A Tale of Two Headers (7/5)

Great leaping header for the win

OCEANSIDE HARBOR BEACH, CA - In a match that finally woke host 1A-Germany up when 1B-Spain took the lead in the second half, GER finally tied it in the 89' and had a couple chances in stoppage time but couldn't find the game-winner.  ESP took advantage of a great leaping header in the 119' to go ahead 2-1 but GER had a great close header opportunity in the final minute but it went wide sending ESP to the semifinals.  GER had 23 shots (20 of them in the second half and extra time) while ESP had 18 shots (10 after halftime).  ESP stepped off the gas after going ahead and it almost cost them.

2D-France once again failed to score but so did 1F-Portugal (for the third straight match) as the match went to penalty shootout.  Both teams scored on their first two tries but a wide left by POR left the door open and FRA went on to win 5-3.  After making 3 straight saves in the last match in the PSO, POR's GK couldn't stop any of the five FRA attempts.

Busy Oceanside Harbor Beach

In the two big matchups between favorites, lots of entries had a big stake on the outcomes.  31 had ESP making the semifinals and 49 had FRA.  24 went 2-0 while two went 0-2 (Soccer Guru and Il Vecchio).  A new leader has emerged as Merman is now in first with 90 points.  Danglish is now in last with 67 pts.

However, it's Kds911-3 and Luis Enrique's Armada with the best chance to win the pool (28.1% each) and win money (43.8%) and both have ESP as their champion (both tied for 2nd with 89 pts).  They will be forever tied as both also have 7 goals as their tiebreaker. Goleador (2nd-T) also has a 43.8% chance to win money.  The two matches cut our number of entries to win money from 40 to 24 and cut the number of entries who could win the pool in half (20 to 10).

BigRedMessi 3 (2nd), Blue Frogs (3rd), El Matador (3rd), and Rainman (2nd) are tied for 7th but can't win the pool while Azurri di Hermosa is tied for 39th but can still win the pool.  Germany Minus One (GER champ) and Salah (POR champ) are tied for 7th but are eliminated while BigRedMessi 2 (NED champ) is tied for 48th but can still finish 2nd.  

Canada wins on PKs!

Well, maybe I should have worn a GER shirt as my FRA and CAN shirts produced victories for those countries.  My Germany Minus One had a good run but went from best chance to win money to eliminated in one GER loss :-(  I wore my authentic 2024 FRA home jersey with great enlarged rooster on a beautiful blue jersey at Oceanside Harbor Beach near our AirBNB.  BTW, our AirBNB in Fallbrook, CA is always cycling through power causing loud shrieking smoke alarms to go off at 4:30 am.  Of course, the owner denies anything was wrong even when seeing the video and kids woken up.  But between brownouts (their solar battery is severely conflicting with power balance and we get dimmed lights every so often like a ghost is walking through the house), we did get to see Canada (wearing my 2021 women's home jersey) beat Venezuela to advance to the Copa semifinals.  Canada.  They better fire Gregg Berhalter fast, that's embarrassing.  I'm writing this as we have turned off anything electric within reason (meaning no A/C) and we still get weird power fluctuations.  Sigh....

Foster's Football Brew #7.1 - Volume MMXXIV.a (7/4)

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Foster's Football Brew #7.1- Volume MMXXIV.a

Euro & Copa America Power Rankings & Hot Takes

I find myself with a day off because it's 4th of July, woo hoo!  So here are some hot takes on the Euro Championships and Copa America!

As we head into the Euro Quarterfinals, we've all seen the final 8 play 4 matches and have a better idea of who can compete for the crown.  My three champion picks in the HWCI Euro Pool aren't looking as strong as I had hoped, but most of these teams do have a chance to go all the way.  Here's my power rankings:

1) ESP:  this young team flashed promise in the recent World Cup, and that team was further bolstered by a few more very talented youngsters (a 16 year old in the starting line up!). Who can deny they’ve played the most dominant game among all teams in the tournament?  They press, possess, and take lots of shots. Spain is the team to beat, and they'll have a stiffer challenge from Germany than they did Croatia or Italy (more in that disaster later). Despite home field advantage, I predict a 2-1 victory for Spain. 

Issue # 5.2.1 "Great Entrées with Some Swiss and Turkey" (After Round of 16)

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Wednesday, July 3, 2024
[Dailies: Jun 29-30 Jul 1-2 ]

QUARTERFINALS FEATURE BIG MATCHUPS
Disabling Below Jobs leads with 83 pts; Two get 7 QF teams correct

FALLBROOK, CA (smt)- The quarterfinals will feature some great soccer nations with 3-time Euro (3xEuro) and one-time World Cup (1xWC) champion 1B-Spain, 3xEuro and 4xWC champion 1A-Germany, 1xEuro champion 1F-Portugal, 1xEuro and 2xWC champion 2D-France, 1xEuro champion 3D-Netherlands, and 1xWC champion 1C-England.  Tossed in with these 6 in the quarterfinals are 2A-Switzerland and 2F-Türkiye.

Group D missed getting three teams in the quarters as 1D-Austria's rally came up short to TUR, 2-1, in a rain-filled back-and-forth match.  The other group winner who failed to advance was 1E-Romania who got trounced by NED 3-0.  GER and SUI picked up 2-0 wins while FRA got an own goal to beat 2E-Belgium 1-0, ending that golden generation.  FRA is in the QF having only getting 3 goals, 2 by own goal and 1 by PK.  Cinderella #74 3F-Georgia had an early 1-0 lead thanks to an own goal but finished with zero shots on goal in a 4-1 loss to ESP.

Great save! (7/2)

Last minute diving save

CYPRESS, CA - Surprise group winners 1E-Romania and 1D-Austria were knocked out of the tourney with #46 (#47 in June 20 ranking) ROU getting routed by #7 3D-Netherlands 3-0 and AUT's rally falling short to 2F-Turkey, 2-1.  Finally, we had a player score more than once in a game and today we had two.  NED's Donyell Malen came on as a sub and scored in the 80' and 90'+3 while TUR's Merih Demiral scored 7 seconds in and in the 59'.  AUT had a great header in the final minute of stoppage time that was incredibly saved to preserve the TUR win.

It's over!

The TURvAUT match had great moments and when the rain was pouring down, AUT poured it on getting 21 shots off and TUR had a couple of great counters that were saved.  The players fell to the grass after that exhausting back-and-forth match.  TUR makes up for their poor 2021 performance where they were a dark horse but lost all 3 group matches and is the lowest ranked team (#40, or #42 in the June 20 rankings) left. 

47 had NED making the quarters and 2 had TUR (Toast and I Say Old Chap).  49 went 1-1 and the other 9 went 0-2.  The top 7 didn't change with Disabling Below Jobs in first with 83 pts.  Cool Guy takes back last place with 60 pts.  40 can still win money and 20 can still win the pool.  Germany Minus One still has the best chance to win the pool (13.3%) and money (26.6%).  Overall, two went 7-1 (Disabling Below Jobs and Rainman) and five went 4-4 this round.

Food run after Costco

21goals is tied for 5th but can't win the pool (has the same remaining picks as Germany Minus One) while Azzurri di Hermosa (ENG over FRA, which is possible since FRA fell to second in Group D) is tied for 50th but can still win the pool.  Kds911-2, Soccer Guru and Soccerbix are tied for 21st and are eliminated while Azzurri di HB Tre (3rd) and Azzurri di Hermosa (1st) are tied for 50th and can still win money.

Preparing for a family road trip (short) and did a Costco run but then ended with a little strip mall with good pasta (Noodles) and Mexican (Taco Masa - which I kept reading as Tacoma-sa when I got back from Washington).  I wore my 2019 Puma City Influence Pack red Amsterdam shirt.  

Save! Save! Save! (7/1)

For the win!

CYPRESS, CA - In the first big heavyweight fight of the knockout, #2 2D-France outlasted #3 2E-Belgium 1-0 on a late own goal in the 85', FRA's second win from an own goal this tournament.  This was predicted to be a quarterfinal matchup but happened in the Round of 16 because both teams fell to second in their groups.  BEL's generation is maybe officially extinguished as FRA outshot BEL 20-6 though FRA still hasn't scored from open play in 4 matches (2 own goals, 1 PK) and only made one sub in hopes of getting a cohesive starting 11 playing well.  

#6 1F-Portugal struggled against #57 3C-Slovenia with Ronaldo missing a penalty in the 105'.  The 0-0 match entered the penalty shootout and POR's GK Diogo Costa saved all three SVN attempts (a Euro record) in a 3-0 shootout win.  Ronaldo redeemed itself by making POR's first PSO attempt so he could stop crying.  SVN ended their Euros with four draws.

USA jersey with USA flag

50 picked POR to make the quarterfinals while 57 picked FRA.  49 went 2-0 while the other 9 went 1-1.  Disabling Below Jobs moves into 1st with 79 points while Germany Minus One and Rainman move up one spot to a tie for 2nd (78).  Previous leader Toast falls to 4th (76).  Overall, Disabling Below Jobs, Rainman, and BluesIsTheColour I (8th-Tied, 74) have gotten all 6 quarterfinal teams while three have gotten just 3 of 6.  Danglish moves into last with 57 pts.

With the FRAvBEL happening early, many had both BEL and FRA in the quarters (43 picked BEL) adn thus were guaranteed 3 points.

For the first time, I'm able to let folks know which entries can win the pool, finish in the top 4 money spots, or are eliminated.  Of the 58 entries, just 15 are eliminated leaving 43 entries with a chance to win money.  22 have a chance to win the pool.  Germany Minus One has the best chance to win the pool (15.2%) and win money (26.6%) with the GER champion pick.  Four others have 12.5-13.5% chance to win the pool and five entries have a 21.3-24.4% chance to win money so it's still way too early to feel confident.

21goals is tied for 5th but can't win the pool (has the same remaining picks as Germany Minus One) while BigRedMessi 2 (NED as champ) and JBueno (ESP over ENG in final and NED in semis) are tied for 50th but can still win the pool.  Soccer Guru and Soccerbix are tied for 23rd and are eliminated while BigRedMessi 2 (1st), I Say Old Chap (3rd), and JBueno (1st) are tied for 50th and can still win money.

I wore my Alexi Lalas USA home 1994 denim jersey and paired it with the Stars and Stripes flag at the Boys & Girls Club of America in Cypress while my son did his scout meeting.  Did not do any good as USA flamed out losing a must-win to Uruguay 1-0.  

While Gregg Berhalter supporters said the USMNT came out with energy and played well in the first half despite the horrible ref, in the end, the results showed USA had just one shot (a harmless header that the GK grabbed with two hands for a "save").  So what is the difference if they just bunkered down and had one shot?  You can have all the energy but it's not like they peppered the URU GK with 6-8 shots to keep him busy.  They generated nothing.  If Gregg is such a nice guy and allegedly has a united locker room, then hire him as the team psychologist... we need a good coach.  Sigh.

Bicycle Kick (6/30)

The bicycle kick to remember

SUNSETPOINT, WEST OAHU, HI - The underdogs took early leads (#48 3E-Slovakia in 25', #74 3F-Georgia via own goal in 18') but 1C-England's Jude Bellingham's incredible bicycle kick at 94:34 (of 6 minutes added) tied it to send it to Extra Time (where ENG prevailed 2-1) and 1B-Spain recovered to rout GEO 4-1.  ENG scored less than a minute into Extra Time and held on.  SVK lost for the second time after leading at the half 1-0 (the only team to lose while leading at halftime).  While ENG had 16 shots, they only had two shots on goal (meaning, the bicycle kick was ENG's first shot on goal).  ENG is purely in survival mode and face 2A-Switzerland next.  

ESP had 36 shots with 13 on goal while GEO didn't have a shot on goal and just four shots overall.  ESP reverted back to their old self completing 823 passes (to GEO's 281) and having 72% possession.  ESP will face 1A-Germany for another class of the titans.

Sunsetpoint

57 had ESP making the Quarters and 56 ENG.  Thus, 55 went 2-0 while the other three went 1-1.  No change to the top 7 with Toast leading with 72 pts.  No change to the bottom 7 either with Cool Guy and Lukakus Lost Brother tied with 52 pts.  Overall, three have gotten all 4 QFs correct while two have gotten just 1 correct.

Have never driven west before past Kapolei and what a beautiful drive that is.  The road ends at Sunsetpoint (there was an option to hike another 2 miles to the actual westernmost point of Oahu but was flying out in a few hours).  I wore my authentic 2016 Spain away jersey and really like the triangle patterns.

Lightning (6/29)

Lightning Delay

ALA WAI BOAT HARBOR, HONOLULU, HI - 2A-Switzerland put defending 2B-Italy out of its misery 2-0 to advance to the Quarterfinals. ITA didn't have a shot on goal until the 73' and didn't have one the rest of the match.  SUI scored quickly after halftime to make it 2-0 and deflate the Italians and have now knocked out France and ITA in back-to-back R16 Euro matches.  

A 30-minute delay due lightning at 34:48 in Dortmund didn't stop 1A-Germany from cruising to a 2-0 win over 2C-Denmark.  A DEN goal overturned via VAR for a toe outside in the 48' was quickly followed by a VAR that needed a sensor in the ball to determine a handball on DEN.  GER converted the PK and added another goal later as they peppered DEN with 14 shots and 9 of them on goal.

Green Diamond Head

48 had GER making the Quarters and 5 had SUI.  Three (Rainman, BluesIsTheColour I, and Disabling Below Jobs) got both SUI and GER into the QFs.  Eight went 0-2.  Toast is still in first with 64 pts with Disabling Below Jobs now second (63) with El Buenísimo and Rainman moved into a tie for 4th (62) with Germany Minus One.  Cool Guy and Lukakus Lost Brother are tied for last with 44 pts.

Nice walk this morning near Ala Wai Boat Harbor with a great view of Diamond Head, which was green (usually it's dry and brown).  Apparently, there has been a very rainy season thus far.  I wore my authentic Germany 2014 home jersey (#7 Schweinsteiger) that has the World Cup 2014 final match info on the jersey.  I did mention earlier no more 6 am matches, but now that I'm on Hawaiian Standard Time, 6 am again.