Issue # 9.2.5 "It's Coming Home" (7/10)

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Saturday, July 10, 2021 
Issue # 9.2.5 "It's Coming Home" - History of our Pool

The European Championship Final   -
1934 WC Champs 1938 WC Champs 1968 Euro Champs 1982 WC Champs 2006 WC Champs	vs	1966 World Cup Champs
ITA - Italian Rep (Italy) Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC)		ENG - England The Football Assoc (The FA)
#7 | 1A | Winner | 5-0-1 4th Final ('68, '00, '12) A1: Beat Turkey 3-0 A4: Beat Switzerland 3-0 A6: Beat Wales 1-0 R16: Beat 2C-Austria 2-1 (ET) QF: Beat 1B-Belgium 2-1 SF: Beat 2E-Spain 1-1 (PSO 4:2)		#4 | 1D | Winner | 5-0-1 1st Final D1: Beat Croatia 1-0 D4: Tied Scotland 0-0 D6: Beat Czech Rep 1-0 R16: Beat 2F-Germany 2-0 QF: Beat 3C-Ukraine 4-0 SF: Beat 2B-Denmark, 2-1 (ET)

ITALY GOING FOR 2ND EURO TITLE; ENGLAND ITS FIRST
Final is Noon PDT Sunday

ROSEMEAD, CA (smt) - After watching Lionel Messi get his (hard-to-believe) first international trophy (Copa America) in Argentina's foul-filled, what happened to VAR, 1-0 win over Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) (in front of some fans for once), you wonder if 1D-England will suffer the same fate as BRA at home to 1A-Italy.  ENG is 4-0-1 in London's Wembley Stadium this tourney but ITA does have an extra day of rest.  ITA is making its fourth Euro Final but haven't won it since '68 while ENG is just making its 2nd final, Euro/World Cup combined, but did win the WC Final in '66. 

For years, people have asked about the Euro pool, usually right after each World Cup.  Having not watched the Euros (I don't think it was regularly on live TV until the '08 one), I didn't know what to expect.  Considering each World Cup has "token" teams from Africa and CONCACAF (e.g., blowouts), the '12 Euros only had 16 teams and all were quality.  So even though the setup was different from the World Cups (32 teams), I managed to get it to work.  Granted it was a little easier because it was just the top 2 teams (no 3rd place to worry about like in '16 and '20).  But folks like Eric F convinced me people would be interested and they were, with 39 entries in our first year.

Just our 3rd Euro pool,

FFB 21.2 Copa Finals Preview

Saturday, July 10, 2021

So this evening at 5pm kicks off Lionel Messi's penultimate opportunity to earn a title for Argentina, one that has eluded La Albiceleste since 1993.

While most the world has focused on the Euro, the Copa America 2021 championships conclude a tournament featuring Wall-to-Wall, heart-filled, non-stop action. In comparison, The Copa has been a hard tackling, dirty affair, tallying 102 yellow cards by 10 teams across 27 matches. The nicer Europeans managed only 136 yellow cards by 24 teams across 50 matches. Don't play in adult soccer leagues in South America without shin guards and supplemental health insurance!

Leo Messi has worn his heart on his sleeve throughout the tourney, hussling, providing leadership, notching many assists, and scoring four goals (tied for tournament lead). He is just two goals short of Pele's South American international competitions record. Messi is surrounded by a younger squad featuring some promising up-and- comers. I would say the team is very nearly as good as the 2014 World Cup team. Lo Celso and Lautaro Martinez are both creative and dangerous, showing better finishing in the final third than 2014 group. However, this defense is more susceptible than the 2014 WC Runners Up. As an ARG fan, that Achilles heel worries me. 

A random note for Argentina fans: if Scaloni starts Nico Gonzalez, ARG has a 50% chance at best to win. If he stays longer than 60 minutes, ARG's chances fall to 35%. I was pulling out my non- existant hair during his poor performance vs Ecuador in the quarterfinals, with blown shots off easy passes from Messi, a near own goal, and useless fouls, one of which led to a yellow card (woulda been a red card at the Euros!) 

I predict Messi gets a goal, with regulation ending in a 2-2 tie with penalty kicks, giving an edge to Brazil given Argentina's PK's history. 

In other news outside UEFA...

Congrats to the USA and Mexico for taking control of their preliminary groups to start the World Cup 2014 qualifying.  And in that infamous Oceania Football Confederation, their OFC Nations Cup featured a final featuring not New Zealand, but Tahiti Nui and New Caledonia.  And who will we see in the superstar 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup featuring Brazil, Spain, Mexico, and the likes?  Tahiti Nui! And after hearing Argentina beat Brazil 4-3 with Lionel Messi getting a hat trick, it reminded me of David F. (The Mighty Mobelfakta) suggesting why doesn't UEFA invite Brazil and Argentina (maybe Mexico) as guests and call THAT the superstar World Cup.  Oh, and the LA Galaxy did not lose for the second straight weekend. 

Gaining steam

We're slowly gaining momentum like Mexico (2-0 win over Brazil) but not like Spain (last-minute 1-0 win over China at home with a full squad).  We're up to 9 entries with more than 3 1/2 days to go and are on pace to surpass the 21 entries we had in our first HWCI World Cup pool in 1998 and the 23 we had in 2002.  Topping 44 in 2006?  Not likely, but maybe you all will surprise me.

So will we see a Spanish dynasty or will Greece win again.  I read someone's tweet that France missed the European Championships for 24 years before winning in 1984 while Greece missed 24 years (5 tournaments) before winning in 2004.  Which team's last European Championship appearance was 24 years ago?  Ireland.  Let's see how many pick them to win it all!

In the PDF fill-in form, Michael G. (FC Spermicidals) noted that he couldn't save... so if you only have Acrobat Reader, then you need to either do a print to PDF (e.g., CutePDF) or print and scan/photo and email.  Sorry about that.  Or you can just enter on-line which seems to be work reliably thus far.