A record 49 entries sees Club Med take the early lead
EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) - Top favorites picked to win it all picked up wins as A2-Italy, B3-Belgium, and F2-Portugal each won 3-0 while D1-England and F3-France secured 1-0 victories. The other teams picked to win all were F4-Germany (who lost to FRA) and E1-Spain (who dominated with 75% possession and didn't allow an official shot on goal but settled for a scoreless draw with E2-Sweden).
C2-Ukraine scored twice in four minutes to pull even with C1-Netherlands, but the Dutch got the final goal to win 3-2, C3-Austria scored twice late to break a 1-1 tie with debutant C4-North Macedonia, and E4-Slovika got a man-advantage goal in the 69' to win 2-1. A3-Wales and A4-Switzerland tied 1-1 (one of just 2 ties), an opportunistic 54-yard golazo secured a 2-0 win for D4-Czech Rep, and in the why-did-they-finish-the-match-right-away, B4-Finland upset B3-Denmark 1-0 in a match that saw DEN player Christian Ericksen resuscitated after collapsing.
With Ericksen conscious and communicating with teammates,
the choice of playing the match soon (it ended up being just a 90 minute or so delay), playing Saturday or Sunday, or DEN forfeiting 3-0, seemed reasonable choices but players (allegedly) opted for the short delay. Really, UEFA should have taken the short delay out of the equation but maybe they didn't want to finish in an empty stadium. DEN still controlled the match, with FIN capitalizing on their only shot of the match (yes, one shot) and DEN did miss a PK, but emotions were still too raw. I mean, he was technically dead. Scary and thank goodness he's recovering.
Things have gone very smoothly for Euro 2020 as VAR has been used effectively (overturning just 2 calls), ESP and SWE survived COVID disruptions, 75% of the goals scored in frantic second halves, just one red card, and even partial capacity crowds adding lots of atmosphere. Although the FRA-GER did provide the 3rd own goal of the tournament and two bizarre incidents, with a parachute protester endangering spectators by hitting one of the camera wires in the stadium and a GER defender seemingly taking a bite out of a FRA player while grabbing his nipples. Yup. Of course weirdness happens during a French match.
Things have not gone smoothly for countries hosting matches as they are just 3-5-1 with only ITA, NED, and ENG winning at home. It was great to see the full capacity crowd in Budapest supporting F1-Hungary who had the scoreless tie with POR before allowing 3 goals after the 84'. Ronaldo (POR), Patrick Schick (CZE), and Romelu Lukaku (BEL) each have two goals, with the former setting a new Euro record with his 10th and 11th goals as well as playing and scoring in his 5th Euros. Two FRA goals called back due to offsides (one via VAR) kept GER's goal differential at a manageable -1 instead of -3.
We got a record 49 entries for the 3rd HWCI EURO pool, topping both '16 (39) and '12 (27) as well as surpassing the 44 we got for Women's World Cup '19. It's the fourth highest total after WC18 (79), WC14 (75), and WC10 (66) out of our 12 soccer pools. With few unexpected results (the FIN win being the biggest upset as all 49 picked DEN), Club Med leads with 9 points (out of 12 possible) and 7 others are tied for second with 8 pts. Dagger, Isayoldchap, and KevLo are tied for last with 4 pts. Two games not one entry got right (aforementioned FIN and SVK) and just 8 got the ESP-SWE tie and just 12 got the WAL-SUI tie.
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I'll be doing daily matchday updates on our Blog and re-posted on Twitter. These updates will be every few days and emailed out. Everyone can view their pick and bracket by clicking the "Pick" link in the standings next to their nickname or the picks page. If you want to know who everyone is, the Who's Who in the Pool is now available.
Ins & Outs - Goals (12 matches): 28 (2.33/match) [Own: 3 (1-TURvITA 53' {gw}, 10-POLvSVK 18', 12-GERvFRA 20' {gw}), Subs: 3 (4-BEL 27', 6-AUT 78', 6-AUT 89'), 90+: 1 (11-POR +2), Extra Time: -]... Scoring First: 10-0-1 [1 Nil-Nil ties (9-ESPvSWE); ]... Leading at Half: 4-0-0 (8 ties; )... Shutout: 9 (1-TUR, 2-DEN, 4-RUS, 7-CRO, 8-SCO, 9-ESP, 9-SWE, 11-HUN, 12-GER)... PK: 1/2 [3-den (s) 74', 11-POR 87']... PSO: -... Red Card (GF/GA): 1 (10-POL (0/1) 62')... Multiple Goals: 3 [Lukaku 2 (4-BEL), Schick 2 (8-CZE), Ronaldo 2 (11-POR)]... Zero SOG (Shots): 2 [1-TUR (3), 9-SWE (4)]... Goal Line Tech: 0 (-)... VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 2 [3-SUI xOff+{g-} 85', 12-FRA xOFF+{g-} 85']... 63%+ Poss: 4 [3-DENvFIN (64) L, 5-NEDvUKR (63) W, 9-ESPvSWE (75) D, 11-PORvHUN (65) W]... 20+ Shots (S/SOG/G): 2 [1-ITAvTUR (24/8/2+og)) W, 3-DENvFIN (23/6/0) L]... Breaks: 1 [3-DENvFIN (Injury) 43' (90 min)]... Home Teams: 3-5-1 (3-DEN, 4-RUS, 8-SCO, 11-HUN, 12-GER)...
Bits 'n Bobs - all matches will either be 6 am, 9 am, or Noon PDT and all on ESPN/ESPN2/ABC (5 on network television for first time since Euro '08)... VAR is using new (and better) handball guidance to reduce the number of ticky-tack penalties given, and it already worked twice in the first match as two TUR players were not called for handballs in the box when the ball was kicked at their body... ESPN is reviewing every VAR monitor review or change in field decision (while there have been many VAR checks (including confirming the no handball calls in the ITA-TUR match)... there are new concussion subs (additional) that are allowed and likely two where used when BEL's Castagne (later revealed as double fracture of right eye socket - ouch - and out of the tourney) and RUS' Kuzyaev collided heads in the 25', though UEFA is unclear on the matter... ESP and SWE, who played each other, each had at least two players test positive for COVID-19 which disrupted preparations... all 9 teams in '16 who won their first match made the Round of 16 -- there are 10 winners this year... ten entries (9 people) have played in all 3 EURO pools... 16 entries were new to our soccer pools (33 have played before)... just 1 of the 49 entries was submitted by a female (in '19 WWC, we had 7 of 44)... 34 people entered the pool, one more than '12 but the difference was 5 submitted 3 entries... no one picked a tie in 4 of the 36 matches... in the first half, ITA outshot TUR 14-0... ITA scored more than 2 goals at a Euro match for the first time... ITA is 23-0-5 in last 28 matches and has not allowed a goal in 9 straight (while scoring 28)... SUI have not lost in the past 6 Euro matches (PSOs are ties)... when play resumed (11:30 PDT), at the request of the players and conscious Eriksen, the last 4 min of the first half were played with just a 5-min halftime... kudos to FIN, in their first major tournament match, had a subdued celebration after their goal in respect for home crowd Danish fans... BEL has scored in 31 straight matches... ENG won its first opening Euro group match in 9 tournaments (was 0-3-5) while CRO lost its opening Euro group match in 6 tourneys (was 4-0-1)... SCO played its first major tourney match since '98 WC while traditional power NED played its first major tournament match since '14 WC... AUT won their first Euro match (3 tourneys) and first major tourney match since '90 WC (vs USA)... MKD, ranked #62 in the world, has scored in 15 of their last 16 matches... like WC18, ESP had 75% possession and managed just a draw (they were 1-0-2 (one PSO loss)) when 63%+ possession... I'm surprised ESP's goal mouth block (off the defender, off the right post, deflected into the GK's arms) wasn't a shot on goal for SWE, it is for MLS; thus SWE had 0 shots on goal... POR's Ronaldo became the all-time Euro goal scorer with his 10th and 11th (total of 106 in international play, three short of tying the record); also only player to play and score in 5 tourneys... just 7 of 28 goals were scored in the first half resulting in 7 scoreless first halves... a full-capacity sold out crowd (55,662) was on hand in Budapest to see their HUN six minutes from stealing a tie... FRA had two goals taken away by offsides in the 2nd half (one via VAR)... FRA is 6-0-3 in opening Euro matches while GER lost for the first time (was 5-0-5)...
On Friday, 43 got ITA... on Saturday, all picked DEN (only unanimous pick - all wrong!), 12 picked tie (WAL-SUI) and 45 picked BEL, leaving 11 tied for first with 3 pts; 12 went 2-1, 4 went 0-3... on Sunday, 34 got ENG, 40 AUT, and 42 NED; 23 got all three leaving a 3-way tie for first (Club Med, Futbol Fabone Twelf, and Poolraider); 5 went 1-2... on Monday, in our closest pick of the pool, 18 picked CZE (15 SCO, 16 ties), no one picked SVK (43 had POL), and just 8 picked the ESP-SWE tie; Club Med is alone in 1st (7 pts); 3 went 2-1 while 26 went 0-3... on Tuesday, 47 picked POR and 32 picked FRA; 31 went 2-0 while Dagger went 0-2...
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Glory to the Heroes..
Scott
HWCI circa 1990
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