Death to No One

In the Group of Death, we saw our first two-goal comeback, our first 5-goal match, or latest goal thus far (87'), and an incredible miss by the one and only Cristiano Ronaldo.  Denmark may have bunkered down vs Holland in the last game after getting the early goal but today they were down two goals early and had to fight their way back, and they did, tying it on 2 goals by Nicklas Bendtner.  But Portugal, in danger of being eliminated pending the Germany-Holland match, got the thrilling game-winner.  27 entries picked POR which still left Walleye in first.  Kona Coast Sliders and Agenterob picked up their fourth straight win while V2 Wedding Bells!!! aren't ringing, losing his last 7 matches to take sole possession of last.

The Dutch wanted to erase the taste of their last game and came out strong with several good chances.  Despite scoring in the first match, it was still should Germany start Mario Gomez or Miraslav Klose, so Gomez responded by scoring twice in the first half.  Holland tried to come back with one goal but remain winless.  The good news is that they are still alive although they are the only team (of the 8 who have played their 2nd matches thus far) who don't control their destiny.  The bad news is that no team who lost their first two group matches (EURO) went on to the next stage.  Germany with 6 points still has a chance to lose a 3-way tiebreaker.  This was the match that had the most number of entries pick a tie (19) but in the end, the 13 who had Germany picked up the critical 2 points.  Kona Coast Sliders won his 5th straight match to tie Walleye (but has NED as their champ; maybe, maybe) with 16 points.  Popozao and The Mighty Mobelfakta are tied for 3rd with 14 points.  V2 Wedding Bells!!! snapped a 7-match losing streak to enter a 5-way tie for last.

Most of the goals thus far  in this tournament have come off incredible headers off corner or free kicks or crosses.  All 16 teams have now scored with POR and NED getting on the scoresheet.  As teams qualify to the Last 8, points will be awarded (usually, I wait until after all the group matches are played before awarding everyone their bracket points).  But no team has (yet).  Tomorrow, in the Gordo Group, Croatia could become the first team with a win while Ireland could become the first team eliminated with a loss.