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Thor Egil Skaug (Norway)
Rank:01
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This is the third time
that Thor manages to reach a Kick Off 2 World Cup final,
and also the third time that he wins the title. If you
think that this is a small feat, know that no other
player has ever managed to get to more than one final
without losing at least one of them: Gianni has 5/13,
Gianluca 3/4, Dagh 3/4, Alkis 2/4, Spyros 2/3, Andy 1/3,
and Fabio 1/2. Like all top players, he has exceptional
attacking skills, but unlike most, they are effective
against practically everyone, as he doesn't appear to
have an opponent against whom he regularly struggles. He
was the 3rd best goal average in the history of World
Cups, with 7.14 goals per game
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Gianni Torchio (Italy)
Rank:02
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Silver medal number 8 for
Gianni, who is starting to develop something of a
negative tradition against Thor, as this is the third
competition in a row that the Norwegian has better
results against him, and let's not forget that he had
also defeated him in the 2016 title match in Milan. His
two goals in the first leg against Thor was the lowest
he's scored in a final since 2010. Of course, as usual,
he had little to no trouble besting basically everyone
else during the World Cup weekend. He leads the KOA in
World Cup wins and goals.
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Fabio Fichera (Italy)
Rank:03
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In the last 7 competitions that Fabio
attended, his journey ended with either Gianni or Andy.
The only time this story had a happy ending for him was
when he beat his fellow townsman with an epic comeback
in the Bournemouth final. Apart from that, he counts two
disqualifications to Andy and four to Gianni, with the
last one being in Torremolinos. He brought home the top
scorer trophy for the third time in his career, and he
was also the best defender out of the Top-16 players
(3rd overall), while becoming the 5th player to reach
200 World Cup wins.
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Andy Gregoris (England)
Rank:04
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Andy missed the Athens World Cup,
which means that if we include the two lost years due to
the pandemic, he had a total of three years of
inactivity, yet that didn't seem to affect his
performance much. He was the one who gave the champion
the hardest time, in an epic semi-final, where the two
players changed tactics a total of 250 times over the
two legs, that was decided by a goal on the 34th second
of stoppage time - that's the football equivalent of
disqualification on the 95th minute!
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Mario Fichera (Italy)
Rank:05
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With
the exception of a silver medal in the distant 2009, the
5th place is the highest that Mario has achieved, in
fact it's the third time he arrives there. A graduate of
the Milanese school of attack, he had the 5th best goal
average of the competition. He was responsible for three
out of Christopher's five defeats in Torremolinos.
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Christopher Durrans (Norway)
Rank:06
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Chris
must be slowly but surely developing this writer's
dislike for Italians, as it's now three times in a row
that he gets disqualified by one, and a different one
each year. Fabio in Bremen, Lorenzo in Athens, Gianni in
Spain although for a couple of minutes when he took a
9-2 lead against him in the rematch of 3-9, it looked
like he could turn it around. He had the fourth best
attack of the World Cup.
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Oliver Stender (Germany)
Rank:07
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This
is the 6th consecutive presence in the quarter-finals
for Oliver, and the 9th in the last 13 World Cups that
he's attended. Impressive consistency from the German,
who eventually aspires to return to the top 4 where he
was in 2015 and 2016. He has the 4th most points gained
in a competition among 212 players, he became the 4th
player to reach 2000 goals in World Cups and he received
the KOA Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
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Lorenzo Lozito (Italy)
Rank:08
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Lorenzo could not repeat the amazing achievement of
reaching the final like the year before, but that does
not mean that his game has not improved. In fact, he was
undefeated in the 14 matches of the first two rounds,
before he gave in to the superiority of Fabio. He had
the second best defense out of the Top-16 players (6th
overall).
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Alkis Polyrakis (Greece)
Rank:09
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Although he tried to mix things up by playing 4-2-4 for
long periods of time, Alkis had the absolute 'on par'
performance in the 21st Kick Off 2 World Cup. He was
seeded 9th and finished 9th, beating every player who
was seeded below him and losing to every player who was
seeded above him. Almost as boring as his speeches.
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Steve Baker (England)
Rank:10
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This
was a great tournament for Steve, who could have made it
to the quarter finals had he not lost the crucial match
to Oliver. Results such as a 6-6 against Andy or an 8-8
against Thor cannot be achieved by just anyone, and
neither can the sixth best goal average of the
competition.
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Steve Camber (England)
Rank:11
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The
ever present Englishman came very close to ending his
perfect 20/20 Round 2 record after drawing to Mick and
Frederic beat Frank, but his experience allowed him to
beat the Belgian and advance to the Top 16 once again.
As always, the quality of the World Cup wouldn't have
been as high without his software contributions.
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Frank Fuhrmann (Germany)
Rank:12
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This
is Frank's fifth consecutive presence in the 9-16 group.
His main strength lies in defense, as he had the best
defensive average of that group, even better that some
of the quarter finalists such as Mario and Oliver. What
cost him was that his 2.59 goal average was the lowest
of the top 21 players.
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Alessandro Verrani (Italy)
Rank:13
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Alessandro is another 9-16 regular, in fact he feels
right at home there as that's where he's been in 11 out
of his 14 World Cups. And yet, he has reasons to feel
very content to be there in Torremolinos, as he had to
escape from a very tough group and beat Nikos to do it.
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Fran Sendra (Spain)
Rank:14
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Fran
had a terrific first day in the 21st Kick Off 2 World
Cup, securing 3rd place above KOA veterans Alessandro
and Nikos. Apparently, the organizer syndrome kicked in
on Sunday as he seemed to run out of steam. It has to be
said, though, that some of the defeats that cost him
were by a single goal, namely against Oliver, Steve
Baker and Alessandro.
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Rodolfo Martin (Spain)
Rank:15
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Rodolfo returned to the Top 16, a feat he has only
achieved in 3 out of his 17 World Cup appearances - only
Steve Camber and Gianni have been in more. He did it by
keeping a clean sheet against Mark, something only he
and Fabio managed to do in Spain. He was the chief
organizer of the competition.
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Samu Gómez (Spain)
Rank:16
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Three
players in the second round can certainly be considered
a success for the Spanish team. Although Samu ended at
the same spot as the year before, it would be incorrect
to claim that he did not show any progress, as he was
responsible for the elimination of Robert.
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Robert Swift (England)
Rank:17
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Only
five players have played in more World Cup matches than
Robert, and yet apart from a well deserved Lifetime
Achievement Award, he did not have any trophies to show
for them. All that changed in Spain, as he overcame his
disappointment of missing the Top-16 by narrowly
defeating Nikos to top his Silver group, and Frederic in
the Silver Cup trophy game, which was his first ever big
screen match. He had the 4th best defense of the
competition.
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Frederic Giuliano (Belgium)
Rank:18
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Frederic came very close to repeating Gabriele's
achievement in Athens, winning the Silver Cup in his
first World Cup appearance. Although he took a 3-0 lead
against Robert, he ended up conceding four unanswered
goals and losing on overtime. Just like Gabriele, he
brought the best defense trophy back home as only Gianni
managed to score more than four goals against him.
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Nikos Andreou (Greece)
Rank:19
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Nikos
was the original Silver Cup winner in 2002 (back when it
was called the Playouts), and he'd never missed the top
16 in his next 8 appearances. He was the favourite to
win it again, but a draw against Luis (whom he had
beaten 6-2 the day before) cost him his presence in the
final. He's one of the only 7 players who have a lower
than 3.0 defensive average after having played in at
least 5 World Cups.
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Jorn Meinertz (Norway)
Rank:20
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The
hyperborean traveller won the Silver Cup in 2019 in
Bremen, and this year he came very close to making it to
another final. He needed to win the decisive match
against Frederic to get there, but the Belgian equalized
seconds before the final whistle. That draw should come
at no surprise, as only two people have more draws than
Jorn in Kick Off 2 World Cups.
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Mick Creevy (England)
Rank:21
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This
was Mick's second World Cup appearance. Many people did
not realize how close to the Silver Cup final he was, as
in a group that had Robert and Nikos in it he finished
but a single point below them. Among the Silver Cup
players, only Nikos and Frederic had a better goal
average than him.
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Michael Gebler (Germany)
Rank:22
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With 5
World Cups under his belt, Michael can now be considered
an experienced player, although he didn't manage to
capitalize on the 16th place he gained in Bremen.
Despite his defeats to Klaus and Jaume, he did well to
beat Jorn to remain in the top half players of the
competition.
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Ian Kay (England)
Rank:23
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Ian
scored consistently in Spain, as his 3.19 average was
the third best among the Silver Cup players - he even
scored 4 goals against the likes of Gianni and Mario. He
also had some impressive draws against seasoned players
like Steve Camber, Robert and Nikos.
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Fabien Sans (France)
Rank:24
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A very
respectable first World Cup appearance for Fabien.
Sometimes he blacked out in matches like the 1-0 defeat
to Klaus or the 2-1 defeat to Michele, but he was
generally a tough nut to crack who drew against Jorn and
lost to Frederic by a single goal.
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Peter Klimaschefski (Germany)
Rank:25
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Peter's attack struggled in Torremolinos - a 1.56
average, whereas in Bremen he had managed 2.53 goals per
game. This was his 7th World Cup competition.
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Mark Williams (England)
Rank:26
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I have
written before that Mark tends to underperform when
seeded high and overperform when seeded low. Spain was
not an exception, as he was the only player from the top
four seeds who did not qualify. He still had the 7th
best defensive average of all.
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Jaume Perello (Spain)
Rank:27
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We can
expect much greater things from Jaume as soon as he
manages to put some standard goals in his quiver. After
all, he had the second best defense of the tournament
even after facing opponents such as Andy, Lorenzo and
Alessandro.
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Luis Astorri (Spain)
Rank:28
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Luis
returned for his second World Cup after Milan 2016, and
this time he fortunately decided to stay for both days.
A draw against Nikos was his most impressive result. He
was the main hardware provider of the competition.
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Cornelius Henze (Germany)
Rank:29
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Cornelius is one of the most recognizable faces in the
KOA, having competed in dozens of tournaments, including
9 World Cups. He rarely strays far from positions 25-30,
and this year was no exception.
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Michele Lorenzetti (Italy)
Rank:30
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Michele's streak of 10 consecutive World Cups is alive!
He used that experience to beat some of the newcomers,
as well as Mark with the impressive score 4-1.
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Klaus Lederer (Austria)
Rank:31
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Klaus
won half of his 18 matches, which would normally have
landed him much higher. However, four of his wins were
in the first round, and he needed more of them on Sunday
to finish in a better position!
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David Cornejo (Spain)
Rank:32
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Although David was among the first few dozens of KOA
members, it's been too many years since they held
regular tournaments in Jerez, and his inactivity was
evident. He shaped up and managed to get a couple of
wins in the Silver Cup, but not before he proudly wore
the Shirt of Shame on Saturday.
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Stephane Lanne (France)
Rank:33
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Stephane had several close defeats, and an impressive
victory against Robert in his first World Cup
appearance. He seems to have the potential to do better.
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Grzegorz Patola (Poland)
Rank:34
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Like
many before him, Grzegorz found out the hard way that
there is a world of players able to overperform him at
his beloved game. He managed to win the Game of Shame,
but he could not avoid last place.
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