading 2 and you’d fancy Bristol over Camden. Brighton Legends against Flump is the really close one, with Legends defeating City (who have beaten Flump twice this season) in sudden death yesterday. I’m going to pick Flump despite the accusations of bias that could be pitched my way.
That would leave both Brighton teams, Bristol (who game Clapham a decent game yesterday) and Fire 2 in a bracket with only two qualifiers. It’s a brutal region this year. Brighton City vs Fire 2 would be a fiery game, but I’d see Brighton coming out on top, while Bristol vs Brighton Legends is almost too close to call. I’ll back the experience and give it to Legends, giving us a rematch of the all-Brighton pool game.
Despite their loss yesterday, I’d back City here. That would mean Legends would have to play the winner of a Fire 2 vs Bristol game where I’d favour Fire 2. A game-to-go between Brighton Legends and Fire 2 is another very closely matched encounter. Legends have quite a tight squad and by this point they’ll have played six games in the weekend and three today. I think that would slow them down sufficiently that Fire 2 would take it, but it would likely be very close.
PREDICTION
Clapham
Fire 1
Kapow
Devon
Reading 1
Flump
Brighton City
Fire 2
Brighton Legends
Bristol
Camden
Reading 2
Kent
Bristol 2
CONCLUSION
This would make for some tasty pools at Nationals. Clapham would face Ranelagh, SMOG and Devon. Chevron would have Reading, Fire 2 and Manchester. Fire 1 would play EMO, Leeds and Brighton City. PELT would face off against Kapow, Flump and Alba. Clapham’s pool looks to be quite tough in these circumstances, but they’d surely be confident of winning through yet again.
We’ll post something more comprehensive once the results are final and not based on my notoriously terrible predictions. Good luck to everyone today!