Youth and Speed (7/6)

OJAI OLIVE OIL FARM, CA -- Just like that, we only have European teams left.  South American sides 1A-Uruguay and 1E-Brazil both had allowed just one goal in four matches this tournament.  They were also the last of the non-European teams left.  The youth of 1C-France outplayed URU with an early goal in the first half and then a rocket that went through the hands of the URU GK that sealed their fate, 2-0.  FRA has scored on their last six shots on goal and advances to the Quarters for the first time since '06.

1G-Belgium got a gift of an own goal but BEL used their fast and deadly counterattack to

Issue #5.2.1 "Just a Tease" (After Round of 16) + Bonus Details

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Wednesday, July 4, 2018 ***HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY***

SPAIN, PORTUGAL, MEXICO DISAPPOINT
EEChick1400 and TheComeBacker on top; 28 still alive; Bonus!

WYNDHAM GARDEN VENTURA PIERPONT INN, VENTURA, CA (smt) --  After 2F-Mexico's wins over Germany and Korea Republic, CONCACAF was riding sky high on the Tricolor's chances.  But then the egg against Sweden led to a Round of 16 match against 1E-Brazil instead of 2E-Switzerland and for the seventh straight time, MEX was eliminated in the Round of 16 while BRA won its Round of 16 match for the seventh straight time.  The Iberian powers B1-Spain and B2-Portugal were both expected to go far past their Group A opponents but Ronaldo and POR were stopped by 1A-Uruguay 2-1 and ESP, despite huge advantages on possession, shots, and passes completed, could only muster a 1-1 tie with host 2A-Russia and lost in the Penalty Shootout (PSO), 4-3.  RUS was the 70th ranked team while ESP was the 10th ranked team in the world. 

2G-England shut the door on their PSO curse by

What is possible?

A lot of updates this Independence Day eve.  A new feature at the top is "Possibilities" which will let everyone know which entries are still alive (can finish in the top 4) and which entries can win the pool.  This is a custom macro so it may not be fool-proof, though in the eight previous pools, no issues have come up.  So if you're eliminated, you can hope we'll find the one bug in the software!  After the Quarterfinals, 28 are still alive and ten can win the pool.

Typically, we would show who was eliminated after the Round of 16 but my macro to run 32K possible outcomes on a 4-year old laptop is way too slow!  I figure this way some of you will still have some false hope.

If you look at the "Standings" now, it has a new format.  In addition to adding columns for "Pl" (highest placement) and "Max Pts" (maximum points you could achieve), the last column is "Bonus Pick Winningest Region".  Full details in a future update, but based on how you picked your Round of 16 bracket, which region will end up with the most wins (15 matches - not including 3rd place match).  The only possible outcomes now are UEFA (Europe) with 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13 wins.  They currently have 6 wins but there are two UEFA-UEFA matchups and they will meet each other meaning the least they would get is 9.  And again, the $40 Bonus is only for those entries who won't finish in the top 4.

17 are eliminated from the Bonus and 13 are eliminated from both prizes.

FFB 18.04 "Fallen Stars - What Happened to...???" (7/2)

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Monday, July 2, 2018

[ FRA | POR | GER | ARG | BEL ]

As the knockout phase of the 2018 World Cup unfolds, I think back to the previous Euro and World Cup, when I was tracking some rising stars that were mysteriously (or otherwise) left off their countries’ World Cup Rosters this time around.  Here’s a quick look at some unfortunate circumstances and puzzling moves by international managers: 

Dimitri Payet (France) – One of the key performers for France in the Euro 2016, wizarding midfielder Payet was in tears as he

Curse is Broken (7/3)

2G-England scored on Harry Kane's 3rd PK goal of the tournament and was poised for the win until 1H-Colombia became the 11th team to tie or win in stoppage time as Yerry Mina's 90'+3 sent the match into Extra Time.  ENG, having lost all 3 PSOs in the WC plus one Euro PSO were making their fans' nervous as the 30 minutes ticked away.  But ENG was prepared for a PSO.  Even after falling behind 3-2, luck was on their side as COL hit the crossbar giving each side a miss.  After COL's fifth was saved, ENG got lucky again as even though the GK guessed right and got a hand on the ball, the ball still powered into the net, giving ENG their first PSO victory, 4-3.

In a battle of evenly matched European teams that start with the letter "S",

Buzzer Beater (7/2)

TGI FRIDAY'S, LOS ANGELES - LADERA, CA -- #61 2H-Japan came out strategically and attacked when necessary to upset the #3 1G-Belgium's offense but instead of trying to play for a scoreless draw, Japan managed to score twice after the half and took a 2-0 lead. Two BEL subs in the 65' changed everything. Creating havoc off a corner kick, a routine header cross somehow managed to tuck away just under the crossbar to cut JPN's lead in half in the 69'.

Then five minutes later, sub Marouane Fellaini

FFB 18.03 "World Cup Field Report - Russia" (6/30)

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Saturday, June 30, 2018

[ Foster's Football Brew:  Euro 2012 | Euro 2016 | WC 2018 ]

Eric Foster, Erica Mapa, Reza Amidi, Alejandro Aragon

The Argentina match against Nigeria (26-JUNE) was surreal... 64.5K fans, about 80% of which were Argentina supporters.  As if it were a home game with AFC Championship Game-like atmosphere in St Pete.  

Fan Fest

Got to spend one hour walking around World Cup media center and Fan Fest in Moscow's Red Square from 3-4am in morning during

Extra Time (7/1)

NHA HANG TAI SUI RESTAURANT, ROSEMEAND, CA -- 2A-Russia, the worst-ranked team (70th) in the tournament, opened people's eyes with a 5-0 win to start the tournament.  Now the host used a highly efficient defense to shut out the #10 team in the world for 120 minutes to prevail in the penalty shootout, 4-3 (1-1 tie).  1B-Spain's only goal came off an own goal in the 12' and despite playing a highly efficient possession game (completing 91% of their passes (1,031 passes completed vs RUS's 204), having 74% possession time, and having 60 minutes of playing time (vs RUS's 20)), ESP was almost too patient and couldn't score in 120 minutes.  RUS's only shot on goal was their penalty kick goal in the 41'.

In the penalty shootout, RUS was a

Fierce Competition (6/30)

The top dogs were in play today in UEFA vs CONMEBOL showdowns and first we got a power matchup between 1C-France and their young stars and 2D-Argentina featuring Messi.  In a wild match, FRA scored first on a PK but then ARG scored twice to take the lead.  But in a 11-minute span, 19-year old Kylian Mbappe, who was everywhere on the pitch, drawing fouls and the penalty, followed Benjamin Pavard's wicked strike to tie the match with two goals in 5 minutes.  ARG managed to get one goal back in stoppage time off a great Messi cross but it was too little too late as FRA held on 4-3.  FRA scored on all 4 shots on goal.

In another power matchup, 1A-Uruguay and 2B-Portugal faced off.  7 minutes after