Regionals Preview

The real season starts tomorrow. Every team competing at regionals will have their shot to make nationals, and from there they will have a shot at punching their ticket to Europeans. Some regions will have clear winners (I'm looking at you Scotland) and others are anyone's guess... so here's mine:

Scottish Regionals (1 Spot):
The one nationals spot WILL go to Fusion. Next...

Northern Regionals (3 Spots):
Chevron will win and the remaining two spots should be mostly uncontested by LeedsLeedsLeeds and the Brown. The only upset I could see is ManUp may be able to pull an upset over the Brown. The Brown have finished higher at every Tour event but you never know what may happen in direct competition with a chance at nationals on the line.

Midlands Regionals (2 Spots):
This region will probably be the most open of all the divisions. Last year saw EMO win with Cambridge second. I see this as being the final again this year and, if EMO get their GB players back, they should sneak the win. Not knowing the format, this could be the final placings and the two spot allocations, but, I would predict that there would be some sort of Game to go. Therefore the loser of the final will probably have to face off against the team that comes out on the top of this pile: BAF (Open Tour 2 B-Tour winners and the second highest finishing Midlands team Open Tour 3), Jest Ridisculous (Open Tour 1 B-Tour runners up, they survived the drop at Open Tour 2 but lost their B-Tour crossover at Tour 3, they were higher placed at Tour 1 and Tour 2 than BAF but because of their drop and BAF's ascent at Tour 3 they finished one place lower in the overall tour rankings than BAF), Leamington Lemmings (an outside shot they finished the season as the 6th ranked Midlands team, behind EMO's second team, but last year they finished 3rd at Midlands regionals and hotly contested the qualification spots) and EMO 2 (probably shouldn't be underestimated but I don't see EMO pulling off a 1 & 2 finish personally).
I see EMO winning the region and Cambridge proving too strong for BAF who I see coming out on top of that second group. But the beauty of Regionals is that upsets will happen. This will be the region to watch.

South West and Wales (2 spots):
Last year, the big story coming out of regionals was Cardiff Storm (who had finished every tour higher than Bristol) being beaten by Bristol in the Game to go to nationals after losing against Devon in the Final (and then Bristol beating Devon at Nationals to finish as the highest ranked South West team at Nationals). I see Devon repeating as Regional Champions as the only team from the South West to finish all three Tours in the A-Tour and finishing 12th in the Overall tour standings. I don't see an upset though this year. Cardiff Storm finished 18th in Tour rankings and Bristol finished 30th and I see Cardiff taking the 2nd Qualification spot.

South East (3 Spots):
This Region should again be tightly contested. DED should be in the final against Brighton and I see DED continuing their great opening season by winning Regionals at the first time of asking. Brighton should come second and then the game to go should be between Wessex and Reading Between the Lines. Reading finished behind fellow South East team Ltd Release in the Tour standings but this was due to them only attending 2 Tours. If they manage to get a team to Regionals I see them making the game to go, but falling short against Wessex who will take the third qualification spot.

London Region (5 Spots):
The standings at the start of this tournament read:
1. Clapham
2. Fire 1
3. Tooting Tigers
4. Ka-Pow!
5. Fire 2
6. Burro Electrico
7-12. The rest...
I see Burro missing out, I will start by saying that early. I see whoever ends up in the game to go against them beating them.
Our group, before we go into semis and finals, looks like this:
4. Ka-Pow!
5. Fire 2
9. Flump

Flump will lose twice and the group will be decided in the last group game between us and Fire 2. It would not be beyond the realms of possibility to presume that Fire will do an equal split, or at least move some players around in order to ensure both of their teams qualify for Nationals. This will be a tough game, but if we are looking to play Europeans this should be a game we should be winning.
There is a chance that Fire may switch their teams around. Fire 1 has a gimme pool with ABH and If (don't know who they are) in which both games will be guaranteed and they may LOAD their second team with first team players. If this happens, Ka-Pow! will have the chance to make a statement that says we deserve to be in contention for Semis at Nationals and definitely competing at Euros by beating the 3rd ranked team throughout this Tour season.
If we lose, we will qualify but will take the hard route to qualifying for Europeans, possibly being seeded as low as 15th which would mean our first game against Chevron would be a must win to be in contention for Europeans.
Therefore, I believe our pool is a must win and we can't afford to slip up early.
If we win the group, it is all still to play for. We will have a Semi final against Clapham. If we can play them close, pressure them on D and play our systems on offense, there is no reason why we can't beat them. That said, toppling the 11 times national champions and current first ranked team overall from the Tour will be no easy feat.
If we win, we will play either Fire 1 or Tooting in the final, I predict unless Fire stack their second team that their first team will be in the Final.
Therefore, if we lose we will be in the 3 v 4 game against Tooting. Interestingly, there is a possibility that a rematch of this game may be the first game at Nationals, so we should be aiming to make a statement in this game if this is where we finish.
Should be a tough weekend but a good start for Ka-Pow in our aim to finish Nationals in a European qualification spot.