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.  

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).  

Wild Extra Time (6/26)

Header snaps ITA's GA streak

DRIVING A BOAT IN NEWPORT HARBOR -- 2B-Denmark's Kasper Dolberg scored in each half and DEN added two late goals to dominate 2A-Wales, 4-0.  DEN had 16 more shots (giving them 77, or 19.25 per match) and are 2-0 when shooting 16 times and 0-2 when shooting 22+ times.

2C-Austria played 1A-Italy tough (nearly had the lead but VAR rules offsides in the 65') forcing extra time but two ITA subs scored 10 minutes apart to fall 2-1.  AUT did snap ITA's 1168 minute streak without allowing a goal with a great header off a corner in the 114'.  ITA had 26 shots, 9 in the 30-minute Extra Time (AUT also had 7 of its 16 shots in Extra Time).

ITA will face the 1B-Belgium/3F-Portugal winner and DEN will face the winner of 1C-Netherlands/D3-Czech Republic, both games tomorrow.

32 got DEN into the Quarters eliminating two entries (Futbol Fabone Twelf and Otesgo 2) and leaving 41 who can win the pool.  48 got ITA which prevented two more from winning the pool, leaving 39.  31 got both correct and 18 got 1 of 2.  No change at the top as Slyelf still leads with 78 pts. BigRedMessi 1, DenMarkMyTerritory, and Isayoldchap are tied for last with 60 pts.

Open the Floodgates (6/21)

DEN (& 5 other teams): Did we make it?  Refresh, refresh...

Although a tie would technically get both C2-Ukraine and C3-Austria in with 4 pts, AUT would lose tiebreaker and sit in 3rd and wait, thus, AUT came out and got the early goal to assure themselves 2nd place in Group C with a 1-0 win.  UKR now has to wait at 3 pts (-4 GD/4 GF).  C4-North Macedonia, already eliminated, had a great goal taken away by offsides and hit the right post early, but C1-Netherlands finally showed their strength in another 3-0 win (both A2-Italy and NED have posted two 3-0 wins).  

Thanks to a coin flip, B1-Denmark got the home match between the two Group B hosts, and the atmosphere helped the Danes pull off a 4-1 win over B4-Russia.  Needing to win by 2 goals and a B2-Finland loss to guarantee a spot in the Round of 16, DEN led 2-0 and around the 68' B3-Belgium scored but then a double whammy as BEL's goal was taken away by offsides (keeping FIN tied 0-0) and DEN gave up a soft PK.  RUS converted meaning DEN only led by 1 (2-1) and FIN still had the point they needed.  But the next ten minutes saw BEL score for real and DEN added two goals and by the 82', DEN lead by 3 and FIN was trailing by 2.  BEL's 2-0 win made them the 3rd team with 9 points (joining ITA and NED).  RUS got the short end of the three Group B teams tied with 3 points, losing on GD to finish 4th.  Gotta love the simultaneous matches (which you can watch split screen on the TV but on an iPad).

With both Group B and C having a third place team with just 3 points (thanks, DEN!), all teams with 4 or more points now qualified for the Round of 16 including A4-Switzerland who only had to wait a day to find themselves in.  D4-Czech Rep, D4-England, E2-Sweden, and F3-France can relax as they are now in the Knockout Stage.  Third-place teams FIN (GD -2) and UKR (GD -4) will have to wait, in that order.

48 got NED, 10 got AUT, 33 DEN, and 48 got BEL.  Five teams from Groups A/B/C made the Round of 16:  all 49 got BEL & NED, 47 DEN, 40 SUI, 32 AUT.  Those who have CZE and/or ENG will have to wait until tomorrow to get the 3 pts each and those who have SWE and/or FRA will have to wait until Wednesday to get the 3 pts.

Six got all four matches correct while Wolverine1 went 0-4.  26 got all 5 R16 teams today while 5 got just 3 teams.  Five got 19 points today while yesterday's leader Footballsack got just 11 pts (to fall to tie for 20th (34 pts)).  Slyelf moves into 1st place (41 pts) with Forza Roma second (39).  My second entry Glory to the Heroes is now in last all by itself with 28 pts.

A to the Z SPORTS! # 2: The Co-Hosts

Visit's ALBERT's BLOG: http://atothezsports.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012

With Euro 2012 only hours away it’s only fitting that we take at look at the teams that will be hosting the month long football fest, Poland and Ukraine.

Poland will be playing in only its second Euro; it played its first one four years ago. Ukraine will be participating in its first ever Euro since it started competing as an independent football nation in 1992.

The former Soviet Union republic will be the third national team in Euro history to play in its first final tournament due to automatic qualification as a host nation. Sweden in 1992 and Austria in 2008 are the other teams.

Out of the two nations,