Bracket A got the tournament started yesterday with 12 matches that whittled the 16 starting players down to four. The competition was fierce but Yamani, Mayed, Mohamed Aljunaibi and Hamdan were impressive in the opening two rounds and showed that they are threats to win the tournament.
Yamani played with the French national team and had Mbappe and Griezmann on top form. Yamani's second round victory over one of the tournament favorites, Sultan, was a classic. After going down 1 - 0, Sultan was inches away from equalizing for Barcelona with a blistering Messi shot. Seconds later, Yamani launched a vicious counter attack to seal the victory and his spot in the third round.
Mayed played with Real Madrid and got past Mohamed Almuhairi's Manchester City in a thrilling 2 -1 fixture. That was a cold dose of reality for Mohamed who had rolled to a 4 -1 victory in the first round after conceding an early goal.
Mohamed Aljunaibi got through the first round due to a forfeit, but in the second round he had to work hard against Nasser to earn the 4 -2 victory. Mohamed played with Real Madrid and Nasser countered with Bayern Munich in their high scoring encounter.
Finally, Hamdan used France to run over Hassan's Barcelona 3 - 0 in the first round. In the second round he faced Barcelona again, this time controlled by Mohamed Saleh, but the result was the same, a 3 - 0 victory for France and Hamdan.
Interestingly, of the four teams remaining in bracket A, two used the French national team and two played with Real Madrid. If two teams with the same team match up in the Bracket A final, a coin toss may have to be used to determine who gets to play with their preferred team. Bracket A action will continue on Sunday during the common hour break.
Bracket B gets started today. Good luck to everyone competing!
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| Some exciting early round action got the tournament off to a flying start. |
Mayed played with Real Madrid and got past Mohamed Almuhairi's Manchester City in a thrilling 2 -1 fixture. That was a cold dose of reality for Mohamed who had rolled to a 4 -1 victory in the first round after conceding an early goal.
Mohamed Aljunaibi got through the first round due to a forfeit, but in the second round he had to work hard against Nasser to earn the 4 -2 victory. Mohamed played with Real Madrid and Nasser countered with Bayern Munich in their high scoring encounter.
Finally, Hamdan used France to run over Hassan's Barcelona 3 - 0 in the first round. In the second round he faced Barcelona again, this time controlled by Mohamed Saleh, but the result was the same, a 3 - 0 victory for France and Hamdan.
Interestingly, of the four teams remaining in bracket A, two used the French national team and two played with Real Madrid. If two teams with the same team match up in the Bracket A final, a coin toss may have to be used to determine who gets to play with their preferred team. Bracket A action will continue on Sunday during the common hour break.
Bracket B gets started today. Good luck to everyone competing!
