ROUND 2

USA A 5:5 SPA&POR
USA B 1:6 FRA A
GER A 5:4 UK A

NOR A 3:2 POL C
ITA 1:3 FRA B
NL B 4:4 USA D
CAN 4:4 POL A
AUS&NZ A 3:4 SWI

FRA C 2:3 USA C
S AME 4:4 NL A
UK B 3:5 BEL
GER C 1:5 IRL
NL D 3:4 GER B

NL C 6:5 POL D
POL B 7:1 HEL
NOR B 2:4 CZE A

GER D 3:4 AUS&NZ B
FIN 1:3 FRA D
UK C 4:3 CZE B

What's here to say, almost every match is very close and interesting. Sometimes it makes it a surprise, sometimes not.
USA A's 5:5 result against Spain and Portugal most people will call a surprise already, even though every result is still possible here. It's mostly up to the Spanish player Gyca since he plays in the both remaining games. Whichever team loses in the end, they put up a good fight.
The only fully decided match here is POL B 7:1 HEL.
Some other matches that appear close to being decided are USA B 1:6 FRA A and GER C 1:5 IRL.
NL C 6:5 POL D is in this limbo where it's a close match but at the same time it's almost decided as well.

I guess that's it for now!

Bump.

Standings update?

Round 3 update:

Last season's gold and silver medalists, Germany and France, are battling it out this round, currently 5:1 for Germany.
These nations are also fighting over who has a more impressive D, but we can't judge until they show us everything they've got, as the current 5:4 result can go either way.

All the other information can be found on the sheet which I update daily: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aIf2fmJF3saG5JKaRF9bgncvlmJ8WpwIntCzGFflXSk/edit#gid=312064543

I'd love to add cool forum updates as well, like the one Ralph did, but I simply don't have time. So I apologize for that.
If someone is willing to comment here on the results from time to time, that would be great!

Standings after round 2 (strat ME):

Rank	Team		Score	W-L
1	France A	3	20-4
2	Germany A	3	17-6
3	USA A	        3	16-8
4	Switzerland	2.5	16-8
5	USA D	        2.5	15-8
6	Belgium	        2	19-5
7	Ireland	        2	18-5
8	France C	2	15-9
8	Netherlands C	2	15-9
8	Nordic A	2	15-9
11	UK A	        2	13-10
12	Spain and Por	2	13-11
13	USA B	        2	10-14
14	Germany B	2	8-16
15	Canada        	(2)	12-10
15	Poland A	(2)	12-10
15	France B	(2)	12-10
18	Italy	        (2)	11-11
19	Netherlands A	(2)	9-14
20	Netherlands B	1.5	14-9
20	Poland B	1.5	14-9
22	Aus and NZ A	1.5	12-12
23	Czech Rep A	1.5	9-15
24	South America	(1.5)	14-9
25	Netherlands D	1	13-11
26	Aus and NZ B	1	12-12
26	UK C	        1	12-12
28	UK B	        1	7-17
29	Germany C	1	7-16
30	USA C	        1	6-17
31	Finland        	0.75	11-13
32	Nordic B	0.5	9-15
32	Poland D	0.5	9-15
34	Poland C	0.5	7-17
35	Hellas	        0.5	5-18
36	France D        0.25	7-17
37	Czech Rep B	0	7-17
38	Germany D	0	5-19

This table does not yet include results from round 3 (French Brawl).
The top 3 of last season: Germany, France and USA are taking the top 3 spots here again.
The strongest challenger for the podium appears to be Switzerland, currently in 4th place.
Amazing performance so far by USA D and their surprising 5 place! (Spoiler: they will not hold to it after French Brawl games as they already lost that round).
At 6th and 7th we have the newcomers Belgium and Ireland, while the top 10 closes with the C teams from France and Netherlands. Interesting mix.

Some teams have their (score) in brackets. That's because their Strat ME matches are still going on! Italy vs France B, Canada vs Poland A and South America vs Netherlands A - each team from this pair will ultimately finish with 0.5 point less than currently in the table. Who will it be? We'll see.

Round 2 matchups:

USA A 7:5 SPA&POR
Maybe the most interesting match of the round. USA A was the big favourite here, but SPA&POR quickly gained the 3:0 lead, which then turned into 5:3 lead, but then USA A finished with 4 straight wins and won it 7:5. Nevertheless a great fight by Spain and Portugal, certainly got their time in the spotlight.

USA B 3:9 FRA A
A convincing win by France, just as one should expect from the top spot contestant.

GER A 8:4 UK A
Next to USA A vs SPA&POR, this matchup got the most attention. Two great teams playing each other. It was close all the way until 5:4 for Germany, after which they won their remaining games to finish 8:4. A great spectacle.

NOR A 10:2 POL C
That's just unfair.

ITA 5:6 FRA B
One of the unfinished matchups. A very close one.

NL B 4:7 USA D
A big surprise to most people, USA's D team beats NL B and this is what grants them 5th place after round 2, as they are still without a loss.

CAN 4:6 POL A
Second unfinished matchup, this one is a tough one for Canada as they need to win both games to get the draw here.

AUS&NZ A 4:8 SWI
This was quite even at the start, but ultimately SWI finishes with a good 8-4 win, fighting alone against two countries at once.

FRA C 7:4 USA C
Having beaten UK C first round, now the French beat USA C. Will they finish as the highest ranked C team this season? We will C.

S AME 5:6 NL A
A very tough draw for both teams, perhaps a bit unlucky to be matched so early. Netherlands secured half a point and the last game will decide, which team will get the other half.

UK B 4:8 BEL
Good performance by Belgium so far, beating a strong B team without bigger problems, propelling them into 6th place.

GER C 3:8 IRL
The same could be said about Ireland here, just another solid win.

NL D 5:7 GER B
A surprisingly close match here. Last season GER B finished 4th (or 1st, depending on how you look at A/B teams), while NL C and D weren't even participating. Still a point is a point and it goes to the favourites, Germany B.

The remaining lower ranked matchups, I won't commentate on a single one from here on:

NL C 7:5 POL D
POL B 10:1 HEL
NOR B 5:7 CZE A
GER D 4:8 AUS&NZ B
FIN 6:5 FRA D
UK C 8:4 CZE B

Okay maybe Finland vs France D deserves special attention. It's a finished matchup which ended with 6:5. Finland won 7 games, but they only fielded 5 players, which gives a penalty point. And since this kind of matchup can't finish in a draw, a close win like we have here grants 0.75 point to the winner (FInland) and 0.25 to the loser (France D).

That's all about round 2 for now. I hope the remaining games finish soon. Round 3 (French Brawl) has been going on for some time already, while round 4 (Malvia) starts in about a week, on 14th March.
So, if someone wants to make some subs for Malvia, you have this one week to inform me :)
See you soon.

I said "See you soon", and I really did mean soon! I'll talk about round 3 results now.
Before that however, I need to mention that just as I posted the round 2 summary, the Italy vs France B matchup finished (with France win), so the results I posted are already a bit out of date! And this is why I don't usually do summaries of unfinished rounds, ladies and gentlemen.

As always, for the most accurate and daily updated results, please check the spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aIf2fmJF3saG5JKaRF9bgncvlmJ8WpwIntCzGFflXSk/edit#gid=312064543
You can play with the tabs at the bottom to find the info you're looking for.

So now round 3 - French Brawl:

UK A 5:4 USA A
First of all, this matchup shouldn't have happened. UK A should've gotten an easier opponent if only they (A) played faster against Germany the previous round or (B) some Germany player didnt wait a week with joining his games. Every Brit is free in choosing whom to blame. Though on the other hand difficult matchups are more fun, certainly for spectators!
So UK gets their third hardcore opponent in a row, and although they appear to have an edge here with 5:4, since the games are light fog we can spy a bit and see that winning anything might be tough for UK, but certainly nothing is set in stone here.

GER A 7:2 FRA A
So far Germany demolishes France and they secure the win. 7:2 could always turn into 7:5 though, which wouldn't look so bad. And let's remember from last season, three-way draws can happen and every single game could count in the end! Certainly not game over for France yet.

ITA 10:1 USA D
USA D doesnt manage to defend their 5th place. A superb win for Italy.

SPA&POR 2:7 SWI
Another great win for Switzerland, giving them access to the top 3 after this round, possibly even 2nd place if USA stumbles against UK. It will be super interesting to see how they fare against the top teams.

NL C 2:7 FRA B
France B were the favourites here and they didnt disappoint. As with all teams finishing with 3 points after 3 rounds, it opens the possibility to challenge the top team for the title if they can keep it up. Will they avenge France A's loss against Germany? It certainly would be fun.

GER B 2:4 CAN
A solid lead for Canada, but still too early to say more.

S AME 2:2 IRL
Now that's a spicy one, especially for those who follow clan drama. Also two newcomers to this competition. South America chooses to accept a penalty point, in return being able to field their top players on 3 spots. It could've very well been worth it, with Juan already scoring 2 wins. We will see, at the moment it's the slowest matchup of the round, with both teams seemingly taking it seriously.

USA C 4:4 NL A
NL A doesnt have a great season so far. First a tough, perhaps unlucky matchup against UK, then another tough matchup against South America (which they can still win, but barely), and another close one in round 3. Even though on paper USA C isn't the team they should be struggling against, great performances by Stales and ChrisCMU, scoring 2 wins each, put the Dutch in a tough spot. Not much room for error anymore, or for boots. Luckily Farah is done with his games already.

USA B 5:1 NL B
A great result so far for USA B. People don't pay that much attention to the B teams, but they could be the kingmakers. And USA B certanly has the skill to eliminate many A teams from fighting for the podium.

BEL 2:6 POL A
Belgium had fantastic 2 rounds, but Polish A team might be just outside their reach. Or maybe it's just a single bad round and they will bounce back? We'll see.
Poland still holds to their chances to fight for 1st place, with most of the competition already behind us, so that's nice.

FRA C 3:6 NOR A
NOR A is a similar story to POL A - they need this win if they want to fight for the title, and so far it looks like they will deliver. France C might have seen like an easy opponent, but with 3 wins scored already they are certainly putting up a fight.

The remaining matchups:
AUS&NZ A 1:4 GER C
NOR B 6:3 NL D
POL B 3:6 CZE A
UK B 5:6 AUS&NZ B
UK C 2:6 POL D
GER D 5:5 FRA D
FIN 3:4 POL C
HEL 5:5 CZE B

A lot of these are mostly done already. Some being very close, like UK B vs AUS&NZ B which depends on the last single game, others not so much. GER D 5:5 FRA D is certainly a fun one to follow, considering that their A teams are fighting this round as well.

I guess that's all from me.
If someone is interesting in making these updates, feel free to contact me. Otherwise you're stuck with my lame and irregular ones.

See you next week, hopefully.

I'm not sure if there's a better way to do the provisional standings and maybe we just accept things being out of whack in the early rounds, but USA B is 5 spots behind Nor A after two rounds despite beating Nor A in round 1. The difference? Our round 1 win got us a matchup with France A where we took a beating, while Nor A's loss got them a matchup with Pol C who they beat with ease.

Maybe an in group head to head would be better even though most teams in most groups will be 0-0 at this point. I'm not running the competition so feel free to disregard my sour grapes entirely.

Yes a head to head would be better and head to head is the tiebreaker that will be used in the final ranking. Thing is, the results are changing all the time, so the head-to-head will be changing just as frequently. For example, UK A has 2 points, while NL A could potentially get 2 points, or they could get 1.5. Should I take their direct match into consideration?

TLDR: applying head-to-head tiebrakers only makes sense if all games of the round are finished. It's also less work for me :)

any chance that we make something national but with teams instead of individual?
And of course I am not talking about fully strategical templates.
Noobs like me should have a chance.

I for one support MWs fight against the Dutch, and hope that a US backed invasion of the dutchies is imminent.

Well:

USA D beat NL B
USA C beat NL A
USA B beat NL B

Safe to say the invasion was a success. We support Belgium!

if you need someone to fill slots I am available

I for one support MWs fight against the Dutch, and hope that a US backed invasion of the dutchies is imminent.

Well:

USA D beat NL B
USA C beat NL A
USA B beat NL B

Safe to say the invasion was a success. We support Belgium!

Never thought I would fully support an American invasion, but here you go: the people from Belgium thank you!

And now NL A and Belgium play in the final round.

In the Irish team there is not a single player with the Irish flag in the profile...

Nice of you to join us in 2021. Please enjoy your stay.

In the Irish team there is not a single player with the Irish flag in the profile...

Firstly I'd like to reiterate what Bonsai said - you're a little late to noticing this, mate.

Secondly, there is actually one Irish player in the Irish team. He's maybe not playing this round, but Platinum is indeed Irish.

the rest?

the rest is history.

but to the point - no idea about the particular people but for what i know there's more Irish people in the USA than in Ireland.. so - the flags may not mean much. Similarly - I have a german flag right now, some time ago i had luxebourgish, for a few weeks it was romanian, then slovakian - all that just because my job requires me to travel a lot. That does not mean I am less polish XD

Edited 4/25/2021 19:24:52

East Timor is looking for participants for next nations cup.

@Timinator
Remember that there is a 1 season initial ban for meme teams

Edited 4/26/2021 08:58:55

Right now, playing for random countries you don't care about is against the spirit of the competition, but allowed since I'm not policing it. I'm open to suggestions what to do with this next season. It's not that easy to come up with something sensible.