Admin's 2 picks - 80 minutes left!

Just over 80 minutes left to submit your entry to our HWCI EURO Pool.  In the meantime, feel free to laugh at my picks as I'll see another $20 go down the drain!  At least I'm not at a State of Emergency, though did anyone feel the earthquake last night in SoCal?

Futbol Fabone Huit
Rogue Un

I've been busy all this month but will try to check your entries later today (in case you accidentally listed France as 1A and 2A, for example).  Thanks and good luck!

Foster's Football Brew #1 (6/7) - Round 1

Foster’s Football Brew

Round 1

June 7, 2016

It’s summertime, and that means a flurry of international soccer once again!  In this first issue of Foster’s Football Brew, I will give some predictions and previews of the EURO 2016.  But first, I explore a curiosity:  Are games in the World Cup the most exciting in international soccer?  My inclination is to argue no, but do I have evidence to back such a claim?

The majority of the first round games in the Copa America Centenario featured cross-conference matchups between CONCACAF and CONMEBOL teams.  There were only three high-level, hotly contested matches, in my opinion: Mexico vs. Uruguay, Brasil vs. Ecuador, and Argentina vs. Chile.  Two of those three are matches within the same conference.   Now take the USA vs. Costa Rica game and subsequent Colombia vs. Paraguay game: both are

Online Web Entry now available!

Well, please let me know if you see any errors. You can now enter online!  Again, the EURO expanded to 24 teams (from 16) and works like the Women's World Cup last year -- the top 2 teams in each of the six groups plus the top 4 3rd place finishers.  So just be careful choosing the teams in the Round of 16 bracket (don't worry, I'll be checking if you accidentally list France twice, for example).  Also, it doesn't matter how you pick the round robin matches when you fill out your Round of 16 bracket (so if you're a homer, and pick Albania to win all three matches, you don't have to have them in your Round of 16 bracket so you don't lose more points!).

Remember, the deadline is this Friday at Noon (PDT)!  I plan to be at the Rose Bowl for Copa America on Thursday (tentative Tuesday) and the Galaxy match on June 22 if you want to pay me directly.  Otherwise, use the options on the confirmation page (e.g., PayPal, mail, Google Wallet).  As always, $10 per entry and up to 3 entries per person.

If you want to change your picks or if you made a mistake, submit another entry (select from the drop-down box "Update and Existing Entry" instead of "New Entry") or let me know and I can make the simple change for you.

EURO 2016 Pool!

Welcome to our 2nd HWCI EURO Soccer Pool!  I'm still working on the online web entry but you can download the form now (Word | PDF).  As with all our pools, nothing has changed (still $10 per entry).

Deadline is Noon (PDT) next Saturday  Friday (June 10)!

Also, if you're interested in Copa America, you only have a few hours left before the 1st match kicks off but you can enter Eric Foster's pool using this spreadsheet.  His is also $10/entry.

Nations League to debut in 2018!

Very interesting.  There will be at least one very bad team in Euro 2020 as UEFA has just approved the Nations League, a new competition to replace normal friendlies.  The worst teams will be placed in Division D and eventually, one of those teams will qualify for Euro 2020.  Go Gibraltar (more Prudential ads)!

So we still have Euro 2016 to worry about so this is far ahead in the future.  BTW, the 5th Quadrennial HWCI World Cup pool will start in May.

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)

Italy v Spain

14': ESP scores off a great pass by Fabregas!  ITA has not trailed so how will they respond? Can SalsaKing taste the title?
16': ITA Pirlo with a good FK opportunity (he's the only one to score a FK goal in the last 2 EUROs)
25': ESP's Pique gets first yellow... doesn't look like we'll get the ugly WC final when 13 cards were given
29': ITA's Cassano's shot nutmegs two defenders but not the GK
41': Jessica Alba, I mean Jordi Alba, gets a Beckham-esque pass through two defenders and puts it away for a 2-0 lead.  I guess a lot of goals are scored in the final as a team has scored  two goals 12 of 13 finals (11-0-1).  Is SalsaKing dancing?
12:35: Halftime!  All hope is not lost.  The SJ Earthquakes just came from 3-1 down to beat the LA Galaxy... of course, that's MLS and not elite international competition.  But there's hope.
61': Not good for ITA.  A sub is injured and no subs left.  Now playing with 10 men. ITA were lucky earlier in the half, though, to not get a handball in the box penalty which could've iced it for ESP.  ESPN just flashed ESP is 41-3-4 in their last 48 competitive matches -- of course, USA had one of those wins!
75': ESP's Fernando Torres is entering the match!  Gordo or Pando? Fabregas out.
81': Considering ESP hasn't given up a goal in 500 minutes in knockout rounds, ITA should be toast.
84': Torres puts the game in the refrigerator!  3-0.  SalsaKing should be counting his money now.  Torres is the 6th to have 3 goals but would win the Golden Boot with 1 assist and a better point to minute ratio.
88': Torres is unselfish and passes to Juan Mata who scores ESP's 4th goal!  
90': 3 painful minutes of stoppage time.
1:36: OVER!  Balotelli storms off the field, ESP celebrating (as is SalsaKing)!   ESP is the first team to win 3 straight major titles!  Dynasty and best team ever?  Who needs David Villa?

Love how they engrave the trophy on the spot (like they couldn't start in the 84' when Torres scored).  ITA at least gets into the FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Veteran Dancer vs. The Reality TV Veteran

It's kind of crazy that so many people still flock to the drive-in and even more shocking that they still exist.  Went with the family to see Madagascar 3 (didn't stick around for Rock of Ages) and people were still filing in at 10:45 at night which caused headaches getting out.  But a neat experience harkening the past.  Not too far in the past that I do remember using FM for the sound (vs the heavy speaker hooked to the window).

Well, our HWCI EURO pool has no past as this is the first one (of many).  We just need a soccer pool in 2013 (FIFA Confederations Cup is too short and only has 8 teams -- but convince me) and 2015 (with Women's World Cup expanding to 24 teams, a possibility).

Well, good luck to our two finalists for the inaugural title.  We won't name the trophy after you, because, uh, there is no trophy, but it will be an honor nonetheless.  Will it be Ricardo A's SalsaKing or Bernice P's Adivinanza?  The former works and runs the press box during Chivas USA matches and after games goes dancing while the latter once ran public relations for the San Diego Spirit of the defunct pro women's soccer league WUSA (not to be confused with the WPS, which finally folded this year) and turned adventurer and reality TV star.  The former also seems to win Sam N's (V2 Wedding Bells!!! and V2 Divorce Court!) LA Galaxy stat crew PANDO Pools while the latter will try to become our 3rd female champ of the last 4 soccer pools.  One of them will be $195 richer.  Good luck!

Issue # 7.3.1 "Azzurri vs La Furia Roja..."

Well, the end is near.  The penultimate issue!

Spain (3-0-2) Real Federación Española de Fútbol	vs.	Italy (2-0-3) Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio

LAST TWO WORLD CUP CHAMPS TO MEET
It'll be SalsaKing vs Adivinanza for the inaugural title
"All or nothing, huh? That's how I roll!" -- Advinanza
"Let's do this!! I won't be able to watch the game in peace now" -- SalsaKing

Balotelli Busts Germany

Finally, a goal scored in regulation, thanks to Mario Balotelli.  The last two matches were scoreless.  Finally, a goal scored in the run of play.  Last time was ESP's Xabi Alonso's goal in the 19' three matches ago.  Finally, a classic matchup, which thanks to Italy's two first-half goals, provided an entertaining second half which we have missed since Germany last played, four matches ago.  But it was Balotelli all over the pitch and his two first-half goals barely stood up as Germany peppered the goal area with many missed chances and some great saves by ITA's Gianluigi Buffon.  It was his opponent's counterpart, Manual Neuer, which provided a great show acting as the 12th attacker in the last five minutes, kicking and heading balls away while leaving his net empty.  Germany did pull one back in one of the frantic moments as ITA was called for a hand ball and Mesut Ozil, boy we haven't heard that name as much as we thought, put away the PK in the 90'+2 leaving a couple of minutes for a tying goal.  But it never came and Italy stunned Germany, 2-1, ending the German's record 15-match competitive win streak and remain unbeaten against them in tournament matches (4-0-4).

So now we get a rematch

Ronaldo Doesn't Miss PK- That's Bad

As the stakes get raised, the matches turn defensive and this was reminiscent of the World Cup 2010 final where Spain and Holland should've been a great match turned chippy with 13 yellow cards.  This was was just as chippy, with brief moments of flair, and 9 yellow cards and ended 0-0.  How bad?  Spain had just 2 shots on goal after 90 minutes.  Portugal none (like CZE in the quarters).  Spain did turn it up in the last 20 minutes of overtime and as things opened up and POR tired, Spain got 3 more shots on goal while Portugal managed two.  In the PSO, once again, the team who misses the first PK wins.  A great save on ESP's Xabi Alonso's attempt gave POR the advantage but ESP GK Iker Casillas came up big.  In fact, both GKs guessed correctly on five straight kicks (though the last three snuck by for goals).  It was a crossbar that doomed POR and Cesc Fábregas won it for ESP, 4-2, with Cristiano Ronaldo on the sidelines having not taken a kick (he would've been next).  It was a risky tactic that failed as taking it 1st (give team momentum and confidence) or 4th (almost always taken and likely a decider) seems like the sweet spot and as we saw here, you may not get to 5th.  Of course this didn't work for the LA Galaxy in the 2009 MLS Cup when goal scorers Landon Donovan (5th) and Edson Buddle (6th) both missed their kicks.  But I digress.  ESP will have a chance to be the first team to win 3 straight major titles.

Three were eliminated

Foster's Futbol Brew # 5: Tournament All-Stars

June 27, 2012

Foster’s Football Brew:  Tournament All-Stars

I got the idea for this short segment after watching Alexi Lalas and Michael Ballack select their tournament Top 11.  I have to disagree with many of Lalas’ picks, and a couple of Ballack’s.  I decided to wait until the quarter finals were over to give top players a chance to shine.  Here’s my take:

Goalie:  Joe Hart had an historically atypical tournament for English goalkeepers…he didn’t F&@# up!!!  He went into the quarters