To be an English Fan (6/25)

AUT sky high for the win

LA PALMA, CA - Wow, how could the early Group D games be so exciting and then Group C games such duds?  D3-Austria's Marcel Sabitzer roofed one over the GK in the 80' to give AUT the Group D title in a 3-2 upset over D2-Netherlands (this reminded me of Landon's first goal in the comeback vs Slovenia in World Cup 2010).  AUT roofed another over the GK a couple minutes later but was called back for offsides. That NED GK is vulnerable if you hit it high at him.  Each team had a PK in a 1-1 draw by D1-Poland and D4-France.  The positions of the top 3 kept changing as each goal was scored.  Approximately:

• Start:  NED 4 pts (2 GF), FRA 4 (1 GF) pts, AUT 3 pts (throughout the day, all 3 were comfortably making the Round of 16)
• 6':  NED own goal puts AUT up 1-0 (AUT 6, FRA 5, NED 4)
• 47': NED ties it 1-1 (NED 5, FRA 5, AUT 4)
• 56': Mbappe finally scores in a Euro on a PK (FRA 7, NED 5, AUT 4).  FRA's two goals have been an own goal and a PK.
• 59': AUT takes the lead 2-1 (FRA 7, AUT 6, NED 4)
• 75': NED ties it again and VAR confirms no handball 2-2 (FRA 7, NED 5, AUT 4)
• 79': After a retake because the FRA GK left the line too early in making the save, Lewandowski's stuttering succeeds on the retry to tie it 1-1 (NED 5, FRA 5, AUT 4)
• 80': AUT go-ahead goal to give them the Group 3-2 (AUT 6, FRA 5, NED 4)

Two scoreless draws defined the C4-England vs C1-Slovenia and C2-Denmark vs C3-Serbia matches.  English fans are just upset.  Ok, something interesting.  I detailed yesterday how B2-Croatia could stay alive with a 3-0 SVN loss and SVN picking up three yellows.  Well, SVN and DEN were similarly tied on head-to-head (1-1 draw), goal difference (0), goals for (2), and with each team picking up 2 yellows, tied on lowest disciplinary points (6).  But the next tiebreaker is the European Qualifying Ranking which DEN was ranked above SVN (#9 vs #15) to take 2nd place.  BUT, what really happened was that SVN had a hidden yellow card, given to an assistant coach in the first match vs DEN.  So DEN won this 7-6 (or 6-7). Oh, and CRO is eliminated with SVN's draw.

Whereas yesterday was a good day for entries, today was a bad day.  Toast was the only one to pick the AUT win, Rainman was the only one to pick the FRAvPOL draw, and no one picked ENG to tie SVN.  17 did get the DENvSRB draw correct.  So Toast went 2-2 today while 40 went 0-4.  Six teams advanced from Groups C & D (remember, you will get F3-Portugal's 3 points tomorrow after Group F completes) today (well, FRA, ENG, and NED technically advanced yesterday but you get the points today).  Cool Guy was the only one to pick SVN into the Round of 16.  All 58 got ENG, 57 got FRA, 56 DEN, 54 NED, and 30 AUT.  24 got 5 of 6 teams  while the other 34 got 4 of 6.  Toast got 17 of 22 possible points to take sole possession of first with 47 pts.  24 got just 14 of 22 points.  El Buenísimo is second with 46 pts and Disabling Below Jobs and Germany Minus One are tied for 3rd with 45 pts.  Cool Guy is still last with 32 pts.

I hate blood work, but today was the annual time to get it done.  Been doing good with long fasting these days (14-16 hours) so not a big deal and found out I can drink lemon water.  The Quest kiosk was pretty cool and had a credit card sized tray to scan the driver's license and insurance card.  One try this time (that is always my worry, they miss the vein) and if you don't use the kiddie needle, the draw goes much, much faster (3 vials today).  I wore my 2010 England home jersey and whereas yesterday the ITA Puma jersey was very thin, this was essentially a polo shirt (thick).