Foster's Futbol Brew # 5: Tournament All-Stars

June 27, 2012

Foster’s Football Brew:  Tournament All-Stars

I got the idea for this short segment after watching Alexi Lalas and Michael Ballack select their tournament Top 11.  I have to disagree with many of Lalas’ picks, and a couple of Ballack’s.  I decided to wait until the quarter finals were over to give top players a chance to shine.  Here’s my take:

Goalie:  Joe Hart had an historically atypical tournament for English goalkeepers…he didn’t F&@# up!!!  He went into the quarters

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,

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

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:

Regular column: Welcome Eric!

Thanks to Eric Foster, who has volunteered to try to do a regular column for the HWCI EURO Pool called "Foster's Football Brew".  This follows in the great tradition of Fernando's Not-So-Deep-Thoughts and Sammy's Pando! or Grodo? columns in past World Cup pools.  His first column is posted here so please show your support and feel free to comment on the post.

Added: Newly created logo!

Foster's Football Brew # 1: First Batch

Foster's Football Brew:  First Batch

Although the recent 2010 World Cup is becoming a distant memory, the Euro 2012 promises to satiate our appetites for top-level international football to ease the pain of waiting until Brazil 2014.

In this opening of a series of emails, I’ll identify the 16 teams playing in the Euro 2012 Tournament, and get you thinking about who you should pick to go all the way.  Will we see a repeat of the World Cup Final, Spain v. Netherlands???  Will UEFA Euro defending Champs from 2008 Spain reign supreme, to be the first European country to ever win three major tournaments in a row (Euro 2008, 2010 World Cup)??

Here's the tournament draw: 

Group A:

Poland (tournament co-host)

Greece

Russia

Czech Republic

Group B: (the unofficial Group of Death!)

Netherlands

Denmark

Germany

Portugal

Group C:

Spain

Italy

Republic of Ireland

Croatia

Group D:

Ukraine (tournament co-host)

Sweden

France

England

So you think you know which two teams will pull thru in each of these groups?  Which are the favored teams, and which are the dark-horse candidates that will pull off a few upsets and slip through?  Here are my preliminary thoughts on the four groups: