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.

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

One Step Forward, One Step on Back (8/7)

KAISER HOSPITAL, DOWNEY, CA - Like the #1 USA, #4 1D-England has had trouble scoring, barely beating #53 Haiti and #13 Denmark by 1-0 scores.  An outburst against China PR gave fans hope, but once again ENG struggled, not scoring in 120 minutes vs #40 2B-Nigeria.  NGA at one point outshot ENG 6-0 but NGA also had to settle for their 3rd 0-0 match.  Despite being a player up for 33 minutes due to a bonehead stomp by ENG's Lauren James on a downed NGA's player back that VAR correctly notified the ref "nope, that's a definite red, not yellow", NGA couldn't find the game-winner.  In penalties, 3 of the first 4 players missed (1 ENG, 2 NGA) before ENG nailed the last three, downing NGA 4-2.

Talk about being the focal point of the game, VAR intervened on a judgement call in the box and prodded the ref to change her call in the 31', negating the foul and penalty kick.  It didn't seem like a suggestion, but an order from up high.  Not clear and obvious and too bad the VAR officials wanted their 15 minutes of fame.

Meanwhile, co-host 1B-Australia weathered an early 2D-Denmark attack and got a goal in each half to advance to the quarters, 2-0.  Sam Kerr entered this WWC for the first time in the 80' after the brouhaha of her injury status at the start of the first match.  Wore my 2008 home AUS jersey when the cartoon kangaroo was in the logo.

46 had ENG making the quarters and 32 AUS and 27 got both while Rutin4Putin missed both.  Six R16 matches in, ten have gotten 5 of 6 teams and four only got 2 of 6.  Kds911-2 leads with 87 points with More$ second with 86.  Lavelle Lover and Vlatko Better Win are tied for 3rd (85).  Just 4 entries were eliminated leaving 28 alive and just one can't win the pool, leaving 16 with a chance to win the pool.  Kds911-2 has the best chance at 1st (15.6%) and money (59.8%).  Hawkeye is tied for 10th but can't win the pool while GenX99er is 26th but can still win it.  Sieger is tied for 13th (80) but is eliminated while Sebastian is tied for 34th and can still finish 2nd.  Tiny Destroyer is last with 53 pts (but can get up to 72 pts).

Just Win Not Draw (7/31)

BOYS & GIRLS CLUB, BOY SCOUTS, CYPRESS, CA - Co-Host B1-Australia needed to win to guarantee a spot in the Round of 16 while B4-Canada needed just a draw so it was AUS coming on hot getting a VAR assisted goal in the 9' en route to a 4-0 win, eliminating the defending Olympic Champions as B3-Nigeria just needed to lose not as badly as CAN, and drew B2-Rep of Ireland, 0-0 to clinch 2nd.  

Earlier, C2-Japan needed to win to win Group C while C1-Spain just needed a draw or win.  JPN let ESP have all the passing (925 to 625) and possession (68%-21%) and on their first three attacks/counterattacks into the final third, great finishing put JPN up 3-0 before the half.  A great 4th goal after wresting the ball from the sideline made the final score 4-0 as JPN finished the group with 11 goals with no goals allowed.  C3-Zambia, ranked #77, broke through with 3 goals in beating C2-Costa Rica, 3-1.  ZAM's second goal off a PK was the WWC's 1000th goal scored.  

I really needed to get the stink of watching the LA Galaxy blow a late 1-0 and lose 2-1 off an own goal and deflected blocked shot to Vancouver as LAG blew chance after chance.  JPN, had just 8 shots, 6 on goal, and scored 4.  Each one was just a breakaway where you saw the play build up (like most times) but with precision finishing.  Think of JPN's slash line of 8/6/4 compared to ESP's first match of 46/14/2 (one was an own goal).  Efficient.  Wore my 2012 JPN home jersey, the women's one with the pink line ("All Support for Japan"), 2011 WWC winners patch, and gold star while admiring the beautiful dusk after that crappy game in Carson.

E1-USA only needs to draw to advance... not a good omen (see CAN and ESP above) and if they do win but lose on goal differential to E3-Netherlands (let's hope E2-Vietnam's 5'-5" GK keeps playing like a superstar), a #1 v #3 R16 matchup with G1-Sweden is a high possibility.

Group C concluded with Kds911 (3rd-Tied, 38 pts) the only one to pick both JPN and ZAM to win and with 46 having ESP in R16 and 45 JPN, the only one to pick up all 8 points in Group C.  31 went 0-2 and three just got ESP or JPN, but not both.  44 got both.  Leader Eggman 2 (3rd-T) and last place Tiny Destroyer (47th, 24) each only got 3 of 8 points.

Group B concluded with BigRedMessiUSA (19th-T, 35) and More$ (3rd-T) the only two to get both AUS's win (picked by 20) and CRC-NGR draw (6).  23 went 0-2.  All 47 had AUS (barely) in their R16 but no one had NGR (45 lost CAN), meaning BigRedMesssiUSA and More$ got 5 of 8 points in Group B while 23 got 3 of 8.  

Combined, Hawkeye and Vlatko Better Win are tied for first with 39 points with six tied for 3rd with 38.  

Issue #4.1.3 "Underdogs Roar Back" (After 24 Matches)

 Archive

Thursday, July 27, 2023 
Dailies: July 25-26-27 

PHILIPPINES AND NIGERIA STUN CO-HOSTS; USA DRAWS
Eggman 2 takes the lead with 19 points

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) --  After 24 matches, underdogs put on a show with #46 A3-Philippines (two California-born players leading the way) stunning co-host A1-New Zealand 1-0 and #40 B3-Nigeria rallying with three straight goals to beat co-host B1-Australia, 3-2.  B4-Canada had to rally to prevent #22 B2-Rep of Ireland from an upset, winning 2-1.  C4-Japan scored twice in two minutes in the first half but settled for a 2-0 win over C2-Costa Rica which allowed C1-Spain to edge JPN on goal differential when they put up 5 against C3-Zambia.  ESP and JPN both advance to the Round of 16 but ESP holds the GD edge to win the group if they tie in their last match.

In the competitive matches between teams just ranked 8 spots apart, both matches drew with #20 A4-SUI and #12 A2-Norway producing the third nil-nil draw and #9 E3-Netherlands allowing a second-half goal to tie #1 E1-USA, 1-1 (in the first of 3 matches between top 10 teams (upcoming CANvAUS and F1-France vs F3-Brazil)).

USA came out strong in the first 10 minutes and then listed in the first half as NED struck first in the 17', the first time USA has trailed in a WWC match since 2011 (17 matches).  USA uncharacteristically made just one sub the whole match, but Rose Lavelle's halftime entry seemed to spark the team, even picking up a yellow in the 51' and providing the corner kick assist to Lindsey Horan in the 62'.  Horan was just taken out hard by club teammate (Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)) Danielle van de Donk (no foul as Donk got to the ball first) and a shoving match ensued. But on the next play, she scores off the corner (interestingly, Horan is the only USA player to not play for the NWSL). 

Host Hangover (7/27)

THE BURGER DEN (aka, DENNY'S), EL SEGUNDO, CA - Host B1-Australia suffered the same fate as co-host A1-New Zealand, losing to the worst team in the group after winning their first match.  AUS actually scored first against #40 B3-Nigeria but NGR quickly tied it at 1 in the 45'+6 heading into halftime.  Two quick strikes 7 minutes apart stunned AUS and although AUS got a late stoppage time goal (+10), it was too late in falling 3-2.  NGA gave Africa their first win of the tourney (1-4-1) and are 2nd in Group B.  With B2-Rep of Ireland already eliminated, B4-Canada, NGA, and AUS are fighting for the two spots.

E3-Netherlands scored in the 17' against a listless E1-USA team, the first time USA has trailed in a WWC since 2011 (17 matches).  A hard no-call tackle on Lindsey Horan fired her up and seconds later scored a header off a corner kick in the 62' to tie it at 1.  A more inspired USA team, despite making only one sub, nearly netted the game-winner (offsides).  The 1-1 draw snapped USA's WWC record win streak at 13. 

E4-Portugal had reasons to smile getting 28 shots off against E2-Vietnam, but only managed to win 2-0.  VIE, without a shot against USA, got their first shot in the 3' and first shot on goal in the 43' but were the 4th team eliminated in this WWC.  Assuming both USA and NED beat up POR and VIE, USA currently has a +2 goal differential lead to win the group.

Wore my 2016 Vietnam home jersey (after visiting in 2019) and took a peak at the Toyota Center for Innovation in STEM Education on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills while walking to the LA Galaxy-Leon Leagues Match, that was postponed from Tuesday.

8 went 2-1 leaving Eggman 2 on top with 19 pts.  Jolly Old England and Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! are tied for 2nd with 18 pts.  Four went 0-3 including my 3am Down Under (25th-Tied, 15).  Tiny Destroyer is still last with 9 pts.  40 got POR and 7 got the USA-NED draw.  Two kids in our pool, Kung Fu Master Kai (44th-T, 12) and Pink Penguino (25th-T) were the only two to get NGA's win correct.

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.

Issue #1.0.1 "Can USA Three-Peat?" (Kickoff Issue)

 Archive

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. 

Issue #5.1.4 "The Axe Forgets" (After Group Stage)

Archive

Friday, December 2, 2022  

GHANA AND USA EXTRACT REVENGE, BEL & GER OUT
Kankleiscious is alone in 1st; no eliminations until end of Round of 16

WORK FROM HOME (smt) -- Although it has been 24 years since B2-IR Iran shocked B3-USA and 12 years since H2-Ghana lost in Quarters to H3-Uruguay on a sure game-winning goal nullified by a blatant handball by Luis Suarez, there is an African proverb that is used in Star Wars: Andor - the axe forgets but the tree remembers.  USA battled political questions at press conferences and US Soccer sabotaging players and survived IRN 1-0 to advance to the Round of 16 for the 4th time in their last 5 WCs.  A first-half goal on a crushing run by Christian Pulisic was just enough to erase the 1998 memories.  GHA, after going down 2-0 early with slim hopes of advancing, bunkered down and played spoiler, preventing URU from the R16-clinching 3rd goal as URU may have won 2-0 but were eliminated.  Like the 2010 QF vURU, GHA missed a PK that started their downfall.

While just 11% of teams who lose their first match make the R16, 3 of the first 5 teams (60%) advanced (A3-Senegal, C1-Argentina, D2-Australia).  The last 6 teams did not make it so it ended up being 3/11 (27.3%).  On the flip side, just 16% of teams who win their first match fail to qualify and 2 of the first 5 (40%) did miss out (A2-Ecuador, C2-Saudi Arabia).  Just 1 of the final 6 teams failed to qualify (F1-Belgium, ending that Golden Generation) so it ended up being 3/11 as well (27.3%).  5 teams (C3-Mexico, D4-Tunisia, E3-Germany, G4-Cameroon, and URU) did win their last match but also failed to qualify. 

A4-Netherlands and B1-England picked up easy wins while 3 teams who had already clinched lost (D1-France 0-1 to TUN, G1-Brazil 0-1 to CMR, and H1-Portugal 1-2 to H4-Korea Republic).  ENG actually finished with the best record (7 pts, GD+7) as no team won 3 games for the first time since 1994.  There was just one tie in the last 16 matches (F4-Croatia 0-0 to BEL).

Dum-founded! (12/3)

WHITTIER, CA -- 1A-Netherland's Denzel Dumfries had two excellent low crosses that led to goals, one early (10') and a dagger before halftime (45'+1'), and then scored himself in the 81' on a wide open strike to lead NED to a 3-1 win over 2B-USA.  USA had a 54%-33% possession advantage, but that was by design as NED's first two shots on goal were goals.  Clinical finishing.  USA missed a point blank open shot in the 3', NED finished theirs.  USA did outshot NED 18-11 (7-6 on goal) but spent a lot of energy early.

NED was getting sloppy and USA finally capitalized on a Christian Pulisic cross that happened to hit the back of Haji Wright's foot and the ball leapt over the 6'-8" GK and into the goal to cut the deficit to 2-1.  But that only lasted five minutes as Dumfries scored to seal the victory.  NED is now unbeaten in their last 19 matches and USA is now 0-4 against UEFA teams in the R16.

Lionel Messi scored for 1C-Argentina early and an AUS GK gaffe extended the lead to 2-0 in the 57'.  But an own goal off a deflection pulled 2D-Australia within one in the 77' and unlike the USA, they didn't allow the killer 3rd goal.  While ARG blew some chances, AUS had a few of their own including at the end (point blank but straight at the GK) and ARG goes to the Quarters winning 2-1.

Wore my authentic 2002 USA Home jersey in hopes of rekindling USA's QF run in 2002.  I kept my thoughts on the blog:

USA v NED - Live!

as the match wore on.  Had to wash the loss down with one SoCal's iconic taco shop, Arturo's Puffy Taco in Whittier.  If you haven't been, the classic ground beef taco is excellent and has been featured on the Food Channel.  It's one of those foods that you cannot find anywhere else.  You would think someone would mimic the formula so I wouldn't have to drive there when I have the craving.  

98 had ARG and 88 had NED in their QF.  Two (Cicero (86th-Tied, 58 pts) (who was tied for 1st on Nov 29) and Ugh, as If! (67th-T, 60)) lost USA as their champ.  81 got both ARG & NED while 4 got none.  Kankleiscious still in 1st with 74 points while Markofthebeast is last with 42 pts.  

FFB 6.1 - Foster's Football Brew 12.3.22.1

Foster's Football Brew 12.3.22.1

So there's some real irony watching Argentina play against Australia at an Outback Steakhouse at the international airport in Buenos Aires (EZE)!  I think Ken Berry (who introduced me to HWCI many years ago) told me it was founded in FLA, not AUS?! 

My half-Argentine heritage is fully rooting for La Albiceleste, along with everyone else here. Nearly every airline & airport worker is wearing an Argentina jersey, sometimes under their blazer!

Let's break down the key issues of this game per Argentine TV pundits earlier in the day:

1) No DiMaria- he's out with a a slight hamstring issue they'll want to preserve him for latter stages of the Tourney

2) Lack of speed and dribble-penetration skills on the right wing to create higher % chances - three choices to take DiMaria's spot, and they're going w Papu Gomez. The pundits all had criticisms of each, so we'll see how Gomez can fill in. The strategy will likely be different, with more emphasis on bringing the ball up the left wing.

3) No team can be taken for granted, as was the case w Saudi. ARG must study the Soceroos tactics and exploit their weaknesses while defending against the counterattack and crosses.

4) The Aussies are a tall team. ARG must limit corner kicks and crosses to minimize AUS goal scoring chances. 

This will be the second of four ARG games I've been forced to watch gojng to and from airports. At least the streets and freeways were empty both times!  Imagine a Super Bowl atmosphere x 10 for your team, every time there's ARG plays in the World Cup (or Copa América, for that matter) 

On a side note, I'm saving this pictured Budweiser, the Messi edition, hopefully as a form of champagne celebration at the conclusion of the World Cup!!

-FFF

Group Drama (11/30)

LA MIRADA, CA -- Yesterday, it was pretty straightforward towards the end with IRNvUSA and ECUvSEN being deciding matches.  Today, lots of drama in the final group matches of C and D as teams flip-flopped throughout the day until the final whistle.  D4-Tunisia shocked #4 D1-France's B team, 1-0, but it wasn't enough as D2-Australia shocked #10 D3-Denmark by the same score to take the 2nd place spot.  TUN was in 2nd spot for only minutes as AUS scored soon after.  DEN, needing two goals for any chance, tried to play spoiler to AUS but could not score.

C1-Argentina sat in 2nd after losing their first match and peppered C4-Poland but had their controversial PK saved in the first half.  POL was content with their superhuman GK (11 saves) even after ARG scored a couple of goals and needed to hold the line as they got outshot 25-4 and 13-0 on goal.  C3-Mexico need to make up at least four goals against POL or hope for ARG to lose.  After ARG scored to reduce the GD (goal differential) deficit to 3, MEX scored two goals (including a long FK golazo) in 6 minutes, their first goals of this WC, to cut the GD deficit to 1.  ARG scored again making MEX and POL even on GD, GF (goals for), and head-to-head (they tied).  The next tiebreaker was Fair Play (FP) points which POL started the day +2 but an early MEX yellow card increased it to +3. MEX needed a 3rd goal (almost got it in the 87' but auto-bot ruled offsides) to win on GF since POL wasn't trying to score.  But they came up short and missed the R16 for the first time since 1978 (8 straight when qualified, missed 1990 due to ban) and POL made their first R16 since 1986.

Two teams that won didn't make the R16 (TUN, MEX) and both teams also scored their first goals in their 3rd match..  Thus far, two teams with 4 points (ECU, TUN) and two teams that won their first match (ECU, KSA) failed to qualify.  AUS and ARG joined SEN as teams who lost their first match and made the R16.  All 4 matches were scoreless at the half (22 of 40 have been). 

I didn't have a MEX jersey so I wore my authentic 2022 MLS All-Star Liga MX jersey and pondered how far CONCACAF has fallen (save USA).

As it happened:

Kerr-fuffle (6/22)

1B-Germany scored early and recorded their 4th straight shutout, beating 3A-Nigeria, 3-0.  GER has now reached the Quarters in all 8 WWCs.  VAR reviewed the first two goals where the first it was ruled GER wasn't offsides in that the offside player was not interfering with the GK (though it was a busy box) and the second was another defender whiffing and kicking a player hard on the follow-through and VAR ruling a foul had occurred and PK was awarded. 

Topsy Turvy (6/18)

C1-Australia's Sam Kerr pounced on a C4-Jamaica GK mistake in the 83' and her 4th goal of the match proved to be the difference in securing 2nd place in Group C and facing 2A-Norway with a 4-1 win.  While C2-Italy and C3-Brazil were tied, AUS was comfortably in 2nd but a BRA PK by Marta (now the all-time WC, men's or women's, goal scorer with 17 passing GER's Miraslav Klose) in the 74' had put BRA into 2nd.  So despite BRA beating ITA 1-0 and both having 6 points (along with AUS), ITA takes 1st on goal differential and AUS takes 2nd on goals scored, leaving BRA to face either 1A-France or 1B-Germany.  Yikes.  Of course, had BRA scored again and won 2-0, they would have taken 1st (GD and GF with ITA would have been equal (both beat AUS on GD), so head-to-head comes into play).

AFC is Back (6/13)

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has had a nightmare of a WWC going 0-5-1 and that tie was the biggest upset with D4-Japan tying D3-Argentina.  But today, things have turned around.  After losing a 1-0 lead in a loss to C2-Italy, C1-Australia rallied from a two-goal deficit to stun C3-Brazil, 3-2, giving the AFC its first win.  It was just the second time a team has come back from 2-0 to win in the WWC.  Marta scored in her record 5th straight WWC with her record-extending 16th WWC goal on a penalty (a soft foul) and Cristiane scored her 3rd of the tourney to put BRA up 2-0.  AUS scored three straight times off long crosses into the box.  The first was headed and then put in before halftime, the second was let through freezing the GK for the game-tying goal, and the third was headed in by BRA into their own net.  The last was called offsides but upon VAR review, it was determined BRA's player had a controlled header on the cross was not impeded by AUS's offsides player (Monica) and therefore there was no offsides.  So we've had an own goal in 3 of the last 4 matches.  BRA made two subs at the half including taking out Marta and then used their 3rd sub to take out Cristiane in the 75' while down 3-2.  Very odd.

Defensive Lapses (6/9)

Should I stay or should I go?  C1-Australia's GK on a long free kick started to come out to the ball but then stopped allowing a header which weakly got past her and into the net for the game-winner in the 90'+5.  AUS's defense also allowed the tying goal as a bad touch out of the back was stolen by C2-Italy who scored to tie the game at 1.  This match I woke for around 5:40 in the morning and watching the last 10 minutes I really liked how AUS was playing (not knowing ITA had 2 goals taken away by offsides, one by a hair) but it was a soft foul in their end that allowed the free kick that led to the game-winner.  For a team that got trounced 3-0 by NED in their last game, I guess this was not unexpected.  First upset of the tourney.

C3-Brazil was riding a 9-game losing streak but

Surprising Results

Less than five days away from kicking off the 2019 Women's World Cup and some friendlies have had some surprising results.  On Saturday, #3 and Group D top seed England lost to #19 New Zealand (Group E), 1-0, and #6 and Group C top seed Australia got hammered by #8 Netherlands (Group E), 3-0.  On Sunday, a couple of friendlies in France saw #7 Japan (Group D) rally to tie #13 Spain (Group B) while #12 Norway was the least surprising in thrashing #49 South Africa (Group B) 7-2.  New Zealand will be the last World Cup team to play a friendly, traveling to face Wales on Tuesday.

We have 16 entries thus far, certain to surpass 2015's total of 22 and likely pass the 27 we got for Euro 2016.  We are a long ways off in catching the men's World Cup total of 79 entries last year but we shall see.  Because the World Cup 2018 pool started just five days before, technically we have more entries for the Women with five days to go (16 to zero) ;-)

Remember, you have until noon PDT on Friday to enter the pool.  Enter online now!

Oopsie is Costly (6/21)

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ -- D1-Argentina GK Wilfredo Caballero miskicked a ball played back to him straight into the air and D3-Croatia's Ante Rebic's eyes were wide with opportunity and hit a wicked shot past the keeper for the first score in the 53'.  Although it looked like an easy put in by Rebic, if you look at the replay, it was a great finish, a finish 98% of MLS players would not be able to do -- most would settle the ball, wait for it to stop, and then try to kick it past the keeper.  Croatia then took major advantage of two more opportunities against an Argentine team desperately trying to score and before you knew it, Messi and Argentina went down 3-0 and will need a lot of help if they want to make it to the Round of 16.  Croatia qualified for their 2nd trip to the Knockout Stage and like Switzerland vs Brazil, took advantage of a lenient ref to commit 23 fouls and spread the cautions among four players.

Meanwhile, C1-France qualified for the Round of 16 in the most

Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 8 (June 18 - Day 7)

None.. ..  

Match 20: AUSTRALIA v. NETHERLANDS

Date: Wednesday June 18, 2014  

Venue: Estadio Deira-Rio, PORTO ALEGRE

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

Maybe NED came into the match in letdown mode after dismantling ESP, and maybe they underestimated AUS .. .. Understandable on both, so it was not surprising when they were a bit lose with their passes and then overcompensated by over-hitting .. .. AUS hustled from the opening whistle, getting stuck-in and running their arses off .. ..

But, NED overcame all that in the 20th minute when ARJEN ROBBEN made a nice hard steal in the middle of the pitch, shrugged off an arm tackle before racing into the L/Box and smashing his L/Footer > L/Left .. ..

AUS then came right back in the 21st minute, with TIM CAHILL taking a long cross in the L/Box and brilliantly first-timing the volley over the stunned GK, off the bar into the net - WOW, WOW, WOW! It's too bad