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This week’s matches in the Gfinity Elite Series were bookended with upsets which have actually shaken up the roster for the semifinals quite a bit.
Teams’ seedings have shifted dramatically thanks to the results of these games but what’s to come in the playoffs is almost impossible to predict without a little more information.
The first confusing upset of the day came when Brisbane Deceptors faced the Sydney Roar. This Sydney team was happily sitting on top of the ladder until they met the Deceptors in this matchup.
The first round really set the pace where Deceptors managed to get in the first goal on the Roar on an undefended goal. The Roar fought back quickly to even the score and back and forth the scores continued to go until in the final seconds Deceptors managed to get the final goal securing the first win.
Brisbane was playing a much more aggressive game than usual which really kept Sydney on their toes and they kept this up into the second round, once again taking the first goal. Sydney found two more giving them the lead but in the final moments of the countdown, Jake scored another shot for the Deceptors before the ball touched the ground.
This pushed the match into overtime and perhaps seemed to rattle the Roar a little. Deceptors proceeded to take this match with an overtime goal from Ssteve pushing the game to a minute and forty seconds on the overtime clock.
The final game had much the same back and forth flavour and it still felt like it could be anyone’s game. While the Brisbane team definitely had been playing better on the day it wasn’t by heaps and all matches were close enough. Perhaps in the end, the Roar knew they had already secured their spot in the finals and weren’t too fussed about seeding but the games seemed almost too close to assume they were giving it away.
Each game felt like it took place for the most part in front of the Roar’s net and they ended us such with another sneaky shot from Ssteve to secure a 3-0 win in favour of the Deceptors.
Despite Perth Ground Zero’s unexpected defeat last week the team had made no changes to their line up coming into week 5. They were facing off against Melbourne Avant who hadn’t made a win all season, so perhaps Ground Zero just weren’t too worried. Unfortunately for Avant, this was rightly so as Ground Zero took out an expected 3-0 win over the lowest seeding team.
Ground Zero kicked off the matches with a goal from Ghost from all the way across the field into an empty goal. They proceeded to only allow Avant one point to their own six and really, this was pretty much what we expected to see.
The second round didn’t come quite as easily with the game going into overtime with both teams two a piece. Once it did finally go to overtime It didn’t take too long for Ground Zero to round it out. Overtime seems to be this teams’ favourite place to be and Ghost made a quick goal to take the second game. The final game went much the same way but this time Lim nudged it into the goal in Overtime.
This was all Ground Zero could do to try to make it into the Playoffs but unfortunately, the next game between Chiefs and Order would be the one to decide their fate.
What Ground Zero needed was for the Sydney Chiefs to take the final game over Order and with the way these two teams have been looking that’s also what most expected. Their last match against Sydney Roar wasn’t so good and both the Sydney teams have been working with their draft rosters throughout parts of this Gfinifty series with other players out for different competitions.
Maybe if Chiefs had been running with their main team things would have been different but Melbourne Order taking home a 3-0 win over Sydney was still very surprising. Zen kicked it off with the first goal of the game but it was quickly returned by one from Change on the Sydney team. That was going to be all Chiefs were allowed to get though, with Melbourne holding four goals over the Chief’s single point in the first game.
Order then followed this up by winning the second game with a 2-1 score, though it was nearly 3 – 1 with the final goal just stopping short before the timer clocked out. With this win, they dashed the hopes of Ground Zero and stole the top four placement for the Playoffs.
This wasn’t enough though, as the Melbourne team seemed to finally be finding their feet this season and took the final game for good measure.
This makes the playoffs difficult to pick in terms of winners. If they run their top lineups then both the Sydney teams are still likely to meet in the finals. If not these final games for the season 2 of the Gfinity Elite Series Rocket League competition could really go to anyone involved.
In the semifinals, we’ll see Brisbane Deceptors who currently hold the top seed facing off against Chief’s esports. Then The Sydney Roar will face off against Melbourne Order and it really does feel like these games are almost entirely up to the whims of the Sydney teams castings.
We’ll just have to wait and see who walks on out on stage for the playoffs before making any hard calls about these finals.