Issue 7.4.1 "Peak Performance!"

Archive

Wow... time flies, and in the wake of the USA's stunning loss to Jamaica, here's the final update!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015 [Posted 7/23] 

     USA STRIKES QUICK AND EARLY FOR RECORD 3RD TITLE
Futbol Fabone 7 and Sepp Luvs the Ladies join champ Thecomebacker and D.R. in money circle

LĪHUʻE, KAUA'I, HAWAI'I (smt) -- 1D-USA have always started strong and aggressive in their matches but either bad luck or poor finishing kept the match scoreless and their opponents usually gained strength and the halftime score is 0-0 (4 matches 0-0 @ half, another 0-0 up to the 45').  This time, less than 3 minutes in, Carli Lloyd scored in her 4th straight match and put USA ahead.  She then scored again two minutes later.  And then added an incredible- opportunistic-great half-field bomb which completed her hat trick in the 16th minute.  With Lauren Holiday's goal two minutes earlier, it was 4-0 before 1C-Japan could take a shot.  Shell-shocked, but to their credit, they fought back cutting the lead in half early in the 2nd half.  But the steady Tobin Heath sealed it two minutes later and the USA coasted to its 3rd WWC title, winning 5-2.   And yes, I wore my red shirt.  You can thank me when you see me.

So is this the first time the Twitterverse/Blogverse influenced a coach in how he/she manages?  I don't completely buy the fact this was all planned out and it is not a coincidence that the USA started "peaking" as soon as Jill Ellis, after weeks of prodding by commentators everywhere, switched the formation from the drab 4-4-2 vs Germany.  But like Steve Sampson,

Fit to be tied

Since D.R. and Spermicidal WFC have the same pick for the tiebreaker (total goals in 3rd and Final matches), the tiebreaker won't come into play for any money spot.  But the total is 1 as England beat Germany in extra time.  Remember penalty kick shootout goals don't count if the USA and Japan go to PKs.

Issue 6.3.1 "Gobsmacked!"

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Saturday, July 4, 2015  *** HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY ***

     QUESTIONABLE PK CALLS PROPEL USA AND JAPAN INTO FINALS
Thecomebacker claims 1st HWCI WWC title and D.R. joins money circle; 4 vying for final 2 spots

KAPA'A, KAUA'I, HAWAI'I (smt) -- Four penalty kick calls dominated the semifinals with at least 3 of them questionable.  Although I've seen many worse plays than 1D-USA's Julie Johnston's strong-arming foul in the box, I do agree that if you're going to call a PK, it has to be a red card.  Incredible it wasn't but 1B-Germany didn't take advantage as Celia Sasic shot wide left, the first miss ever for GER (was 18-0 including all 5 in PSO).  Alex Morgan was then blocked going into the box but the ref called it a PK anyway and Carli Lloyd took advantage, her third straight match with a goal, and momentum swung USA's way.  Lloyd sealed the #1 team's fate with a perfect cross for sub Kelley O'Hara to tap it in.  The 2-0 victory meant the USA picked up it's fifth straight shutout and the USA's backline and GK Hope Solo have not allowed a goal in 513 minutes.  I guess the USA finally peaked thanks to a new 4-3-3 formation and bad refereeing.  Finally.

In the second semifinal, 1C-Japan got a gift PK for a foul outside the box and converted but then turnabout is fair

When in Delay

One good thing about a two-hour flight delay is that I get to watch the complete USA-Germany match in the Delta Sky Club.  Two questionable PK calls but USA takes advantage of theirs to the delight of the club.  Still lots of time left though.

Karablast! Seeing Red

So it looks like I'll miss most of the USA-Germany match.  But I'll still be wearing red.  Why?  So I didn't want any type of lucky anything so I randomly picked out USA shirts.  Unfortunately, after the round robin, I realized that I wore all red polo shirts (two different) for the two USA wins and a blue shirt for the tie with Sweden.  Karablast!  SO.... red shirt vs Colombia.  Win.  Red shirt vs China.  Win.  I'm wearing a red polo today.  Crossing fingers...

Issue 5.2.1 "Les Misérables Canucks!" + Prize Money + Final Four

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Monday, June 29, 2015

     FRENCH BLOW OPPORTUNITY, HOSTS' COMBACK FALLS SHORT
Spermicidal WFC remains in first but loses champ Canada; Thecomebacker guaranteed money

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- Wide Left.  That will be what 1F-France remembers as they bookended the match vs 1B-Germany with wide open misses wide left from the lovely and humbled Louisa Necib in the first minute and a Wondo! (a shot that is ten times harder to miss than make) by Gaetane Thiney three minutes from the end of extra time (117').  Necib's slightly deflected shot gave FRA the lead in the 64' and they tried to hold on but a GER cross in the box inadvertently touched the arm of Amel Majri in the 83' (really, tough but correct call, while in the 29' FRA did not get the benefit of a two-breasted handball like CHN got vs NZL).  Celia Sasic converted GER's 13th consecutive PK (spoiler: it won't be broken today) to send the match into extra time.  In the first PK shootout this year, both teams converted on their first four PKs.  Sasic then converted GER's 5th PK (and the team's 18th straight, incredible) but sub Claire Lavogez, who when you saw her take a really deep breath was never a good sign, weak shot was saved by GER's captain Nadine Angerer and GER wins the first battle of the titans with a match vs titan 1D-USA next.

The rematch of the '99 Final (2A-China) was supposed to be no contest, but

Issue 4.0.4 "Fala Sério!"

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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

     BRAZIL THE FIRST TITAN TO FALL; USA STILL CLAIMS IT HASN'T PEAKED YET
Spermicidal WFC is 1 of 4 to get 7 of 8 teams correct to move into first

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- The Round of 16 provided lots of drama with one huge upset and one huge comeback but surprisingly, no extra time.  While four matches were scoreless at halftime, 13 of the 19 goals scored in the eight matches were in the last 45 minutes.  In an odd splitting of the eight matches over four days (2-3-2-1), the last R16 match didn't end until just before 9 pm PDT Tuesday and now we get our second two-day break of the tournament which is good since 2A-China, who in the battle of the underdogs bested 2C-Cameroon 1-0, played on Saturday and the 1D-United States, who only could score when 3F-Colombia used their 2nd backup goalkeeper, played on Monday and will face each other Friday. 

For the fourth straight match, the USA players and coach had to once again suggest the team hasn't peaked yet which is frustrating for us fans to watch.  Not only did COL hold USA scoreless at the half, they did it with their backup GK (since their starter dumbly picked up a second yellow late in a match that didn't matter for COL qualifying for the R16).  But then their backup GK, Catalina Perez, forgetting the USA has trouble scoring, took out

Issue 0.0.0 "Blame Canada, Eh?" & Archive

Archive

Yes, we're going back to the past, before the cgi web issues, before the traveling, before the dark times.  Also wanted to let you know that all the previous standings, updates, and pool information is now contained in our 2015 archive page (click on Archive on right side) for easy viewing.

So what should've been emailed out way back on June 4th... also, take a look at our new HWCI WWC 2015 emblem and updated header graphic.

Thursday, June 4, 2015 [Posted June 20]

     NO SEPP, NO ESPN, NO GRASS, NO NORTH KOREA, NO PROBLEM!

Our first-ever Women's World Cup pool extremely delayed; new deadline Sunday 10 a.m. PDT

LEXINGTON PARK, MD (smt) -- With the popularity of women's soccer growing, FIFA has decided to stunt the growth by dominating the headlines with major scandals spanning several World Cups and the election then sudden resignation of Sepp Blatter (though it may not happen to next year... what kind of resignation is that?  Why not just say he'll resign and we'll get a new FIFA president in four years) and "experimenting" not with an U-20 or minor tournament, but THE Women's World Cup by playing all matches onturf, not grass (U-17 WCs have been played on "turf" as early as 2003).  And Fox will also be "experimenting", claiming this to be a dress rehearsal for the 2018 Men's World Cup in televising its first major tournament after outbidding ESPN.  But kudos to Fox for trying to emulate ESPN with nightly pre and post shows, hiring Heather Mitts, and getting their Fox Sports Go app out there to watch matches on your phone or tablet (apparently with optional views as well, such as a 360 channel and Tactical view channel). 

But on to positive news as after a highly successful WWC in Germany four years ago where

Have you been eliminated?

You can now see if you have been eliminated from either winning the pool or winning money (top 4) by viewing the Possibilities menu item above.  Your possible highest placement (E-Eliminated) is now reflected in the Standings menu item above.  In a first in any of our 27 pools, I believe, no one was eliminated in our first possibilities posting (32,768 possible outcomes).  However, after China's win, Melis and UFFA! have been eliminated.  I'll try to post the standings after each match day.

Issue 3.0.3 "Par Excellence!"

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Thursday, June 18, 2015 

     TOP 11 TEAMS ALL QUALIFY FOR ROUND OF 16
Soccerhorn rises to the top as he and YellowCard and Bailo Con Hope Solo get 15 R16 teams

NEW YORK CITY, NY (smt) -- Like the Giants, Jets, and Red Bulls, I'm claiming to write this from New York despite flying into Newark, NJ and staying at a hotel in New Brunswick, NJ.  I did ride the train to NYC to see an awesome show (Finding Neverland), so it counts!  So despite the shaky second games for teams (A1-Canada ties! C1-Germany and D1-USA draw, F1-France loses), all four won their group and in fact, the top 11 teams in the WWC made the Round of 16 (hello #16 A2-China, #18 E2-Korea Rep, #19 C2-Swiss, #28 F3-Colombia, and #53 C3-Cameroon, the first African nation to reach the knockout stage).  #14 E3-Spain and #17 A3-New Zealand were the best-ranked teams (top 24) to not make the knockout stage.  C1-Japan and E1-Brazil completed a perfect 3-0-0 record with BRA getting three shutouts. 

Out of order, as the most exciting finish happened in the very last match as

Last Day for Group Play

As we head in to the last day of the group stage, 12 teams have punched their ticket to the Round of 16 with 1st/2nd pairs of Canada/China (A), Germany/Norway (B), Japan/Cameroon (C), and USA/Australia (D), third-place qualifiers Netherlands (A, 4pts, 0 Goal Diff) and Switzerland (C, 4pts, 7 GD), Group E winner Brazil, and Colombia (F, 4 pts) reaching the knockout stage.  New Zealand (A), Ivory Coast (B), Ecuador (C), and Nigeria (D) are officially out with third-place Thailand (B, 3pts, -7 GD, 3 GF) chances slim-to-none.

Third-place Sweden (D, 3pts, 0 GD, 4 Goals For) with its 3 ties has to wait to see if they will make it.

Spain (E, 1pt, -1 GD, 1 GF) plays Korea Rep (1 pt, -2 GD, 2 GF) and a tie will knock both of them out while a win by either will get them through.  Will Brazil rest its starters vs Costa Rica (E, 2 pts, 0 GD, 3 GF) to allow the Ticos to steal a spot with a win or a 2-2 or better tie (they could also make it with a 1-1 (further tiebreaker w/SWE if ESP or KOR win or 2nd if ESP-KOR tie) or 0-0 tie if ESP-KOR tie).

Three teams can take Group F but only Colombia has qualified.  England (3pts, 0 GD, 2 GF) and France (3pts, -1 GD, 1GF) only need a tie to advance while Mexico (1pt, -1 GD, 1 GF) need a win vs France.  An England and Mexico/France win would send those two teams through.  An England and France loss (MEX 2nd place) would send SWE through and leave England, France, Costa Rica, Spain, and Korea Rep in the running for the final 2 spots (2nd E and final 3rd place team) since Group F matches will finish before Group E starts.

Fun, fun, fun!

BTW, for my Thai friends, Thailand would make the knockout stage if Spain and Korea Rep tie, Brazil beats Costa Rica, Colombia beats England 7-0 or 9-1 or better, and France beats Mexico.  Not that far-fetched for three of the matches but that Colombia thrashing of England -- highly unlikely.

Avalanche of Points

As we get started for the final matches of the group stage, just a reminder that you will get the advancement to Round of 16 points after each team has played their third and final match.  Thus, you will get the 3 points for Japan after Tuesday's matches and 3 points for Brazil after Wednesday's matches. Each day for the next three days will see at least a minimum of 16 points (1 point per match (4) and 3 points per top 2 finishers in group (4)) awarded.  Also note that with the top four 3rd place finishers still in flux, it's likely the 3 points for 3rd place finishers won't be decided until after Tuesday's or Wednesday's matches.  You can check out how many entries picked which team to advance by looking the Team Distribution table.

With Ivory Coast (0 pts, -11 goal differential) and Ecuador (0, -15) virtually eliminated from Round of 16 consideration, Brazil and Japan already in, and Canada (4), Germany (4), Norway (4), Switzerland (3, +8), Cameroon (3, +5), USA (4), and Colombia (4) virtually in, that leaves 11 teams vying for the remaining Round of 16 spots.  Brazil is the only team that has clinched the group (1E) so the ordering of the other 15 Round of 16 spots is still up for grabs.

Issue 2.0.2 "Sacrebleu!

Archive

Sunday, June 14, 2015 

     FAVORITES STRUGGLE BUT JAPAN AND BRAZIL PUNCH THROUGH
Spermicidal WFC jumps from tie for 8th to 1st by two wins

LAS VEGAS, NV (smt) -- C2-Switzerland joined the double-digit goal club scoring 10 in a 10-1 rout of C4-Ecuador.  The Swiss had two players score hat tricks (including Fabienna Humm's 3 goals in 5 minutes (47', 49', 52') while Ecuador's Angie Ponce scored three times as well - unfortunately, two were for the Swiss.  C1-Japan became the first team to qualify for the Round of 16 with a 2-1 win over C3-Nigeria, who outshot the defending champs 20 to 4 while E1-Brazil became the second team to qualify by holding E3-Spain without a shot on goal (a Galaxy!) in their 1-nil win.  The heavy favorites B1-Germany and D1-USA had to settle for ties against B3-Norway and D3-Sweden, respectively, while F1-France fell 2-0 to F3-Colombia.  A2-China, B4-Thailand, D2-Australia, and F2-England picked up key wins.  Edmonton's weather delayed host A1-Canada's match with A3-New Zealand for a half-hour five minutes in in the first scoreless draw of the tourney.  NZL missed a PK as the shot went off the crossbar giving the hosts a crucial point.  E4-Costa Rica's rally to tie E2-Korea Rep 2-2 gave Brazil the Group E crown.

Odd sights as uniforms were too crazy as it was weird to see

Issue 1.0.1 "Blitzkrieg!"

Archive

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 (Happy Birthday Wifey!)

     GERMANS ROUT, CAMEROON DOMINATES IN DEBUT
22 entries from 19 people in inaugural Women's WC pool

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- B1-Germany showed why it is the #1 ranked team scoring 5 goals in each half in a 10-0 rout of the lowest-ranked team (#67) in the tournament, B2-Ivory Coast.  Fellow group-mate B3-Norway pulled off a 4-0 rout of their own.  As one of eight teams to debut in the World Cup, the second-lowest ranked team (#53) C3-Cameroon put up 3 in each half in their 6-0 rout of the third-lowest ranked team (#48) C4-Ecuador.  Three of Cameroon's six goals came off the PK spot as six (in 7 tries) of the 40 goals scored in the tourney thus far have come from the spot.  The two finalists from '11 (C1-Japan, D1-USA) struggled but came away with victories while the host (A1-Canada) needed a stoppage time PK for their win.  CONCACAF went undefeated as in addition to CAN and USA's wins, E4-Costa Rica and F4-Mexico picked up draws versus E3-Spain and F3-Colombia, respectively.  A3-Netherlands and title contenders E1-Brazil and F1-France picked up wins as well while D4-Nigeria came back twice to tie D3-Sweden 3-3.

After the first couple of 1-0 matches, the last 10 matches saw 38 goals (and no nil-nil ties thus far) despite the first six matches ending with one team shutout.  Group D (the Group of Death) is the only group where all teams have scored at least one goal, with 3 of them scoring three.  The eight newcomers to the World Cup went 2-4-2 (head-to-head: CMR won vs ECU and ESP and CRC played to a tie) while the 7 teams who have made all 7 World Cups went 5-0-2 (head-to-head: SWE and NGA played to a tie). 

The Fox Sports GO app and website hasn't been

Welcome!

Unofficially, we have 22 entries in our first-ever HWCI Women's World Cup Pool!  The 22 is one more our first men's HWCI World Cup Pool in 1998.  The tournament has already seen 40 goals in 12 matches with a quarter of those coming from #1 Germany.

In the pool, everyone has 5, 6, or 7 points and you can see who the 7 at the top of the standings are here.  If you want to see how many entries picked which team to win in each match, you can go here. As expected, USA is the heavy favorite with 16 of 22 picking them to win their 3rd title.  Interestingly, and partially due to the weird FIFA format that would have USA and GER meet before the Finals in most cases, only one picked Germany to win it all.  And if you want to find out who you are playing against and maybe see who has the coolest nickname, you can go here.  I hope to update the pool website more often as time permits.  The first full update should go out tomorrow, an off day.

Of course, for the most updates, please follow @HWCI_Pools or watch #hwciWC throughout match days.

The Cup has started, but still time to enter!

No real surprises today with CAN and NED winning 1-0 matches though most of the interesting play was watching the fake bits and sand from the artificial turf pop up all over the place and watching FOX Sports forget to show replays and sometimes forgetting to show the clock in the scoreline.

So we have over the dozen entries I was hoping to get (15 thus far with promises of more) with such short notice, and although it'd be nice to show the women's game is as important as the men's game, we'll barely get 25% of the 71 entries we got last year for the men's World Cup.

But there's still some time left and before you go to church or do stuff with your family, make sure you get your entry in by 10 am PDT though GER should be a lock vs. CIV.

Also, here are my two entries in the pool with USA winning it all in the first one and FRA, the team I picked (the only person to do so) in our first WC pool in 1998, winning the second entry.  

Futbol Fabone 7:  http://www.hwci.com/worldcup/2015/entries/Futbol%20Fabone%207.htm
Sepp 'N Turf:  http://www.hwci.com/worldcup/2015/entries/Sepp%20'N%20Turf.htm

Online Web Entry is up!

CGI issues gone!  The online web entry is now up so this will make it easier for you (and me) to enter the pool.

Better late than never!

Welcome to the HWCI's 1st Quadrennial FIFA Women's World Cup pool!  With FIFA scandals, getting used to watching FOX Sports instead of ESPN (which they have already messed up - showing each match lasting only 1.5 hours vs 2 normally (maybe they don't think there's a halftime in women's soccer)), artificial turf (!), and expansion of 24 teams, this will be a very interesting World Cup.  I apologize as life and work and travel and IEEE events have trumped any free time I've had since our HWCI NCAA pool ended.  Even today, we're having issues with cgi scripts so we may have to completely go old school in getting your entries in (paper)!

Update: Online Web Entry is now up!

As the first match kicks off Saturday at 3 pm PT and the LA Galaxy kicks off at Saturday 7:30 pm PT, I am making the deadline for getting your pool entry in 10 am PT Sunday (before the 3rd match kicks off).  That means you won't be picking Canada-China or New Zealand-Netherlands matches on Saturday.  So if you're at the LA Galaxy match, visit the Press Box to drop off your entry.

As with all our pools (21 NCAA, 5 World Cup, 1 EURO), it's the standard $10 entry (up to 3 entries per person) and you pick all the matches and Round of 16 bracket (65 choices in all!) and hope for the best!  The only tricky part this year is that in addition to the top 2 teams in each group, the top 4 3rd place finishers also make the Round of 16.  If you look at each 3rd place spot in the Round of 16 bracket, each spot has 3 groups the team could be in.  When you pick your 4 3rd place finishers, there is only ONE possible way to put those 4 teams in (e.g., you can place your 3rd Place Group A team as 3rd Place Groups A/C/D or 3rd Place Groups A/B/F but only one of those spots will allow you to place your other 3 3rd Place teams correctly).  If you have questions, let us know (worldcup(at)hwci.com).

So download the Word or PDF file and complete your entry.  You can scan/take a picture of the 3rd page (entry) and email it to us (worldcup(at)hwci.com).  Good luck!