Graphics by Nick Lupo


The opinions expressed in this article are that of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of Chicago Chimera or its parent companies.

Welcome back readers, in our last quarter-finals we saw things go pretty much the way everyone expected. The Core obliterated the Wuhan Dragon, and the Salvo came out on top in their match versus Mexico City Furia. Even though the Birmingham Salvo only won by a tight margin, which came as a surprise to many and the delight to Furia fans, but a win is still a win. Now, Birmingham is facing their toughest opponent to yet, the Carolina Core. Will we, for the first time be seeing a European team in the World finals? Let's get to the predictions to find out!


Salvo has been hot. Hell, they have been hot for awhile now. They did very well during the regular season and finished second at the individual world finals, behind Dallas. From the looks of things, they can definitely hang with the North American CSS scene and that should have Carolina worried. Carolina on the other hand have not shared the same success, but by no means are they out for the count.

I have a all to familiar feeling that this franchise match will come down to the wire, and as we've seen time and time again, it will be up to the CSS match to decide the the whole game. When the pressure and the expectations of the team are on, you can count on Core's CSS team performing. Core will pull out all the stops, and expect Salvo to do the same. In the end though, I just don't think Salvo can pull out a win here even though Salvo is a celebrated and accomplished team in the UK. Expect boys from the south to "Devour" ( I wonder if that pun is getting over used...) the Birmingham Salvo in what should be a close game.


SarahLou is an up-and-coming DOA star. She has dominated Europe and has fared well against the North American talent. Many have been skeptical about how SarahLou would match up against the NA players, and so far she has proven that she can tango with the best. In the World Individual Finals, she decimated Sydney Underground's Eileen, who was thought to be a big contender. Then again, SarahLou showed just what she was made of by losing to Vanessa in a surprisingly close match. I'm not so sure Core's Mystik can come out big with this British cookie. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a woman with long dark hair, and an accent to boot. Even so, SarahLou has proven to be one of the top DOA-Females in the world, she'll prove to be a very tough match for Mystik. If Mystik is to have any chance of winning, she has to play a good defensive game. No doubt, Mystik has noticed SarahLou's aggressive play style, so she should expect SarahLou to come out of the gate swinging.



Put bluntly, Birmingham should be concerned. I haven't seen anything from Messy that would give me the indication that he will pull one over OffbeatNinja. This is one of Salvo's weaker points, so Core needs to capitalize on DOA-Male, especially if Mystik fails to put up points against SarahLou. Like I just said, Messy has not impressed me, but on the other hand Offbeatninja has been sketchy. Sure, he's matched up well against master, the number one NA male but regardless, I cant help but be the slightest bit worried. As you may remember, through out the regular season he was very inconsistent and only up until the North American playoffs did he recover his mojo. Now that the heat is on, one can only wonder whether he can come though, the stats say it's probable he will, but you can never be too sure.


Unfortunately The Maestro was unable to give me his thoughts for this match, but don't fret because he will surely be back for the finals. In the meantime, I will pretend to know what I am talking about and I ask that you bare with me until after the match is over. If I am wrong (which is likely) then you can criticize my lack of FIFA knowledge, however if the planets align and by the grace of God I am correct, then lets just say, I told you so..

Alrighty let's get down to business. Let me start of by saying, I LOVE BRUCE WAYNE! (Seriously cheap-Charley, stop waiting for someone to pirate it. Pony up and go see the Dark Knight. Why? Because Heath Ledger is AWESOME!!) I also love playing with the red wax off the little babybell cheeses, but that's another matter entirely and deserving of its own article... Anyways, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, FIFA my area of expertise. Bazza is, well, decent. He has kind of been off and on but that's really all Salvo has needed him to be. Anomaly on the other hand, is reliable, and knows how to get the job done. He has been in this situation before in 07 and helped Chimera win the title in 07. So I have to give this match-up to the seasoned veteran, anomaly.


This match is one that I have been dreading. These two teams have done fair though out the second season, but I have no standards by which to predict this match. On one hand we have GeneralELive and Phantom, who have done exceptional. They have proved they are one of, if not the top NA Forza team this season. On the other hand we have Picaso who is an impressive racer himself, along with his talented team mate DaveySkills. I have not seen many matches of Picaso and Davey which is why it's so difficult for me to predict this match with any measure of confidence. Normally I would simply give the match to Core but word around town says Picaso is one fast racer, a seasoned one at that. I''m going to side with Brit's on this one, but it could go either way.

All in all, a close and heated match is in store for us come Monday night. I hope you have enjoyed reading and as always stay tuned to the Chimera site for the final set of predictions as well as much, much more entertaining content! Cheers!

Predictions:

CSS: Carolina Core > Birmingham Salvo [10-8]

DOA-Male: Carolina Core > Birmingham Salvo [5-3]

DOA-Female: Birmingham Salvo > Carolina Core [5-4]

Forza: Birmingham Salvo > Carolina Core[4-3]

FIFA: Carolina Core > Birmingham Salvo [2-1]

Franchise Score: Carolina Core > Birmingham Salvo [24-21]