Heading to the final

In meantime, catch up on kick-ass anime
with awesome music, Macross Delta!

3F-Portugal (2-0-4) will try to snap a 10-match losing streak to 1A-France (5-0-1) when the two national teams meet up for the final in Paris, France.  In the new expanding Euro (24 teams from 16), a third-place team has reached the final.  It has happened twice in the World Cup when they had 24 teams with Argentina losing 1-0 to Germany in the '90 final and Italy losing in PKs (0-0 (3-2)) to Brazil in the '94 final.

Both teams struggled to being the tournament with France needed a late second-half goal to edge Romania while Portugal blew a 1-0 lead to tie, at the time, lowly Iceland.  After settling for a tie in their 3rd match, France has won each knockout stage scoring 9 goals.  Portugal has played even in the first 90 minutes in each of their first

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

Ronaldo on a roll

Ronaldo's 9th Euro goal (ties record)

Sometimes, things just line up.  A late stoppage time goal by 2F-Iceland knocked 3F-Portugal to third and put the Portuguese in the upper bracket with no giants (e.g., ENG, ESP, FRA, GER).  They even avoided BEL thanks to 1B-Wales.  After needing a late OT goal to beat 1D-Croatia and a PSO to beat 2C-Poland, POR could've settled for another regulation tie.  But after a listless first half, Ronaldo struck with a brilliant header off a corner kick and less than three minutes later, a Ronaldo shot was re-directed in by Nani and Portugal controlled the rest of the match winning 2-0 over the Welsh.  Will Ronaldo do what Messi couldn't do and win a title for home and country at the world stage?  Will Ronaldo quit the national team if he loses in the final like Messi?  Will Portugal finally go back to their traditional red and not the green glow/night shade jersey?  It was a nice run by Wales and with Iceland out, only traditional powers 1A-France, 1C-Germany, and Portugal remain.

Portugal's win was picked by 5 entries and this also meant we won't know who will win the pool until after the final on Sunday!  Travel Bug (who was 26th before the Round of 16 matches) moved into 1st (89 pts) while

France explodes, dashing Icelandic dream

Vive la France!

For some reason, when I woke up to an alert that there was an explosion before the 1A-France/2F-Iceland match, I thought I read the match was postponed.  So a noontime belated Father's Day lunch in Pasadena (Lunasia Dim Sum) with my in-laws wouldn't interfere with the match after all.  As we got there just before noon, I noticed the restaurant was playing the match and the pre-game looked legit.  Then I confirmed I misread the alert and the match was taking place as planned.  While the first-level had a couple of large HDTVs playing the match, we were in a more private area on the top level with no TVs.  But not to fear, an iPad Air 2 streaming the match thanks to Verizon's UDP (unlimited data plan) hotspot on my new Moto X Pure Edition, and I never missed a beat.  Even the waiters were coming over to watch the match with me!  Oh, and thanks to my wife's sister for getting me a Euro 2016 France shirt while she watched the opening match at the Eiffel Tower.  

As for the match itself, France starting strong and unlike England or Belgium, continued the pressure and exploded for four goals in the first half.  But give Iceland credit, as they