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Alkis Polyrakis (Greece)
Rank:01
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The man who liked to fancy himself as a
modern day Captain Ahab, but actually bore more resemblance to the likes of
Sylvester, Iznogoud, Gargamel and Wile E. Coyote, finally succeeded in returning
to the Kick Off 2 throne, twelve whole years after the first competition. During
this period, there were times when he got relatively close to his goal, and
others when he made himself a fool of such dimensions, that he should have been
required to dress like a jester, complete with silly hat and curled-toe shoes.
Now that his Sisyphean struggle finally came to an end, he will finally stop
pestering people with his tales of ye olde times. Or so they think. |
Andy Gregoris (England)
Rank:02
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Andy's achievement of
being the first man to eliminate Gianni in a quarter final knockout match is
nothing short of impressive, and a veritable testament to his continuing
improvement. He grinds his opponents on his wheels of torrential attack, until
they are reduced to dust. Yet the finals were surprisingly low on goals, with a
lot of anxiety on both ends, and they were decided on details. It wasn't meant
to be for him in Austria, but his chance can't be that far along the road. |
Steve Camber (England)
Rank:03
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This is the third time that Steve
makes it to the semi-finals, and his first world cup medal! After a mediocre
performance in the first round, he managed to reach the top four without losing
any of his first 8 matches on Sunday. Although he lost both his games against
Mark and Christopher on Saturday, his experience helped him prevail against them
when it really mattered. He had the fourth best defense in the competition. |
Christopher Durrans (Norway)
Rank:04
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Just when you think that there are no
more good Kick Off 2 players out there, and that newbies can only serve as
cannon fodder in world cups, there comes a Scandinavian to disprove that theory.
Christopher caused a sensation in this tournament, starting with beating the
likes of Oliver, Mark, and Steve on Saturday, and then prevailing against Andy
in the second round. Although he couldn't repeat the feat in the semis, it is
evident that the KOA gained another medal contestant in its ranks. |
Gianni Torchio (Italy)
Rank:05
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The last time he was in Austria,
Gianni's game was as immensely rich and eloquently executed as Wagnerian opera,
as he became -and still is- the only player who ever won a world cup with
nothing but victories (26/26). Nothing in the first 25 games of the competition
indicated that this year was going to be any different, but then Andy put an end
to his 15 consecutive wins in quarter finals. He is the first who wins the top
scorer & best defense awards without actually claiming the world title as well. |
Lorenzo Ceselli (Italy)
Rank:06
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Lorenzo's performance in the first
round was quite below his standards, with plenty of draws, some shocking defeats
and a goal average under two goals per game. Few people expected him to survive
a day 2 group that had Oliver and Alkis in it, but he picked up his game just in
time to shock Oliver with a draw and a defeat. He had the fifth best defense in
Voitsberg. |
Michael Malli (Austria)
Rank:07
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Michael saw in Voitsberg the chance to
become the second Austrian to reach the quarter finals stage of a world cup, and
he did not let it go amiss. At times his offense seemed to be on fire, like when
he scored 8 goals against each of Christopher and Oliver, and at others it
appeared to stop working altogether, but in the end one could say that he
finished as high as he could have. |
Mark Williams (England)
Rank:08
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After a terrific first day, during
which Mark looked capable of competing for one of the medals, he appeared to run
out of fuel on Sunday. Failing to beat Steve Camber, whom he had effortlessly
crashed 5-0 the day before, he had to play against Alkis in the quarter finals
and therefore could not proceed any further. Still, 8th place is his best
position ever by far, and we should remember that this is the same player who
had finished 32nd just a couple of years ago. His Kick Off ability is like the
British Empire or the British Constitution - a thing that has grown to its
present importance. |
Oliver Stender (Germany)
Rank:09
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One blackout is all it takes to ruin a
man's world cup, and in Oliver's case that happened in the second game against
Lorenzo. He really had the potential to go very far in this competition, as is
evident by the fact that he managed to beat all three top players! At least he
brought the Silver Cup back home, and he was the third scorer of the tournament. |
Klaus Lederer (Austria)
Rank:10
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Klaus is slowly but surely becoming a
better player year by year. In Voitsberg, he defeated two quarter finalists
-Michael and Lorenzo- and he made it to the Silver Cup final for the first time
ever. |
Rodolfo Martin (Spain)
Rank:11
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Could Rodolfo have made it to the
world's top 8 this year? Evidence suggested so, as he drew twice against Michael
in Round 2, but a painful defeat to Helmut cost him his place. |
Jorn Flagtvedt (Norway)
Rank:12
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Jorn had his moments in this
competition, the greatest of which was the victory against Christopher in the
Norwegian derby. If he hadn't lost to Michele, he would have finished higher in
the group and day 2 would have been much different for him. As it happened, he
had to face his compatriot and Andy in the group, as well as Oliver in the
knockouts. |
Jorg Panhorst (Germany)
Rank:13
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Jorg will remember this world cup
mainly because he finally managed to beat Rodolfo. Although their previous 7
matches were always close, he had never managed to do it before. Behind Oliver,
he had the second best defense among those who did not make it to the quarter
finals. |
Helmut Hausmann (Austria)
Rank:14
|
Unlike most players in the crazy world
cup, Helmut's performance appeared to be pretty much on par with what we are
used to from him. He still needs to work on his offense, as only Michael Fuchs
and Dino had a worse average than he did. |
Michele Lorenzetti (Italy)
Rank:15
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Michelone ended up competing in the
preliminary round of shame because he lost too many matches on a single goal.
Namely to Klaus, Rodolfo, Jorg and Christopher on Day 1 as well as Helmut on
Sunday. |
Peter Sommer (Germany)
Rank:16
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Peter did well against
Austrians in this world cup, as he beat Michael Fuchs and drew against Klaus and
Helmut! Unfortunately for him, he struggled against virtually everyone else. |
Michael Fuchs (Austria)
Rank:17
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With all his organizational duties,
Michael was so busy during the world cup weekend that beavers hung their heads
in shame when he walked by. His reasonable goal in this competition was to avoid
last place, and he succeeded, picking up a couple of impressive draws against
Lorenzo and Klaus along the way. |
Dino Dini (England)
Rank:18
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Way to show respect, Kick Off
Association! The maker of the game shows up, and we repay him by giving him a
Shirt of Shame? Oh well, that was the unfortunate consequence of the complete
lack of poor players in this world cup. Thank God Dino didn't mind the tease at
all, and promised to come back next year for more. |
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