KO - Gathering

I'm gonna start. Watch this space.

As I guess most of you know, hosting a Kick Off 2 World Cup is actually a quite massive undertaking. So I won't bore you with all those details, I'll just try and stick to focus on the World Cup as a player and a KOA-member.
1 thing about being organiser and an admin on our World Cup Facebook-page, is that from time to time we're being contacted there, by various people showing interest in the game and/or us. This year we got contacted by Stephan, a journalist, from the german football magazine 11Freunde who wanted to come to the world cup and do a case on us. Of course we accepted, and he was there from friday to sunday night, watching loads of matches, even playing the game a bit, doing interviews, going out with us, etc. He was a really nice guy, and it was very funny to talk to him. And I'm also very proud of all the KOA members at the World Cup, accepting him with open arms and hearts, letting him take part in the friendship, comradery, sharp KO2-battles and joy the world cup is.

Thursday
Lee and Jayne was in town, and they had time to meet me for lunch. We met up downtown Copenhagen, had a pizza and a nice 1-hour talk. Lovely people the both of them, and to get that little meeting in, really started my World Cup weekend.

Friday
My initial plan was to be leaving home early, so I could be at the GameRoom, setting up, from noon, however, I had so much I needed to do that I was almost 4 hours late. But, when I got there Torgny, John and Jacob was in good form, having set up lots of stations. This was the first time in 2 years I'd met John, and it was great to see him again. And the GameRoom was amazing! Having the World Cup at an actual football-stadium, was just perfect. Great job Torgny, securing that place. I now look forward to the next time Gianni will host, giving us the San Siro World Cup. Or maybe Rodolfo can fix something at Santiago Bernabeu.

While we where at the GameRoom Michael G and Peter K came up, with all the beer they brought from Germany. How amazing of them to do such for us. I love they way the various members of the KOA are so willing to help out. They also had some machinery, smartly enough they kept one station in their hotel-room, securing us the possibility to play some friendlies later. Also Lee and Jayne showed up, having a chat. After a while, we drove to the hotel to check in, and shortly after we where playing friendlies at Michael and Peters room. And now I got to try out my new joystick. Lee'd been customising it, providing me with a newly fixed, nicely working CMS-stick, with the buttons I don't use blacked out, and a full set of red LED-lights underneath, giving that Fast'n Furious Neon-Glow, espcially when playing in a not fully lit room. Awesome!!! Thanks mate!

Then, we went down to the Reception-area to see if the other players were ready for dinner, and the joy to see all those familiar faces simply can't be described. Walking to the restaurant only took like 5 minutes, and the restaurant was truly a great choice by Torgny. The food was really good.
After dinner, we went to the next-door place, called Harry's, where a local punk-band was playing. Really fun. Getting in some good words with Ian Kay, who I find to be a top bloke was really cool, and seeing the joy on Andy's face when he got his Dark'n Stormy handed to him definitively was the icing on the cake. When Harry's closed, I decided it was time for me living up to my high age, calling it the night and heading back to the hotel.

Saturday

To be continued

Some of my pictures can be found HEREand HERE

The.Best.World.Cup.EVER!!!!

I say this every year, but it'll be tough to top that weekend.

Landskrona WC every year? Yes?

Enormous thank you to Torgny, Jacob, Jorn and Jappz! You took the WC event to a whole new level, just incredible.

Thanks Logos!

It was really fun organizing the WC and U all did a great job helping us get it together.

I suffered the organizer syndrome and played like I had the stick somewhere dark. But that didnt matter, its just so fun getting to see new players and meet new styles of playing. Cornelius and Ian where two players I never met before. We had some good fun matches and they both played a bit different from what I am used to.
My 0-3 against Chris with 0-1 after 9 minutes and a stressed and out of balanced bronze medalist was probably my best performance. Thank U lockout!

Jaume and me got to talk and it turned out that the hotel Im staying at one week every year since 2005 is about 100 meters from his apartment in Santa Ponsa, Mallorca...I guess there is a chance that I will be turning home as white as I came next time in St Ponsa.

Thanks all for visiting my home town. And dont miss Landskrona BoIS final match on saturday!

Thanks Torgny, Jacob, Jorn and Jappz! It was the best WC ever! Fantastic venue and such a nice atmosphere throughout the weekend, with live streaming and all the hilarious fans and fun grudge matches, we even had journalists from Germany to cover the event and add some shine to it all!

My son had surgery scheduled for Friday, but I managed to get it rescheduled for Tuesday after the weekend. I wasn't sure I could go to the WC until I made the decision on Thursday to go there by train on both days. And so happy I am that I managed to go and meet you all again!

And what a lovely town Landskrona is! Let's have a WC there every year!

I had a great time, arriving without having played against a human being for 2 years and with only a handful of games even against the computer I didn't expect to achieve anything much but I came away with 7 wins and my first Cup Final appearance. I also managed what I think must be my best ever result, 8-1 in the first leg of a 2-legged game (without any lobs, just for the record!). And as a bonus it was recorded for posterity as one of the games on the live broadcast station.

John H, Jorn and Lee's 3-way qualification confusabobble was funny, the Left 4 Dead four-way was hilarious, the final itself was unbelievable, as was Gianni's comeback in the semi-final first leg.

I got to play my first games against Dagh, Oliver, Frank, Rodolfo, Paolo, Cornelius, Peter K, Joerg, Jorn and Dennis. Somehow I avoided all the Italians bar Paolo, but I think I played all the Germans except Peter S. I got a friendly win against Steve C, played out an entertaining 4-2 defeat against Robert S (again), and didn't have to face Ian K (who always beats me) thanks to my Group G getting a clean sweep in the Silver Cup quarter-finals against his Group H. Dennis and Paolo did their best to try and knock Rodolfo out for me but he scraped through and was able to demolish me comfortably in the final (though playing back the match it looks a much closer 3-1 than it felt like at the time). I enjoyed the support from the Germans in the final, whistling the Russian national anthem and singing Kalinka!

I was very lucky with the way my fixtures fell, I only just finished 2nd ahead of Paolo in group G thanks to an extremely lucky win over him in which I was a goal down with both my strikers sent off, and managed to steal it with a last second lob that bounced under the keeper. Because of that result, I avoided players I knew I would struggle against (Ian, Paolo, Rodolfo) until the final, though I still did far better than I expected against Cornelius and Peter K especially in the first leg games, building up very comfortable leads meaning I could relax and enjoy the 2nd legs.

I offered all my opponents the opportunity to play random pitch and strong wind, only 3 agreed. As a result I played plastic pitch against 2 players (Dennis and Michael, possibly?) and wet pitch against Dagh, who was also the only player who agreed to strong wind. Quality player, quality champion, perhaps the only champion willing to play in - and capable of winning in - any conditions!

First - thank you organisers. Great arrangement all over, and I would like to underline it´s surely the best tournament-room ever!

Before the Wcup me and Jacob played 17 games on thursday night. He won most of them. The score between us was interestingly enough 86 vs 86! Second day: 5 games, and just as even. Good training. My theory is: Im stagnated and he´s improved. End.


The games:

First day:

Torgny (10-1)
I had no wish to beat the great organisator (Torgny) with large numbers, but he did not really have one of his best games vs me in this match. I suggest - a classic `Organisator-syndrome`.

Thomas N (7-1)
Thomas = fairly good defence (!) and he did actually create quite a few chances, but...on the other hand, he did not convert them. Next year Thomas i expect you to score more of the chances that you actually do create

Ian K (2-1)
Oh dear. Nightmare-match. Unknown player for me, and thus i did expect to have an easy game. 1-1 until minute 9:00, if I recall correct, and at that late stage he missed a complete sitter! I cant believe I won this one. Pure luck!

Ian, you´re very good at defending, at least I thought so. Very difficult to break down. Likely, bigger players than me were able to find One Single hole they were able to exploit...? If I dare to suggest - try to learn to score more effectively from these somewhat more difficult positions. Anyhow, you´re a good player and you will surely improve further.

Mr Lee (5-2)
The numbers lies, this was an even match until very late. Scores, he does, but Lee could score more considering the amount of chances he creates. He got thrue the group (well done!) and just as Ian, Lee will surely get stronger in coming world cups.

Thor (3-5)
The numbers lies - I was not even close. He is too good for me. End.

Jörn (1-2)
A shock-loss for me! I did not at all expect this, but it was a Great game by Jörn! Jörn got a good defence and with some training he would score far more - but (hey!) two goals is enough when defending well!

Cristophianus (5-4)
I had not expected to win this. He is surely better than me. But as he is one of the players I love to beat - It just had to happen!




First day, but harder group:
Cant find the scores, so sorry if i recall wrongly

Dagh (5-8)
Alcohol not at the right level at this match - thus struggles to recall the halftime result. Still performed well. Was it 4-4 at halftime? Would like to believe I got contact with the giant in this match, but not sure. Need to get myself an "breathalyser" for next WC (Jörn, you can borrow it)

Gianni (Large numbers, cant find the scores)
No chance. He is too good for me.

Sandro (4-5)
Always tight games vs me and Sandro. But (oh!) - i hates his lobs! Really hates them. Lovely guy though, so he is forgiven. Good homour from him suggesting his lobs did not work at all before he did take me on This destroyed my hopes for a Q-final.

Thor (?-?)
Cant find the ft result, but no chance did I have.

Marco D (5-4?)
Superb, superb defender! Very happy winning this one! Scoring in the last seconds. This is one of ko-players i would have liked to have played 100 games in a row vs, and thus hopefully learn a few of his defending-trix!

Robert S (3-1)
Robert Swift belong to the small group of players that I love to beat! Defending very well, leaked zero blc´s in this one? But scoring...

Robert, you likely dont like to read such as this, but I suggest you do not lack much to get MUCH further up the final table. Learn to score, and not only the goals you scored 20 years back. You must catch up ko-2-evolution, or happily accept a day2-nightmare next year as well. Cant you understand you belong to the top-10? (Same situation for me actually - I have promised myself to learn the "Oliver-move" in time for next year)



Wierd day´s for me regarding the tables. First day vs Jörn, me and Lee - second day, same scenario, then between me, Sandro and Cristophianus - same points, and goaldifferance in total or between us decided. I dont know. I have to say I do prefer the western european style, really.



Ok. Playoff-matches. I was looking at position 9 when starting the tournament - No, I could not see mylself breaking into QF.

Lorenzo L
Cant remember the scores, but I scrapped thrue vs him (one goal win in total if recall correct) Very good player. No surprised he got himself to the top-16.

Marco D
Marco D again. Not what I would have wanted. I won narrowly first match, then tried to `lockout-and-blc` him in the next. It failed. Lost second leg with one goal. Extra-time and the bravest man won! Well done Marco!

Jacob K
Here I got to play one of the oppentents I like to beat the most (and hate to lose vs!) 8-5 win first match, and then lockouted him to a 1-1 draw second match. Pleasure.


Thank you all and especially thank you...

...Jacob, Jörn, and maybe Torgny especially, for taking care of everything after the wcup - it must have been hard work on monday

...Andy, for taking the beer-bottle from me on friday-night - and instead serving me a glass of clean water. Cleareyed and a true gentleman! I owe you one!

...all 9 germans - no world cup without you!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAbskL4vPYA

...Lee and Rodolfo for joining me on Ciggars, when I was struggling - hopefully I have not dragged you Rodolfo into smoking again?!

...Jacob, Robert and Cristophianus for offering me the brilliant fortune to defeat you! I enjoyed all three wins! And remember that it is competition games that counts...

...Gianni for sorting everything out during the tournament. I know I was the bad guy on sunday, Sorry for delaying the tournament. Truly ashamed.

...Oliver for showing me his right-wing move




Short comment on my own performance: 11:th was likely what I deserved here In Landskrona. Though, I promise I´ll be better equipped next year. I refuse to be ko2-evolution-overrunned!



- Great to see you all again! This is really `THE` weekend of the year for me!

On the negative side, I trule missed a few: Thorsten (true miss in wcups, where are you?!), Gianluca, Alkis, Spyros, Panayotis, as well as other greeks. Also hoping to see Screech and Dino again in the future.

Thank you everyone again for a marvellous World Cup Weekend.

Special thanks to the organizers: Jacob, Jorn, Torgny. You did a great job! The hotel was very good, and the venue, although a little far, was perfect. Also the Friday dinner was maybe the best we ever had, and the idea of staying together in the WC venue for Saturday dinner was brilliant. It really added something very special to the WC experience, and perhaps it is one thing to repeat in future events.

In addition to the official organizers, Gianni also worked a lot! He was taking care of every detail of the competition, while the rest of us just played games and had beers (thanks, Michael G!). Gianni wasted a lot of energy on that, instead on giving a damn and just focusing on his very important games. And then he loses the final by just one goal! I do hope that he gets soon the chance to go to a WC where he can just enjoy, and beat the crap out of the rest of us in the kick off pitch.

About my games, I played a terrible first day, with 5 defeats and only 2 victories in 7 games, but somehow I managed to finish in the 5th position. And then, the SIlver Cup begun. The peek of my kick off was at the beginning of the SC on Saturday evening, those 4 games we had to play at the end of day 1 were the games i played better.

After that, although on Sunday I managed to finish my group with a perfect seven victories out of seven games, from the early morning I noticed I was playing worse. In qf against Peter K, I could only qualify by one goal, and in the sf, against Paolo, it was a nightmare. I was behind from the very start of the first leg, lost 3-4, and only in the last second of the second league I equalized 4-3. Then extra time, then penalties, when by pure luck i saved one and went to the final.

It was a big joy for me to be in the SC final again, and now I can admit that I was confident, because I had already beaten Stephen before without much trouble. But finals are always tricky anyway, and watching it now I see that, although I took a 3-0 lead, it was closer than what the final result may suggest. But what the f, Silver Cup champion again, and I am very happy.

Once more I demand that the Silver Cup is considered a tournament victory in the KOA database. It is unfair and unbelievable that on the KOA database counts that I am winner of many old local 4 players tournaments, and does not count, and I do not get the same recognition, winning an international tournament of 16 players.

It is remarkable for me that this year the players level, specially on the lower half, was very similar. I finished in 17th position, but I could only beat 6-5 Wolf, who finished last. That provided a Silver Cup full of wonderful very close games, and that is the part of the kick off experience I enjoy the most.

Above all, it has been great to be once more sharing this lovely event with you all. I must admit that for me this is not about the game anymore; do not get me wrong, I enjoy a lot playing, but if next year we would have a WC with another different 30 people, I do not think I could be bothered to attend.

I cannot finish my WC report without saying that I very much missed some VIP koaers, and friends, like Alessandro, Alkis, and Durban. But thinking again, if they had attended, I would have finished three spots behind, so in the end you did the right thing by staying at home.

... Im a bit sad that we forgot to take the group photo though...

Toggebois wrote:... Im a bit sad that we forgot to take the group photo though...

Nevermind, we'll do it next year!

Logos wrote:

Toggebois wrote:... Im a bit sad that we forgot to take the group photo though...

Nevermind, we'll do it next year!

... We will look older

Toggebois wrote:

Logos wrote:

Toggebois wrote:... Im a bit sad that we forgot to take the group photo though...

Nevermind, we'll do it next year!

... We will look older

But more sexy!

Left to right:

Steve C, Gianni T, Wolf, Sandro T, Lorenzo L, Rodolfo M, Cornelius H, Peter S.


Left to right:

Thomas N, Ian K, Jorn F, Lee W, Christopher D, Thor S, Torgny A, John H.


Left to right:

Dennis N, Paolo S, Robert S, Michael G, Frank F, Oliver S, Stephen C, Dagh N.


Left to right:

Jürg P, Peter K, Jaume P, Andy G, Fabio F, Michele L, Marco L.