Round 3 Sign-ups (20 Jun 2006)

With the Quarterfinals having come to a close, the Altador Cup is now down to its last four teams. To the surprise of nearly everyone, the squad representing tiny Roo Island is among the final four teams that remain in contention to bring home the cup. They shocked the Neopian sporting public by following their upset of Tyrannia with an equally impressive win over the Lost Desert, as Fenny Vail stepped in to provide the firepower needed to overcome the Lost Desert's relentless hounding of star forward Lilo Blumario. Despite being double and triple-teamed for the entire game, Blumario was still able to create enough offensive opportunities for his teammates to give Roo Island a lead and move on to the Semifinals.

Taking a closer look at the inter-island match between the pirates of Krawk Island and the natives of Mystery Island, the key to this pairing was the phenomenal goaltending provided by Krawk Island's Garven Hale. The star netminder had a spectacular game (even by his lofty standards), pulling down a flurry of point-blank shots from Mystery Island's dynamic duo of Volgoth and Nix to preserve the win.

Fans who showed up to see Brightvale take on the Haunted Woods arrived with the expectation that they'd get a rugged, low-scoring defensive battle. Well, they turned out to be half right, as the Haunted Woods clamped down on the Brightvale offense and never let go. On the other side of the ball, however, Brightvale's underhanded tactics were no match for the Haunted Woods' crisp-passing and extremely well prepared offense, which carved up the Brightvale D like a heavenly roast turkey.

Rounding out the Quarterfinal's victors is the team from the Darigan Citadel, which gave King Skarl's squad a royal thumping on its way to the semifinals. Putting to rest any talk of their previous tendency to wilt in the face of a worthy opponent, the Citadel's Yooyuballers were led to victory by slippery forward Layton Vickles, who swerved and dodged through the Meridell defence to rack up a trio of goals (referred to in some circles as a "hat trick").

So, with the Altador Cup's Semifinals set to begin in a few days, talk of post-tournament awards has Lilo Blumario running away with the MVP voting (and Garven Hale coming in a distant second). As long as underdog Roo Island continues to win matches, Blumario will likely remain the odds-on favourite to be named Most Valuable Player. As far as selections for the All-Tournament Team go, Blumario would most likely be joined by Darigan's Layton Vickles and Krawk Island's "Dasher" Soley at forward, the Haunted Woods' Krell Vitor at defender, and Krawk Island's Hale at goalkeeper if the voting were held today. Honourable mentions would most likely be bestowed upon Mystery Island's Volgoth and the Haunted Wood's Zo Junior at forward, plus the Lost Desert's "Dirty" Navers at defender.

Round 3 Begins (23 Jun 2006)

Round Three has begun! Krawk Island faces off against the Haunted Woods, while the Roo Island team tests their skills against the Darigan Citadel. Who will make it to the finals?! This weekend's Semifinal pairings have been announced, and it looks like Neopia's Yooyuball fans have got a fantastic set of games awaiting them. In one match, Krawk Island's scrappy swashbucklers will be squaring off against those dogged defenders from the Haunted Woods. In the other Semi, Roo Island's loveable longshots will face off against their greatest challenge yet ? the Darigan Citadel's roster of punishing players.

As far as storylines are concerned, one of the match-ups to watch will be between Roo Island's Lilo Blumario and the Darigan Citadel's Tormo "The Terror" Frein. Unlike Roo Island's previous opponents, who were forced to double and triple-team Blumario and leave his teammates with lots of wide-open scoring opportunities, the Citadel is relying on Frein (one of the game's top defenders) to be able to go one on one against Blumario. If Frein can successfully manage this assignment, you can all but expect Darigan to shut down Roo Island's other scorers, who aren't used to facing the kind of pressure the Citadel's going to try and put on them. On the other hand, if Frein is unequal to the task, it could be a long afternoon for Darigan's fans ? the last thing they want is for Blumario to run wild and light them up like a Christmas tree.

Taking a closer look at the other Semifinal, the big question seems to be whether Krawk Island's going to be able to score against the best defensive unit in the game today. During their Quarterfinal match against Mystery Island, Krawk Island managed to scrape by mostly on the strength of goalkeeper Garven Hale's top-notch netminding. However, "Dasher" Soley and company have yet to compete against a defence this stingy. Therefore, even though Zo Junior and the Haunted Woods usually struggle to score more than a handful of goals each game, the buccaneers from Krawk Island will probably have a hard time keeping pace unless they come up with an uncharacteristically strong offensive performance.

NEW RULE! (24 Jun 2006)

The Altador Cup committee has declared a new rule in Yooyuball! "Should a keeper hold onto the Yooyu for any longer than five seconds, the Yooyu will escape the keeper's hands and throw itself out onto the field for any team's player to intercept."

Round Three Results (27 Jun 2006)

The Semifinals of this year's Altador Cup tournament have come to an end, and so has Roo Island's stunning streak of victories. To the surprise of many, Darigan defender Tormo "The Terror" Frein managed to hold his own in a one-on-one match-up against Roo Island's star forward Lilo Blumario, allowing only a single goal and an assist. On the other hand, the Citadel's Layton Vickles had another huge game, carrying the Darigan offense with a flurry of shots on goal that netminder Clutch Billaban was simply unable to consistently stop. Clutch, who'd lived up to his name during the tournament's first few rounds, finally reverted to his old soft-goal allowing ways, giving up far too many gimmies for the rest of the Roo Island offence to keep pace.

In the Altador Cup's championship game, the Darigan Citadel will be squaring off against the Haunted Woods, who had little trouble putting the squeeze on Krawk Island's offence. While Garven Hale gave a valiant effort in front of the net for Krawk Island, the handful of goals that he gave up were more than his teammates could muster against the suffocating defence of the Haunted Woods.

So then, both of the Semifinals' underdogs got quite a rude awakening in the next to last round, leaving the talented, well-rounded Darigan squad to face off against the Haunted Woods' defensive specialists. If one is to believe the old adage that "defence wins championships," then the smart money would have to be with the Yooyuballers from the Haunted Woods. Don't forget, though, that Darigan features more than just a potent offense ? they also enter the championship match boasting a pretty fair goalie and the hottest defender in the game right now. One thing's for certain ? this title game promises to be a match for the ages!

Altador Cup Sign-Up (29 Jun 2006)

If you haven't signed up for the next round, today is your last chance! The finals begin tomorrow, and only one team can take home the Altador Cup!

The finals have begun! (30 Jun 2006)

Round Four of the Altador Cup starts today, pitting the Haunted Woods against the Darigan Citadel. The winner takes home the coveted Altador Cup trophy! Start playing! It should be noted that play time for the final round has been extended through July 4th! Don't stop playing on Sunday night this go. ;)

Haunted Woods won! (6 Jul 2006)

For weeks, the tension had been mounting - which team would be crowned champions of the first international edition of the Altador Cup tournament (and the first Altador Cup competition in over a thousand years)? Heading into the weekend, the Darigan Citadel and Haunted Woods were poised to square off in a match for the ages, pitting the Citadel's all-around ability against the Haunted Woods' stingy defence. Despite all the excitement leading up to the match, the championship game proved more than capable of living up to the hype, as the outcome remained in doubt until the last few seconds of the contest.

To everyone's surprise, the game began with a quick score by the Citadel's Tandrak Shaye. Fanetti, the Haunted Woods' goalkeeper, got a little sloppy with a pass to Chelo Binay, which Shaye came rushing in to intercept. In one sweeping motion, Tandrak caught the Yooyuball and sent a shot screaming back at the Meerca goalie, who was totally unprepared for the Gelert's sudden strike. The fans had hardly settled into their seats before Darigan was already up 1-0.

Rather than panic and compromise their defence by desperately trying to score and tie up the match, the Haunted Woods settled down and locked into their usual defensive stranglehold, keeping the Citadel's star scorer, Layton Vickles, from springing free and getting so much as a single shot on goal. The defensive stalemate continued on until Krell Vitor forced a fumble and, scooping up the ball, lobbed an outlet pass to Zo Junior, who'd broken in the direction of the Citadel's goal as soon as the ball popped loose. Striding just beyond the reach of Darigan star defender Tormo Frein, Zo made an incredible over-the-shoulder grab, followed by a vicious stutter step that sent the Citadel's net minder, Mungo Lifler, diving to his left. As soon as Lifler was airborne, the speedy little Korbat easily lobbed the Yooyuball into the net and tied the score at one.

Then, with the match still tied and less than thirty seconds left, the game's decisive sequence took place. In a desperate attempt to get possession, the Citadel sent a double team at Wan Dirx, forcing the rookie into an errant pass (meant for Zo Junior) that was picked off by Kep Bonnefie. The Buzz defender, with a clear path to the Haunted Woods' goal, broke for the opposing team's net in a dead sprint. Unbeknownst to Kep, however, Wan Dirx was quickly gaining ground from behind, closing in as he got ready to shoot. Just as Bonnefie reared back to fire on the Haunted Woods' goal, Dirx made a phenomenal diving leap, blocking the Buzz's shot from behind and sending the Yooyuball squirting away.

Bonnefie momentarily looked around, unsure about what had just happened, while Dirx scrambled to regain possession of the Yooyuball and dash in the other direction. By the time the Buzz figured out what had taken place, he was woefully out of position and unable to get back on defence in time. On the other side of the field, Dirx made the most of the momentary four-on-three advantage, dishing the Yooyuball to a briefly unguarded Chelo Binay, who in turn flicked the ball to Krell Vitor when his defender rushed over to keep the Chia from getting a wide-open shot. In one swift movement, Vitor took Binay's lob and sent a one-timer screaming past the reach of Darigan's goalie, giving the Haunted Woods a 2-1 lead as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Stunned by the turn of events they'd just witnessed, the crowd grew dead silent for a brief moment before erupting in a burst of delirious cheering. The referee's whistle could barely be heard in all the earsplitting chaos, but there was no mistaking what had just taken place - in a miraculous finish, the Haunted Woods had managed to score during the game's final moments and earn the right to take home the Altador Cup.