The first London Event of the new year promised to be an intriguing one, and admin Cesc was there at 11am freezing cold, only for no Gamerbase staff to show and let him in. An hour later and the beautiful Trocadero opens and I rush upstaris only to see an empty gamerbase. A few players arrive before a staff member comes and tells me there is no Gamerbase staff working today, calling in sick. After an hour of mayhem, and just when I was about to make a KO event, due to only 3 TV's being available, they just got the TV's ready, and we proceeded with the normal event, albeit with slightly smaller groups.

Most players as usual were Real Madrid, but there were a few class acts out there choosing to be different. One of those was Davicious, a player who would do well his Liverpool side.

Group 1
Oz Idris - 9
pure domination - 6
proevo_legend - 3
foohad - 0

This group had Oz_Idris, a guy who has been around forever, and experienced it all, and Pure Domination, PESRankings's world ambassador, known for his enthiusiasm for travelling, and the finalist at our Previous event, proevo_legend.

Oz came through this group quite comfortably with a 100% record, although the games were close. Foohad had a tough time, and did not register a single point. So Pure Dom and proevo_legend were the ones to battle it out for a place in the last 16. Pure dom came through this test emphatically with a 5-1 win!

Group 2
Urizen - 7
BeatenGameover - 7
ozzeruk82 - 3
Marchione - 0

A couple of newcomers to offline events in this group and the lack of experience told. Urizen and BeatenGameover dominated this group, beating the other two players and sharing a draw between each other leaving themselves unbeaten heading into the last 16. OzzerUk managed to beat Marchione to avoid being bottom.

Group 3
Irfydude - 9
Cesc - 6
MR A - 1
BlackMagic572 - 1

Irfy and Cesc picked up two wins out of two against Mr A and BlackMagic572, and were therefore through, making the last game a banter filled encounter. Before the game, Cesc told Irfy "if you lose to me on Xbox, your rubbish" and initially the mind games worked as Cesc went 2-0 up, but when he equalised near half time, fellow players sudden praise for Irfy's game worked and he came back and won 3-2, obviously the best moment of his life to beat someone of Cesc's calibre.

Group 4
Mr M - 6
AndyHo10 - 5
MuslimSoldier - 2
bn6nv- 2

A very tight group, with plenty of draws. Mr M beat the bottom two, but lost to AndyHo10, who registered his only win, but it was enough to go through as he drew his other games. Muslim Soldier, the nearly man, with never luck on his side, was not unable to conver any of his two draws into wins, not his marginal loss into a draw, so it was Mr M and Andy in the Last 16.

Group 5
Footimaster - 9
Davicious -6
fccjd - 3
emad22 - 0

Footimaster was the hot favourite to take this group! With a couple of newcomers, and regular fccjd it was expected he end with a 100% record. Davicious won his first two games 1-0 along with Footimaster, ensuring both of them battle it out for top place. Despite not conceding a goal, in his earlier encounters, Footimaster managed to knock 5 past Davicious, but he made it a respectable scoreline, at 5-3, and it was a breath of fresh air with his Liverpool team joining Footimaster in the Last 16.

Group 6

The_Greek - 6
DiegoLT - 1
Rogue Black - 1

Greek, the Uk Number 1, was hot favourite and as per usual, his group record was formidable, two wins, and Rogue and DiegoLT played out a 0-0 draw. The person to go through would be the one with the better result, showing the importance of goal difference in a league where one player stands out. Diego, who pushed Greek to a 5-4 thriller had the stronger goal difference, and them two made the final 16.

Group 7
SamSbfc - 6
vwhite14 - 3
faithteamo2 - 0

SamSbfc who had very hard times in previous events, stormed this group conceding none and firing 8 in 2 games. vwhite managed to beat faithteamo2 and that sole win got him in to the last 16.

Group 8
Mazin.Idris - 6
Pirate - 3
Rascal94 - 0

Maz, the current London Champ did not disappoint, going through with his usual "get through" the games mentality. Pirate beat Rascal94 and that means the semi finalist of the previous event was out!

Last 16
Pirate 3-1 Mr M
BeatenGameover 0-2 The_Greek
vwhite14 0-3 AndyHo10
Cesc 1-0 Davicious
pure domination 3-4 SamSbfc
Urizen 0-3 Irfydude
DiegoLT 0-5 Footimaster
Oz Idris 3-2 Mazin.Idris

Pirate and Greek booked a date in the quarters with 3-1 and 2-0 wins respectively. Cesc and Andy both kept clean sheets knnocking out Davicious and vwhite14 1-0 and 3-0. SamSbfc completed a sensational comeback from 3-1 down to beat Pure Dom 4-3 and Irfy, clearly boosted by his win over Cesc, coasted through 3-0. The Idris Brothers battled it out with older bro bullying his way through 3-2, and he would meet the on fire Footimaster, who won his game 5-0!

Quarter Finals
Pirate 1-3 The_Greek
AndyHo10 1-4 Cesc
SamSbfc 4-2 Irfydude
Footimaster 3-1 Oz Idris

The_Greek and Cesc setup a mouthwatering semi final clash with wins over Pirate and AndyHo10. SamSbfc showed Irfy he was worthy of a chance to play Footimaster in semi final, who beat Idris Snr 3-1.

Semi Final
The_Greek 6-3 Cesc
SamSbfc 0-5 Footimaster

Greek vs Cesc. Two of the youngest players on the scene, and Greek stormed to a 4-1 lead at half time, Cesc being unable to cope with his firepower. However Cesc remained confident of pulling a comeback, as he had many times before reclaimed big leads off the Greek, and he came to 4-3, with The_Greek feeling the pressure. He had a response and he scored two late goals to finish the game 6-3, and into his first London final this season.

Footimaster was on hot form. As soon he broke the deadlock, the floodgates opened. Maz spectating commented " Watching you Footi is like watching replays over and over again". But these replays were unstoppable, and SamSbfc, who had done fantastic, had no reply to the relentless Footimaster, who won 5-0 in the end.

The Final
The_Greek vs Footimaster

The game was a very tight and intriguing affair and it was stalemated at 1-1, before Footimaster took the lead. Greek however, had clearly had a strengthened mentality, and he was not going to give up. It was a high quality affair, but after he got the equaliser, he went on to score the winner, and he had finally won his first Offline event!

Well done to the The_Greek and Footimaster who win £100 and £50 at play.com respectively, and everyone who participated. Of course thank you to TheBoss for hirng out this quality venue. Keep an eye put for more events in the next month!

P.S Apologies for the lack of pictures, the camera provided last time was not there to be used, due to the staff problems.