Host Pushed Aside (8/19)

PREPARING FOR TROICAL STORM IN LA MIRADA, CA - Even with no corner kicks (their forte), 1G-Sweden still easily took care of the hosts, 1B-Australia, 2-0 in the 3rd place match.  Both teams took it seriously with strong starting lineups and a lot of chippiness including a great two-handed shove by AUS on the SWE player.  SWE gets their fourth 3rd place medal to along with a 2nd place finish.  5 semifinals in 9 tourneys is pretty good, but still no trophy to show for it.  

The hosts survived a 2nd match shock loss to Nigeria before shocking France in penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.  Record TV ratings supported the team throughout the tourney though AUS tied for the most losses (3) with four other teams (AUS played 4 more games).

Lots of soccer news with USWMT needing a new coach, Messi mania as he goes for a trophy in Leagues Cup, and MLS's LA teams postponing Sunday matches due to tropical storm (from Hurricane Hilary) set to hit Sunday (really, with LAGvLAFC postponed earlier this year, both LA teams have two home games moved due to weather).

Tiebreakers do not matter for the top 4 spots but the total goals tiebreaker is at 2 with one match to go.  Will Tom J win with Kds911-2 (ESP wins) or Kds911-3 (ENG wins) and can he place both in 1st and 2nd (ENG wins)?  7 entries vying for the final 3 money spots.

Kerr-fuffle (8/16)

EL SEGUNDO, CA - In front of a sellout crowd of 75,784, 1B-Australia's injured superstar Sam Kerr walloped a 22-yard strike in the 63' to level the match with 1D-England at 1.  But a bad shielding play allowed ENG to poke one in 8 minutes later en route to a 3-1 final score.  Kerr had several more opportunities but tired legs (it was her first start) skied one high from close range.  The will-she or won't-she start put Kerr in a bad spot of playing the whole match, where the first 45 was uneventful.  

ENG makes its first WWC final and hope to raise a second trophy after winning the Women's Euros last July.  Hopefully host AUS will soon realize that going after that 3rd place finish will reward the tremendous fans with one final victory lap.  ENG v ESP should be high-quality passing and entertaining soccer with two giants battling it out.

21 entries had ENG making the Final with Kds911-2 (1st, 131) and The Naomi Girma Era (2nd-Tied, 119) getting both ENG and ESP.  21 had neither.  ENG and ESP were each picked by 5 entries to win it all, behind USA's 26 and GER's 6.  Thus, we don't know which entry will win the pool.  But we do know it will be Tom J, as he wins with either Kds911-2 (ESP win) or Kds911-3 (4th, 118) (ENG win).  An ENG win will give him 1st and 2nd!  And his main entry, Kds911 is tied for 2nd but is eliminated while Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! is 11th but can still win 4th.  The Naomi Girma Era is tied for 2nd but can't win the pool while Kds911-3 is 4th but can still win the pool.  7 entries are alive but only Kds911-2 is guaranteed money, leaving 7 vying for the final 3 money spots.

Deja Vu (8/15)

HOME, CA - I know it was past 2:30 am and I have been traveling with little sleep and just got back to the West Coast, but didn't I see this before?  Once again, 2C-Spain scored in the 81' like they did against the Netherlands.  Once again, ESP relaxed and allowed their opponent to tie it very late as 1G-Sweden took 7:01 to strike back in the 88', like NED tied it in the 90'+1.  And once again, ESP scored the game-winner, this time just 90 seconds later in the 89' instead of in Extra Time.  The 2-1 win put ESP in their first Final and SWE is now 1-4 in WWC semifinals.  Of all things, a corner kick led to the game-winning goal and this time it was from ESP, not SWE.

For a team where 12 players sat out of the WWC to protest the coach, ESP's 1.5 team is pretty good.  SWE, who had goal line technology and the crossbar on their side this tournament (GLT for game-winning PSO goal vUSA, GLT for no goal off JPN's PK off the crossbar), could not escape this time as the ball off the crossbar bounced easily inside the goal.

7 had ESP making the final while two lost SWE as their champion, leaving 8 entries alive and just 3 who can win the pool.  Although 3 entries can win, it's actually between two people.  Rob C (CarinJennings-IsGOAT (2nd, 117 pts) wins the pool if 1B-Australia wins their semifinal and Tom J (Kds911-2 (1st, 122) or Kds911-3 (6th, 109)) wins if 1D-England wins their semifinal.  Only Kds911-2 has clinched at least a tie for 4th place so 7 entries are vying for the final 3 spots.  Lavelle Lover is 3rd (113) but can't win the pool while Kds911-3 can win it.  Kds911 is 4th but is eliminated while Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! is 12th but finish 4th.

And Messi scored again - he's scored in six straight matches.

Thrillers (8/12)

OTTAWA, ON - Missed the 3 am and 6 am EDT matches due to IEEE Sections Congress here at the Shaw Center and was spoiled on both matches.  However, watching the replay of the entire 1B-Australia and 1F-France penalty shootout was crazy.  The tourney's 10th nil-nil tie saw a record 10-round PSO with AUS coming up on top, 7-6. AUS's GK made back-to-back saves (the first she was off her line too early, the re-take, guessed right again), 4 posts were hit (only 1 bouncing in for a goal), and another GK took a kick (AUS's game-clincher hit the right post in the 5th round).  Host AUS's win prevented an all-Euro semifinals.

1D-England rallied to beat 1H-Colombia, 2-1, the 6th time a team allowed to first goal and won.  The Euro winners got a lucky game tying goal right before halftime (7th minute of stoppage) as the GK fumbled for an easy tap in.  No one will forget the great fans of COL making every game a home game or their purple jerseys.  COL outshot ENG 15-9.

Wore my IEEE Rising Stars jersey promoting our 10th anniversary in front of the Ottawa sign in ByWard Market area going to a restaurant Somewhere.  No, seriously, the place is called Somewhere Dine Bar.

AUS's win guaranteed Kds911-2 at least a tie for 4th place as 18 picked AUS to make the semis.  26 picked ENG as 13 both both games correct while 16 got none.  Two lost FRA as their champ.  10 got 3 of 4 semifinalists while 7 got none of the teams correct.  Tom J's three entries are the top 3.  Kds911-2 still leads with 113 pts with Kds911 second with 110 pts (but can't finish higher than 4th), and Kds911-3 third with 109 pts.  

7 other entries are still alive and five can still win the pool.  CarinJennings-IsGoat (4th, 108) has the best chance to win the pool (37.5%).  More$ is 7th (105) but is eliminated while The Naomi Girma Era is tied for 12th and can finish 2nd.  The aforementioned Kds911 can't win the pool while Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! is 11th (103) but can still win it all.

The Final Four scenarios are below:

If SPAIN beats AUSTRALIA in Final…
1st	CarinJennings-IsGOAT	140
2nd	Kds911-2	136
3rd	Lavelle Lover	127
4th	The Naomi Girma Era	124
If AUSTRALIA beats SPAIN in Final…
1st	CarinJennings-IsGOAT	126
2nd	Kds911-2	122
3rd	Eggman 2	116
4th	Lavelle Lover	113
If SPAIN beats ENGLAND in Final…
1st	Kds911-2	145
2nd	The Naomi Girma Era	133
3rd	CarinJennings-IsGOAT	131
4th	Lavelle Lover	127
If ENGLAND beats SPAIN in Final…
1st	Kds911-3	132
2nd	Kds911-2	131
3rd	Jolly Old England	129
4th	Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!!	126
If SWEDEN beats AUSTRALIA in Final…
1st	ShrimpOnTheBarbie	127
2nd	CarinJennings-IsGOAT	117
3rd	Eggman 2	116
4th	Kds911-2	113
If AUSTRALIA beats SWEDEN in Final…
1st	CarinJennings-IsGOAT	117
2nd	Eggman 2	116
3rd-Tied	ShrimpOnTheBarbie	113	Tie:	2.5	Wins 3rd if <=5, 4th if >=6
3rd-Tied	Kds911-2	113	Tie:	8.0	Wins 4th if <=5, 3rd if >=6
If SWEDEN beats ENGLAND in Final…
1st	ShrimpOnTheBarbie	136
2nd	Kds911-2	122
3rd	Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!!	121
4th	Kds911	119
If ENGLAND beats SWEDEN in Final…
1st	Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!!	135
2nd	Kds911-3	132
3rd	Jolly Old England	129
4th-Tie	ShrimpOnTheBarbie	122	Tie:	2.5	Wins 4th if <=5
4th-Tie	Kds911-2	122	Tie:	8.0	Wins 4th if >=6