Thank you to everyone who participated in today’s Group Stage.  While we saw a lot of completed matches and new friendships being formed, we know the overall experience was confusing and difficult for many of you to enjoy.  Due to a rash of forfeits, cancellations, and player misunderstandings, we know many of you didn’t get your full 5 games in today.  Therefore, tomorrow we are adjusting our format to simplify the event and ensure a fun experience for all.  

"In order to accommodate more players and give a fuller experience, we are opening tomorrow's finals and adjusting the format so all players may return and play.  Please visit the registration portal to learn more!" https://fifa.gyo.gg/tt/indiana-soccer-ecup/

All players who attempted to participate in today’s event will receive a pass into Saturday’s event as well.  For those of you who performed well today, we will make note of your performance and use that to weigh your seeding for the tournament.  Unlike today’s event, there will be no schedule posted in advance, and players will gain entry only by Readying Up at least 15 minute prior to the first time slot.  

So for tomorrow, all players who wish to participate will arrive at the League Page no later than 1:45 to click “Ready Up”, which is a button that will be featured prominently at the top of the page.  All players who mark themselves as ready will then be placed into the schedule queue, and the schedule will release at 2:00 pm with games starting no later than 2:10 pm.  This format will ensure that all groups are formed from players who have committed to participate and shown up to keep that commitment.  

Tomorrow’s format will be a condensed group stage followed by a single elimination, 8 team tournament.  All players will group with 3 other players and play three matches. The top 8 players based on overall W-L records, goals scored, and goals against will qualify for the 8 team single elimination bracket which will determine our winner. We are changing one rule regarding players playing with MLS teams. Players may select any soccer team they'd like for their games tomorrow in the online friendlies mode - just ensure the ruleset posted for the online friendlies match is followed.

If you were unable to connect today due to technical issues, or confusion prevented you from having a fun experience, we want to hear from you!  This is a new opportunity for our players to come together during the quarantine and we want to do more events like this, not fewer. Each event will get better and new friendships will form and champions crowned.  And we thank you for your patience and understanding as we develop new procedures to make online competition fun and exciting.

You do not need to register again to participate in tomorrow’s event.  You simply need to show up to the site at 1:45 pm EST to “Ready Up”, and you’ll be in.  We will prepare a simple walk through for everyone and share it with you in the morning.