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.

Assists (6/22)

From goal kick to goal

WHITTIER, CA - When was the last time a GK got an assist in the Euros?  E4-Belgium GK kicked his goal kick long past the halfway line and bounced to Kevin De Bruyne who slotted it home in the 80' for the nail in the coffin in the 2-0 win over E2-Romania.  BEL's Romelu Lukaku had another goal taken away via VAR (his 3rd), this time by inches.  BEL's win means all four teams in Group E have 3 points and leaves the possibility of a 4-way 4-point tie after next Wednesday meaning one 4-point team will not make the Round of 16 (it's the top 4 3rd place teams, not the four best teams not in the top 2).  E4-Ukraine would be the odd man out in that scenario.

F3-Portugal won Group F with a 3-0 romp over F1-Türkiye that was aided by a no-look assist from Ronaldo of all people and an assist by the TUR defense who scored into their own goal.  I do not understand why defenders pass ON GOAL because of this risk of miscommunication.  Risk the errant corner kick instead.  F4-Czechia rallied to tie F2-Georgia 1-1 to keep both teams alive.  Czechia had 26 shots and forced the GEO GK to make 9 saves on 10 shots on goal.

$3.70 per taco; used to be <$2

5 got the GEOvCZE tie, 42 got POR, and 57 got BEL.  Disabling Below Jobs and Matt's Mostly Wrong went 3-0 with the former now tied with 21goals for first place with 17 points.  Rainman went 0-3 to fall from a tie for 27th to a tie for 50th (11 pts).  BlueIsTheColour 3 is still last with 9 pts.  Starting tomorrow, anywhere from 8-11 points per group (depending if a 3rd place team qualified that day) could be awarded as teams qualify for the Round of 16.  Again, the 57 who have GER making the Round of 16 will get those points tomorrow.

For an evening treat, ventured out to Whittier for the famous Arturo's Puffy Taco.  I still have not had a restaurant make the "puffy" tacos the same way Arturo does, and that is why it is special.  Also, their Strips Texanas is better than I remembered it.  I wore my authentic 2022 home BEL jersey and like how the red jumps out against the gold in the crest.

2021 Rematches (6/20)

It wasn't your fault

HOME, CA - We had a couple of Euro 2021 semifinal rematches as B3-Italy took on B1-Spain (ITA won 4-2 on PKs) and C4-England took on C2-Denmark (ENG won 2-1 in extra time).  ESP got revenge winning 1-0 though they could not get anything past the ITA GK and needed an own goal to win.  Gianluigi Donnarumma got his hand on everything making 8 saves on 8 ESP shots on goal, but it was one cross that he got a fingertip to that led to the own goal.  In fact, the ball deflected twice so you can hardly blame the defender on that one.  ESP becomes the second team to clinch a spot in the Round of 16.

ENG scored early again in the 16' and then couldn't generate anything (maybe: score in the 2nd half - in the past 3 Euro matches they scored in the 3' in the Euro Final and didn't have a shot on goal the rest of the match, scored in the 13' against C3-Serbia and had just 5 shots total) as DEN got a very long golazo strike (the 13th goal from outside the box this tourney) in the first half to salvage a 1-1 draw.  If you look at the highlights, almost every DEN opportunity started with ENG with the ball in the own half and giving it up.  DEN outshot ENG 16-11 and 7-4 on shots on goal.  The English fans and media are going crazy over the poor decisions by coach Gareth Southgate.  Yeah, well we have Gregg Berhalter (USA) so sushhh.  4 points has gotten every team in the Round of 16 since the Euros expanded to 24 teams in 2016 so ENG will be okay.

In the morning game, C1-Slovenia got a 90'+5 goal off a corner kick to tie SRB, 1-1.  The game-tying goal at 94:58 supplants yesterday's record late-goal equalizer by B4-Albania (94:23).  Both teams are still alive.

Growing bulb

8 got the SVN-SRB tie, 17 the DEN-ENG tie, and 35 the ESP win.  NastyNate was the only one to go 3-0 and moved from a tie for 47th to a tie for 12th (11 pts).  21goals and Disabling Below Jobs are tied for 1st with 13 pts.  Six went 0-3 and BlueIsTheColour 3 remains last with 7 pts.

Still recovering at home so checked out my front yard.  It still freaks me out seeing the bulb grow from the middle of the Sago Palm plant (not a tree or palm apparently).  Yuck.  I wore my authentic 2020 home Spain jersey which has a nice cross pattern on it.

Oh, and Copa America started today.  In the states.  With 6 non-CONMEBOL teams.  But, hey, Messi (Argentina won 2-0 over Canada in Atlanta with Messi getting one assist).

Last Day Drama (6/23)

Blame it on the sun

ROSEMEAD, CA -- This day had a lot of drama.  18 goals in 4 matches.  Two big GK gaffes.  First game-winning extra time goal.  A rally from two goals down to tie.  Two more own goals - in the same match.  First subs to score since Match # 16.  Four players scoring two goals each.  Four PKs, three in the same match.  Wow.

Group E saw E4-Slovakia's GK made a couple of great saves including one off a soft PK (E1-Spain's second missed PK this tourney) but it was a high ball into the sun/shadow that he accidentally knocked into his own net that opened the floodgates for ESP.  ESP scored four more times to rout SVK 5-0 (the last goal also an own goal) to finish 2nd and knock SVK out of the tourney with a very bad GD.  E3-Poland needed a win but E2-Sweden scored 82 seconds into the match (first of 2 goals for Emil Forsberg) to put POL on their heels.  Down 2-0 with 30 minutes left, POL's Robert Lewandowski scored twice (earlier he had to the crossbar on back-to-back sequence) to give POL hope but SWE scored four minutes into stoppage time (just the 3rd stoppage time goal this tourney) to win 3-2.  SWE wins Group E and SVK's GD meant C2-Ukraine made the Round of 16 as a 3rd place team. Could B2-Finland sneak in as well?

Group F.  Okay.  Ten minutes in, F1-Hungary, playing in Munich (GER), stunned F4-Germany (FRA 1st/POR 2nd/HUN 3rd (GER out)) with an early goal in a must-win match for HUN.  Twenty minutes later, a soft PK call is converted by F2-Portugal's Ronaldo (POR/FRA/HUN).  After tying with PK, two minutes into the 2nd half FRA scores again (after VAR negates the offsides) for a 2-1 lead (FRA/HUN/POR with FIN hoping FRA scores three more).  Another PK for Ronaldo in the 60' (to tie 2-2) essentially seals FIN's hopes (FRA/POR/HUN).  GER finally breaks through in the 66' off a missed GK punch that leads to an easy head-in (FRA/GER/POR).  About 18 seconds after kickoff, HUN scores again! (FRA/POR/HUN).  Pressure gets awarded as a GER sub scores in the 84' to tie it at 2 (FRA/GER/POR).  Both matches end in 2-2 draws eliminating HUN and FIN.

Two days to rest before the Round of 16 begins.  Breathe.

45 picked ESP, 23 SWE, 19 the POR-FRA tie, and Fantasy picked the GER-HUN tie.  All 49 got ESP into the R16, 48 FRA, 47 SWE, 46 POR, 44 GER, and 42 UKR.  Pretty clear majorities.  Today, 9 got 3 right while two got none (Rainman, Big Blue).  33 got all 6 R16 teams correct (impressive!) while two still got 4 of 6 (MK, Fabio).  Five got 21 points today while Fabio only got 14.

Amazingly, six entries got 15 of the 16 R16 correct and 23 got 14 correct.  Even MK still got 11 right.  Overall, Slyelf got 25 of the 36 round robin matches correct while Wolverine1 only got 13 (but he did 14 R16 teams correct but not enough to get out of a tie for last with 55 pts with MK).  After the Group Stage, Slyelf is first with 70 points with FrankfromSeattle second with 68 pts.