To be an English Fan (6/25)

AUT sky high for the win

LA PALMA, CA - Wow, how could the early Group D games be so exciting and then Group C games such duds?  D3-Austria's Marcel Sabitzer roofed one over the GK in the 80' to give AUT the Group D title in a 3-2 upset over D2-Netherlands (this reminded me of Landon's first goal in the comeback vs Slovenia in World Cup 2010).  AUT roofed another over the GK a couple minutes later but was called back for offsides. That NED GK is vulnerable if you hit it high at him.  Each team had a PK in a 1-1 draw by D1-Poland and D4-France.  The positions of the top 3 kept changing as each goal was scored.  Approximately:

• Start:  NED 4 pts (2 GF), FRA 4 (1 GF) pts, AUT 3 pts (throughout the day, all 3 were comfortably making the Round of 16)
• 6':  NED own goal puts AUT up 1-0 (AUT 6, FRA 5, NED 4)
• 47': NED ties it 1-1 (NED 5, FRA 5, AUT 4)
• 56': Mbappe finally scores in a Euro on a PK (FRA 7, NED 5, AUT 4).  FRA's two goals have been an own goal and a PK.
• 59': AUT takes the lead 2-1 (FRA 7, AUT 6, NED 4)
• 75': NED ties it again and VAR confirms no handball 2-2 (FRA 7, NED 5, AUT 4)
• 79': After a retake because the FRA GK left the line too early in making the save, Lewandowski's stuttering succeeds on the retry to tie it 1-1 (NED 5, FRA 5, AUT 4)
• 80': AUT go-ahead goal to give them the Group 3-2 (AUT 6, FRA 5, NED 4)

Two scoreless draws defined the C4-England vs C1-Slovenia and C2-Denmark vs C3-Serbia matches.  English fans are just upset.  Ok, something interesting.  I detailed yesterday how B2-Croatia could stay alive with a 3-0 SVN loss and SVN picking up three yellows.  Well, SVN and DEN were similarly tied on head-to-head (1-1 draw), goal difference (0), goals for (2), and with each team picking up 2 yellows, tied on lowest disciplinary points (6).  But the next tiebreaker is the European Qualifying Ranking which DEN was ranked above SVN (#9 vs #15) to take 2nd place.  BUT, what really happened was that SVN had a hidden yellow card, given to an assistant coach in the first match vs DEN.  So DEN won this 7-6 (or 6-7). Oh, and CRO is eliminated with SVN's draw.

Whereas yesterday was a good day for entries, today was a bad day.  Toast was the only one to pick the AUT win, Rainman was the only one to pick the FRAvPOL draw, and no one picked ENG to tie SVN.  17 did get the DENvSRB draw correct.  So Toast went 2-2 today while 40 went 0-4.  Six teams advanced from Groups C & D (remember, you will get F3-Portugal's 3 points tomorrow after Group F completes) today (well, FRA, ENG, and NED technically advanced yesterday but you get the points today).  Cool Guy was the only one to pick SVN into the Round of 16.  All 58 got ENG, 57 got FRA, 56 DEN, 54 NED, and 30 AUT.  24 got 5 of 6 teams  while the other 34 got 4 of 6.  Toast got 17 of 22 possible points to take sole possession of first with 47 pts.  24 got just 14 of 22 points.  El Buenísimo is second with 46 pts and Disabling Below Jobs and Germany Minus One are tied for 3rd with 45 pts.  Cool Guy is still last with 32 pts.

I hate blood work, but today was the annual time to get it done.  Been doing good with long fasting these days (14-16 hours) so not a big deal and found out I can drink lemon water.  The Quest kiosk was pretty cool and had a credit card sized tray to scan the driver's license and insurance card.  One try this time (that is always my worry, they miss the vein) and if you don't use the kiddie needle, the draw goes much, much faster (3 vials today).  I wore my 2010 England home jersey and whereas yesterday the ITA Puma jersey was very thin, this was essentially a polo shirt (thick).  

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).

Deflections (6/16)

SPOKANE FALLS, SPOKANE, WA - Two slight deflections gave D2-Netherlands the win (2-1) over D1-Poland and C1-Slovenia to salvage a tie (1-1) with C2-Denmark.  Both shots saw the GK go one way and the ball another.  I'm glad they didn't give own goals (like Opta used to do) for this when it was more strict.  Each of the three matches today also featured deflections with great reaction saves as well.

NED became the second team to win after giving up the first goal and SVNvDEN was our first tie and first "upset" of the tournament with SVN ranked #57 vs DEN's #21.  NED had six saves as POL fired 6 shots on goal (of their 11 total shots).

C4-England scored early on a great header but struggled in a 1-0 win over C3-Serbia, who became just the second team to fail to score (B2-Croatia) after 7 matches.

53 picked NED, 50 ENG, and 8 the SVN-DEN tie.  Four entries went 3-0 which leaves Disabling Below Jobs and I Say Old Chap tied for first with a perfect 7 points.   9 went 1-2 with five tied for last with 3 points. 

Was able to take a walk to Riverfront Park to take the SkyRide over Spokane Falls and learned about Expo 1974 (Spokane the smallest city to host an Expo) as this summer is the 50th anniversary of that event.  Of course, the falls is just over a dam but still pretty loud and cool.  I wore my 2013 home ENG jersey commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Football Association.