Georgia, Georgia (6/26)

18 YCs

Watching both Group E games

ANAHEIM, CA - F3-Portugal's Ronaldo wanted to score but instead F2-Georgia came up with the biggest Euro upset ever (topping earlier E2-Slovakia over E1-Belgium), stunning POR 2-0 to make the Round of 16 on their first try.  The #75 (okay, the June 20 rankings have them #74) ranked team knocked off #6.  POR, who already had won Group F, had 23 shots but only put 5 on goal.  In a game F4-Czechia needed to win, F1-Türkiye kept the tie until a stoppage time goal gave TUR the 2-1 win.  That game featured a record 18 yellow cards (at least, a coach or two may have gotten one as well, and 2 yellows that brought out a red which count as 1 yellow, so maybe 20?) and 2 red cards (one after the game) in a game the ref let out of control.  Two TUR players (TUR had 11 of the yellows plus maybe the coach) will be suspended for picking up their second yellow in the group stage and one backup GK picked one up.  Had CZE advanced, the ref carded a player on the bench, and that player would've have missed the Round of 16 match.  The 2 reds were the first since the opening match when A2-Scotland picked one up.

Group E started in a unique state (all teams 3 points) and stayed that way (all teams 4 points).  E4-Ukraine was the only one that needed to win if both games drew and outshot BEL 14-12 but couldn't score in the 0-0 draw.  The rain-soaked E2-Slovakia and E3-Romania match also drew (1-1) putting both teams in.  UKR becomes the first Euro team to ever bow out with 4 points (3C-Slovenia with 3 pts advanced) since the field expanded to 24 teams because they finished 4th, not 3rd.  The 4-way tiebreaker put #46 ROU first to play #7 3D-Netherlands of all teams, #3 BEL second (to play #2 2D-France), and #48 SVK third (to play #4 1C-England).  Because it was a 4-way tiebreaker, BEL's win over ROU didn't matter (nor the fact that SVK beat BEL).

Fresh roasted nuts!

24 picked the TUR win, 14 the SVKvROU draw, and 10 the URKvBEL draw.  No one imagined GEO winning.  13 went 2-2 while 23 went 0-4.  All 58 had BEL advancing (barely), 56 had POR, 43 TUR, 36 SVK, and 13 ROU.  Cool Guy, El Buenísimo, and Danglish (56th, 45) actually had GEO making the R16.  Alyonushka (4th-Tied, 56 pts) and Rutin4Putin (4th-T) (coincidentally, the same person) got 5 of the 6 teams.  Flying Elvi (40th-T, 50) only got 2 of the 6.  Alyonushka and Rutin4Putin picked up 17 of 22 possible points (no one else had more than 14) while Flying Elvi got just 6 of 22 points.

Toast still leads with 60 points with El Buenísimo second (59) and Germany Minus One third (58).  Lukakus Lost Brother fell into a tie for last with Cool Guy (44).  Overall, Toast had the most Round Robin wins (21) while Cool Guy had the least (11) (out of 36 possible points).  7 entries got 13 of the 16 teams in the Round of 16 while Lukakus Lost Brother got just 10.

The last 12 matches saw entries only get an average of 3.1 correct (total of 16.3) as 7 more ties reared its ugly head.  Entries got 11.9 teams in the R16.  Email update likely late tomorrow since I'll be traveling in four hours and no elimination runs (still haven't made it efficient), but likely after the R16 is over.  So there is still hope (for now).

Needed to get a local gift for my upcoming trip so went to a local place that actually roasts nuts in house (Fresh Nuts).  I wore my Bratislava, Slovakia t-shirt that I bought when I was there in October 2017.  Who knew SVK would advance?