Hands up # 2! Germans fall

Unnecessary handballs vs Italy & France

Sigh.  Usually it's the French who are always surrendering.  For some reason, the past two matches 1C-Germans have been holding their hands up for no apparent reason and getting called for handballs in the box.  On the final play of the first half, Bastian Schweinsteiger went hands up and the ball deflected off the head onto his hand prompting the ref to call the penalty kick. Controversial, maybe, but the way Schweinsteiger went after the cross was so unnatural -- who goes in hands up like that?  This image clearly shows how unnatural it looked as it looked like he was getting into his Superman pose and was going to fly and head the ball off.  Bad strategic decision by the captain.  Doesn't matter it was unintentional (yes, I know the rule book says it has to be deliberate, but other than Maradona, who on a 50/50 tries to handle the ball with the hand?).  The hands and arms made him look bigger and that's a disadvantage for the offensive team. Antoine Griezmann put in the PK for his 5th goal of the tourney and the dominant Germans were down 1-0 to 1A-France at the half.

For some reason, this really got the Germans self-doubting themselves and France gained confidence and kept the pressure up until
Griezmann opportunistically scored his 6th goal.  The Germans did fight back and had ample opportunities to score but shots either hit the post, just wide, or was saved off the line.  The 2-0 win means the hosts go to Paris to face 3F-Portugal, a team they have beaten ten straight times (three times in major competitions).

Ten had France in the final while 13 German hopefuls fell short.  BigRedMessi2 takes over the top spot (94 pts) ahead of Big Blue and The Eleven (2nd-T, 92).  This is how the top 3 will finish unless Portugal pulls the upset in which Rainman (5th-T, 88) will win the pool pushing the top 3 down to 2nd-4th.  If France wins, Game of Two Halves (5th-T) will take 4th.  The current total goals tiebreaker is 4 (POR:WAL 2:0, GER:FRA 0:2) and if the Final features four three or less goals then Big Blue takes the tiebreaker; otherwise The Eleven does.  I guess this is a good time to formally announce the prize breakdown even though it's been on every daily standing since the Group Stage.

1st Place:    $120.00
2nd Place:  $  75.00
3rd Place:  $  50.00
4th Place:  $  25.00

 France's win ensured my Rogue Un will finish in last place with 63 pts.  I hope the Star Wars movie Rogue One will have a much, much better fate than my pick, despite the re-shoot PR fiasco.