Thursday, July 13, 2023
USA TRIES TO WIN BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Our 3rd Women's World Cup pool down under creates crazy start times for West Coast
EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- The Women's World Cup has expanded from 24 to 32 teams, matching the Men's World Cup (until 2026 when the men's go to 48 teams) as the women's game has grown exponentially. This has allowed Europe to send more teams (12), all in the top 22, but also allowed teams like H2-Morocco (#72) and C3-Zambia (#77) to sneak in. E1-USA is still #1 and will try to become the first team to 3-peat in a very competitive field. Their first match last time was against #34 Thailand which they scorched 13-0. Vietnam, their first match opponent, is ranked #32.
With the expansion to 32 teams, 8 teams are making their first WWC appearance and D3-Denmark returns for the first time since 2007. Being co-hosted by B1-Australia and A1-New Zealand, while some group games like USA-VIE will start at 6 pm PDT, most knockout stage matches will start between midnight and 3 am PDT! It'll be tough to follow the games and not get spoiled to who won. H1-Germany is #2 and will try for their 3rd title while other European powers G1-Sweden, D1-England, and F1-France right behind. Players playing in Europe also dominated with 18 players from Barcelona and 17 from Chelsea. Nine USA players from 2019 made the cut with five trying to 3-peat. Japan's 2011 win is so far away, only one player from that team made the roster.
With the men's World Cup ending just 7 months ago in December, it's rare to get another major tournament so soon. This is our 6th straight year having a soccer pool (thanks to the special MLS is Back tournament in 2020) with Euros in 2024 coming next year! Same rules, same format. The only issue is that there are no checks if you accidentally put in the same team winning a group and coming in 2nd, but I will do the checks manually anyway. Just make sure you have 16 different teams in your Round of 16.
We had 44 entries in 2019 and hope to see an increase this year. But we'll have fun anyways. Greg P won in 2019 as the top 12 entries picked USA. Will Eric's "Foster's Football Brew" be back this year? I hope so! If anyone else wants to contribute, let me know. Anyone else going to down under and want to send pictures or mini-reports?
The best way to keep up with the pool is to follow @HWCI_Pools on Twitter or visit the #hwciWWC hashtag (you don't need Twitter account to view) often for daily updates. Less often will be our Facebook group page (post comments or organize viewing parties) and then these newsletters every 4 days or so.
Here are the basics:
WHAT: 3rd HWCI Women's World Cup Soccer Office Pool FEE: $10.00 USD per entry (up to 3 entries per person) Enter Now! DEADLINE: 12:01 a.m. PDT on Thursday, July 20th (if by mail postmark by WED PM) WHO: Anyone with ten bucks! Invite friends! REFERRAL: For those who participated previously (or this year), refer 5 new people and get a free entry with one paid SOCCER STAT: USA is the 2-time defending World Cup champion PAYMENT: PayPal $10 to hwci(at)hotmail.com (personal or gift, no credit cards) PayPal $10.61 to smt0222(at)yahoo.com (credit card okay) Venmo $10 to @smt0222 (personal or gift, last 4 digits: 3771) Google Pay $10 to smt0222(at)gmail.com (personal or gift) Mail $10 (email worldcup(at)hwci.com for snail mail address) WINNERS: 1998: Fernando B (Le Bix) $115 (21 entries) 2002: Tina M (Puna) $110 (23) 2006: Cynthia S (Elastigirl) $220 (44) 2010: Joseph D (Forza Pazza) $310 (69) 2014: Tim H (EEChick1400) $345 (75) 2015W: Ed L (Thecomebacker) $110 (22) 2018: Mike W (Walleye) $355 (79) 2019W: Greg P (From the Pubs!) $220 (44) 2022: Fernando B (Soccerbix) $510 (109)
For more info, see the "Rules" or read our FAQ. Then please enter online using our Web Entry page or download the form and fill the last page out and email to worldcup(at)hwci.com.
SIDES 'N KICKS: Iceland (#15), Austria (#18), and Belgium (#19) were 3 of 9 top 32 teams that didn't qualify... host QAT is ranked #50 but not as bad as 2010 host South Africa which entered the tourney #83 and was the first host to not make it past the group stage... #25 NZL, #10 AUS, USA, SWE, GER, ENG, FRA, and #7 Spain were in Pot 1... C4-Japan, SWE, USA, B3-Nigeria, F3-Brazil, A2-Norway, and GER have qualified for all 9 WWCs... USA is the heavy odds-on favorite at 2.25:1 followed by ENG (4.5:1), ESP (5.5:1), GER (7:1), and FRA (10:1)... Mauritius is last in the FIFA rankings at #188 (there are 211 men's teams)... only 4 teams have won the WWC (USA 4, GER 2, JPN, NOR).. Tazuni (mixture of Tasman Sea and Unity) is the mascot, a penguin which both my kids love... Auckland (NZL) will host the opening ceremonies at midnight Thursday... while the 2026 WC logo is bland but tailorable, the 2023 WWC is odd as well with patches of color surrounding a soccer ball; but I do like the AU and NZ lettering... USA's group has all its teams in the top 32 (#9 E2-Netherlands and #21 E4-Portugal)... Group C and F each have two teams outside the top 32 (#36 C2-Costa Rica and ZAM; #43 F2-Jamaica and #52 F4-Panama)... Group D has three teams in the top 15 (ENG, #13 D3-Denmark, #14 D4-China PR)... #53 D2-Haiti, POR, and PAN were the last 3 teams to qualify in the first-ever Intercontinental Playoff tournament... Russia's war with Ukraine continues and the women's team couldn't play in qualifiers so were eliminated; Chad and Pakistan were also suspended by FIFA for governance violations... and additional 40 teams withdrew from qualifiers with most not fielding women's teams...
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In-laws will be conflicted between USA and Vietnam...
Scott
HWCI circa 1990
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