Redos and Stuggles (7/22)

CATALINA CLASSIC CRUISES, LONG BEACH, CA - Like C1-Spain, E1-USA dominated its opponent yet struggled to score.  The 3-0 win is a far cry from their 13-0 rout vs Thailand in 2019's WWC opener as E2-Vietnam held firm on defense, fouling early (the ref let them play) to frustrate the Americans.  USA held VIE without a shot (soon to be joined by C3-Zambia) and was working at slow speed most of the match, despite having 26 shots.  One of their few pushes forward resulted in a great goal with Alex Morgan making a great flick to Shopia Smith who ran down the ball and put it under the legs of VIE's 5'5" GK, the first of her 2 goals.  Her second goal got through a mass of bodies and also went under the legs of the GK.  Hopefully, goal differential won't be a factor.

C4-Japan also had 26 shots but scored 5 times and also held ZAM without a shot, which on paper was the most uneven match (JPN #11, ZAM #77 -- difference of 66 spots).  JPN's Mina Tanaka had 2 goals taken away via VAR (offsides) but Hinata Miyazawa did score twice.  JPN is currently in 1st in Group C due to goal differential (hint, hint, USA) over ESP.  

Group D completed play with D1-England struggling and needing a retaken PK (also happened for JPN's 5th goal) to edge out #53 D2-Haiti, 1-0.  In the most competitive match on paper thus far between #13 D4-China PR and #15 D3-Denmark, DEN got their only shot on goal in the 90' which went in to sneak out a 1-0 victory.  This was the 9th game of the WWC and first to not feature VAR and the first to not have a penalty kick attempt.  There were 4 VARs in JPNvZAM match.

Didn't think USA needed any help so wore my 2023 Home Inter Miami pink jersey (took them so long to go pink) and watched Messi's debut on Univision live and when he got the stoppage time free kick attempt, like when David Beckham came to the LA Galaxy, you had a feeling he was going to score, and he did (both did it in non-MLS matches, Beckham's first real FK attempt was a goal in a SuperLiga game, this one a Leagues Cup game).  So awesome and great for MLS's profile.

In the pool, 25 went 4-0 with Jolly Old England and ShrimpOnTheBarbie tied for 1st with 8 points.  All 47 barely got ENG, 46 USA, 42 JPN, and 29 DEN.  7 are tied for last with 5 pts.

Misses and Messi (7/21)

HOME - On neutral ground, the crowds have trended towards the underdogs, willing #42 B3-Nigeria to a chippy 0-0 draw with #6 B4-Canada including an incredible GK save on CAN's Christine Sinclair's PK attempt and cheering on #49 A3-Philippines to almost the first score in the first 16 minutes before succumbing to #20 A4-Switzerland, 2-0.  

Fans did love the attacking style of C1-Spain as they peppered C2-Costa Rica with 3 goals in 7 minutes in the first half but missed a PK and had 46 shots but only scored twice (one own goal).  CRC's GK made about 10 saves.  Five ESP had at least 5 shots each.

In five matches, one PK has been awarded (3 awarded via VAR) in each match and three have been missed, two saves and one off the crossbar.  If you include the last 5 PK attempts of 2019's WWC, 6 of 10 have not been converted.  So my 2020 Canada home jersey didn't help them and while my plums are done, our pomegranates are getting bigger and bigger. 

While America's attention is on the WWC thanks to MLS taking a month off (okay, there is the Leagues Cup) and CONCACAF having its Gold Cup Final last Sunday, the attention will once again get distracted as one of the world's best players (all-time) is expected to make his debut at 4 pm PDT when Lionel Messi's new team, MLS's bottom dweller Inter Miami, plays Cruz Azul (Liga MX) in their Leagues Cup opener.  But luckily it doesn't conflict with the WWC schedule since at 6 pm, USA takes on Vietnam to start their journey for a 3rd consecutive WWC title.

In the pool, three got all 3 matches correct and all 3 are tied for first with 4 points.  Big Blue, Jolly Old England, and ShrimpOnTheBarbie take pole position while 8 are tied for last with 2 points, including yesterday's leader, Tiny Destroyer, who was the only one to miss all 3 games.  Three got NGA-CAN tie, 40 got SUI, and 46 got ESP.

Shocker from Down Under (7/20)

EL SEGUNDO, CA -- A1-New Zealand had played 15 WWC matches and had won none (0-12-3) and if you watched the jitters they had in the first few minutes, with turnovers and hesitation, I thought one-time champion A2-Norway was going to win easily.  But playing at home in front a NZL soccer record 42,137 fans in Auckland, speed from the back ended with a great cross and finish in the 48' for NZL.  That was enough to give NZL their first WWC win.

Two VAR checks on NOR handballs resulted in just the latter being awarded a PK which NZL missed to create more drama.  Interesting that if ref reverses her call, she announces the change to the stadium crowd.  Really cool.

So watched the midnight start and working on the pool until the 3 am start for the second game, which saw B1-Australia hold off B2-Rep of Ireland in front an AUS women's soccer record of 75,784 fans in Sydney.  AUS also scored early on a PK in the 2nd half (51') as both hosts won 1-0.  Wore my 2017 Sydney FC (AUS) home jersey (since this AUS's one game in Sydney in group stage) with one of the last plums on our tree (we picked more than 100 plums the past few weeks).

Unofficially, we have a WWC-record 47 entries from a WWC-record 34 people.  Of course, E1-USA is the overwhelming pick to win their 3rd straight title (26) but H1-Germany (6), D1-England (5), and C1-Spain (5) also got some love.  

Three picked NZL (TroJenn, TroJenn2, Tiny Destroyer) and 44 of 47 picked AUS to win with the two TroJenns tied with 2 points a piece.  KevLo 3 and Merman got both matches wrong.

Admin Pick # 2

So, here is my second entry in hopes of the final being played at 3 am here on the West Coast:  3am Down Under.  

A big dump of entries today pushes our total past 2019's record of 44.  We currently, unofficially, have 47 entries now.  You can view your picks using the menu above.  I'll be emailing this link to everyone so they can double-check any errors.  Good luck!  1st match starts in 5 minutes!

Admin Pick # 1

Well, thanks to my self-imposed limitation of 21 characters for a nickname, I can't fit Futbol Fabone Doke Doke, which is 14 in Australian Aboriginal Wotjobaluk counting system, which are based on body parts (e.g., little finger is 1).  If I wanted to use the te reo Māori (New Zealand) translation, that would be Futbol Fabone Tekau Mā Whā.  Too long.

So back to English for Football Fabone 14, my main entry into the pool.  It's our 14th soccer pool (7 men's World Cups, 3 Euros, 3 Women's World Cups, and 1 Special (MLS is Back)).  I plan to have a 2nd entry tomorrow with USA not winning it all... can the Aussies do it?

Just over 24 hours to enter our pool.  Good luck!