What's the #1 Question Plus Quarterfinal Preview

GOLETA, CA -- As we head into the quarterfinals featuring three 3rd place teams, powerhouses reborn in Spain and Italy, and a hopeful England team hoping to bring the trophy home at Wembley.  2E-Spain avoids 1F-France and will play 3A-Switzerland who rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat the French in the Penalty Shootout.  The #1 team in the world, 1B-Belgium, plays the hottest team in 1A-Italy, who are unbeaten in their past 31 matches.  

The other group winner, 1D-England won its grudge match against 2F-Germany (it was going to be either them or France or 3F-Portugal) and now get 3C-Ukraine but the match will not be in London for once, but in Rome.  The winner will play either 3D-Czech Republic, who shocked 1C-Netherlands, or 2B-Denmark, who lost two games at home, nearly lost a player on the field, but advanced and crushed 2A-Wales 4-0 in the Round of 16.

But for the 15 entries who can win the 3rd HWCI EURO pool, the more important question is what is the first place prize with 49 entries ($490 pot)?  The answer is $240 or equivalent to 0.0072 Bitcoin.  There are 11 other entries that could finish in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th.  2nd place will get $120, 3rd place will get $80, and 4th place will get $50.  Ties will be broken by total goals in the two semifinal and final matches (3 matches and only regulation or extra time goals count -- no PSO goals or 3-0 forfeits).

Good luck to everyone!

Post mortem

Euro 2016 Champions

3F-Portugal (3-0-4) A Seleção 1st Title F2: Tied ISL 1-1 F4: Tied AUT 0-0 F6: Tied HUN 3-3 R16: Beat CRO 1-0 (aet) QF: Tied POL 1-1 (Won PSO 5-3) SF: Beat WAL 2-0 F: Beat FRA 1-0 (aet)

(Published 7/10/19) In the pool, Ford R's Rainman rose and won the pool eliminating Game of Two Halves.  Eric F's BigRedMessi2 finished 2nd, Michael W's Big Blue 3rd (winning tiebreaker), and Tuan L's The Eleven 4th.  

Winners (Tie = 5)…
	Rainman	100	1st Place $120
	BigRedMessi2	94	2nd Place $75
	Big Blue	92	3rd Place $50 (Tie: 7.5, Diff = 2.5)
	The Eleven	92	4th Place $25 (Tie: 9.0 Diff = 4.0)

Stats:   Goals: 108 (2.12/match) (3 OG, 8 PK, 9 90'+, 2 ET)... Scoring 1st (32-5-10, 4 0-0 ties): 16-WAL, 32-ESP, 40-IRL, 44-ENG, 46-BEL.... Lead at the Half (18-2-5, 26 ties (22 0-0)): 16-WAL, 40-IRL... Shutouts (34): 02-ALB, 05-TUR, 06-NIR, 07-UKR, 08-CZE, 10-BEL, 11-AUT, 15-ALB, 17-UKR, 18GER, 18-POL, 19-SWE, 21-TUR, 22- IRL, 24-POR, 24-AUT, 25-ROU, 26-SUI, 26-FRA, 27-RUS, 28-SVK, 28-ENG, 29-UKR, 30-NIR, 31-CZE, 35-ITA, 36-SWE, 38-NIR, 9-CRO, 41-SVK, 42-HUN, 43-ESP, 48-WAL, 50-GER, 51-FRA... PK (8/12): 01-ROU (G), 14-ROU (G), 20-CZE (G), 23-ISL (G), 24-POR (X), 32-ESP (X), 33-AUT (X), 40-IRL (G), 41-GER (X), 44-ENG (G), 47-ITA (G), 50-FRA (G)... ET (5): 37-SUIvPOL (0:0), 39-CROvPOR (0:1), 45-POLvPOR (0:0), 47-GERvITA (0:0), 51-PORvFRA (1:0)... PSO (3, 28/37): 37-SUIvPOL (4:5, 5.0), 45-PORvPOL (5:3, 4.5), 47-ITAvGER (5:6, 9.0).... Hat Tricks (0)... Red Cards (GF:GA) (3, 0:1): 02-ALB 36' (0:0), 11-AUT 66' (0:1), 40-IRL 66' (0:0).... Own Goals (3): 09-IRLtoSWE, 23-ISLtoHUN, 38-NIRtoWAL... All five teams making their first appearance finished 3rd or higher and four – Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales – qualified for the round of 16 (Albania came up just short)... FRA's Antoine Griezmann won the Player of the Tournament and the Golden Boot (6 goals)... POR and SUI were the only teams not to officially lose (SUI lost in PSO)...

After Round Robin (36 matches):  Scoring 1st (23-2-7, 4 0-0 ties): 16-WAL, 32-ESP.... Lead at the Half (12-1-4, 19 ties): 16-WAL... Shutouts (26): 02-ALB, 05-TUR, 06-NIR, 07-UKR, 08-CZE, 10-BEL, 11-AUT, 15-ALB, 17-UKR, 18GER, 18-POL, 19-SWE, 21-TUR, 22- IRL, 24-POR, 24-AUT, 25-ROU, 26-SUI, 26-FRA, 27-RUS, 28-SVK, 28-ENG, 29-UKR, 30-NIR, 31-CZE, 35-ITA, 36-SWE... PK (4/7): 01-ROU (G), 14-ROU (G), 20-CZE (G), 23-ISL (G), 24-POR (X), 32-ESP (X), 33-AUT (X)... Hat Tricks (0)... Red Cards (GF/GA) (2, 0/1): 02-ALB 36' (0:0), 11-AUT 66' (0/1).... Own Goals (2): 09-IRLtoSWE, 23-ISLtoHUN... UKR was just the third team ever to not score a goal (TUR '96, DEN '00)... GER did not allow a goal, just the 3rd team to do so (GER '96, ITA '80)...

Final standings:

Rnk Team W-L-D PT GD GF-GA GRP

--- ---- ----- -- -- ----- ---

 1. POR  3-0-4 13 +4  9-5  3F 

 2. FRA  5-1-1 16 +8 13-5  1A

---

 3. WAL  4-2-0 12 +4 10-6  1B

 4. GER  3-1-2 11 +4  7-3  1C

---

 5. ITA  3-1-1 10 +4  6-2  1E

 6. BEL  3-2-0  9 +4  9-5  2E

 7. POL  2-0-3  9 +2  4-2  2C

 8. ISL  2-1-2  8 -1  8-9  2F

---

 9. CRO  2-1-1  7 +1  5-4  1D

10. ESP  2-2-0  6 +1  5-4  2D

11. SUI  1-0-3  6 +1  3-2  2A

12. ENG  1-1-2  5  0  4-4  2B

13. HUN  1-1-2  5 -2  6-8  1F

14. IRL  1-2-1  4 -3  3-6  3E

    SVK  1-2-1  4 -3  3-6  2B

16. NIR  1-3-0  3 -1  2-3  3C

---

17. TUR  1-2-0  3 -2  2-4  3D

18. ALB  1-2-0  3 -2  1-3  3A

19. ROM  0-2-1  1 -2  2-4  4A

20. SWE  0-2-1  1 -2  1-3  4E

21. CZE  0-2-1  1 -3  2-5  4D

22. AUT  0-2-1  1 -3  1-4  4F

23. RUS  0-2-1  1 -4  2-6  4B

24. UKR  0-3-0  0 -5  0-5  4C

         Tie: PT, GD, GF

Hands up # 2! Germans fall

Unnecessary handballs vs Italy & France

Sigh.  Usually it's the French who are always surrendering.  For some reason, the past two matches 1C-Germans have been holding their hands up for no apparent reason and getting called for handballs in the box.  On the final play of the first half, Bastian Schweinsteiger went hands up and the ball deflected off the head onto his hand prompting the ref to call the penalty kick. Controversial, maybe, but the way Schweinsteiger went after the cross was so unnatural -- who goes in hands up like that?  This image clearly shows how unnatural it looked as it looked like he was getting into his Superman pose and was going to fly and head the ball off.  Bad strategic decision by the captain.  Doesn't matter it was unintentional (yes, I know the rule book says it has to be deliberate, but other than Maradona, who on a 50/50 tries to handle the ball with the hand?).  The hands and arms made him look bigger and that's a disadvantage for the offensive team. Antoine Griezmann put in the PK for his 5th goal of the tourney and the dominant Germans were down 1-0 to 1A-France at the half.

For some reason, this really got the Germans self-doubting themselves and France gained confidence and kept the pressure up until

Congrats, Winners!

1st Place =  $ 190 : SalsaKing (Ricardo A)    2nd Place =  $  95 : Thecomebacker (Edmund L) *-wins tiebreaker    3rd Place =  $  65 : Russo (Alex R)    4th Place =  $  40 : The Mighty Mobelfakta (David F)

Issue # 6.2.1 "Best Four Teams In..."

It'll be nice to have a 2-day break.  Of course, why Portugal and Spain each get an extra two days rest seems illogical for UEFA.  We'll see how it plays out.  Very nice that 13 are still alive and 4 each have an equal chance of winning the pool.


EACH QUARTERFINAL FEATURED ONE DOMINANT TEAM
Flying Elvi leads by a point, but four can win title

Prize Money Distribution

Wow, the time is finally here.  The official prize breakdown.  We had an amazing 39 entries submitted which means that there is $390 to break up.  As with our other pools (without a Bonus) 1st is around 45-50% with 2nd about half of that.  The other places are just to make the numbers add up.  Since we didn't reach 50 entries, there is no Bonus Prize so the 20 of you who are eliminated have no hope at money.  So here it is:

   1st Place =  $ 190
   2nd Place =  $  95
   3rd Place =  $  65
   4th Place =  $  40

Good luck!