Stoppage Time Magic (6/23)

100th minute stunner

DON KNABE PARK, CERRITOS, CA - Minutes from an upset and minutes from a 0-0 draw, dramatic goals by A1-Germany in the 90'+2 (1:04 of 4 minutes added stoppage time) to tie A4-Switzerland to win Group A and by A3-Hungary in the 90'+10 (9:31 of 10 minutes due an injury) to stun A2-Scotland 1-0 and stay alive, the first of the simultaneous group games is off to a great start.  The Swiss finish 2nd and HUN sits in 3rd with 3 points (but a bad goal differential of -3).  

HUN's win means we lose the possibility of 2-point SCO making the Round of 16 but we still have the possibility of 2-point C1-Slovenia doing the improbable (would need B4-Albania, B2-Croatia, F2-Georgia, and F4-Czechia to all lose).  For the second time, SCO had zero shots on goal and is the only team to do this.

25 got HUN's win and 15 picked the SUIvGER draw.  All 58 had GER advancing and 49 had SUI.  Five went 2-0 in the matches while 23 went 0-2.  49 got both teams advancing while 9 got just one (GER).  El Buenísimo (4th-Tied, 22 pts), BlueIsTheColour I (10th-T, 21), Matt's Mostly Wrong (10th-T), Salah (23rd-T, 20), and Rainman (35th-T, 19) all got the max 8 points today.  At the top, it's a 3-way tie for first with 21goals, Disabling Below Jobs, and Toast tied with 23 pts.  Carseroni (52nd-T, 16), Danglish (57th, 14), and Cool Guy (58th (last), 13) all just got 3 of 8 points.  If HUN were to advance later, 34 entries had them in the Round of 16.  19 lost SCO as a R16 team.

After dropping my kids off for tennis (they hate us as we have finally hit the 90F mark), at Don Knabe Park a lot of white tents were being set up for the SMAP Unit for Humanity grand celebration (it said it started at 7 am or 10 am (Health Fair) but only a few tents and few attendees were there).  We are right next to a large Indian community so lots of meditation and yoga services being offered.  Since the USMNT started today, I wore my official 2016 away USA jersey, one of the nicer darker jerseys that look good in a casual setting.  Good to watch the USMNT win 2-0 but should have routed Bolivia who were very poor.  Hopefully goal difference doesn't come into play.

Fit to be Tied (6/19)

SUI GK had it!

HOME, CA - #66 B4-Albania struck first against #10 B2-Croatia but persistence prevailed as CRO peppered ALB with 20 shots forcing an own goal in 76' to take a 2-1 lead.  But sub Klaus Gjasula, who gave up the own goal, scored in stoppage time to salvage a tie for ALB, 2-2.  So technically, Gjasula is the first person to score twice in a match this tournament.  A2-Scotland scored on an own goal on a A4-Swiss deflection and for a while, SCO had 2 goals on zero shots on goal in the tournament.  But late in the second half, UEFA changed it to a goal (because the shot was on target).  SUI's Xherdan Shaqiri's (of MLS fame ;-) golazo strike tied it in the 26' and the score ended 1-1. Like E1-Belgium, SUI had two goals taken away via VAR in the 22' and 45'+2.

A1-Germany became the first team to clinch a Round of 16 spot with a 2-0 win over A3-Hungary.  ALB and CRO didn't do themselves any favors with the tie as each has 1 point after 2 games.  Both would need a win against B1-Spain or B3-Italy to have a chance.

Lots of leaves, little fruit

So after the corrections to the standings, 8 are tied for first with 11 points.  BlueIsTheColour 3 is still last with 6 pts.  No one picked the ALBvCRO tie, 15 picked the tie between SCOvSUI, and 53 picked GER.  Eleven went 2-1 while Ronaldo Pulls a Messi went 0-3.

So I was supposed to go the LA Galaxy match vs NYC but wasn't feeling well so wore my 1998 home Croatia jersey outside and sad to find lots of leaves and flowers but very little fruit thus far.  All the rain we've had in LA hopefully just delayed things a bit.  But hoping for good poms and plums next month.

A great start (6/14)

Ouch!

COEUR D'ALENE, IDAHO - I was thinking that unlike the World Cup, you wouldn't get routs in the Euros as the competition is tougher.  Well, wrong.  Host A1-Germany scored five goals (well, six since they scored an own goal) to destroy A2-Scotland, 5-1, breaking a few records.  As a first game, it also featured a lot of oddities with one PK being called back, one PK being given along with a red card, goals taken from the semi-auto offsides, and SCO getting 1 goal on zero shots on goal and only one shot overall (0.01 expected goals).

Listening to the match while driving to Idaho (after flying into Spokane) and, boy Darke and Landon are quite a bore to listen to.  We got a Euro record 58 entries (from 39 people), topping the 49 in 2021.  It also topped the 47 we got the Women's World Cup last year.  12 entries have been in all 4 Euro pools and 30 entries have been in at least 5 of the 15 soccer pools we've had.  France (17) and England (13) were the overwhelming favorites but 7 other teams were also picked.

56 of 58 picked GER.

I could've gotten seasick!

Continuing my trend of wearing jerseys during game days as I wander around, I wore my 2022 Germany home jersey with the cool gold crest.  Lots to see but here I am at the world's longest floating boardwalk at Coeur d'Alene Lake in Idaho.  It was very windy and water was splashing on the bridge and it was rocking.  Pretty cool.  Also then got caught up with Car d'Lane Classic Car Cruise with hundreds of cars made before 1980 showing off on Main St.  

Double the Ties and PK Goals (6/18)

SANTA BARBARA, CA -- We had just two ties in the first 18 matches but today we got two to double it to four.  We had just two made PKs in the first 18 matches but today two were converted to double it to four and up the percentage to 50% (4/8).  

Earlier, E2-Sweden picked up a key win that will most likely see them through to the Round of 16, edging E4-Slovakia, 1-0, on a 77' PK.  CZE took the lead on a controversial VAR given foul in the box, leading to Patrik Schick's PK and 3rd goal of the tourney.  From the picture, the elbow does look high (above the shoulders) and I guess a bloody nose on Schick is convincing for VAR and the ref (who did look on the monitor, one of only a couple times the ref has done that and not relied slowly on VAR).  CRO did tie it right after the half and the match ended 1-1.  

D1-England, playing at home in Wembley Stadium, was lackluster which gave D4-Scotland a much needed point in the scoreless draw.  Each team had just one shot on goal.  Interestingly, the CRO-CZE match played 3 hours earlier in Scotland had just 5,807 fans as most Scots opted to get ready to watch SCO-ENG.

SCO still have not scored but is still alive to make the Round of 16.  No teams officially qualified for the Round of 16 today but with 4 points, SWE, CZE, and ENG are near guarantees (as is A3-Wales) as four points easily got every 3rd place team with 4 pts in last time ('16 was the first time Euro featured 24 teams and this top 4 3rd place team qualifying).

44 picked SWE, 6 picked the CRO-CZE tie, and James Saint George was the only one to pick the ENG-SCO tie.  James Saint George was also the only one to go 3-0 to move into a tie for 19th (12 pts) while four went 0-3.  Club Med still leads by one with 15 pts.