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

Issue #8.2.1 "Early Exit Polls" (After Round of 16)

 Archive

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 

Dailies: Aug 5-6-7-8 

CHAMPS DOWN; ENGLAND SURVIVES; TOP TEAMS DAZZLE
Kds911-2 maintains 1-point lead but Lavelle Lover has best chance to win pool

HOME, CA (smt) --  Showing that their 4-0 loss to 1C-Japan was just a fluke, 2C-Spain exploded to a 4-1 halftime lead (scoring all 5 goals since 1A-Switzerland's goal was a Spanish own goal) to reach the quarterfinal in a 5-1 rout while JPN methodically broke a 1-1 halftime tie in a comfortable 3-1 win over 2A-Norway in a battle between #11 JPN and #12 NOR.  A potential rematch between JPN and ESP in the semifinals looms but they will have to win their quarterfinal matches first. 1F-France easily beat #72 2H-Morocco 4-0 and host 1B-Australia took care of business winning 2-0 over 2D-Denmark, that saw the brief return of Sam Kerr.  1E-Netherlands took advantage of winning the group beating #54 2G-South Africa, 2-0.

What wasn't a fluke?  2E-USA not being able to score.  Despite more controlling play, a stifling defense that only allowed one shot on goal, and lots of opportunities (21 shots, 12 on goal), USA went a full 120 minutes against 1G-Sweden scoreless (extending the goalless streak to 238 minutes) and then missed (not saved) three penalty kicks to lose 5-4.  A goal line technology "goal" showing the whole ball crossing the line by a hair was emblematic of USA's story this WWC.   That the highly reliable Meagan Rapinoe skied a penalty (years since she missed?) shows this WWC just didn't fit right with the USWNT, with odd substitutions, soft second yellow cards (not in this match though, the ref let them play), and talent on the field that looked more like an all-star team playing for the first time rather than a team.  If you look at it, USA only allowed two shots on goal the whole tournament.  Only allowed one goal (tied for best).  They tied and lost in the PSO to the #3 team in the world (not Nigeria, not Colombia).  #3.  They will finish 9th in this WWC as the best of the R16 losers but it doesn't make it any better (though Germany, Canada, and Brazil will say what about us?).

Back to Normal? (8/8)

HOME, CA - #5 1F-France scored four more goals and #25 1H-Colombia finally beat a team worse than them.  FRA left no doubt building a 3-0 halftime lead in beating #72 2H-Morocco, 4-0 including a wicked shot past an offside player who didn't interfere but watched the ball bounce off the left post and in.  MAR was ranked 67 spots worse than FRA but MAR had beaten #17 Korea Rep (55 spots better) and COL (47 spots better) but back to normal reigned supreme.  The aforementioned loss to MAR meant COL had only beat teams better than them (#2 Germany & KOR) but managed to squeak out a 1-0 win over #43 2F-Jamaica.  JAM allowed their first goal of the tourney and it cost them (they finished an odd 1 goal for-1 goal against in 4 matches).

So 7 of the 8 group winners made the quarterfinals (sorry, 1A-Swiss) which is why USA, you needed to score goals and win the group.  All 3 African and both CONCACAF teams lost while both Asian/Australian teams advanced with 5 Europeans and South American COL.  Wore my 2019 away France hexagon-dot jersey with rose pink logo in front of the sprawling Downey Kaiser hospital campus.

39 got FRA and GenX99er (21st, 81 pts) got COL.  40 went 1-1 while 7 went 0-2.  For the Round of 16, eight got 6 of 8 teams and two (Pink Penguino (45th, 66) and Rutin4Putin (46th, 64)) got just 2 of 8.  Kds911-2 maintains the one point lead (92 pts) over More$ with Lavelle Lover and Vlatko Better Win tied for 3rd (90).  Leader Tom J also sits tied for 5th (Kds911 (89)) and tied for 8th (Kds911-3, 88).  Tiny Destroyer is still last (58) but Rutin4Putin is the only entry that can't pick up any more points.

Despite picking COL, FRA winning eliminated GenX99er from the money along with two others, leaving 25 entries still in the running.  While leader Kds911-2 has the best chance to finish in the top 4 (51.6%), it's Lavelle Lover with the best chance to win the pool now (14.8%).  9 entries have a better than 1 in 5 chance to win money and 13 can still win the pool as the #3, #4, #5, and #6 ranked teams are still alive.

Hawkeye is tied for 10th (87) but can't win the pool while Jota is tied for 18th (82) and can still be champ.  Flying Elvi is tied for 16th (83) but is eliminated while Sebastian is tied for 34th (76) and can still win 2nd place.

Issue #5.1.4 "First Points" (After 32 Matches)

 Archive

Sunday, July 30, 2023 

Dailies: July 28-29-30 

JAMAICA, SOUTH AFRICA, MOROCCO PICK UP FIRST-EVER POINTS; GERMANY FALTERS
Eggman 2 remains in the lead with 23 points of 32 possible

CARSON, CA (smt) --  After 32 matches, each team has played two matches each (even though Group A got a head start, finishing their 3rd matches a half hour before H1-Germany vs H3-Colombia started).  H2-Morocco, F2-Jamaica, and G2-South Africa picked up their first ever WWC points joining E4-Portugal and A3-Philippines earlier this week.  MAR got an early 6' goal to beat H4-Korea Rep, 1-0, to stay alive in Group H.  In a rare battle between two CONCACAF teams in the group stage, #43 JAM edged out #52 F4-Panama to stay alive and eliminate the Panamanians. #54 RSA led 2-0 in the 66' but G4-Argentina scored twice in 5 minutes to end it on a 2-2 draw, RSA's first-ever point. 

While D1-England struggles to score, they still are winning, and with D4-China PR's VAR-infected 1-0 win over D2-Haiti, all four Group D matches ended in a 1-0 score line.  #5 F1-France, which opened with a lackluster 0-0 draw with JAM, finally showed up outlasting #8 F3-Brazil, 2-1 and G3-Sweden, who had to come from behind to beat RSA in their opener, showed they are the #3 team in the world in destroying #16 G3-Italy, 5-0 with three goals off corner kicks (4 for SWE in tournament).  #2 GER had a chance to assert themselves further after their earlier 6-0 win over MAR, but fell behind to #25 COL and then lost on a 90'+7 stoppage time goal (you guessed it, off a corner kick), which kept KOR alive.  The rockin' stadium full of Colombian fans has seen COL upset the two teams above them and now face #72 MAR to try to clinch Group H.

Stoppage Time Game Winner (7/30)

HOME, CA - Let's start of with Group H, which were the buns to the meat of Group A for some reason.  The day started with H2-Morocco scoring on a diving header in the 6' that stood up for their first-ever win, beating H4-Korea Rep, 1-0.  The #73 ranked team nearly held KOR with zero shots on goal (FIFA after the match had KOR with 14 shots, none on goal; ESPN had 17 shots, 3 on goal; FIFA corrected itself to 17-1) to stay alive in Group H. 

The day ended with a shocking H3-Colombian 2-1 upset of #2 H1-Germany on a wicked header off a corner kick in the 7th minute of stoppage time (only +6 was revealed).  GER had tied in on a PK in the 89' but the Colombian fans were passionate and loud in the stadium to help put COL on top of the group.  COL, who upset KOR earlier, actually kept KOR alive with the win, as a GER win/draw would have eliminated the South Koreans.  All four teams are still alive.

In between the Group H matches, Group A had their final stage and A2-Norway, scoreless through two matches, needed a big win and they got it, routing A3-Philippines, 6-0, to take second.  Co-host A1-New Zealand, needing to win after NOR went up 3-0 at halftime, could not push through despite their GK helping (and getting a shot) in the 7 minutes of stoppage time.  A4-Switzerland, needing just a draw, got it with the tourney's 4th nil-nil draw to win Group A.  NZL becomes the first WWC host (maybe B1-Australia is next?) to not make the knockout stage and did it in the most improbable way - beating #12 NOR, tying #20 SUI, and losing to #49 PHI.  What could've been, and hopefully the Kiwis will still support the rest of the WWC.

With four GER players and one NOR player playing for FC Bayen München, wore my 2021 home FC Bayen München jersey, complete with 5th star (30th title), UCL 6 starball, and 2020 FIFA World Champion patch.  Those palm leaves are getting HUGE!

Looking at just Group H matches, Firewire (38th-Tied, 17 pts) and last place Tiny Destroyer (13) were the only two to pick both upsets COL (picked by 2) and MAR (picked by 7).  Eggman 2 was one of 38 to go 0-2 in Group H but keeps first (23). 

With Groups concluding, you now get the 3 points per R16 team.  Group A saw 23 get both SUI and NOR into the R16 while the other 14 got just 1 of 2.  All 47 got NOR's win and 9 got the SUIvNZL draw correct.  Five entries got the full 8 points in Group A while 19 got just 4 points. 

For the whole day (Groups A and H), five entries got 8 points and 13 got 4 points.  Eggman 2 is still in first (31) with Hawkeye second (29).

14 Teams In (7/22)

HUMP DAY, CA -- Sporting Kansas City secured their spot in the Round of 16 with a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake.  SKC currently leads Group D and as the 3rd team in, the Colorado Rapids are the fourth team eliminated.  So while COL could win 10-0 tonight and have the best goal differential of all the 3-point teams, they can't quality since they will finish in 4th place.  Group of Death indeed.  

Another 3-point team won't make the Round of 16 as the New York Red Bulls got shut out 2-0 by FC Cincinnati propelling the latter into the Knockout Stage.  CIN, which lost their first match 4-0 to Columbus Crew SC, have beaten ATL and NY in back-to-back matches.  CIN just had 2 shots on goal and benefited on a CK that hit the GK in the face and into the net for an own goal.  NY has 3 points but with a -3 GD, only 3 3rd place spots are open (MIN or RSL have 4 pts) and they will fall behind MTL (-1) (who now advance to the Round of 16) and NYC (-2) who have completed play and would fall behind either VAN (if beats CHI, would have at worst a -3 but better GF) or CHI (already 3 pts) if either team finished 3rd in Group B with 3 points.

After a wild scoring blitz, there have just been 14 goals scored in the last 9 matches (1.56 per match) with 9 teams shut out (before MIN-COL tonight).  The 18 matches before that saw 67 goals (3.72 per match) and just 8 teams shut out.

The last match saw an entertaining 2-2 draw between Minnesota United FC and the already eliminated COL.  MIN finishes 2nd in Group D.  So 14 of the 16 spots are accounted for as even the LA Galaxy control their destiny and a 3-goal win over Houston Dynamo (yes, I realize it's even a stretch for LA to just win) would get them in the Knockout Stage.  Houston gets in with a win.  

Chicago Fire FC gets in with just a draw or even a one-goal loss if LA does not win by 3 goals or more.  Vancouver Whitecaps FC need a 2-goal win (to overtake CHI for 3rd) and LA to not win by more than 3 goals or a 3-goal win to qualify outright.  NYC gets in if LA beats HOU by only one or two goals or LA-HOU draw.  

A 1-0 VAN win over CHI would give both NYC and CHI 3 points, -2 GD, and 2 goals for.  If HOU wins or LA wins by 3 or more, then NYC and CHI would come down to the nowhere published disciplinary points tiebreaker for the final 3rd place spot.  Not including any subsequent discipline or takeaways, NYC has 42 fouls and 7 yellow cards for 63 disciplinary points (42 + 7*3).  CHI in two matches has 33 fouls and 6 yellow cards for 51 DPs (33 + 6*3).  The less DPs wins tie tiebreaker so CHI has a small 12 point cushion.  Sheesh.  Luckily CHIvVAN play first so a lot of this hopefully goes away.  But watch VAN win 1-0.

Oh, boy.  Welcome the 7th (of 28) FC City or City FC team. 9th if you include City SC.  Geez, Charlotte FC.  We waited weeks for this?  Nothing creative or exciting?  I do love the colors and the font and like the added "Minted" in the crest.  I don't know why they put a slightly modified Microsoft Clipart of a crown the middle.  At least the four spires mean something but originality is not CLTFC's strongsuit.

As for the pool, a whopping 21 points were up for grabs with three matches and six teams that qualified from completed Groups D and E plus the 3rd place team from completed Group C.  8 got SKC's win, 2 CIN, and 4 picked the MIN-COL tie.  Two went 2-1 and three went 0-3.  For the Round of 16 teams, 13 got SKC, 9 MIN, 11 RSL, 10 CLB, 3 CIN, and 9 MTL (3rd place C).  10 got 4 of the 6 teams and Super League got just two of 6.  Overall, BigRedMessy got 14 points while Super League got just 7.  8 others got 13 points.  Bobby Cee Racer is now alone at top with 34 points and has the most R16 teams thus far (8 of 10).  Super League is last with 23 points and has the fewest R16 teams (5).

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",

Two Advance and Three Eliminated (6/24)

LAX, CA -- G4-England's Kane scored one of the easiest hat tricks in his life, two via PKs and one shot that went off his heel and deflected into the net.  G2-Panama managed a goal after being down 6-0 but were still eliminated along with Tunisia.  H4-Japan rallied twice to tie H2-Senegal 2-2 with the latter goal by Honda surprising the GK who could only look behind him.  H3-Colombia rebounded with a

Straight Red (6/19)

The first red card of the tournament!  Just three minutes in, H4-Japan caught H3-Colombia off-guard and what could've been a red card (at least a yellow) for trying to drag down Yuya Osako as he went 1v1 on the GK, credit to Osako, he didn't dive, continued forward with the shot that was saved but the rebound shot by Shinji Kagawa is saved by Carlos Sanchez... by his arm and he reaches out to stop the ball.  Dumb play as Colombia could've easily rallied from a very early 1-0 deficit, but much harder to do with just 10 men.  In my mischief, I was kinda hoping there would be two reds on Colombia but one is good enough.  Credit to Colombia for fighting back and the classic free kick UNDER the wall was brilliantly done to level up 1-1 (reminded me of David Beckham's first match in New York in 2007, where Juan Pablo Angel did the same thing, going under the LA Galaxy wall past the GK on a free kick).  But Japan would get the game-winner off a corner and becomes the first AFC team to beat a CONMEBOL team in World Cup play.

Meanwhile, H2-Senegal used a H1-Poland own goal to gain confidence and never let

FFB 18.02 "Rising Stars to Watch" (6/16)

Archive

 

Saturday, June 16, 2018

[ ARG | BRA | COL | EGY | FRA | GER | POR | URU | Rest ]

ARGENTINA doesn't have a stand-out rising star, and certainly no one closely resembling the next Messi. And there's the rub...the sun is setting on La Pulga and his generation, and they'll have to win with the usual suspects.  Two unproven youngsters I should mention would be Giovani Lo Celso and Paulo Dybala.  At age 24, Dybala is a mainstay striker for Juventus, scoring 22 goals in 33 matches.  But with Argentina, he has but 8 caps, and his natural position is occupied by a moored teammate...Leo Messi.  Perhaps he gets at least one substitution opportunity during the World Cup round robin stage...a small window of time to generate an impact.  Lo Celso, on the other hand, may not even make an appearance.  Only 22 years old, the midfielder notched 4 goals in 32 PSG appearances this season...this rising talent may have to wait til 2022 to make an impact on Argentina’s fortunes.

BRAZIL.  Getting a roster spot for this team is tough, given the

Issue 4.0.4 "Fala Sério!"

Archive

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

     BRAZIL THE FIRST TITAN TO FALL; USA STILL CLAIMS IT HASN'T PEAKED YET
Spermicidal WFC is 1 of 4 to get 7 of 8 teams correct to move into first

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- The Round of 16 provided lots of drama with one huge upset and one huge comeback but surprisingly, no extra time.  While four matches were scoreless at halftime, 13 of the 19 goals scored in the eight matches were in the last 45 minutes.  In an odd splitting of the eight matches over four days (2-3-2-1), the last R16 match didn't end until just before 9 pm PDT Tuesday and now we get our second two-day break of the tournament which is good since 2A-China, who in the battle of the underdogs bested 2C-Cameroon 1-0, played on Saturday and the 1D-United States, who only could score when 3F-Colombia used their 2nd backup goalkeeper, played on Monday and will face each other Friday. 

For the fourth straight match, the USA players and coach had to once again suggest the team hasn't peaked yet which is frustrating for us fans to watch.  Not only did COL hold USA scoreless at the half, they did it with their backup GK (since their starter dumbly picked up a second yellow late in a match that didn't matter for COL qualifying for the R16).  But then their backup GK, Catalina Perez, forgetting the USA has trouble scoring, took out

Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 9 (June 19 - Day 8)

Press reports claim AC MILAN playmaker KAKA has been signed by ORLANDO CITY for the 2015 MLS season and will go on loan back to BRA until then!.. ..  

Match 21: COLOMBIA v. IVORY COAST

Date: Thursday June 19, 2014     

Venue: Estadio Nacional, BRASILIA

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

COL opened up full of running and looking for that killer ball despite being a bit loose with their distribution early on .. .. COL had more clear chances in the first stanza especially with JAMES 'GOLDEN FOOT' RODRIGUEZ sending in an exquisite F/Flank cross to an unmarked TEOFILO GUTIERREZ whose F/T volley dribbled harmlessly into the signage board .. .. IVC tried to counter but their 9 crosses usually found nothing until out of touch .. ..

JAMES RODRIGUEZ broke the match open in the 64th minute when JUAN CUADRADOs CK from the left saw J-ROD climb in the L/Box and crush home a header that found the roof despite BOUBACAR BARRY getting a full palm on it .. .. COL added a second six minutes later when RODRIGUEZ pressed and stole the ball in the IVC half and started a counter that saw