After a suggestion by Brian O' Farrell, Commish has asked one of us to propose the following change - and I'm always quicker off the mark

The first round is the same as before A1 v B4 down to B1 v A4 etc.

But instead of

A1 v C1, A2 v C2, A3 v C3, A4 v C4, E1 v G1, E2 v G2, E3 v G3, E4 v G4

for the last 16 as it is in the rules we suggest

A1 v C2, A2 v C1, A3 v C4, A4 v C3, E1 v G2, E2 v G1, E3 v G4, E4 v G3
(Edit showing higher ranking or earlier alphabet teams advancing)
A1 v C2, A2 v C1, B2 v D1, B1 v D2, E1 v G2, E2 v G1, F2 v H1, F1 v H2
Then we carry on as before:

A1 v E1; A2 v E2; A3 v E3; A4 v E4
A1 v E1; C1 v G1; D1 v H1; B1 v F1

A1 v A3; A2 v A4
A1 v D1; C1 v B1

A1 v B1

At first I struggled to "see" this so in the following post I hope to make this clearer.

A1 v B4
C2 v D3
E1 v F4
G2 v H3

D1 v C4
B2 v A3
H1 v G4
F2 v E3

B1 v A4
D2 v C3
F1 v E4
H2 v G3

C1 v D4
A2 v B3
G1 v H4
E2 v F3

The only difference is that a team that tops its group can't play another team that topped its group until the quarter finals.

It's also easier to see that you can't play a team from your own group until the semi-finals, and the teams that came 1st and 2nd in a group can't play each other until the final. This is the same as before.

I would propose running it slightly differently.
I'm going to assume the higher finishing team wins each time rather than A always win for the purpose of showing rankings advance.

Steve suggests that the problem is for example Group A could have to play too many G teams on the way to the final.

A1 v C4, E3 v G2, E1 v G4, A3 v C2, A4 v C1, E2 v G3, E4 v G1, A2 v C3
A1 v G2; G4 v C2; G3 v C1; A2 v G1
A1 v G4; G1 v G3
A1 v G1 or G3

If Group G was the group of death and really strong why is it a bad thing that they beat higher ranking teams, its a knock out stage. The key aim is that Group winners should be kept apart until the quarters, getting "easier" games before then than teams that finished lower in their groups.

Here is the full breakdown.

group of 32
A1 v C4, A2 v C3, A3 v C2, A4 v C1, E1 v G4, E2 v G3, E3 v G2, E4 v G1,
B1 v D4, B2 v D3, B3 v D2, B4 v D1, F1 v H4, F2 v H3, F3 v H2, F4 v H1

group of 16
A1 v G2 ; A2 v G1; C2 v E1; E2 v C1; B1 v H2 ; B2 v H1; D2 v F1; F2 v D1

quarter
A1 v E1; G1 v C1; B1 v F1; H1 v D1

semi
A1 v C1; B1 v D1

Final
A1 v B1

Happy with new proposed cup knockout pairings
but we need to decide on which one fairly soon
so every manager knows what format is before
sesl cup draw on October 1st takes place.

- Stew
HEA

The SESL Cup format for knockout stages will be confirmed prior to cup draw happening.

We're going with Brian's suggestion.

Why?

Mostly because the change was his idea in the first place and no one had any comments about either of them.

I feel ignored! :-)

Good decision. Happy with new cup schedule.

Good to hear. Now I've got to get stuck into winning my group for that better pairing in the later rounds.

I still think some teams will use these SESL Cup group games to add some minutes to age 0 players, and will be contented just to get a top 4 group placing to ensure qualification to knock out match (es).

SESL Cup Round of 32 tie of the round?


CELTIC vs RANGERS


match 37 all 22 aggressive players ?

Yeah that is defo the big game of the round.

I know I probably ask this every year, but, do suspensions picked up in the last sessions league games carry over into the SESL Cup?

Yes Bill. You do ask this each season! :-)

Yes Bill. Suspensions effect next game that the team plays, no matter the competition.

To clarify, if you go to team page of RAN and then click "all competitions"
http://www.olmec.org/sesl/teams.jsp?teamid=7&type=allcomps

look at the SU column towards the right hand side to show number of games player suspended for. Currenlty, RAN GK suspended for next 2 matches.