The EFAF Cup should give plenty to talk about prior to and following the matchups. With one game this weekend and one game next weekend the anticipation will persist until next Saturday. This weekend the Kragujevac Wild Boars head to France to face the Thonon Black Panthers. The Black Panthers, ranked 7th in France and out of the French playoffs have an opportunity to make up for their lackluster season in league play. A win this weekend could turn the tide and give the Panthers a boost after finishing poorly in France. The Panthers made this game by being the best of 3 in a group with Milan and Prague. The Boars ranked #13 in all of Europe according to europlayers.com and still undefeated at this point in the season in Serbia. A long trip to France should not be an issue since the Boars beat the Blue Devils of Switzerland in the first round of the cup tournament by a large margin. The high powered offense’s lowest output in 5 games was 39 in their third matchup. The rest have been over 50 points scored including a 74 point game in their last contest.
The Boars went 27 hours by bus one way to get to France and despite what was reviewed as a one sided refereed contest the Boars got the win 35-22. They'll await the winner of the Blitz and Gold Diggers for the final to be played in mid June.
The presumably tougher semifinal pits two of Europe’s top 21 teams against each other, the London Blitz from the UK against the Sollerod Gold Diggers of Denmark. The 19th ranked Blitz have 2 wins and a tie in league play but have been flawless defensively in this tournament. Beating Valencia and Amsterdam without surrendering a point is an astonishing feat to have accomplished. The Diggers will have their hands full trying to find a seam in the Blitz defense. If anyone will score on this defensive machine it will be the #9 ranked team in Europe. The Diggers have scored 130 points in 2 games in this tournament this year beating St. Ouen of France and Coventry in England. The Gold diggers are also undefeated in Danish play at 3-0 and having beaten each opponent by an average of an amazing 58 points per game. This game played in England’s capitol is sure to not disappoint. But you will have to wait until next weekend when this game kicks off June 4th.
The European Football League comes to a final four this weekend also. Europe’s top 4 teams will face off against each other. The official Eurobowl website gives us a beautiful preview that could not have been prepared better. Check it out by following this link and clicking read more on the article at the top of the page: EFL Semifinal’s 2011.
The Innsbruck Raiders scored 6 points in the 4th quarter to come from behind and beat the Vienna Vikings 13-10 in west Austria on Saturday night. The Berlin Adler came from further back down by 21 to the Graz Giants and finished with a 32-30 victory in Berlin on Saturday. June 18th the Adler will face for the second year in a row an Austrian club at the EFL championship, the Eurobowl.
