Clearing the path for Ronaldo

Run little man, run

About the only exciting thing in the later stages of the 2C-Poland-3F-Portugal match was a wave of blue shirts chasing an un-shirted fan on the pitch.  Portugal tied the match in the 33' but both teams played it safe in overtime.  About the only thing that went right for Ronaldo was his PSO goal as he was blatantly taken down in the box early with no call and flubbed two settling chances, that for a mere man would be hard, but for elite players would be gimmes.  POR hit all five PSOs to POL's three.  But the Portuguese hopefully won't be looking to the final as they will get to play 1B-Wales and not 2E-Belgium in the semis.

After going up a goal, BEL took the foot off the pedal and the Welsh took full advantage,
playing creative ball the rest of the match, netting three goals in the process.  BEL could not regain their skills after the game was tied or when they went down a goal.  The 3-1 loss is another disappointment for the Belgians who struggled all tournament (even in their 4-0 win over Hungary, the 3 goals came late).

POR was picked by 9 denying BigRedMessi2 (3rd-Tied, 74 pts) his POL pick.  EEChick1400 moved into 1st place (76), displacing JBueno (75) from the top spot for the first time this tourney (he was tied for 1st with two others after the first 12 matches).  Rainman moved into a tie for 3rd and Kds911 into 6th (71).  Sisyphus13 (15th, 67) and Ben (16th-T, 66) were eliminated leaving 18 alive while the same eight can still win the pool.

No one picked WAL leaving the standings the same.  However, BigRedMessi (7th-T, 70), Futbol Fabone Huit (16th-T), and Rogue Un (21st-T, 63) were eliminated, leaving 15 with a chance to win money.  The latter two were, of course, my two picks.  Even worse, Rogue Un can't pick up any more points and has a chance to take last away from Cheesy Grits FC (57).  Second place JBueno (who had a 47% chance to win the pool back on June 22) and Big Blue (5th, 72) can't win first, leaving just six with a chance to win the pool.  Rainman has the best chance to win the pool (34.4%) while EEChick1400 has the best chance at money (71.9%).