Issue # 3.1.2 "Ties and Stayin' Alive" (After Matchday 2)

Archive

 Saturday, June 22, 2024

[Dailies: Jun 19-20-21-22 ]

HALF THE GAMES END IN A DRAW; 23 TEAMS STILL ALIVE
21goals and Disabling Below Jobs Tied for 1st

WHITTIER, CA (smt)- After having just one draw in the opening 12 matches, the next 12 saw half (6) end in draws which has kept every team except D1-Poland alive to make the Round of 16.  POL could beat D4-France 15-0 and would lose out to the head-to-head tiebreaker with D3-Austria, who POL lost 3-1 to.  A3-Hungary is the only other team without a point but could advance with a win and some help as 3 points may not be enough, especially starting with a -4 goal differential after two matches.  4 points will not be enough for E4-Ukraine if both games in Group E draw as they will get 4th place (not 3rd) and won't be considered even if other 3rd place teams have just 3 points.  It's the best four 3rd place teams not the best 4 teams outside the top 2 in each group.

E1-Belgium bounced back with a 2-0 win over E3-Romainia to help

Issue # 3.1.2 "Don't You, Forget About Me" (6/19)

 Archive

Saturday, June 19, 2021 ***HAPPY JUNETEENTH!***

[Dailies: 16-17-18-19]

TIES COMPLICATE GROUPS
Footballsack knocks Club Med out of first

DIGNITY HEALTH SPORTS PARK, CARSON, CA (smt) - Remember the Group of Death does include F1-Hungary, right?  And that soccer powers F4-Germany and A2-Italy were on a downturn?  Or that D3-Scotland is the little brother to D1-England?  Well...

After seeing just two matches tied in the first 18 matches, the last six saw four ties which prevented some teams from advancing and kept others alive.  HUN scored first in front of another sold-out full-capacity home crowd and held on for a 1-1 against favorite F3-France which kept their destiny in their hands (win vGER and they are in).  E1-Spain actually scored but once again, 69+% possession didn't get them a win, drawing with E3-Poland 1-1 and kept the Poles from being eliminated.  The two points for ESP won't be good enough to qualify, so a win is needed if they want to assure advancement.  SCO hasn't scored but its 0-0 tie with ENG keeps them alive.  D2-Croatia rallied to tie D4-Czech Rep to keep their hopes alive.

We had our first two comebacks as

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.

Issue # 3.1.1 "Superpowers Tie Allowing Little Guys to Rise..."

So how did the first four days play out?  Who's in the lead?  How many of the 39 entries were submitted by women?  Just one, despite the fact 2 of the last 3 pool champs were women.  So go Adivinanza!  Here's my latest update...

http://www.hwci.com/euro/2012/e2012_03.htm
---
DENMARK, CROATIA, UKRAINE ON TOP OF THEIR GROUPS?An astonishing 39 entries received in our first EURO Pool

Wild First Day - Six tied for 1st

What a topsy-turvy first match.  Seemed like co-host Poland was going to blow out Greece, especially when the refs generously sent a Greek off with two soft yellows, giving 18 entries a first taste of victory to start the pool.  Then Greece tied it with super sub Dimitris Salpigidis equalized early in the second half putting 10 entries closer to the win column.  Then the Polish GK took down Salpigidis for a PK and 11 who picked Greece were getting ready to celebrate their two points.  But the backup GK saved it and in the end, 10 entries got it correct -- a tie.  The first tie of our soccer pools where you could earn points and it happened in the very first game.  So instead of 18 entries losing a chance for points in a wash (no points for anyone), 10 picked up two points.  Of course, I was one of those 18 who are now 2 points behind instead of tied with everyone.  How bizzare must it be for the Polish fans to hear a goal celebration song when Greece scored in their own stadium.

In the nightcap (in Poland at least), Russia showed they are the team to beat in Group A by thumping the Czech Republic 4-1.  Roman Pavlyuchenko's one-man effort (for the 4th goal) was so great it reminded me of someone like Kobe Bryant taking on the entire opposing team and still scoring.  So 27 of the 39 entries picked Russia and in the end, six are on top of the standings with 4 points while eight entries are still pointless.  You can now find the daily standings in the menu above (usually by the next morning, but hopefully always earlier).  We are unofficially at 39 entries which is more than the 20-25 I expected.  We should be official by Monday evening when I check the PO Box for any more mailed entries (we had 2).

Issue # 1.0.1 "First Spin-Off: The EURO 2012 Pool"

Here is the official kickoff.  Just 10 days left to enter.  Please answer our poll question(s) on this page and make sure you follow/subscribe to this blog for the latest info.

http://www.hwci.com/euro/2012/e2012_01.htm
---


CAN SPAIN BECOME THE FIRST TO WIN BACK-TO-BACK EURO TITLES?
Whether you're a Euro snob or just love beautiful football, EURO here we come