WUCC European Recap

[Music] Hello and welcome to another episode of the Eurozone podcast. My name is Sean Coldford and I joined once more by Benji Reef. Benji, how are you doing? I'm not bad, thank you. We had delivery of a fresh new cat yesterday, so doing all right. Wonderful, adding to the is it a pack? What's the thinking of cats? A prize perhaps? A nuisance, a conglomeration? Yeah, a joy. Maybe a joy. I think it's probably a nuisance. I'm going to go pack like they're like they're lions, the prides, sorry, like they're lions. Let's go with that. Another addition to the prides. Did you get the post-worlds, flu slash illness that everyone else seemed to get? I didn't get it. No, I seem to have been all right, actually. Great, just superior human beings with better, better immune systems. Everyone else, I think is what's probably going to happen to. Yeah, if it doesn't affect me, then it's not real, so I'm fine with it. By the way, apparently the collective now for cats is a clouder. A clouder, okay, another addition to the clouder it is. A nuisance is actually one of them, apparently. I disagree with that. I think they're a pleasure at all times. Good. Well, I'm glad you got them because I'm sure my wife who was allergic to cats would think that they were more than a nuisance if they lived in afflap. So I think it's worked out for the best that we are in this situation as we're in recats. So let's talk about walk. Benji, went in with probably the spiciest takes of anybody in terms of who would do well at the tournament, back to Europe in every division to win on this podcast. Somebody had to. It is Eurozone after all. Exactly, and I thought I'd be back to Europe to do residue well, but Benji blew me out of the water. And we talked about the fact that how it could be the most successful work in the history of European ultimate, given the strength of the teams compared to 4, 8, 12 years ago. And I think we were probably vindicated in that Benji. I think this is probably the best at tournament the Europe's ever had, right? That's work where we've had multiple med lists, I think. Right. And you had European team in every semi-finals in every division, which I don't believe it was happened before either. So yeah, it was just an outstanding tournament for European teams. We'll start with the team that went the furthest, that got the closest to that elusive European world championship. We'll start with the winning division, where Groot went all the way through the final, fell to an absolute inspired scandal in the final game, but gave them a hell of a game in that Groot losing 15-13 to the team from DC. I've just done an incredible run from the team from the Netherlands throughout the tournament, really. I have as two points away from a generational prediction. You really were. And that's the most important thing here. Groot were outstanding. I thought kind of the class of the European sides, right from that, kind of the first game, they kind of got their feet under them a little bit with, you know, it's still a tough game out of the gate against Iris, one well. They had that universe point when you get some account on the first thing on the Sunday morning. And sort of never looked back from there, they, I thought, were incredible. Their top players absolutely balled out. Lola Darm was just incredible. I mean, put us all firmly in the conversation for the best player in the division. Other big stars also had, you know, big performances, you floccularcy, christianist listers, aurora lechnics. And I thought a lot of the kind of more auxiliary pieces as well also turned up in a big way. Kind of, they got really important contributions from players that are generally less heralded like, yes, a Bardole and Susanna slob. I just thought from top to bottom, they look like a well coached, well organized, deep team. And that's something that's not always been said about European teams. It's at the top level talent's been there, but maybe not the depth, but they showed that this is a proper squad. It's not just seven or eight players. Absolutely. You had a group of players on the o-line that were really, really well drilled together and knew how they wanted to play. You had defensive players who could make a difference. Obviously, you had players like Lola Darm and aurora lechnics and others who can cross over and play both ways. But the fact that the team was able to execute such a high level throughout the whole tournament and the fact that some of those players played at a level that we assumed they had because they've been so talented for so long. But I don't know that we'd necessarily seen it on this kind of stage before. Obviously talking mainly about Lola Darm who looked like one of the best players in the world, which we've known she's one of the best players in Europe for a long time, but seeing her playing against the Americans and being them comfortably and looking like she could play against anybody in the world, you know, it was great to see. But I think Christina Cluster as well, particularly defensively showed a level that I mean, you know, you assume a play like that has the ability to play above what you see and if you just stretch her a bit more. But I thought she was absolutely wonderful in the whole tournament. You know that I love Christian Slyster. That's not a surprise to anyone I think has listened to various ultimate broadcast pundits or whatever over the last few years. But I agree kind of getting the opportunity on a bigger stage to really step up to the plate, take on big matchups and do a job was very encouraging. Yeah, 13 assists 32 goals for Lola Darm was just it's just a ludicrous performance, frankly. I mean it you look the fact that someone like Sarah Eklund had a quiet a week in terms of stats, you know, three assists five goals and they still came two points away from winning the whole thing. I think just shows that kind of the talent they have across the breadth of the roster. It does. It definitely does. I mean, just on unloaded down, you mentioned the statistics. You look at the big games they had against Makina, three assists and six goals against. I know you get to the bracket in the quarter final against sixes, two assists five goals in the semi-final against Tokyo average three assists four goals in the final in a losing effort four assists and three goals. Like when when the lights are bright, Lola showed up and played absolutely out of her mind. That's what Lola has done consistently. You know, even before they went into women's when they when they were a mix side, like if they needed someone to provide a big play on Sudden Death or Universe Point or whatever, just be like, oh, the disc is sort of vaguely in the orbit of Lola Darm and that's good enough. Yeah. I mean, Lola, the block that Lola got on Dex Farmer at the, like you said, Universe Point. Something's got to happen. Lola goes and makes it happen. So she looks like one of the best ways in the world. I put in the list of best European plays out just for all worlds that we talked about was obviously a get discussion going type list. And so the person that happened, as I said, at the early part of the season and by change, that Lola Knight looks absolutely bananas now. She's really far better than that. Yes. And I've there have been various bits going on about how all of the European ball numbers have been moaning about how this will ball Europe knows about. I need the people. I need the people who made the list. I've been asked a lot of times. Hey, I always look different to that without people actually showing their list. Yes, I've obviously had all of this, but I've been asked several times who was on the panel and have been told that I should be excluding people from the panel if this was the outcome and inviting new people to the panel. But then I'm like, I say, well, you give me a list of 20 and people like, I don't know if I don't want to do that. And the thing is there comes a time when you make the not to kind of to go over this again because we did it before work. And obviously now with the with the high insight of the week of the highest level competition, some of the stuff looks a little outdated. Some of the stuff looks very outdated. But there comes a point where you kind of you just you just make your picks and you ride with it. And I think a lot of people now, even who made the list would look back and say, you know what, I didn't get that right. I didn't get that right. I completely forgot about this person, just because you have a brain fade or whatever. Like it happens. And there comes a time when you're just going to be like, yeah, okay, that's fine. We got it wrong. Yeah. And also it's difficult. We talk about top plays in Europe. It's like one really good tournament for anyone of those players. And you'll be like, Oh, God, I've got that completely wrong. Let's see what happens at EUCF, but it might be another player on another team blows everyone away. And it's like, Oh, why don't we have that person number two or whatever? So yes, I mean, this is a thing that there is so much talent in the across the divisions in the on the content so far that yeah, poster UCF, we could be looking at the rankings and thinking, why do we think Lola Dan was the best player in the watch? She's not even the best player on foot. That would have to be a hell of a performance for somebody to maybe think that, but yes, it's a very fair point. Yeah, I suppose Flores, Flores, I've done that before, but amazing performance by group really well deserved. They played phenomenally well in every game, found ways to win, played also just very fun stuff. Like a really kind of aggressive downfield style that we've seen for a long time. And yeah, the final, I think, you know, watching it on the sideline, it looked like Skandal had their noses in front of the whole game and worked too troubled, but it was a hell of a, it's really difficult in that kind of situation mentally to keep going, group getting a break right near the end to potentially drag themselves back into it, speaks volumes about the mentality of that group. Like it could be, it would be easy. It was at 1412 to be like, ah, we've got no chance here, you know, we've given it could shot there enough, there enough congratulations to the winners, but they got a break to bring it back to 14 versus you know, I think. I mean, yeah, that's a big thing. They're dealing, they're dealing, got enough chances. They just were not, they're especially in the first off, were nowhere near clinical enough with it. And that was not necessarily been the script for croate. If you look at the mechanic game, then they were whenever they're dealing, got the disc, they generally put it in. They were, they're dealing, I have been operating at high level, at high level, but obviously in a final, it's never easy to play your best, especially against scandal who, you know, clearly a phenomenal opponent, right, they're the world champions now. And so that that was where they just liked a little bit and there's something that they can look back on and say, okay, actually, they've still got gears to go into, which is slightly scary. I highly, two things, I highly recommend if people have not seen it going on Ian French, his sub stack better every day because he's kind of writing his world's recap. And obviously, he has a lot of interesting insight about how the week went for croate. So I highly recommend that. And to cast the lens back on Altie World, the best piece of broadcasting we did all week was in the women's final when Ravi kind of coordinated with a production team to make sure that we would have kind of attribute to Ted Boyter, who European listeners will know, American listeners will not know as well, but was a huge figure, not just in touch, but in European ultimate. He passed away in January about a week before the European indoors, which he was one of the, which he was the tournament director of. There was a big spirit circle there for him. One of the quotes that came out from that, the really stuck with me was even if he didn't know Ted, Ted knew you, like he just lit up every tournament and he could not have seen him for six months of the year and he'd pick up exactly like you never let, like you never left. And so he did the tribute and literally as soon as Ravi finishes talking for crew lights runs down the pitch gets the first throw block and they convert for the immediate break. And it's genuinely goosebumps. Like they could not have, it genuinely, it could not have been any better timing. And Hannah, Ravi and Kelsey and all the Altie World production team did a superb job with that. And I think they should get many flowers for it. So outside of groups, there was a lot of really good performances as well. We had Mooncup finishing fifth, a really good tournament for the team from Belgium, lost the sixes in the pool and then managed to come through the kind of all European pre-quarter matchup between then and shout, which we'll go back to shout in a bit. But falling to Tokyo, Mavericks and sudden death, the only loss in the bracket. What's the game? Yeah, I grew up in a great game and some absolutely ludicrous plays. The title Yoshida, moment of Duke matchup was not when I had penciled in going into the tournament just because you think about them. It's like they're quite different stages of their careers, they're quite different body types. Like is this, that's not a matchup that you would have necessarily thought you were going to see? Oh my god, I'm going to live off that. It was incredible. I also didn't, it kind of passed me by because I was looking mainly to European teams and obviously the open teams that Yoshida was back from the knee injury that she'd had. I didn't realize she was back to fitness, but she's definitely back to fitness. She was unbelievable. Yes. Yeah, went the nose surgery route and turns out, apparently, if you're okay to Yoshida, you just don't, you just don't need an ACL. Yes, it's a matter of time. Again, she, she looked like one of the players who was in the conversation for the best players at the tournament. Yeah, definitely. Incredible. I moved up becoming the only European team to beat an American team in the final game. Yes, they're not just good on universe. Yeah, so huge, huge result. I mean, fifth in the world for a team that didn't exist four years ago when this last tournament last happened is pretty for nominal. I imagine they probably feel as if they could have competed in the semis. I'm sure they could have looking at how I close it up to Tokyo Mavericks, but overall, I'd say this is a resounding success with me. Yeah, I think for them, they'll probably look back on not necessarily the lost to Mavericks because that was such a tight game that it could have gone either way. Obviously, whenever you go down on universe point, that stings, but actually for me, I think the bigger one would be the pool play loss to sixes where they sort of never got going. It felt like they just came out quite flat and while they fought their way back into it, the energy that they kind of had to expend to have that sort of come back meant that they were not able to close it out at the end. Because of that, it means that you're perhaps not where you expected to be on the bracket, and you know, you could have had a good shot against a team in a crux who obviously did brilliantly, but it's an opposition you know well. So maybe you feel like you would have a bit more of an advantage there against a team like Mavericks that you will just have not have the chance to play with. And star wise, it's just so alien. Like obviously, you play against Groot, you know, the kind of star they're going to play, you know, the matchups you can rely on, but Mavericks is completely different to anything that Moogle had played in the last few years. So it just puts you in a slightly more difficult position, I agree. But that that Sixers game, they went five to down early and kind of never really, never really recovered from their sixers played really well in that game. Well, I suppose that's the, you know, Moogle had big games in Europe, but that was their first kind of big game against a world class team from not Europe, you know, it makes it, it does make a difference mentally. Yeah, I agree with that. I think, as you said, Mavericks had an absolutely amazing tournament ever born though as well. Common like allos phenomenal. I think just a depth in this team, we saw where they've got more names on the European list that we spoke about than anyone else, but I think they just really showed that they are a team that we are going to be talking about for the next four years, and I would expect there's still going to be good time by the time it gets in the next work. A lot of good young players, they've got players coming through as well, some of the kitchen Belgian players have been playing it's junior tournaments and stuff, so a bright future for Moogle Cup and a really good performance by them. Yeah, fully, fully back that. Outside of those, those two who made the top eight, we have in 11th place, which is a little lower than I thought they could potentially achieve BFD Shouts. Now, Shout had one controversial moment, controversial, I suppose, but there was a game against Scandal in the crossovers, where I think neither team would have been that upset to lose that game. Do you think that's fair to say, Benji? Based on the personnel that took the field, I think that's a very safe assumption, or more importantly, the personnel that didn't take the field. Yes, and who was that? I don't think Clare Trope played much if any part for Scandal, we knew that they were managing something. We didn't see Shout to Shal or Abhimula, other players with Nox, only got a couple of points out there for Shal, and yeah, I think they understood, and as the Italian sides often do, kind of playing the tournament as a whole rather than just playing the one particular game, and they thought if we take the loss to Scandal, it doesn't matter because we'll get ourselves on the nicer side of the bracket, theoretically anyway. Essentially, the losers of that game avoided having the other American teams in their side of the bracket, so as we saw, Scandal had to play Brute Squad in the semi, whereas Shout-- In the quarter, in the quarter, sorry, they played Brute Squad in the quarter, and then Fury in the semi, so they would have had to go through both other American teams. So the winner of that game do, they were very likely going to have to do that. BSD Shout lost, and instead had to play Mooncup in the pre-quarter. That obviously did not go Shout's way, but it was, as it always is when these two teams play a really, really tight game all the way to the end. I mean, Mooncup broke for the win, so it could have gotten to the first. This is the thing for me is that, you know, maybe you feel that you know Mooncup better, you know, you couldn't guarantee that it necessarily would have been Mooncup anyway, because they could have not have won their seeding crossover. But when I saw them play Fury on the Sunday morning, they were right in-- I say they were right in that game. They were a break up at half, and they should have been three, four breaks up at half. They had a number of break opportunities, and a number where they just kind of could not get the final scoring pass complete. Otherwise, they could have been-- you can't really be out of sight against Fury, right? But they could have been well up, and they could have certainly won that game. And so I don't know you-- yeah, I think they didn't need to be as pragmatic against Scandal. You know, I think maybe if you go go all out, maybe you can win that game, you get confidence from that. And say, you know what, why are we scared of Brut scored? We could maybe should have beaten Fury. Why do we fear that match up again? I don't know. I just don't like losing games. This is it. I mean, we've spoken about it before that I understand to a certain extent, trying to give yourself the best position to win the tournament if that is what your aim is going to be. If we want to win the tournament, beating all three American teams is going to be an incredibly tall task to get there. So I understand trying to let position yourself. But then, just if you just keep winning, it's a mindset thing is really easy, you don't have to worry about kind of what makes you sense the individual players and how they're thinking about various different things. And like you said, they showed they could compete with the Americans because they should have beaten Fury. There's just a couple of great players by Fury and a couple of the all-time like eras from showers. I mean, that would be completely US Open last year. Yeah, exactly. These teams they've played before, they know very well. They've got a player in Kayla Helton who's beaten all those teams before. Like if you needed to search within the roster for the kind of experience needed and someone who can kind of guide you through those moments, they had someone there in Kaelin, but they had a European players who've beaten teams in America as well. So it was what it was. Shout decided to go or shout ended up playing against Mooncup and lost a close one and lost some tight games in the in the kind of lower bracket, but you know, it's always difficult to get yourselves up for those games against the swampy bag, the Japanese team. Yeah, that's kind of, again, this, this side-way, you're going to play a very different style to what you're used to, and that can often throw a spanner in the works. So they came in 11th, they beat Yaka in that last game, Yaka finished 12th, a very good result, I think, for Yaka. I must say, there are a lot of games where I was, that we take aside the kind of the blowout lost to Fury, Fury a good, that'll happen. I thought generally I was really impressed with, with the quality of Yaka's play. They shorten their lines a little bit more than I'm used to seeing them in some of those big games. It felt, at times, against kind of those quarter-final-level teams, they were just a little bit short, but I very much enjoyed watching them. You know, they're a side that always finds ways to make games interesting and close, even when they're not playing their best, I think. The fact that they were playing excellently just means that it shows how good they are. We know about this young French corps that is exceptional, Lila Petibon, Chloe Olivier, Swanless Costa Ferve, still outstanding players. The two Spanish editions, Aina Perez and Julio Mass, were outstanding for them, kind of they really helped pick up the mantle for them, especially kind of downfield and in the red zone. Yeah, that was amazing. Real forces and weapons, and there'll be a brilliant experience for them to take back to Sharks, you know, if they, for EUCS or whether they want to stick around with Yaka in seasons going forward. Yes, I think I thought they looked outstanding and not bad for a nation that apparently only plays beach. No, oh yeah, you're right, Julio Mass was phenomenal, really good editions for Yaka, and it's just really cool to see Yaka can continue to, you know, talk about the transition from the players who led that team for years to the players that are leading it now. It is a different generation coming through and they look like they're really talented and they're going to keep that club going, which is very, very cool to see. Another European team in the top 16 was the killer boom, boom, who only were four games and so on, but they were four very well timed games. They beat ICD in the crossover to make the top 16, lost their games from there, but I think given that this is a team that has kind of a couple of really standout stars, and then a lot of younger players. I think this is a phenomenal result, and I'd play as like Agata Benzi, who we saw, we've simply low levels for years. Again, experience wise, that's going to stand them in great stead. And I think the team that might benefit the most from this might be the Italy women's team that we see in the next couple of years because they've got two teams where made the top 16 in world clubs, loads of players who've kind of been in those big game situations. I've got to be ready to go, but great, great result for the killer boom. It's a city like it punches well above its weight and ultimate terms because of the work they've built with coach Erika with the killer boom, you know, with Pagan L.I. made it such a feature of life there in the European ultimate, you mean at top 16 given that, you know, it's a ribony team. There's not they're not flying players in from elsewhere in Europe or abroad, like this is a side from Rimini, and they made the top 16 is exceptional. Then you could argue that they're the highest place European team from the truly represents the place that they're from because most of the European teams above them have some degree of travel transport players. Sometimes it's a couple, sometimes it's a little bit more, but to hear the boom boom kind of flying the flag in the women's division for having that core of local homegrown players and showing how it's done. So those are the teams of the top 16 out just outside the top 16 jinx finish 17 only lost three games all week and finish 17 tough lines for jinx, but losing to ellipsis in the in the crossover was kind of the difficult one for them, especially after losing two to kill the boom boom in the pool. We talked about the way that things work out when you lose again in your pool, that's basically put paid to jinx's ambitions. If you look at the overall results because losing to ellipsis in Tokyo Maverick through the top eight teams there isn't kind of no no great no great denigration on how good they were. And again play for the only well, probably 11 dosca playing for the only well as well to the leaders of the sea and not surprising to see them leading the stats, but yeah overall a good time for the bottom shot. It's not to meet that top 16 bench. Yeah, I think for them they'll look back and probably the particular boom boom game will be the one they think. Yeah, we we had more to offer there. And we didn't maybe I wonder if there was thinking about the the quarter final at UCF last year and that was it playing a little bit in the minds. I mean, you'd have to ask them about it, but I feel that that would be just that would be very disappointing for them. They feel that they're better than the 17th best team there, but then you look at the 16 teams above them and there's no one who really stands out as not being a very good team. No, no, I mean, I never wanted to like you look at even a team like Rogue, for example, who had the you know, a bageling in this ornament, but they had some very good results against other very good teams clearly on this part in the top 16 to kill the boom. Again, in the day of the 16th, the jinx lost to them. So I don't mean you can really complain too much about finishing 17th when that's the case. Yeah. The final European team will talk about specifically in the version 20th is I see any good result again, but I see any I think given where they've been the last few years. I think they're still bringing on a lot of kind of newer younger players and I I'm sure I mentioned it on the podcast. I've definitely mentioned to people off mic, but Sophie Chalgel, I think is one to really watch out for in the future. I think she's a very talented player and agree was there was their leader in the stats over the course of the week. But Sophie Chalgel with the disc in her hand is as dangerous as basically anyone in Europe. She's gone absolute cannon. Yeah, big time. So watch out for her and eucf, but I think she said he wants to watch. But I think you're good result again, but I see any improvement from the last work, which is all you can ask for, I suppose. Yeah, finishing as the highest place of the of all the UK teams is always feathering the cap. So there are a couple of other European sites in the top 24 as well, three SP came 22nd and sharks from Barcelona in their first ever what came 23rd, which is a great result. Especially when you consider the two best players one of the team. Exactly. So well done to all of them and one of the teams that were there in the women's division, it was a really good week for European women's ultimate given. It's fair to say that the last one since the natty was a pretty tough week for European women's ultimate. None of the teams did as well as they would have hoped to have done. And it made that a lot of seedings were pretty disadvantageous this time around, but a lot of the teams that were in Limerick made a lot of work at those seedings and drove themselves up the ranking. So well done to them. Love to see it. Absolutely. We're going to go to the mixed division next because the mixed division had some interesting stuff going on. I think that we start with mosquitoes, the rating European champions, a team that has kind of put a young core together, not two dissimilar groups to be fair and has managed to really find success with that younger players finishing fourth in the world. The only three teams ahead of them was the three American teams. I mean a dream run realistically for what is still a very young team. Yeah, they were made to work for it. They kind of run a little bit of a European gauntlet on the way to the semi finals had to knock off one of their old foes in tattoo turbulence and then breaking on universe point to see off deep space in the quarter final. So they had to they did not have it not have an easy path necessarily. I think that yet they ran out of steam a little bit in the bronze medal game, especially because players just kept getting into did not bronze medal game. And you know, constantly and get a went out early with a potential knee problem. Duncern took a couple of bumps and bruises. Katty might have to cut myself had to come out. Like, but honestly, it was a real war of attrition and they were just feeling it, I think a little bit. For me, I think I look back at the game against hybrid and in the first half they had. They skiinged up themselves some really good looks, but the the waiting of their throws, especially the deep shots were off they were just continually. 5 10 yards too far and you just wonder if they were just playing a little bit to. With too much adrenaline and they just couldn't quite find the touch and finesse they needed in those throws if they hit those throws early, it could be a different game. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they beat hybrid because obviously hybrid are exceptional. But I don't think they gave the best account of themselves in that game. I think they had levels that they didn't show against hybrid, but that's what good teams do, I guess, is that they make you have to play to your best. And if you don't, they run away with it. Yeah, I mean, obviously when you're in the world championship final and I'm sure every basically every player on that roster is the biggest game in their lives. And you go in a half time to eat two down like that is certainly not what you want. And I think by that point, yeah, it's about trying to build confidence for the bronze medal game. And yeah, the way the bronze medal game played out kind of snapped it from them. Still, I mean, first ever watch championship, you come forth is huge. They should be hugely proud of that. Daria Sharuga is incredible every time a disc is not where it's supposed to be. Somehow she's the one coming up with it. It's even credible. She's going to be on the break up where the list. the end of the season, I would wager. I just think generally, like they fourth is a really, really good result. Like we should, yeah, it's always just pointing when you finish fourth because you come so close to a medal. But you look at some of the teams below them and it's like, my god, they, this was not an easy field, like they did brilliantly. Yeah, I mean, there's, you can look at it two ways going, you 12-11 up in the bronze medal game and you can see four points in a row to lose. You can be like, I can't believe we could see the four points in a row to lose. But like you said, it was so traditional. They were losing players. And to be 12-11 up against shame, who have won a US national title, lots of players in that roster, US national champions in the play for America. And in the not too distant past. Right. And you're 12-11 up with a real shot in a bronze medal game, a world championship with a very young team, most of whom I'm sure I'm not still yet to hit their peak. Yeah, it's four years old. Yeah, they're going to be thinking, look, we can start planning for 20-29 or even 20-26, for 2030 already, almost because so much of that side is so young that in four years' time that if they, if all that talent kicks on, my god, they could be scary. And you'd imagine they'll add some people as well. They'll bring some people in who live nearby. I mean, they're already obviously brought in. I don't know where the mirror infrastructure lives now in Austria, but it's just a good example of someone who's been experienced in the European circuit has joined that team. You'd imagine the other people as well in the next four years that would look at it and be like, that's something I want to be part of. Yeah, Phil Kitchen came back to Austria and he also had a terrifying injury in that bronze medal game, just like a proper whiplash concussion that if we saw how bad it was first time around, I don't think we'd have showed the replay because it was kind of visceral, like not, yeah, not where you see someone's like bone come out or anything, but just the way his head kind, the way he landed, the way his head snapped back was genuinely terrifying. One of the scariest things I think I've seen on the frisbee field. Well, as you said, there was a number of injuries in that bronze medal game, so best wishes to all of them. Hopefully we are able to see them back before too long things crossed for UCF, but more importantly for their prolonged health, I suppose. Yeah, should we talk about happier things, which is three other European teams in the top eight? Yes, the 5 to 8 bracket was a European party, basically. Zampel and Tiefs to Talco, the two teams from Munich, flying out for city supremacy. We talked about Zampel before, the tournament didn't be benchy, 30, 30, third seed, very, very likely. No, we never was 30 people. And they came fifth, which is a great result for them. Yeah, they really pushed existing at quarter. I think, yeah, that game could could well have been theirs for the taking, but I agree. I mean, to get to the position they will rubber in, they were coming up with some big splash plays, like ones with high degrees of difficulty, ones where, you know, the percentages of certainly lower. And that maybe just ran out a little bit, especially kind of playing at that intensity over the course against the on opposition that quality over the course of the game. But fifth is superb, especially to be cross-town rivals, Tiefs to Talco in that five, six game gives them a lot of, will give you a lot of confidence going into UCF as well, where those, they are the top two seats going into it. So they could potentially be meeting again in the finals, which should be very tasty. I was asked to remind people that Zampel are not from Munich, they're from Hunter thirding, which for the layman is Munich. In the same way that mosquitoes are from Clostinova, not Vienna, but Clostinova is Vienna, like where are Clapham from? Well, London. Yeah, exactly. Like just, just admit your fraud, just admit your from where you're from. Yeah, we train in West Ham, which is a part of London, but it's going to say you don't even train in the common any more, not sure you should be allowed to, not sure you should be allowed to keep the name to be honest. I'm not going to be allowed to call them for a long time. Common is not a nice place to train, believe me. BS, great result for Zampel, and to be fair, four teases, Alka, another, you know, sixth place, making the quarterfinals of the world championships. They pushed hyper pretty close. They were the, they were the closest challenges to hybrid when in terms of matches that the the eventual champions ended up playing, like a couple of, I'm going to call them spurious discussions about two-thirds of the way through the game, begun to kind of swing the tide in hybrid's favor. It's very possible hybrid when even without that. I'm not saying that is the reason why hybrid won, or it did not help to test the tavern's cause. I think stylistically, they match up quite well into, into hybrid where they've got a few players who really dominate the bulk of the touches. Yeah. And I'm happy to just funnel it into each other's hands, get in again and again. And it doesn't necessarily give hybrid the chance to kind of use some of the downfield athleticism in the same sort of way. Yeah, Tom Blazman had a phenomenal tournament, as I'm sure everyone knew he would. Yep, but Tobin Homschmire and Dennis Holter, as always, very heavily involved too. Yeah, it seems to tackle up, you know, in the mid-part of the second half there, but as seems to have happened for basically everybody playing as the American teams, they kind of claw you back in and are able to overtake you by the end of the game. Yeah, Deep Space came in seventh. I've faded Deep Space a little bit coming in. I do enjoy giving them a bit of stick. I'm not, I'm not going to lie. It's quite, it's quite easy and quite entertaining, but I think they played really well. There are times when you watch Deep Space and you're like, this is why this team is very good. And there's other teams, there's other times when you watch Deep Space, often in the same game, slash the same point. And you think, how on a, I think at one point, I said in our big group chat, how did Deep Space win to win back-to-back EUCS? Because they have so many silly turnovers. Like they play good defense to get it back, but it just feels at times, they just need to find ways to get out of their own way. If they do, they're an outstanding team. Seventh is, seventh is a good evidence of that. Yeah, the quarterfinals against Mosquitoes was going on while we were warming up for our quarterfinal. And the final few points were a mix of phenomenal stuff and then some puzzling decision-making and things just not executed as the level as they've been doing all game. But finishing at the top eight of the world, they're a great result. I mean, the pick up, the only pick up they had, let's use a late injury kind of bellfield turned out to be an absolute phenomenal addition. Yeah, I think that, I think they added him too late to play the European series, which is certainly going to be a loss because he was excellent. Yeah, he's definitely not the master one. Yeah, but he was, he was excellent. But in tape was great. Ruth Galai had a really good tournament. I thought Sam Wilson was a really good addition to getting the season and it definitely bore out that way. And I think Omar Galani Khan had his best warm in a while, though. I've seen him play. He was very good. Yeah, I do think they missed Jack. Jack Hawkeye as well. Yes, yes, obviously, if you have Jack Hawkeye there, you don't have Khan of Belfield. But then you probably don't have Khan of Belfield. And he seems to do all right. So he did, but Jack, Jack would have been a very good player. They definitely missed his ability with the dice, but a great result. Seventh and sets all four of those teams up really well for a very interesting European series. I mean, see how they go. You say all four of those teams. Actually, you look at the rest of not even the top 16 necessarily, but there's kind of like a raft of teams below them. Tatoo Turbulent came in ninth, which is basically the entirety of the Estonian Ultimate scene, plus a couple of extras, which is an incredible result for them. If Jakob Tam doesn't get injured early in the quarter final again, quarter final, round of 16, game against Mosquitoes, maybe they go even further, but he did, so we'll never know. And that's the big thing for him and for them in the European series, how is Jakob Tam? He was hobbling quite badly. I don't know what his injury is, but will he be back in time for UCF? I think without him, I don't really see too much prospect of the going deep. My understanding was he was managing a sort of problem going into the week, and then he looked like he tweaked his knee early on in that Mosquitoes game. So not the same, not a reoccurrence or an exacerbation of that same injury, but something certainly to keep an eye on. We do know that the Johnson client are all signed up on the UCF's list, because we saw them early invite. We did. So if they are coming, I don't know if they're coming back over for UCF. If they are, then there'll still be primed for a deep run. In my opinion, great week for for Z use for zero splash. 11th as a side that was had pretty much no fanfare about them is exceptional, not just knocking out a tough spoiler sort of team in Mechlau in the round of in the round of 16, but then doing one in recovery play to finish above some other really strong sides is is super going for the Zurich and a couple of French sides behind them. Monkey from Grenoble in 12th and Twantwatu from Bordeaux in 13 like both, I mean, Twantwatu, especially a very young side if you exclude Cyril Kayla. Sorry, Cyril. Is not a shock to him. Don't worry. And actually, kind of, Monkey are a little bit the same and that the kind of they've got a like a bastion and old guard who often does a lot of the work with the disc in in Mobius Beatia and then a lot of younger kind of athletes that really that really ran that out. I think those are still very good results for them. I mean, it's going back to Zurich splash. I don't think we can really blame ourselves too much for not coming in with a much fanfare for them. I think Zoom mixed finished. It was its second last at UCF last year and I don't really know that they've made a huge splash until World. So they're not really on my radar us a team that could be a spoiler at all. So an incredible result for them finishing 11 in the world. Yeah, I mean, and they were good, you know, good value for it. Like the games they lost generally, like they lost big to Shane. They lost big teams. They tell her really good teams that'll happen. And they lost to Tatooine in recovery play and consolation. But you know, they racked up big wins on the way. You know, they beat mechleau 1510. They beat Union on Universe. They beat Monkey as well. Like, I think I think they had a great week. Like from a little bit out of nowhere actually. I agree. I agree. And yeah, the Monkey and Tronton Twarte Tour. I've got a little Trontwarte Tour. Trontwarte Tour. I've seen that you definitely, you were definitely tipped coming in all three hours. I was kind of fancing some of their streaky players would get hot in the bracket. Didn't quite play out that way. But you know, I think for a very, very young side, they got a lot of good reps. And again, really important victories in consolation play in the end to kind of finish on a little bit of a high, which is huge for them. Some of the young players were gutted after losing to the experience. There was a lot of tears on the field. And that just shows, I suppose, one, the youth of the team. Because generally speaking, older players are not necessarily going to be as affected losing. It was a 59 game. You know, if you lose a 15, 14, some of that emotions, obviously, you're going to come out. But a 59 game is not quite the same intense emotional experience for a lot of players. But also the fact that they are, they've come through this French youth system where they just win all the time. And so not winning what a game like that is not feeling they're used to, which is, you know, and says something about the element. You've got players like the one of some brothers, Claudio Lecloire just came off a really good performance for France U-17s, not U-20s, U-17s at EYUC. And she was putting up important numbers. Scherzer Fournier was exceptional going deep. The fact that his younger brother, Luis on Fournier, I think, I think the younger brother was, again, outstanding for France U-17s in Vienna. And wasn't here is terrifying. I think they are, yeah, they will be a threat going forwards. So those are top 16. Savage Ultimate finished just outside of that in 17th, pad of arranges in 18th. So those are the teams in the top 20. Again, much like the women's division, I think it's a great outcome for European mixed. Lots of teams doing really, really well. Yeah, even teams that were not necessarily hotly-tipped, like outsiders came 21st, great result for outsiders, phenomenal. Could it have been even higher? That's not for me to say. That's for the baying sidelines to decide. Yes, I was on the sideline of the Odyssey vs. Outsiders game. We were getting ready for our round of 32, I think, against the Colombians. And I, you know, obviously with, as an active coach in the European Ultimate scene, but also someone with something of a profile, I don't want to openly criticize specific people, but I will say that there were some calls in that game that I thought were quite poor. And I thought the spirit that I saw on the field was not what I would like to see. There was a number of things that happened in that game that I thought were not the correct outcome and were handled poorly. But I'll leave it at that. I've only seen little bits, but I will just leave you that outsiders gave Odyssey a zero, which I don't recall seeing before. No, I've seen it once, way back in my uni days, and the team were promptly called over by the Tournament Director being like, you know, you can't just give team zero because you don't like them. And then they went through every category, it's like, no, here's why it was a zero. And eventually they said, oh, that seems to be, you actually thought about it off you go. But it's so rare. Right. And I know I've seen that there's been some, you know, players on the Odyssey team that have disagreed. There's been some stuff on social media about talking about how the calls were handled and what calls were made and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, I mean, I'm just a person with a perspective just as the, just as the players on the field are. I'm certainly not not gospel truth. I'm sure there's going to be things that I won't have seen or heard on the field. But from what I saw, there was things that were not having very well. And I thought it was quite poor. We'll move on. Yes, let's. So let's move on to the open division then, Benji, the final division. Another good one for European Ultimate, just to talk from a kind of macro perspective first. But have you seen, did you add up how many teams in the top 16 were European? No, but I assume you have. I have. And in the top 16, there were 11 European teams. That feels pretty good. Three Americans, an Australian, a Canadian, and 11 European teams, which is sure that's never happened before. That's absolutely crazy. No, I mean, I can tell you that it hasn't, I've not checked, but I can tell you that it has. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, at the end of the day, it was two American teams in the final. And an American team finishing fifth, which was as high as they can finish. It's another American team in the in the courses, but still hell of an outcome for European teams. Where do you want to start, Benji? I know where I want to start, but I'm incredibly biased. I mean, I know where I want to start because they said nice things about me. It's pretty, all you said is I think they, I think they still are pretty good. I don't think that one of that bad guys. Yeah, Benji, because he told them the truth. And everyone was delaying with that. So, yeah, let's start with Clapham. I personally was very pleased with this outcome. I thought you might be. Yeah, I thought. I mean, it's nice to know that they've brought them to, you know, you know, real deep thinkers about the game. And they came exactly the place they did four years ago. Clearly, they had a big impact. No, a great week for the housewives' favourites. Let's be real. Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think we did a great job of making ourselves likeable. Sam Hill carrying a huge map of water in that regard. Running the length of the pitch to celebrate with his, to celebrate with Mr. UK Ultimate. His dad, Si Hill, was great. Si, who did not even realise it was a universe. He did not, not until Sam and Rag told him we've won the game and then they celebrate again. So, yeah, but I just, I think the big thing for me for the tournament as a whole was just how, how well everything came together, which is going to happen in these big long week-long tournaments, right? There's over a year. I agree with that. 500 things that happened and, you know, 50%, 40%, you actually don't really have that much control over and you just need to manage the effect of them as well as you can. And I think the guys did brilliantly adapted to some of the things that we were faced with and I think the leadership did a good job directing some of that energy and, yeah, I think, I mean, it was just a great outcome and everyone played amazingly well, especially considering we had a number of extremely ill-timed injuries. Yes, some genius decided that it would be good to make the D-line run run extra-final rep in the last training before Worlds. Yeah, I did do that. And Henry Brooking towards ACL. He did, which is, I mean, it was such an innocuous thing as well, but I mean, he's Henry will be out for a little while. I think he, he, he may be having his operation by the time this is out. So best wishes to Henry. Hope to see you back soon. Absolutely. Yeah, we lost Henry before the tournament and then in the quarter-final, Andre Ridlow went for a layout block on a, on a turnover, so it was a, a break opportunity for us and landed on Josh East's ankle and East took a injury sub, played the rest of the game on just adrenaline. Yeah, because I saw him on the morning of the revolver semi-final. He was uncrutching, yeah. Yes, he was uncrutching in the bar with a pipe. Yeah, it was, he tried to give it a go for the bronze medal game, but after discussion with the physio and watching him try and move on it, it was just not going to happen. No, you lost him going there in the, in the buildup as well. He broke his foot. Yeah, and we had a few people had injuries like we had a couple of hamstring injuries, shoulder injury, we were losing people left right in the center to be honest. And then Ross Nuzent in the bronze medal game landed on his hip. That's we carried off the field. Yeah, look to the honesty one. But like I say, you don't have control over some of those things and the guys who came in was like, we need more from you because this guy can't play anymore and everyone delivered. So I lost a revolver in a game that I thought we, I had hoped going in would be able to give him a decent game. I think we gave him a pretty good game. I actually thought we played pretty well in the semi. That was just better than we were. A revolver in incredible by the way. Yeah, they're so good and offensively it's so difficult to stop what they do because they have like three things. They're incredibly elisa. And so if you stop two of them, they've still got one of those things to fall back on, which is a very, very difficult thing. They make really good adjustments during the game as well. A level of level teams often do not. Yeah, I mean, they made they made an adjustment to try and keep will out of the game that the speed at which they did it so early in the game was very, very impressive. I mean, it will look back to his predatory best this week. He was phenomenal. I've seen amazing, got loads of blocks. I hadn't have 20 blocks. So of course, the tournament in my stack keeping. So that's not bad. That's silly. It's a little bit silly. 20. Yeah. But yeah, that's good going. It went really well. And I think the other things that helped Sam Hill obviously grew into, you know, a confident, do it all. The risk of being biased. Is that the breakout player of the year sewn up already? I would think so. So, I mean, just at the beginning of the seat, last year he was kind of a d-line player that didn't play a huge amount of UCF because we relied on kind of more of the song world experience players. I mean, move things around this year and move into the O-line. He's got that, he's a big guy, he's quick, he's kind of, he's obviously a center handler, but he can go downfield and he can be a threat downfield. And we wanted a bit more versatility across everybody. And he became the archetype of what we were talking about in a world's the O-line no-turnovers against Mooncatches in the Brunswick game. - How ludicrous was that? - And that was the culmination of all the stuff we've been talking about in terms of how he wants to play offense. - And this is one of the many things in that are, clap them the good guys list with you don't turn over on offense against Mooncatches. Sam Hill runs like the field celebrate with his dad. Felix Martin pulls out an incredible sky to take it to universe against Jack. And then does that, and then what was he doing? I, I, why did Connor not throw the open under to Justin? - I don't want to ask that question. - I mean, the answer is probably that by the time he saw it, he would, he'd already started pulling the trigger on the other one was like, let's do it like now. Here we go, put it in about one of the very few spots where Felix could get it. And they just needed to roll the other three defenders over to Felix's direction, I guess. Justin Ford admiring his order in the big screen, I thought was very funny. - Yeah, very good. - The round booing in one of the mix, round of 32 games, which I've been informed came from some, some certain frogs. - They're coming. - I think they did, their PR, they should be putting out, they should be putting that out as like good PR. If only they knew someone who worked in like PR or marketing, they could, they could kind of spin the narrative for them. Yeah, I think they had just generally a great week on and off the field to get bronze again is incredible work when you look at the kind of, the barrier of teams that are there to try and knock, knock them off their spot. Like, yeah, the last couple of years, Europe's gone through moon catches, but it's, it's clapping who would prove themselves to the class of the field again. - Yeah, just everyone's disappointment. - Not mine, I was delighted. I'm just interested to point out as well. Our top stats guy, 39 goals, which is very funny 'cause he was 39 during this ornament, but he was so happy birthday to Justin. - So that means in four years time, he's gonna get 43. Perfect. - Before you know it, he'll catch up Masahiro Matsuno. - Yeah, he's not far off now. Talking of some people who might be catching up Masahiro Matsuno, I believe Justin and Reff are tied now. I did some quick maths in my head and I think they're tied. Reff obviously played with moon catches. We obviously beat them in the bronze battle game 1015, but I think their semi-final loss was a real blow to it. - It was a very different semi-finals to yours. Well, with all due respect, revolver were big favorites going into the game against Clapham. They showed why, especially against the Clapham side, that was reeling a little bit. And so you come off that and you think, you know what, we played relatively well. They were just a cut above. That's fine, you make peace with it. Whereas not just the fact that moon catches lost opponent. If you lose 15-12 or something and then you'd be like, "Okay, they were better than us." But the way that things really unraveled at the end of that game for them, it must have been so hard to try and get going again for the bronze medal match. And it's not a surprise to me, actually, that they were just that bit off it in a way that we've not really seen from them in Europe. - 'Cause we did not have much time. Once we finished the semis, I believe we had about two hours before the bronze medal game. So there was really not much time at all to kind of go over things, game plan wise, then again, not that we need to do huge amount with the game plan because we know each other so well. But I just get people back up and get people ready to go again and recover and do all the stuff you need to do before a game. There was very, very little time. So yeah, given 12-9 up, losing the game 14-13, just a brutal run for them. - I'm reliably informed that the Broadcast showed the end of the Belgium-Japan game just as that first pony break went in. - Oh, God, that is. That almost feels like cruel and unusual punishment to be honest with you. - I mean, they brought it on themselves, unfortunately. - But I think still important to mention while I'm sure the Mooncatchers players are disappointed. - Still a good phenomenal run, a phenomenal run because up to the point, that's the semifinal, they weren't really challenged very much and they're very clearly one of the best teams in the world. - It's just fourth of this time round feels so different from fourth and last time around while they were kind of, - Yes. - tournament heartthrobs. - That was just awesome. - This time they came in, they would have backed themselves to be on the podium to be in the final and they had it within their grasp and they slipped through again and that has got to be hugely frustrating and disappointing for them. And you wonder if another almost collapse like that will leave a little bit of mental scarring. - I had been told before this ornament that Dan Demarray had picked up an injury at the UFA. I wouldn't know it by the way, Blade. - No, you wouldn't. - And to be fair, I think you picked up an injury when you got cleaned out by Ben Yott and you wouldn't know it. - No, I mean, that was a very heavy collision. Like, colliding with someone like that in midair is very, very poor in my opinion. - Yeah. But yeah, 46 tail stats, 24 assists, 22 goals, led the team in both guys, guys machine. - Yeah, I mean, there's a reason why he's always top of the list at the moment for best plays in the world. - Yeah. - So a clap of the moon catches both making the semi-finals. Fifth and sixth was Machining at Sunder. Sunder who came through a UDOS point game to knock La Fotta into the lower bracket. What a game that wasn't, what a mental ending. - What a wild universe point. - What was that? - Chopper puts up the craziest inside out backhand. You go up and you're like, chopper, what is that? And it kind of sits there and you're like, oh my God, this is, this is genius. - Visionary. - It really is like, and then Pingu lays out for it and he has it in his hands and he loses it on the landing. - Brass trip, yeah. - Even then they still have to go the whole length of the field and it, what have we say? It's always open if you throw it hard enough. Lanamato's just jacks it into the front of the stack. It gets tipped, Rob Andrews cleans up at the back and then just pops it in for the score. Like a cruel, cruel universe point lost that for La Fotta. - It's one of those things I suppose. When you're in a high stall, you have two options. One of them is to just throw it deep and see what happens. The other one is to just lob it into an area where you know there's loads of players to see what happens. But the latter is far, far rarer, I think. You don't see it often. - Yeah, it's just like, I don't even have time to wind up and get something floaty out. It's just grip it and rip it like as quickly as we can. There's just like, there's only one place I want this and it's not in my hand. I will take anywhere else. And it worked and fair play to Sunday for kind of taking the opportunity. But that's gonna really hurt for La Fotta. - Yeah, I mean, I told that La Fotta was jogging down, laughing after the universe point because it was just such a mad outcome. - I mean, you kind of, you have to, really, because it was so crazy. Although La Fotta did get the best social media clip of the week. - What is this? - Oh my god, it's so good. It's in their game against Chak where one of the players sold me maybe like the disc is going over his head as he's chasing someone deep and he like slaps the disc against his head to block it. - Oh! - It's crazy. You see Choppo on the side line, like bursting out laughing because it's so funny. And then they go back on offense. Lafay Jr. Like puts an underneath pass to Master Rihane who fumbles it, like traps it against his leg. - I saw that, okay. - He keeps it up the ground yet and then he rips it back to Tommy, I think, for the score. All while one of the chat players, Vincent and Peter, I think just kind of very glumly waits for the throw to go up and then it's like, down. It's so, it's absolute cinema. Like it's so, so good. Like you could not have like scripted it better. It's got absolutely everything. - Not sure. I'm sure Devin Emory would have scripted things a little differently for Lafata. - Yeah, maybe in that one game in particular. I mean, Lafata would not the third place European team because there were two Europeans in the seven verses out match in the end. And Jensil came seventh and all Citiate. - So Jensil obviously had the American pickups thanks to Totally Cron and did really, really well. Lots of those players kind of coming from the Jensil system. They had a D line that was basically a Belgian D line and then they had a D line that had a lot of their Americans on it. Some changes as they went through into one of them, but Toby predictably was one of the top stack guys in the tournament, although given how good he is at receiving, it was a surprise to me. - He was one of the top stackers in the wrong way. - Right, I have a little they had him receiving was a surprise to me, frankly. - Yeah, I mean, I know he can be incredible with the disc in a hand, but I just would want to find a way to get him using that athleticism down field a little bit more. You've got a roster full of very, very capable throw as both home grown and imported. And we'd like to see them use that a little bit more. It definitely hurt that London to kind of introduce or one of the tendons in his foot, the kind of the week before - Yeah, yeah. - Playing pro-automate, more fuel for my anti-UFA propaganda? - I think my, I can boil down my opinions on this Toby discussion very simply. There are, I don't know, a hundred people at this tournament who can be a decent facsimile throwing wise on what Toby can do. They can't do the outlier stuff. the world. wide flicks that he gets out are absolutely ridiculous. The kind of mid-air while he's mid pivot throws, there's not many people that can do that. He's amazing at those. But in terms of most, like, not 85% to 90% of what Toby can do with a disc, there isn't quite a lot of people that can do that. What Toby can do downfield? There's like five people that can do that. And I think the scarcity of resource was not necessarily used in the right way, in my opinion. But there is phenomenal team. And seventh in the world is absolutely amazing. Great finish for them. I mean, their mix side, which is basically gentle juniors. Right, it's great. 41st. They played incredible. Looks so exciting. Some of the plays out of them looked incredible. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of good things going on in Belgium Ultimate. Wall City finished top eight as well. They took eighth place with the most controversial jerseys of the tournament. What do you think of them? You like them? I think you like them. It's a shame. The golds. I like the concept. I hate the execution. They're enough. I like the shade. I have to say, and I definitely, like you say, I understand the concept. I'm not usually a collar fan. That kind of sets it back already. But I respect you. I don't mind the collar. I also didn't mind the collar, all the color. I just hated the script. Yeah, it's graffiti though. Yeah, I know. But it doesn't make for a good uniform. Like, I see that I see the concept. Great concept. I think it didn't quite pan out in practice. Anyway, top eight for them. A good result. And they were a point away from making the semi-finals. Thanks a lot. Yeah, I mean, I'm not gutted. They didn't make it. Yeah, I mean, obviously they went on to play Sunder. Because we won that game, so we didn't have any other games on the Thursday, whereas they had to play a game. Similarly to us, after losing the semi, they had to go and play after losing the semi, they had to go put the bronze. After losing the course, they had to go play a game against Sunder, who were able to kind of pick themselves up and execute a high level better than World City were. So it's kind of one of those schedule lost type games. But a close game against gentle finishing eighth, but like you said, I think eighth, if you'd asked them four years ago, where would you be happy with eighth? They would have said absolutely. They might be a little more disappointed this time around, given just how well they've been doing over the last few years. But yeah, an amazing performance by World City overall. Yeah, the rest of the top eight you've got, go in ninth, and then it's Europe all the way down. Right, right. And I mean, how good is that? Fossa will be disappointed. Obviously we've discussed that. Check, I think, had a really good tournament, and we obviously had to come back from down against them super late in the game. We won it on defense and universe point. They are a really talented team. And when they are firing, they are as good at any team in Europe at like just crushing your spirit and making you feel very bad about yourself because they can score so quickly and they get the dismembering and when they isolate people in that space downfield, you are in trouble because they are absolutely elated at attacking it. Yeah, I still think they're not necessarily as good as some of their parts. Like I think with a lot of the talent they had, they could certainly be finishing higher than 11th. But 11th is still a good finish. But I feel like the peak is higher than them. It's not a bad week, but they were capable, I think, of a little bit more. Coach Eureka Grandes in 12th. Super, they love that for them. Right outcome. Yeah. Britain 13th, like their women's side, obviously, get a lot of the plaudits. But on the open division, they've been no slouch as either 13th is great. A huge week for free's b's in 14th. Yeah, incredible. I was asked by some of the auto-all guys who's likely to be kind of a spoiler and upset. And I mentioned Samper, and I mentioned gentle because they were seated low and they could make the quarters. And I said, I think in the pool, free's b's are going to do well. And I think they'll be a team that will challenge and they're not going to make the top 16 or anything, but they're going to be one of the best teams to watch at the tournament. And then they made the top 16. Just about that wild, swingy game against us, our spirits in the round of 32. Which is great. It's just great, but they are so fun to watch. Yeah, that's the thing. Like no, no lead is safe, but either side when you've got free's b's. No, I can be up big and they can lose it or they can be down big and they can bring it back. Which makes it a great watch. They keep shooting at whatever the outcome, whatever's going on in the game, whatever the game situation, they're going to keep playing the way they place, which is just huge credit to a lot of the young guys on that team. Mentally, they have been set up really well. And I really enjoy watching them. So they remind me of watching New Zealand sides at the various youth tournaments because it's been like, oh, I don't know what to do. Oh, New Zealand's playing. That'll be fun because the game is always going to be close. It's going to be entertaining. There's going to be cool stuff that happens. It's like, great, just sit me down. Sign me up, love it. Chevy in 15. Again, I think there were at times this tournament, they look like they were capable of a bit more than that. But once you're knocked out, it's tough to get mentally set in the same way, but they had some big wins in the pool play phase, especially, and a loss to free speed. Which-- Baffling lost to free speed, considering how free speed finished up. Yeah, I was going to say, Ravi was telling me that, yeah, no, I think you're sleeping on free speed. The algorithm thinks they're better than Chevy. And I'm like, no, they won't beat Chevy. And they did beat Chevy, but they finished a lot lower than Chevy, which-- Yeah, which kind of tracked with what I expected. Best finish ever for Roundlar in 16th, as well. Yes, again, I mean, the team that potentially could feel they could have done better. They lost a couple of close games, but I-- 16th is a fantastic outcome for them. They were beaming to be top 16, best finish ever for them. I think they should rightly be proud with it. And then, kind of, Q-Hatcher 17th. Three S-B 19th is no in 22nd is solid. Finish one plays out of bad skid. And then you're kind of going a little bit further down. Smog in 26th. I think there's a really good result for Smog. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think just generally, Europe showed out pretty well. All hosts was the lowest European team in 42nd. I think the big thing that you can really kind of hang on-- high answers from European perspective here is Smog in 26th won't be going to Euro's, I don't think. I don't think they made it. And they finished ahead of a nomadic drive with the Japanese champions. In years gone by, that's totally inconceivable. No Japanese sides made the top 24. No. The highest-paced Japanese side was a nomadic track. Yeah, and 27th. That's crazy. That's crazy. Absolutely crazy. Crazy. And if you think we said there was 11 teams that finished in the top 16, and then you've got Q-Hatchers, three S-B is no good, bad skid, and Smog. So that's 16 teams from Europe that are better than the best Japanese team. That's absolutely wild. That's wild. And again, once you get knocked out of championship play, the results are not necessarily reflective in the same way. But the final standings will say what they say. Bad skid did not make a UCF. They finished 23rd. The European talents, we've always, I think, had good to top end. The top end is better. And also the depth and breadth is better. Just like across the board, Europe is very much on the rise. And I for one, I'm very happy. Yeah, it was a really good tournament. The weather was also pretty good. It went deep, it rainy, but overall, I thought it was wonderful. And I thought the venue was very good. And I had a very nice time. Yeah, the UL is an excellent venue, which we kind of knew from having been there in the past. But if the weather's not abominable, which has been in our previous renditions, it would be a great venue. Show them about the arena field, which was the worst field in the venue. But that is what it is. It moved them to feel 14, worked out all right in the end. Having kind of the natural grass-brank bankings is great. I think it's so much better than a stand having the natural-- Yeah, there's closer. Yes, and it was closer. It's never good to have a running track that separates everyone from that. You just get that little bit of extra distance. Siege mentioned the whole local organizing committee to bang up job. From a media side, we were very well looked after all week. And I look forward to going back to Limerick in future. Or I know there's talks about them trying to organize some events further afield as well, which I would also very much like to see. Interesting. I'm interested. I would like to see it, because I think, as you said, it did a great job. The organization was spot-on, as per usual. And I know I speak for everybody who watched, when I say you and the media see and also did a great job. So thank you to all colleagues who are on production and to the many people who are commenting. I think everyone was great. And yeah, I think it was-- I know I'm obviously have some kind of stake in this, which is going to make this sound quite tripe. But I thought it was the best watch that we've had, maybe ever. I agree with you tonight, because it's the first four clubs of Maribos there. So I have nothing to compare it to. There you go. But I thought it was great. So I hope everyone who is there also enjoyed it. And I hope everyone who is there is ready for almost impossibly in four weeks and not the big tournament, because we'll be going to Poland for a UCF. Oh, yes. So there's some toilets this weekend that we won't be previewing. We'll talk about them when we next meet, I suppose. But good luck to teams at UK and Swiss nationals, I believe, happening this weekend. Yes, I'm flying off to Switzerland tomorrow. All right, well, enjoy Switzerland. I'm driving over to Nottingham on Friday. Ooh, the glamour. Yeah, good luck to everybody there. But not too much luck. Well, I suppose not no luck to anybody that I'm playing over the course of the weekend. Other than that, everyone else, I suppose you can have some luck if you want it. Fair enough. But yes, thank you for your time, Benji, thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoyed. be a recap and a la your uh yes but thanks for listening we're back with you at some point in the understanding future for about EUCF what's gonna happen who's gonna win and why it might be clapping again uh but for now thanks Benji and we will eat you later [BLANK_AUDIO]