Can't Hold a Lead (6/24)

97:19 - CRO let it slip away again

CYPRESS, CA - Less than 45 seconds from securing a win, B2-Croatia once again let in a last minute game-tying goal, this time 7:19 into 8 minutes of stoppage time as the 1-1 draw sent B3-Italy into the Round of 16.  They allowed a game-tying goal to B4-Albania 4:23 into 5 minutes of stoppage time last time.  ITA still has not lost back-to-back Euro matches and stumbles into playing 2A-Switzerland in the Round of 16.  B1-Spain's B-team (10 changes) took care of B4-Albania, 1-0, eliminating them.  

Interestingly, the two ties do not eliminate CRO yet - they would need C1-Slovenia to lose 3-0, 4-1 (and SVN needs to pick up 3 yellow cards (1 pt each) or 1 red card (worth 3 pts)), or 5-1 or worse AND F2-Georgia and F4-Czechia to both lose (by any score).  So the six yellows picked up by CRO today (they trail SVN 7-4) could bite them in the butt if they lose the disciplinary points tiebreaker to SVN (if this is tied, CRO wins the overall European qualifier rankings tiebreaker being #14 to SVN's #15).  Will this be the last we'll see of CRO's Luka Modrić who missed a PK (CRO's second miss of the tourney - the only team to miss) but then scored 33 seconds later to become the oldest player to score in a Euro?

A good day for entries as all 58 picked up at least 6 of the 8 possible points today.  55 picked ESP and 18 picked the CROvITA draw.  17 went 2-0 while FC Spermicidals and Cool Guy went 0-2.  All 58 got both ESP and ITA into the Round of 16.  That meant 17 got the max 8 points and two got 6 of 8 pts.  There is a 5-way tie for first (30 pts) with El Buenísimo and Germany Minus One joining 21goals, Disabling Below Jobs, and Toast at the top. Cool Guy is still last with 19 pts.

Shopping around Costco as my son had his weekly scout meeting and saw the USA crest on Michelob Ultra beer cases.  It's sort of sad all these beer companies are combined as this is an Anheuser-Busch  product.  Even Kona Big Wave, which I like, is part of their brand products.  Oh well, I wore my authentic 2022 home ITA jersey with Euro 2020 winners and Nations League patches and oddly, Puma's authentic is very thin, made of Ultraweave technology.  I'd go a size up on these.

As a bonus from last night, saw the SpaceX launch from home and at 8:47, you could clearly see the rocket and even the first separation as it streaked very brightly in the evening sky.  I'm sure we could see it here every couple months or so but this is the first time I timed it correctly.  Pretty cool watching it from our second story window before going outside.  Yes, I was still wearing my USA jersey!

Stay at Wembley (6/22)

Great header but great unis as well

Two teams playing in Great Britain (technically, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) saw different results.  D1-England had just five shots but protected an early goal to beat D4-Czech Rep, 1-0, to win Group D and get to stay at home in Wembley Stadium for their Round of 16 match.  CZE, who qualified yesterday, fell to 3rd in the group as D2-Croatia scored twice in the second half to beat home team D3-Scotland, 3-1, and the three goals was enough to overtake CZE on goal differential for 2nd.  SCO was the last team to score a goal.

37 got CRO right and 47 got ENG.  All 49 had ENG making the knockout stage while 46 had CRO and 13 had CZE.  36 got both matches correct while Saharm17 missed both.  Eleven got all 3 Group D teams in the R16 while Fantasy only got one.  Overall, ten got the full 11 points while Fantasy only got 4.  Forza Roma is our new leader with 50 pts with Slyelf now 2nd (49) and FrankfromSeattle 3rd (48).  Wolverine1 joins my Glory to the Heroes in last with 36 pts.

Four teams are left to be decided (E2-Sweden and F3-France have qualified) and C2-Ukraine is now on the cutoff for 3rd place teams and B2-Finland in dire straights.  Both need help and worse GD from other teams.  All 6 non-qualified teams in Groups E & F control their own destinies (win and they're in).  E1-Spain qualifies with another tie as long as E3-Poland do not win.  F2-Portugal qualifies with a two-goal loss or better as long as F1-Hungary doesn't beat F4-Germany, otherwise if POR loses and HUN wins, GER takes 3rd (who need to win tiebreaker to be one of the best 4 3rd place teams) via its win over POR.  Lots of fun left!

Germans seal Group C, Croats rally and stop PK

ESP's 1st loss since '04 (11-0-3)

A missed PK by D1-Spain turned out to be the difference between winning Group D and finishing second as D4-Croatia rallies for a 2-1 win.  D3-Turkey finally scored en route to a 2-0 win over D2-Czech Republic, eliminating the Czechs and keeping the Turks hope alive.

C1-Germany did what they needed to do in beating C4-Northern Ireland 1-0 while C3-Poland secured 2nd place with a 1-0 win over C2-Ukraine, who were already eliminated from advancing to the Round of 16.

In race for the four 3rd place spots:

• Group E (ITA (6 pts), BEL (3 pts, +1 GD), SWE (1 pt, -1 GD), IRL (1 pt, -3 GD))
• Group F (HUN (4 pts), POR (2 pts, 0 GD), ISL (2 pts, 0 GD), AUT (1 pt, -2 GD))
• (Qualified) B4-Slovakia (4 pts, 0 GD)
• (Qualified) C4-NIR (3 pts, 0 GD)
• D3-TUR (3 pts, -2 GD, 2 GF)
• A3-Albania (3 pts, -2 GD, 1 GF)

Remember, you won't get points for
SVK and NIR until tomorrow (as well as already qualified E2-Italy and F4-Hungary).

After 32 matches, JBueno leads with 42 pts with Mejia12 (who has picked a high of 20 correct group stage matches, two better than the next entry) right behind with 41 pts. Seven have all 8 Group A/B/C/D winners and runners-up (including both of Eric F's (BigRedMessi (8th, 38), BigRedMesssi2 (3rd-Tied, 40)) while 12 entries have 6 of 8.  Cheesy Grits FC and The Eleven are last with 29 pts and both have picked a low of 11 of 32 matches correctly.

Tomorrow, 28 points are up for grabs (4 group matches, Group E&F winners, Group E&F runners-up, and 4 3rd Place qualifiers).

Go USA!

I see my picks Futbol Fabone Hut and Rogue Un are in sync, tied for 21st place (31)...

Foster's Futbol Brew # 4: The Fourth Froth

June 20, 2012

Foster's Futbol Brew: The Fourth Froth

Is anyone getting tired of hearing the same White Stripes song (7 Nation Army, I think) over and over and over again when a goal is scored? Wouldn’t it be cool if each team had a pre-selected (and different) song to play when they netted one? Perhaps we could hear “The Winner Takes it All” when the Swedes score (ode to ABBA)! England would have it best with “We Are the Champions!” Funny enough, the Miami Heat started using the same song as they took a big lead late in Game 4 against the Thunder in the NBA Finals! And the crowd actually started the “woooaaah…woah woah woah woah woooaaah, woooaaah.” Woah is me!

Back to the best sport on Earth. (For those of you not keeping track,

Champions Go Through

Another day, another frenzied ending that potentially could've seen favorite Spain go home.  While Croatia and Ireland played their hearts out, it will be the familiar faces of the '08 EURO and '10 World Cup champs Spain and '06 World Cup champ Italy progressing to the knockout stage.

Spain and Croatia started off in the driver's seat (and if they wanted to be a part of Italy's match-fixing scandal, they could've agreed to a 2-2 tie and both would be in regardless how Italy did) but Italy got an early goal which put Croatia on their heels the whole game against Spain.  Spain weathered the storm and seemingly made one too many passes on several good opportunities.  And Spain should've been worried because a Croatia goal would've knocked them out of the tournament but an 88' minute tap in gave the defending champs the top spot of Group C.  Italy sealed the win

Gordo Scores! Twice!

Croatia was on their heels as Italy had opportunity after opportunity but after they finally put one away, they sort of tried to protect that lead and we know what usually happens when you do that, especially as early as they did it, Croatia took advantage of one defensive lapse and tied it up.  The tie meant 13 got it correct and Walleye moved back all alone in 1st. Kona Coast Sliders' 4-match winning streak was stopped.

Spain started Gordo, er Fernando Torres, and in the 4' he scored (the first of 2 on the day), ironically, off a Gordo play as the IRL player whiffed on an attempted clear and Torres took it and quickly scored.  IRL GK was peppered all day long as the Irish are the first team to be eliminated.  Spain woke up today with the 4-0 rout.  In the most lopsided pick, 36 of 39 picked ESP leaving Walleye on top with 20 pts.  12 went 2-0 while Mikeonthemike and V2 Divorce Court (now on a 5-game losing streak to remain in last) were the only ones to go 0-2.  Mikenjo was the only to pick IRL but he had the CRO-ITA tie correct.  Sisyphus and Absolutely Clueless are on 4-game win streaks.  Four had picked IRL to at least make the Quarters and will lose points there.

Of the second-tier teams, Poland, Denmark, and Croatia have impressed me.  It's amazing no one has punched through to the Quarters yet (and just one of 12 with no chance).  Tomorrow we'll see if France are for real, if England can play beautiful soccer, if the usually high-scoring Sweden can strut its stuff, and if the co-host Ukraine can punch a ticket through.

Foster's Futbol Brew # 3: Trouble’s a Brewin

June 13, 2012

Foster's Futbol Brew:  Trouble’s a Brewin (Third Edition)

Well, the first half of Group play has concluded, and as usual, there were plenty of surprises.

Let’s start with Holland losing to the Great Danes.  Well, as I predicted, Arjen Robben would be the guy to hold back the Dutch…but I didn’t expect a loss.  I can count at least half a dozen shots taken by Robben, only one of which was a worthwhile strike, which hit the post.  All other attempts sailed over the cross bar or were an easy save for the Danish keeper.  If Robben

Issue # 3.1.1 "Superpowers Tie Allowing Little Guys to Rise..."

So how did the first four days play out?  Who's in the lead?  How many of the 39 entries were submitted by women?  Just one, despite the fact 2 of the last 3 pool champs were women.  So go Adivinanza!  Here's my latest update...

http://www.hwci.com/euro/2012/e2012_03.htm
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DENMARK, CROATIA, UKRAINE ON TOP OF THEIR GROUPS?An astonishing 39 entries received in our first EURO Pool

The Gordo Group

In a chippy match, Italy struck first with a great chip but then a beautiful pass and a beautiful finish brought Spain even.   Both goals were great one-touch finsihes.  Then it was watching Gordo, I mean, Fernando Torres's follies as he had several great opportunities and did nothing with them.  Italy had their own Gordo, as Mario Balotelli never let up after the ref warned him, according to him four times (he counted to five) and gave him a yellow card on careless persistent fouling and then had a breakaway and just did nothing as the defender caught up to him to poke the ball away.  Both GKs had a bunch of excellent saves (9 saves combined) in what was a truly first class match between the last two World Cup champions.  What was interesting, that despite Italy's heritage, no one picked Italy (the only other two matches where a team wasn't picked was yesterday's Portugal vs Germany and Ukraine vs England).  But eight correctly picked the tie which put Sisyphus13 and Walleye in first.

In the second match, there was no luck of the Irish.  Ireland had a great pass... to Croatia for the eventual game-winner and then a ball went off the right post and off IRL's GK's head into the net for the final score as Croatia won 3-1 to lead Group C.  So it looks like captain Robbie Keane will be coming back to the struggling LA Galaxy earlier than expected.  27 picked CRO which means that Walleye (1 of 5 to go 2-0 today) is in sole possession in first with 10 points.  Also, Mikeonthemike is now in sole possession of last place (0-for-6 thus far) as Blue Panther finally got on the board with CRO's win.  And boy, I hope the French come through as my second entry SiemkoStrimkoPlinko! is 1 of 6 with just one win thus far.

And what is with security?  Yet another firework was thrown into the field after CRO's second goal.

Foster’s Futbol Brew, Batch Number Two

June 5, 2012

Foster’s Futbol Brew, Batch Number Two:

Some of you follow the World Cup, but perhaps this is the first or second time following the European Championships.  Some of you who may not be as familiar with the tourney’s top players, nearly all of whom play for Club soccer somewhere in Europe.  For those of you who follow Club teams like me in the English Premier League (EPL), Serie A in Italy, La Liga in Spain and other European clubs, you've probably begun to hear about some rising stars.  For some European national sides, the next generation is here.  This is a sneak-peak at some of the rising stars to follow on their national squads that should have a big impact: