The Champs Roll On

I haven't really seen the Spain-France match yet, caught some sniplets, and then the ending as a French player rolled over a Spainish player in the box for only the tourney's 3rd PK (and 2nd made) to punctuate a 2-0 victory.  Not sure if France were just outplayed, unlucky, or just being French.

More later, but as for the pool, no change at the top with Tuan, who lost his champ France, can't win 1st.  SiemkoStrimkoPlinko!, RunnerLuis, and Wampa are now eliminated.

Like Economy, Germany Bests Greece

No one really gave Greece a chance and when Germany dominated the first half and scored before halftime, it looked like lights out.  But a Greece counter tied the match and the hope was to get through regulation.  But Germany is Germany and in quick succession, scored three straight.  Only a late PK, just the 2nd awarded in the tourney, made the final score a somewhat respectable 4-2.  No magical Greece run like in 2004 this time.  We even got the classic Miroslav Klose header (circa 2006) as Mario Gomez, with three goals, sat on the bench.  Greece tried to replicate the success in their first match where they resisted an onslaught by Poland only to tie it in the second half. It did work again, it's just that 35 minutes is much too much time for Germany to strike back.

Since 37 of 39 picked GER in the pool not much changed except that Bix Pix fell from 21st to 33rd (48 pts) and Blue Panther regained the last spot once gain (41).  Flying Elvi still holds a 7-point lead and a 93.8% chance to win money.

With Ronaldo, Czech-Mate!

Don't awake the sleeping giant, but Cristiano Ronaldo is playing like a superstar and his third goal of the tourney, a 79' header where he just ran around a listless defender, sends a revived Portugal team into the Semis with a dominant 1-0 win over the Czech Republic.  If not for the woodwork, Ronaldo could have a half-dozen goals this tournament.  Portugal outshot CZE 20 to 2... 2!  And none of the two were on goal.

Only three picked POR to advance to the Semis with Flying Elvi jumping to a 7-point lead atop the standings, Sisyphus moving from 27th-Tied to 12th-Tied, and Blue Panther moving out of last place to 34th.  Although all 19 entries remain alive after today, three now have no chance for 1st, reducing the pool of pool winners to just six.  Walleye (3rd, 57), Absolutely Clueless (4th-T, 56), and BigRedMessi2 (4th-T, 56) can only win 2nd now.  As for possibilities, Flying Elvi has a 32.8% chance to win the pool and a whopping 93.8% chance to win money.

Prize Money Distribution

Wow, the time is finally here.  The official prize breakdown.  We had an amazing 39 entries submitted which means that there is $390 to break up.  As with our other pools (without a Bonus) 1st is around 45-50% with 2nd about half of that.  The other places are just to make the numbers add up.  Since we didn't reach 50 entries, there is no Bonus Prize so the 20 of you who are eliminated have no hope at money.  So here it is:

   1st Place =  $ 190
   2nd Place =  $  95
   3rd Place =  $  65
   4th Place =  $  40

Good luck!

Foster's Futbol Brew # 4: The Fourth Froth

June 20, 2012

Foster's Futbol Brew: The Fourth Froth

Is anyone getting tired of hearing the same White Stripes song (7 Nation Army, I think) over and over and over again when a goal is scored? Wouldn’t it be cool if each team had a pre-selected (and different) song to play when they netted one? Perhaps we could hear “The Winner Takes it All” when the Swedes score (ode to ABBA)! England would have it best with “We Are the Champions!” Funny enough, the Miami Heat started using the same song as they took a big lead late in Game 4 against the Thunder in the NBA Finals! And the crowd actually started the “woooaaah…woah woah woah woah woooaaah, woooaaah.” Woah is me!

Back to the best sport on Earth. (For those of you not keeping track,

Issue # 5.1.3 "Familiar EURO Field..."

Wow, what a tourney thus far.  In the end, don't the 8 teams look like they should be there in the EURO knockout stage (except for Czech Republic)?  But now, who is still alive in the pool? 


FRANTIC FINISHES AS KNOCKOUT STAGE SETTuan and The Flying Elvi on top as 20 are still alive

SiemkoStrimkoPlinko! Not Yet Stinko!

Thanks to the crazy France pick to win it all, my second entry is still alive, though after watching the French play, not for long.  Here are my 16 possible winning outcomes (note that "2" could mean tied for 2nd):

SiemkoStrimkoPlinko!
1st	2nd	Semi	Semi	Place (Could be Tied)
FRA	GER	CZE	ENG	2
FRA	ENG	CZE	GER	2
FRA	GER	CZE	ITA	2
FRA	ITA	CZE	GER	2
FRA	GRE	CZE	ENG	2
FRA	ENG	CZE	GRE	2
FRA	GRE	CZE	ITA	2
FRA	ITA	CZE	GRE	2
FRA	GER	POR	ENG	2
FRA	ENG	POR	GER	2
FRA	GER	POR	ITA	2
FRA	ITA	POR	GER	2
FRA	GRE	POR	ENG	2
FRA	ENG	POR	GRE	2
FRA	GRE	POR	ITA	2
FRA	ITA	POR	GRE	2

If you would like to see your possible winning outcomes (so you know who to root for), you can either post a comment to any of the blog posts (including this one), post your request on Twitter to @HWCI_Pools or  #hwcieuro, or post at our Facebook page.

The English Helping the French

You know when you go to a meeting that you think might be 15 minutes and 2 hours later everyone is still discussing the same topic?  Yup, that's been me.  Rough couple of weeks at work as we have too much work (nice problem, I guess, in this economy). 

Anyway, it's always nice when one soccer powerhouse helps another.  The French could not get anything started as the then winless Swedes shut out France, 2-0, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic half-volleying a rocket into the net for the first goal. But luckily, FRA back-doored their way into the Last 8 when England took care of business squeaking by Ukraine, 1-0, thanks to a header by the returning Wayne Rooney.  FRA's 23-match unbeaten streak got snapped but it didn't matter as the French lazily advanced (they could've lost 10-0-- they would only be out if UKR scored twice and won).  The penalty of course is that they have to face Spain instead of Italy.  35 picked ENG (no one had thought UKR would win) while 8 picked SWE.  Eight went 2-0 while 4 went 0-2.  Twenty (20) correctly picked both ENG and FRA in the Quarterfinals while no one missed both.

For all the group matches,

It All Changes Now - Who is Eliminated?

You'll see a couple of changes of interest to you.  The Standings page now includes two additional columns.  "Pl" is the highest placement you can reach with the remaining 128 possible outcomes.  If it says "E", well, that means your entry has been eliminated.  Sorry.  My primary entry Futbol Fabone Five is one of 20 to get an early retirement.  Since we have 4 money spots, the number 1-4 corresponds to the highest possible placement (you could lose a tiebreaker) where "1" means you are one of the 9 entries with a chance to win the pool.  My second entry (SiemkoStrimkoPlinko!), barely surviving thanks to France back-dooring into the Quarters, has a "2" which means I could still finish in 2nd place though it might mean I need GRE and FRA meeting in the final.  If you want to know which possible outcomes would win you money, please post a comment at the bottom of this post or request it via Facebook or Twitter.

The other new thing is a new menu tab on top called "Possibilities".  This shows what percentage you could win 1st or win money.  Right now, The Flying Elvi is flying high as he has a 26.6% to win 1st and a 71.9% to win money.  But that could change in a few days!

Champions Go Through

Another day, another frenzied ending that potentially could've seen favorite Spain go home.  While Croatia and Ireland played their hearts out, it will be the familiar faces of the '08 EURO and '10 World Cup champs Spain and '06 World Cup champ Italy progressing to the knockout stage.

Spain and Croatia started off in the driver's seat (and if they wanted to be a part of Italy's match-fixing scandal, they could've agreed to a 2-2 tie and both would be in regardless how Italy did) but Italy got an early goal which put Croatia on their heels the whole game against Spain.  Spain weathered the storm and seemingly made one too many passes on several good opportunities.  And Spain should've been worried because a Croatia goal would've knocked them out of the tournament but an 88' minute tap in gave the defending champs the top spot of Group C.  Italy sealed the win

Group of Death to Double D (Dutch & Denmark)

Wow, what a Group of Death.  Every goal scored changed the possibilities (DEN v GER, POR v NED):

Start: GER & POR - let's keep it scoreless
NED goal 11': GER & DEN - the Danes are in!
GER goal 19': GER & POR - no, Portugal are in!
DEN goal 24': GER & DEN - no, I said the Danes
POR goal 28': GER & POR - no, I mean Portugal
POR goal '74: GER & POR - OK, Portugal, but GER in jeopardy of being eliminated if DEN scores next
GER goal 80': GER & POR - Insurance goal!  Now  both clearly through (NED would need 4 goals, DEN 2 in final 10 minutes)

In the end, both teams won by 2-1 scores as GER picked up the max 9 points while POR were a dominant runner-up playing well in all three matches.  Like ESP's Fernando Torres, POR's Cristiano Ronaldo responded after a lackluster match and exploded with a pair of goals.

In the pool,

Placement Doesn't Matter (For Now)

So what if you had GRE as the Group A winner and CZE as the Group A runner-up?  You get the same 10 points (5 per) as if you correctly had it CZE and GRE.  Sounds great, right?  The problem arises is that you have the teams in reverse order in your bracket.  Now, if you have both CZE and GRE losing in the quarterfinals, then this does not matter.  However, let's say you picked a championship final matchup of GRE and ESP (you picked correctly as runners-up of Group C-- I hope I didn't jinx Spain), the last 2 EURO champions.  Because you misplaced GRE, you can't get both in the final since now they would meet in the semifinals (if both win their quarterfinal matches).  So the good news is you are guaranteed to get 1 team in the Final you picked; the bad news is you can't get both.  So that's your potential penalty.