And The Winner Is...

Back in November, a journey was started that finally came to an end today in my dining room. Twenty two little plastic men, one six year old boy and a thirty-one year old boy fought out the final of Eoin's Subbuteo Cup. We started with 32 teams and slowly ploughed through 8 groups of 4 in the first round and so on until, 63 games of Subbuteo later, we had a winner. But before the winner is revealed, here is the journey in full...

First Round
Group 1
Man City 1 - 0 Ajax                 Vasco De Gama 3 - 2 Celtic
Celtic 2 - 2 Man City               Ajax 1 - 1 Vasco De Gama
Ajax 3 - 0 Celtic                      Vasco De Gama 1 - 2 Man City
Man City & Ajax qualify

Group 2
West Ham 0 - 0 Austria Salzburg               St Patricks 1 - 2 Newcastle Utd
Austria Salzburg 2 - 2 St Patricks               Newcastle Utd 0 - 2 West Ham
St Patricks 1 - 0 West Ham                        Austria Salzburg 2 - 1 Newcastle Utd
Austria Salzburg & West Ham qualify

Group 3
Tottenham 1 - 1 Liverpool                     Charleroi 0 - 0 Shrewsbury
Liverpool 1 - 0 Charleroi                        Shrewsbury 2 - 1 Tottenham
Shrewsbury 0 - 1 Liverpool                    Tottenham 2 - 1 Charleroi
Liverpool & Tottenham qualify

Group 4
Nott'm Forest 0 - 1 Everton                    AFC Wimbledon 0 - 1 B M'gladbach
Everton 1 - 1 AFC Wimbledon               B M'gladbach 0 - 0 Nott'm Forest
AFC Wimbledon 4 - 4 Nott'm Forest      Everton 1 - 1 B M'gladbach
Everton & Borussia Moenchengladbach qualify

Group 5
Milan 0 - 0 Portsmouth                        Man Utd 1 - 1 Fluminense
Portsmouth 2 - 1 Man Utd                   Fluminense 0 - 0 Milan
Fluminense 0 - 1 Portsmouth              Milan 2 - 2 Man Utd
Portsmouth & Milan qualify

Group 6
Arsenal 1 - 0 Bolton                            Bayern Munich 0 - 1 Aston Villa
Bolton 2 - 1 Bayern Munich                Aston Villa 2 - 2 Arsenal
Aston Villa 1 - 1 Bolton                       Arsenal 0 - 0 Bayern Munich
Aston Villa & Arsenal qualify

Group 7
QPR 1 - 1 Benfica                           Swansea 2 - 1 Graz AK
Benfica 3 - 3 Swansea                    Graz AK 0 - 0 QPR
Swansea 1 - 0 QPR                        Benfica 0 - 1 Graz AK
Swansea & Graz AK qualify

Group 8
Rangers 2 - 1 Juventus                  Charlton 2 - 4 Chelsea
Juventus 3 - 5 Charlton                  Chelsea 0 - 1 Rangers
Charlton 2 - 2 Rangers                   Juventus 3 - 3 Chelsea
Rangers & Chelsea qualify


Second Round
Aston Villa 2 - 1 Ajax                     Swansea 1 - 0 West Ham
Liverpool 1 - 0 Graz AK                 Portsmouth 2 - 1 Tottenham
Man City 2 - 1 Chelsea                 Austria Salzburg 3 - 4 B M'gladbach
Everton 3 - 4 Milan (aet)               Rangers 3 - 2 Arsenal


Quarter-Finals
Man City 2 - 0 Liverpool (pens)         Swansea 0 - 3 B M'gladbach
Milan 4 - 5 Rangers (pens)                Aston Villa 3 - 2 Portsmouth (pens)


Semi-Finals
B M'gladbach 1 - 3 Rangers            Aston Villa 0 - 3 Man City


The Final

                    Rangers vs Man City











                                                     AND THE WINNER IS...

In case you were still unsure, City won 3-1.

This is all dedicated to Eoin Moore, without whom I wouldn't have spent most of our time together holed up in his bedroom or, if we were lucky, in the dining room. Oh, and yes, he IS a City fan!