The cup tag of <two_match_week>

[will_the_canuck]

Although this tag of <two_match_week> is undocumented and is used in a cup file definition, whereas there are the <two_match_week_start> and <two_match_week_end> tags which are used in league files, the <two_match_week> tag for cups does not work properly and if it was supposed to ever exist, it surely would be quite useful to have.

Now as I've played a few different country definitions, I've only ever seen this tag in the old Mexico (North America) country definitions. Basically its purpose was to have a two-legged cup round in a one week period, so the first leg would be played in say week 1, round 1, and the second leg would take place in week 1, round 2. The way it seems to work currently is that the first time it is used in a cup file, the first round of the cup would be played with the first leg being played in week 1, round 1, and the second leg would also be played in week 1, round 1. I've tried it. The first leg plays fine. It's the second leg that creates the error message and the live game continues right after you click on the button to continue and when I tried it, you couldn't even use the live game window to control the attack/balance/defend modes nor the anti/off/boost option either. But apparently it seems that for subsequent cup rounds, it works like it was supposed to, I believe. Odd.

So if this cup tag would be made available, could something be done to make it work properly? And yes, when I do think about it, there are alternatives to a two-legged cup round that could be completed in one week...that being a one-legged cup round. Now whether with a neutral location or such, who knows, but sometimes we just like our home and home series cup rounds. The option of a one-legged cup round for one week with a neutral location might suffice for the Mexico definitions if the two-legged option is not available, but there might be financial losses depending on the layer of the teams if this is a league cup, as with a one-legged match that is neutral, the attendance is shared whereas if there were a home and home series in one week, each team would be able to get their own attendance proceeds. Although I haven't tried any alternatives yet, I might check them out when the time comes, but for now, I'm just asking.

So, the question is, with the tag of <two_match_week>, is it possible to make it work or is it a lost cause? Or might we have to use the <two_match_week_start> and <two_match_week_end> tags in the cup files to make it work, if at all? Hopefully the developers can provide some insight and help on this one.

Thanks in advance,

will_the_canuck

[will_the_canuck]

Hello again. Well, I did some tests on this issue and I've come up with some conclusions here, whether good or bad.

First off, I ran 16 tests on this one and came to the conclusion that for the first round, it doesn't work. But afterwards, it appears to do its job. Like the <two_match_week_start> and <two_match_week_end> tags, which are used in league files, the <two_match_week> tag for the cup files doesn't like to work on the first round for the cup competition. The <two_match_week_start> tag has a week number included but it only applies to the week AFTER the week number listed. And in this case with the <two_match_week> cup tag, if you use it for the first round of a cup file, it will create an issue. Use it any other round in the cup file and it will work perfectly, which is super annoying. Oh well. So basically for the use of this tag, if you want to use it, you can have rounds that have a two-legged home and home series played over the course of one week, only if it isn't the first round of the cup. And for the first round of the cup, you can either have a one-legged single game that would be played over one week, or you can have a two-legged series that will be played over two weeks. If you were to try a group round with just two teams, it still won't work as I tried that too. I'll add here that I tried a group round for the second round in another test and basically it still played one match a week for the length of the group stage, even though the <two_match_week> tag was included in the round, which in my test was the second round. So no matter what, trying to use a group stage to trick it won't work, at any round in a cup file.

I also tried to use some tricks, like using the <delay> tag, to see if I could have the first game skip a week and play the first game of the round in the following week and the subsequent game in the same week but just a later round in the week. That didn't work as the second game was played in the following week after the first match of the round, and the second round of the cup followed directly after the second game of the first round, starting in the second round of the second week and the second game of the second round took place in the third round of the second week. Really annoying too. Oh well.

So overall, this could be a fun tag to use in cup files when it is required but just know that for the first round of the cup file, it won't work. After that, you can use it freely. Now why it is displaying this behaviour, I haven't a clue. But I'm just trying to see how it works within the framework of what we have available to us. And on that note, it can work, to a point.

So beyond that, have fun.

will_the_canuck