Issue # 4.1.3 "Everything That Has Transpired Has Done So According To My Design" (6/24)

Archive

Thursday, June 24, 2021 - [Dailies: 20-21-22-23]

NOT MANY SURPRISES IN THE ROUND OF 16
Slyelf in 1st as six get 15 of 16 R16 teams correct; all 49 entries still alive

CERRITOS TENNIS CENTER, CA (smt) - Was it so predictable?  Everyone seemed to know F2-Portugal, F3-France, and F4-Germany would make the Round of 16.  But a wild ride to get there with GER six minutes from being eliminated.  Of course, D1-England would win their group.  But with two lackluster 1-0 wins and scoring just two goals?  It seems the only real surprises were D4-Czech Rep and A3-Wales making the cut.  Could be the strongest Round of 16 we've seen.

A2-Italy, B3-Belgium, and C1-Netherlands won their group with max of 9 points while D1-England and E2-Sweden won to get to 7 pts.  A4-Switzerland and D2-Croatia each won 3-1 to secure their R16 spot while B1-Denmark routed B4-Russia 4-1 to claim 2nd on goal differential over B2-Finland, who missed the cut.  C3-Austria beat C2-Ukraine 1-0 to take 2nd but UKR still snuck in as the last 3rd place team.  Power teams needing results got them as a fun E1-Spain routed E4-Slovakia 5-0 (SVK's GD got hammered and missed the cut), F4-Germany had to rally twice against F1-Hungary (2-2 draw), and F2-Portugal got 2 PKs from Ronaldo to tie F1-France 2-2 to advance (though POR would have had advanced if they lost by a few as long as HUN didn't win... but HUN was leading for most of the match).

The only group winner that was a surprise was

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.

Stay at Wembley (6/22)

Great header but great unis as well

Two teams playing in Great Britain (technically, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) saw different results.  D1-England had just five shots but protected an early goal to beat D4-Czech Rep, 1-0, to win Group D and get to stay at home in Wembley Stadium for their Round of 16 match.  CZE, who qualified yesterday, fell to 3rd in the group as D2-Croatia scored twice in the second half to beat home team D3-Scotland, 3-1, and the three goals was enough to overtake CZE on goal differential for 2nd.  SCO was the last team to score a goal.

37 got CRO right and 47 got ENG.  All 49 had ENG making the knockout stage while 46 had CRO and 13 had CZE.  36 got both matches correct while Saharm17 missed both.  Eleven got all 3 Group D teams in the R16 while Fantasy only got one.  Overall, ten got the full 11 points while Fantasy only got 4.  Forza Roma is our new leader with 50 pts with Slyelf now 2nd (49) and FrankfromSeattle 3rd (48).  Wolverine1 joins my Glory to the Heroes in last with 36 pts.

Four teams are left to be decided (E2-Sweden and F3-France have qualified) and C2-Ukraine is now on the cutoff for 3rd place teams and B2-Finland in dire straights.  Both need help and worse GD from other teams.  All 6 non-qualified teams in Groups E & F control their own destinies (win and they're in).  E1-Spain qualifies with another tie as long as E3-Poland do not win.  F2-Portugal qualifies with a two-goal loss or better as long as F1-Hungary doesn't beat F4-Germany, otherwise if POR loses and HUN wins, GER takes 3rd (who need to win tiebreaker to be one of the best 4 3rd place teams) via its win over POR.  Lots of fun left!

Open the Floodgates (6/21)

DEN (& 5 other teams): Did we make it?  Refresh, refresh...

Although a tie would technically get both C2-Ukraine and C3-Austria in with 4 pts, AUT would lose tiebreaker and sit in 3rd and wait, thus, AUT came out and got the early goal to assure themselves 2nd place in Group C with a 1-0 win.  UKR now has to wait at 3 pts (-4 GD/4 GF).  C4-North Macedonia, already eliminated, had a great goal taken away by offsides and hit the right post early, but C1-Netherlands finally showed their strength in another 3-0 win (both A2-Italy and NED have posted two 3-0 wins).  

Thanks to a coin flip, B1-Denmark got the home match between the two Group B hosts, and the atmosphere helped the Danes pull off a 4-1 win over B4-Russia.  Needing to win by 2 goals and a B2-Finland loss to guarantee a spot in the Round of 16, DEN led 2-0 and around the 68' B3-Belgium scored but then a double whammy as BEL's goal was taken away by offsides (keeping FIN tied 0-0) and DEN gave up a soft PK.  RUS converted meaning DEN only led by 1 (2-1) and FIN still had the point they needed.  But the next ten minutes saw BEL score for real and DEN added two goals and by the 82', DEN lead by 3 and FIN was trailing by 2.  BEL's 2-0 win made them the 3rd team with 9 points (joining ITA and NED).  RUS got the short end of the three Group B teams tied with 3 points, losing on GD to finish 4th.  Gotta love the simultaneous matches (which you can watch split screen on the TV but on an iPad).

With both Group B and C having a third place team with just 3 points (thanks, DEN!), all teams with 4 or more points now qualified for the Round of 16 including A4-Switzerland who only had to wait a day to find themselves in.  D4-Czech Rep, D4-England, E2-Sweden, and F3-France can relax as they are now in the Knockout Stage.  Third-place teams FIN (GD -2) and UKR (GD -4) will have to wait, in that order.

48 got NED, 10 got AUT, 33 DEN, and 48 got BEL.  Five teams from Groups A/B/C made the Round of 16:  all 49 got BEL & NED, 47 DEN, 40 SUI, 32 AUT.  Those who have CZE and/or ENG will have to wait until tomorrow to get the 3 pts each and those who have SWE and/or FRA will have to wait until Wednesday to get the 3 pts.

Six got all four matches correct while Wolverine1 went 0-4.  26 got all 5 R16 teams today while 5 got just 3 teams.  Five got 19 points today while yesterday's leader Footballsack got just 11 pts (to fall to tie for 20th (34 pts)).  Slyelf moves into 1st place (41 pts) with Forza Roma second (39).  My second entry Glory to the Heroes is now in last all by itself with 28 pts.

Perfect 3-0 (6/20)

A2-Italy completed group play a perfect 3-0 with a comfortable 1-0 win over A3-Wales as both teams advanced to the Round of 16.  The Italian home cooking will end as they will go to London for their Round of 16 match.  A4-Switzerland scored early and often to beat A1-Turkey, 3-1, to sit in a good position with 4 points in 3rd place.  TUR was disappointing but did end their scoring drought with a great strike just over the GK's outstretched hands.  SUI's Steven Zuber became just the 2nd person to notch 3 assists in a Euro match (CZE '08) while Xherdan Shaqiri has now scored in 4 Euro tourneys.

28 got SUI right and 45 ITA while 48 got 3 points for ITA in the R16 and 18 WAL.  25 went 2-0 while DenMarkMyTerritory went 0-2.  17 got both ITA and WAL making the R16 while 32 got just one.  Eight got the full 8 points today (ITA, SUI wins x 1 = 2; ITA, WAL in R16 x 3 = 6) while DenMarkMyTerritory only got 3.  Footballsack is still in the lead with 23 pts with 4 tied for 2nd with 22.  DenMarkMyTerritory and Otsego1 are tied for last with 13 pts.

All six groups could produce a 3rd place team with 4 points (though there were just 2 in '16) but 4 should be enough.  SUI (who lost GD tiebreaker to WAL for 2nd) could advance as early as tomorrow if both 3rd place teams in Groups B & C have just three points.  In Group B, RUS and FIN each likely just need a draw but DEN beating RUS would mean they would own the head-to-head tiebreaker if tied for 3rd with 3 pts.  DEN, RUS, and FIN tied at 3 points will depend on additional tiebreakers.  In Group C, UKR and AUT play each other and are guaranteed at least 3rd place with MKD already eliminated, so a boring, defensive-minded draw between them likely will advance both.  

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

Groups E & F Scrambled (6/19)

Another loud sold-out, full-capacity crowd in Budapest, Hungary (side note: can't wait to see tonight's first full Galaxy crowd since last March), saw F1-HUN go up 1-0 right before halftime and then held on to a surprising 1-1 draw with F3-France to keep their hopes alive.  Four F4-Germany crosses resulted in goals, two on own goals four minutes apart, to lift them to a 4-2 win over F2-Portugal.  The 4th goal was on a typical German header, reminding me of all of Miraslav Klose's headers in the World Cups (who Ronaldo tied with most goals in Euros & World Cups with his 19th which put POR ahead 1-0).

E1-Spain again dominated possession and even scored, but E3-Poland tied it to keep their hopes alive (they would've been eliminated with a loss) in the 1-1 draw.  ESP had a chance to go back ahead but missed a PK, their first non-PSO PK miss in Euro history as the shot went off the left post.

So raise your hand if you had E2-Sweden and E4-Slovakia in 1st and 2nd after two matches in Group E.  Another draw for ESP would have them dependent on others so they need a win to guarantee a spot.  Group F may still see the top 3 teams in FRA, POR, and GER advance, but the FRA-HUN tie complicates things for POR and GER.  Also, since head-to-head is the first tiebreaker, GER would jump POR if tied in points, regardless of GF.

Footballsack was the only one to get the HUN-FRA tie, 12 picked GER, and 7 picked the ESP-POL tie.  Footballsack (16 pts) is our new leader as the only one to go 2-1 for the day to push Club Med to 2nd place.  There is a 3-way tie for last now (9 pts).

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.

Tribute. Comeback (6/17)

GOLETA, CA -- Working so this update later than usual.  In the early match, C2-Ukriane's duo of Yarmolenko & Yaremchuk each scored again and held off C4-North Macedonia, 2-1.  Each team missed a PK (though MKD put in the rebound) and it was an entertaining match.  In the late match, C1-Netherlands took care of C3-Austria 2-0, and the 11' made PK was just the 2nd of 6 PK attempts made in the tourney thus far.  NED qualified for the Round of 16 and knocked MKD out of the Round of 16, the first eliminated.

In the middle match, emotional B1-Denmark playing in front their home crowd came out flying and scored just 100 seconds into the match.  The early lead seemed to make B3-Belgium forget to kick the ball out of bounds in the 10' (technically at 10:11 or the 11') in honor of #10 Christian Eriksen, who was recovering well in a hospital nearby.  DEN had many chances but only took a 1-0 lead at the half.  BEL's superstar Kevin De Bruyne made his debut as a 2nd half sub and had an assist and goal in leading BEL to a 2-1 win, the first comeback this year.  

BEL advanced to the Round of 16.  BEL and NED joined ITA yesterday into the Round of 16.  Remember, you won't get the 3 pts for these three teams until after the 3rd match is played in their group.  Two more VAR rulings, meaning that 5 of the past 7 matches have had a review after the first 11 matches produced just one.  VAR gave UKR a PK (which was saved) which said that protecting your face from a free kick strike is moving the arm toward the ball.  Tough technicality. 

40 got UKR, 35 BEL, and 46 NED.  Club Med's lead got reduced in half to just one point (14 pts).  32 went 3-0 while 3 went 1-2.  Dagger is now last with 7 pts.

One Team In, One Nearly Out (6/16)

B2-Finland got more than one shot (albeit the game-winning goal) this time, getting 11 against B4-Russia, but had a goal overturned by VAR (offsides) as RUS prevailed 1-0 at home.  These two and B3-Belgium have 3 points with BEL playing tomorrow.

A1-Turkey's defense was no match against A3-Wales' Gareth Bale as he tore apart the defense with great needle and over the defense passes leading to two assists, a near goal pursing the GK, and drawing a penalty.  Alas, he missed the PK (teams are just 1/3) but WAL won 2-0, the last goal the last play of the match.  In the other Group A match, A2-Italy started fast and furious against A4-Switzerland in winning their second straight 3-0 match with two strikes outside the box.  ITA is now unbeaten in their last 29 matches and have not allowed a goal in their last 10 in being the first team to qualify for the Round of 16.  TUR is last with a horrible -5 GD.

After having just one VAR in the first 11 matches, there have now been 3 in the past 4.  ITA had their goal taken away with an inadvertent handball by the scorer.  Apparently, if the ball had dropped to another ITA player who scored, it would have counted - only the player with the handball can't score when it accidentally hits his arm/hand.

37 picked RUS, 14 WAL, and 39 ITA.  7 went 3-0 while DenMarkMyTerritory and Otsego1 went 0-3.  Club Med now leads by 2 with 12 points over 10 others tied for second.  Six are tied for last with 6 pts.  Also, note that in the Standings page, if your nickname has a pound symbol (#), you need to view your pick via the Picks page.  HTML doesn't work well with certain symbols like # (but I still allow it in the nickname) and the standings are automated.

Issue # 2.1.1 "No Home Sweet Home" (6/15)

Archive

[Dailies: 11-12-13-14-15]

TITLE CONTENDERS PICK UP KEY WINS
A record 49 entries sees Club Med take the early lead

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) - Top favorites picked to win it all picked up wins as A2-Italy, B3-Belgium, and F2-Portugal each won 3-0 while D1-England and F3-France secured 1-0 victories.  The other teams picked to win all were F4-Germany (who lost to FRA) and E1-Spain (who dominated with 75% possession and didn't allow an official shot on goal but settled for a scoreless draw with E2-Sweden). 

C2-Ukraine scored twice in four minutes to pull even with C1-Netherlands, but the Dutch got the final goal to win 3-2, C3-Austria scored twice late to break a 1-1 tie with debutant C4-North Macedonia, and E4-Slovika got a man-advantage goal in the 69' to win 2-1.  A3-Wales and A4-Switzerland tied 1-1 (one of just 2 ties), an opportunistic 54-yard golazo secured a 2-0 win for D4-Czech Rep, and in the why-did-they-finish-the-match-right-away, B4-Finland upset B3-Denmark 1-0 in a match that saw DEN player Christian Ericksen resuscitated after collapsing.

With Ericksen conscious and communicating with teammates,

Full Capacity & Ronaldo (6/15)

Playing in front of the tourney's first full-capacity crowd (55,662), F1-Hungary held tight against heavy favorites F2-Portugal only to see the visitors score three times after the 84' to lose 3-0.  Ronaldo scored the last two goals, on a PK, and then a great effort to get around the GK in stoppage time (first goal past 90' in this tourney).  That broke a tie and his 11 goals is the new Euro record.  HUN also had a goal taken away by offsides, which rocked the stadium.  

F3-France had two goals called back by offsides (1 by VAR) so it was an own goal in the first half that gave the 1-0 margin over home side F4-Germany.  The 3-time Euro champion GER lost an opening match for the first time.

The first stage is done!  12 matches down, 24 to go in the Group Stage.  47 picked POR and 32 picked FRA.  Club Med remains in 1st with 9 pts.  31 went 2-0 while Dagger went 0-2.  There's a 3-way tie for last with 4 pts.