...come watch the Rebels. 36 goals in 5 games.

The following teams receive an MVP bonus after match 11:
Austin FC - MVP #3: 1 TP (WwW)
Carolina RailHawks - MVP #2: 1 TP + 25k (WWw)
D.C. United - MVP #2: 1 TP + 25k (dWw)
Carolina Dynamo - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)

LAF sends Horchata Fridge (2/29 DF) to COL for 6 CP, Romano Schmid (2/23 WG)

The following teams receive an MVP bonus after match 10:
Columbus Crew - MVP #2: 1 TP + 25k (DwW)
Los Angeles FC - MVP #2: 1 TP + 25k (dWW)
Daniel Island S.A. - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)
D.C. Colts - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwD)

As a newbie I was interested to see what prices were being paid at auction, so here are some ramblings…

Lot 1. 2/24 DF : Three teams keen to get their hands on this guy and so a highish price compared to previous auctions.  But he slots into Austin’s defence nicely, so Rob will be please with this buy.

Lot 2. 4/22 WG : Only useful for one season, so not much interest here.  The Whitecaps win the bidding with 148k, though why they want five wingers in their squad is a bit of a mystery

Lot 3. 3/20 WG : Another short term purchase, again going for 148k (Inter Miami again missing out with their bid of 147k).  Portland’s win here leaves them with a strange looking attack – four wingers and only one forward.

Lot 4. 1/15 MA : This purchase offers the opportunity to put some excess TPs to good use and I imagine Columbus Crew will be pleased to pick this guy up for 262k

Lot 5. 1/14 WG : I was delighted to pick up a player in my first auction, and even though he was more expensive than lot 4 he still seems a good deal to me.   Leaves me pretty much broke, though.

Lots 6 & 7. 5 CPs : These two lots for 393k and 342k which are around the pre-season prices, so reasonable deals for the Whitecaps and Atlanta to boost their training capabilities.

Lot 8 . 5 TPs : Only two teams interested in this, with most carrying more TPs than they can use.  A cheap buy for Atlanta, who must have a cunning plan….

Austin are pleased to announce the signing of Dutch Defender Nicolas Van Rijn,coach rob stated we needed to fill that gap at the back and strengthen up our defence if we wish to remain in division 1 and we feel this is one of the players that will enable us to do so,he will debut in our next match.

The following teams receive Retirement Remuneration through Auction2:
ATL(150) CAR(250) CLB(300) POR(100) SEA(100)

Done

The following teams receive an MVP bonus after match 9:
Kansas City Wizards - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WWw)
Chivas USA - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (wWD)

Please could Ronnie Blake be converted from MA to FW.  Thanks

Please could CAR retire Cailin Dowson and Jason Demetriou.  We've also retired another player L11 today.  Thanks.

Done

Can we please retire Steve Turner 5/17 GK and James Reilly 5?/13 MF.

Have retired two other players today.

For the next two midweeks we will have league matches before the Al Sellers cup resumes. So, make sure you get those senior and youth lineups in twice a week!

Also, early reminder that our second auction is this Sunday - get your bids in now! I'll again pay out for retirements before the auction runs, and MPPs can also be downgraded by requesting either in the blog or inbox. Reposting the details here:

Remember that only senior sides can bid in auctions!

Also remember that we will have retirement payouts before each auction as well as player downgrades if requested. As a reminder, details below

• Players SL <= 12 will pay out 50k
• Players SL >= 13 will pay out 100k

Note that this will apply retroactively to players already retired this season so that nobody is punished for having already retired players. Since players SL >= 13 cannot be retired yourself, please post in the blog here (Or via inbox) any players that you wish to retire but cannot do yourself. This is also a good time to request MPPs get downgraded to single position if you wish to free up a slot for auction bidding. Also remember that you may not retire to a roster size below 18 players.

The poll ended up a dead tie (once a repeat youth side vote was removed). Most managers did not have an opinion on this one, so I think we are safe going either direction here. I am going to make the decision based on what is easiest to manage as commish:

You can now use youth CP on OTF. Since this is likely to be a max of +3 OTF added per season, I think it is pretty safe and puts it in line with the fair play award benefit. It is unclear to me that adding +3 OTF with your CP will be more beneficial than/give an unfair advantage compared to adding +6 SL to a player (I'm counting a MVP CP as a way of getting to 6 CP per season). I will try to change the wiki to reflect this soon.

Impressive record in the cup! I don't think I've ever seen that in a six-match group stage, so kudos/commiserations to you!

Generally, all of the groups ended up very tight in the end. 3rd place was knocked out by goal difference, 1 pt, 1pt, and 2 pts across our four groups. In those teams knocked out in 3rd were also our last two cup winners - decent odds that we could get a new winner for the AS cup this season.