Another exciting Urban Terror NationsCup season has come to an end. We have seen a lot of quality matches, top teams and their players and all the way a great coverage. Here is a recap of this season.

We started off with 16 nations which is an amount we have not reached for the last few seasons. In fact the last time we had 16 or more nations is back in 2005. It is nice to see more and more nations playing Urban Terror and for upcoming NationsCup's we hope to get at least the same amount or even more.
We divided the 16 teams into 4 groups with 4 teams each and 2 of them advancing to playoffstage. Right from the start we had an excellent coverage like Match of the Week previews including interviews and great GTV coverage. And when playoffs came, with entertaining re- and previews and GTV covering a couple of matches a night, we had a real nice show running. But without the help of our CoverageSupervisor: holden, the GTV Crew: sta0 and Serial it would not have been the same. Thank you for everything you have done and be sure we appreciate your work a lot.

Here are our final standings:

Premier League
Rank	Award	Clan
1st		The Netherlands
2nd		Team France
3rd		Team Portugal
4th	-	Team Italy

At last we want to thank all nations participating and of cause congratualtions to our winners. Hopefully all of you have enjoyed this season and we are looking forward to see you again for the next Urban Terror ClanBase NationsCup. Meanwhile you should take a look at our OpenCup Spring season: UrT CTF OC Spring 2009 and UrT TS OC Spring 2009.

Your supervisors, Pechnet & dan

ClanBase Rich And Famous - Net result

			Result	Winnings	Name	Country	Bets	Avg result	Bets
1		(1)	€ 13.536	42.536	Drezil		29.000	437	31
11		(9)	€ 9.351	27.351	Joram		18.000	520	18
17		(19)	€ 9.093	26.343	cRe4TuRe		17.250	413	22
2		(2)	€ 7.203	34.203	DiMiTrI		27.000	232	31
7		(12)	€ 7.033	29.033	eLJay		22.000	320	22
8		(6)	€ 6.958	28.958	sta0		22.000	290	24
3		(5)	€ 6.439	32.189	LazZaruZ		25.750	238	27
4		(3)	€ 6.249	30.499	Nioubie		24.250	215	29
6		(8)	€ 5.351	29.351	holden		24.000	223	24
24		(24)	€ 5.345	21.345	CoLdasHeLL		16.000	314	17

ClanBase Rich And Famous - Winnings

			Result	Winnings	Name	Country	Bets	Avg result	Bets
1		(1)	€ 13.536	42.536	Drezil		29.000	437	31
2		(2)	€ 7.203	34.203	DiMiTrI		27.000	232	31
3		(5)	€ 6.439	32.189	LazZaruZ		25.750	238	27
4		(3)	€ 6.249	30.499	Nioubie		24.250	215	29
5		(4)	€ 5.086	30.336	jos		25.250	188	27
6		(8)	€ 5.351	29.351	holden		24.000	223	24
7		(12)	€ 7.033	29.033	eLJay		22.000	320	22
8		(6)	€ 6.958	28.958	sta0		22.000	290	24
9		(7)	€ 3.641	28.641	Angel		25.000	130	28
10		(15)	€ 1.419	27.419	sKn		26.000	55	26

A great final, sadly without admins, but the GTV Demos will do I'm sure! CTF was close, can't say the same about TS.

No admin, but screenshots and PotM poll inside.

Tonight is the night, after a little less than two months of competition, it's all wrapping up in one hour tonight. Teams worked thoroughly to get to this point, the final placing isn't exactly what most would have bet on in January, but I'm glad this diversity is brought to the table, makes for a more eventful competition and is already having us longing for the next one.

But lets focus on the current Nations Cup, in which only two games are left. Portugal will be facing Italy, it's the first time each nation find themselves in the third place final, the Portuguese being used to much better, and the Italians to much worse. Due to a shaky start, Italy was the team with the least points amongst the eight qualified for the playoffs, but that did not stop them from pulling the upset of the quarter-finals, defeating Sweden against the odds and advancing to find France in their way. But it was an upset they couldn't pull this time around and were cast in the Third Place Final. Portugal came on top of the fourth group, after a fierce battle with France for it. In the playoffs they encountered some resistance from Poland who actually took them to a third map but didn't give much of a fight in Bomb. Those two teams have not met since the cup in 2006 where they played each other in the group stage, a cup which Portugal ended up winning. This time around it's different, Italy certainly is the most improved squad this season, remember they finished last of the second group in 2008 without a single win, even dropping out in the end. More could have been hoped from Portugal, their legendary combativeness was nowhere to be found this season, but even without it they find themselves in the final four, which tells us enough about their potential should they apply themselves next season.

Regarding the Grand Final, which is played at the same time as the other game, namely 22CET, it is an unprecedented meeting, I believe those teams have actually never met in an eliminatory game before, yet found themselves in the same groups many times throughout the years. As I stated in lengthy news right before the playoffs, the Dutchmen looked as if they might not be making a two-peat following the problems that surrounded the captaincy of the team but they prevailed. Looking at the playoff tree, it might be assumptive to say that they have done the hardest, defeating powerhouses like the United States and Portugal, but they should not take anything for granted for their adversary, France, has proven to be a fierce competitor and that it will do anything to make its first shot at the gold count. France put some work in this cup and it shows, and all its players are thrilled to be finding themselves play at this stage of a competition. They have a gigantic fan base that's been supporting them since the first day and will undoubtedly fill the GTV tonight. Mentioning the GTV, note that sta0 managed to raise the number of slots to a staggering 500! Needless to say that should it be filled, it would be an unprecedented event in Urban Terror's history.

Grand Final

Date: Sunday 15 Mar 2009 22:00 CET

Preview
The Netherlands	vs	Team France
#NED		#FRA
Map: Turnpike (CTF)		Map: Turnpike (TS)
Expected Lineup:
rYuuJiN		Mess
Joram		Nioubie
Pannekoek		Sachem
xxinixx		Tidus
Houthakker		taKi

Third Place

Date: Sunday 15 Mar 2009 22:00 CET

Preview
Team Portugal	vs	Team Italy
#POR		#ITA
Map: Turnpike (CTF)		Map: Turnpike (TS)
Expected Lineup:
d0mination		DANGER aka FireOnMe..!
M0rtal		DiMiTrI
Magnesium		Fix_Metal
wolv		Pechnet
ToshaS!		prankZ aka oVer

Let's hope the show tonight, no matter which game you decide to follow, will be up to the occasion and that it will prove a remarkable conclusion to a seemingly perfect Nations Cup! For anyone interested in following the games, starting at 21h50, the IP's for GTV will be spread throughout IRC, on #ClanBase.UrT or with the help of the z0rbot. As a final note, this is my last news post for this cup, I'll let dan do the final one when it is time, I'll hopefully find all of you next year for an other amazing tournament, with perhaps even more nations?

Over and out, holden.

GTV demos, screens and potm inside.

No admin, screenshots, potm & GTV demos inside!

An other short news highlighting the two games that will be played today.

FRA vs ITA

Date: Sunday 08 Mar 2009 22:00 CET

Preview
Team France	vs	Team Italy
#FRA		#ITA
Map: Turnpike (CTF)		Map: Sanctuary (Bomb)
Expected Lineup:
Nioubie		DANGER aka FireOnMe..!
Sachem		DiMiTrI
Tidus		Master
Tiflow		Pechnet
taKi		Duce

NED vs POR

Date: Sunday 08 Mar 2009 22:00 CET

Preview
The Netherlands	vs	Team Portugal
#NED		#POR
Map: Turnpike (CTF)		Map: Casa (TS)
Expected Lineup:
rYuuJiN		d0mination
Joram		M0rtal
Pannekoek		Magnesium
Houthakker		re3fs
SuTaFFu		wolv

For anyone interested in following the games, starting at 21h50, the IP's for GTV will be spread throughout IRC, on #ClanBase.UrT or with the help of the z0rbot, the spots will be very limited, especially since we're to cover the two games simultaneously.

Best of the luck to all the participants, and may the best teams win!

An other news, but this time I'll do more of an analysis on the four games that went down Sunday evening, namely the loss of Sweden against Italy, the third mapper between Germany and France, the victory of Portugal versus Poland, and finally the success of the Netherlands up against the USA since none of those games had admins, you can take this piece as an “all-in-one”.

GTV demos, screens and potm inside.

GTV demos, screens and potm inside.

no referee, screens and potm inside.

GTV demos, screenshots & potm inside

Just a concise news to let everyone know about the quarter finals to come, which will all be played on Sunday evening, a more elaborate article will follow once the results are known for you all to flame about, don't worry. We should be able to cover all four games, even though they all happen within two hours, so it will be up to you to decide what your evening will be made of. At 21h30 we wil have Sweden against Italy and Germany taking on their border rivals France. A tad later, at 22h30, we will have what I consider the two best games of the evening, not to take anything away from the first, with Portugal facing Poland, and the Netherlands opposed to the USA in a rematch of last year's final.

Now, let's hope the little break in this cup's frenetic pace didn't hinder anybody's spirit and that all eight teams will provide a show up to their potential. You will notice that Turnpike is just over-played, no matter the gametype, the map introduced with 2.6, so many years ago, proves to be everybody's favorite. Wu's creation will be played a total of six times tomorrow night, with Germany and the USA trying to be different, picking Casa and Sanc respectively. Now this could be seen as a hint for all the talented mappers out there, we're in need of diversity! Do something! Especially since we, over at ClanBase, are eager to try something new this season, this could be your chance to have your map put in the spotlight.

On to the games now, note that CBooky odds have been up for a couple of days, I put 55-45 in favor of the team that finished first of its group.

In the following paragraphs, I'll try to analyze the games that the playoffs will bring us and provide a retrospective of the three weeks already passed. I will, for the sake of argument, assume that France won't lose against Finland, but won't win by the margin needed for them to be first of group D, putting them in against Germany in the right part of the playoff tree.

First off, what would strike anyone with a bit of knowledge is that those trees do look pretty imbalanced. On one side, we have the cup holders of the previous season, with the Netherlands, the USA and Poland. Now, not only do those three teams are contenders to a spot in the final, but they also have to do with a fourth high-profile team, Portugal. Two months ago, had people been asked their favorites for this cup, I'm sure those four names would have come up regularly. So, what exactly is left in the other part of the tree? A pretty weird combination of teams who never really made it under the spotlight, except for perhaps Sweden and Germany, but that was over four years ago. Out of the four teams there, France, Sweden, Germany and Italy, only one made it past the group stage and up to a fourth place in 2008. Strictly based on the result from the previous cup, this weird distribution can surely puzzle more than one person.

Let's take a closer look at what happened.