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by Robert "Pennywise" Gray

As promised, we followed the Brazilian Cup Semi-finals stage even though Insmouth Cheetahs (3) crashed out in the previous stage.

Four clubs made it to this last hurdle before the big match deciding who will grab the trophy and become the new Brazilian Cup holder.

CF Andorinha de Penhasco (76) reached this stage for the first time in their history. Lead by manager Zyrosity, the Campeonato Série C side look certain for another promotion this season. Making it to the Final would have been a wonderful achievement for this promising squad but they faced an uphill challenge as bookies favorites Red Onions (4) stood in their way. Manager bigtyksen_2nd was determined to recapture the trophy after winning it once back in season 5 and had a much better team at his disposal.

Peregrinos (7) were looking to make it to the Final for the first time ever after manager FulchesterUnited had to go through the disappointment of dropping out at this stage in each appearance. This time his side had experience on their side in an otherwise evenly matched clash with Alexandra County (37) who had never progressed past the Quarter-finals of the competition before this season. However manager jpjjpj certainly didn't want this run to end here and fancied his team's chances.

Insmouth Gazette pundits were adamant Red Onions would have no trouble with CF Andorinha de Penhasco - all 10 predicted normal time win for the favorites. Opinions were more divided on the other match but 9 out of 10 expected Peregrinos to beat Alexandra County, 4 expecting a normal time win, 4 others predicting extra time and 1 thinking Peregrinos would need to go through penalties drama. One pundit put in a brave prediction for a normal time win for Alexandra.

CF Andorinha de Penhasco (76) - Red Onions (4)

This match was played on Homeboyz Grand Arena - the 10,000 seater neutral venue sadly was too far for the travelling fans and only welcomed an underwhelming crowd of 6,865 fans.

CF Andorinha de Penhasco played a standard 4-4-2 formation. Unfortunately the symbolic hosts were in deep selection trouble after suffering an unprecedented number of suspensions (no less than 4 players had to sit the historic Semi-final appearance after picking up a booking in the previous round). This forced CF AdP to field goalkeeper Reuben Wace (43) in defense and hand a number of reserve players a start, including winger Christian Nicholl (24), DM Iain Crewe (32), WB Ryan Lea (28.) - who started on the left side of midfield, and strikers Rory Havelock (28.) and Yoringa Noguchi (33).

Red Onions relied on their favorite 5-3-2 formation and played an exceptionally strong lineup with the weakest player to start the game as good as CF AdP's best one. There was a rather stark contrast in quality in all lines in Red Onions' favor. The gap was huge in midfield and especially in attack where John Nowell (68.) and Ian Jacobs (68.) looked leaps and bounds ahead of their youth counterparts.

It was little surprise the match went under the heavy dominance of the symbolic visitors. Red Onions had complete control over the ball and reached the impressive 77% possession. Despite this CF AdP held on in the first half and somehow avoided conceding.

Their hopes for something more were extinguished after the break though when Red Onions CM Andrew Partridge (73) and striker Ian Jacobs took advantage of growing fatigue levels and scored one goal each to grab a confident, solid win against the inexperienced opposition.

Final score: CF Andorinha de Penhasco (76) - Red Onions (4) 0-2 (Andrew Partridge 64, Ian Jacobs 78)
Man of the Match: Andrew Partridge (Red Onions)

Post Match Interview: we managed to get a couple of words from CF AdP's manager Zyrosity after the full time whistle, who decided to focus on the positives and seemed realistic about the circumstances: "It was a fun day out! Although being severe underdogs wasn?t good enough for us, we had to be missing 5 of our starting XI as well. Game went exactly as expected, but the prize money was very welcoming and the fact the club records now state semi-finals for furthers in the league cup. Not bad really for a club who?s record buy is only 600k!" However when pressed further, the CF AdP manager admitted the club would need to show more ambition off the pitch to build on this run: "The future will see more of the same, but we will have to delve into the market occasionally to replace the aging squad."

Peregrinos (7) - Alexandra County (37)

The neutral venue for this game was The Onion Field - a 10,000 seater that turned out too little to accomodate the tremendous interest from the travelling fans. As a matter of fact 9,438 of them failed to obtain a ticket and were forced to watch the game wherever they could find a TV screen in the city!

Peregrinos played a dynamic 4-3-3 formation. The starting lineup was exceptional, with players like goalie Danny Bramble (69), defenders Fouad Hussein (72) and Archie Cudworth (74), midfielders Luciano Prado (70), Morgan Fairchild (69) and Bruno De Mattos (76) and striker Vasyklo Lipko (71) standing out.

Alexandra County opted for a more conservative 5-3-2 formation. Their hopes were pinned on keeper Jacques Silveira (58.), defenders Daniel Line (66), Abel Durr (63) and Grisha Dimitrof (62) and strike partnership Willian Soares (62) and Jonathan Paiva (65).

Peregrinos enjoyed a slight advantage in all lines but had a crushing superiority in midfield. Coupled with Alexandra's cautious approach it lead to a surprising possession advantage for the symbolic hosts. Peregrinos trashed pre-match expectations for an even affair and held the ball the impressive 69% of time.

Naturally this also translated in creating the better chances and Alexandra were a little fortunate to hold the goalless draw at half time. However their attempt to open up after the break allowed the space and time Peregrinos were looking for and the favorites grabbed two goals with strikers Vasyklo Lipko (71) and Rafael Abreu (66) getting on the scoresheet.

Alexandra didn't give up and pulled one back when Willian Soares finished a beautiful attack with a powerful strike from the edge of the box to make the final 15 minutes a nail-biting affair. The symbolic visitors attempted to pile some pressure and got a couple more chances, including one clear cut opportunity to get the equalizer deep in the 4 minutes of added time, but Peregrinos keeper Danny Bramble remained solid and pulled the save to ensure his team would hold the fragile lead and go through.

Final score: Peregrinos (7) - Alexandra County (37) 2-1 (Vasyklo Lipko 54, Rafael Abreu 72; Willian Soares 75)
Man of the Match: Rafael Abreu (Peregrinos)

Post Match Interview: we were able to catch Peregrinos manager FulchesterUnited after the game and he was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for our readers. He remained professional and highlighted the club is where it belongs now: "We are now showing the natural progression for hard work and attention to detail from the whole football club. These are the kind of games we want to be involved in on a seasonal basis and winning cup competitions was always the target in recent years." With all eyes set on the Final now and the burden of expectations already hitting the shoulders of his players, he tried to manage the situation by putting the pressure on Red Onions: "We appreciate that we go into this game as underdogs but we are more than confident in our own ability to hurt anyone on such given day. Everyone connected to this club are not going for a good day out, we expect to put in a shift and make the whole city proud."

Insmouth Gazette Pundits

Time for our pundits section. With most pundits nailing the winners it was down to who could get closest to the precise scores to get the most points this round. There were no changes at the top but jpjjpj paid the price for being the only one to back his own team for the win and AberdeenAngels and mackfishy hopped over him in the table. In the same time ozzymac missed out on this round and now lags in the bottom. Let's see how the leaderboard looks after Brazilian Cup Semi-finals:

1. colins70............172pts
2. andyoz.........__ 171pts
3. wally............__ 152pts
4. ironpsycho....__ 139pts
5. scotty1962..___ 131pts
6. AberdeenAngels 128pts
6. mackfishy......._ 128pts
8. jpjjpj............... 122pts
9. lawtons11.....__ 115pts
10. Tstuff......____ 104pts
11. aknight2000..... 94pts
12. ozzymac........... 83pts

There was no time to waste and the next round of league football took place earlier today. Stay with us for the update on Match Day 15 and the following games our pundits had to predict:

Insmouth Cheetahs (3) - Cf Craiovitza (472)
1980 Classico AFC (168.) - Red Onions (4)
Carvetii FC (187) - Peregrinos (7)
Alexandra County (37) - Brynsadler FC (149)
The Rockets (21) - Rattus Rattus 2nd (245)