Glory to the Heroes

Less than 10 months ago, prior to Euro 2020, I was commenting about a spat between Ukraine and Russia on UKR's jersey for Euro 2020 (ne 2021). Glory to Ukraine on the jersey was okay but the additional phrase Glory to the Heroes was interpreted as a rallying cry when you put both together so the latter had to be removed.  UKR still was able to keep the complete outline of their country on the jersey despite RUS claiming the Crimea peninsula was no longer part of UKR after annexing it in early 2014.

Well, on Feb 21st, RUS was at it again recognizing two eastern UKR states then three days later attacking UKR from Belarus and western Russia, determined to change the map of UKR again.  Over 400 Ukrainian civilians have been killed with the count unfortunately going up every day.

As it relates to soccer, FIFA did a slow burn penalizing RUS,

Issue #6.2.2 "It's Coming Home" (After Quarterfinals)

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Sunday, July 8, 2018 

ENGLAND ON A HIGH, HOSTS NO MORE
Flying Elvi holding on to lead; 14 still alive

STUBHUB CENTER, CARSON, CA (smt) --  2G-England scored a goal before and after halftime in shutting out 1F-Sweden, 2-0 to advance to the semifinals for the first time since '90.  English fans are going crazy as they hope this is the run that will erase 52 years of bad memories including '16's Euro loss to tiny Iceland.  While I wore my '09 era Beckham England home jersey, I got so many compliments at the Camarillo Premium Outlet including shouts of "we're bringing it back home" referring to the World Cup trophy.  Forgot how many tourists go to these outlets so a lot of soccer fans.  

The last of the giants were put down, as 1G-Belgium used

Back to Back PSOs (7/7)

CAMARILLO PREMIUM OUTLETS, CA -- 1D-Croatia was determined not to go PSOs again and became the first team to score in Extra Time to take a 2-1 lead.  But 2A-Russia, which had survived on PSO as well, answered back and the match ended on a 2-2 tie. There was a scare in that the CRO GK seemed to pull a hamstring minutes before Extra Time and stayed in and was tested right way and made the saves.  Host RUS started the PSO first and things went well until their ET game-tying savior, Mario Fernandes, became the first person this tourney (62 PKs) to completely miss the target, his shot going wide left.  CRO closed out for a 4-3 PSO win to make their second semifinal and first since '98.  Teams who kicked first in the PSO are now 0-4.

2G-England rolled over

Issue #5.2.1 "Just a Tease" (After Round of 16) + Bonus Details

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Wednesday, July 4, 2018 ***HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY***

SPAIN, PORTUGAL, MEXICO DISAPPOINT
EEChick1400 and TheComeBacker on top; 28 still alive; Bonus!

WYNDHAM GARDEN VENTURA PIERPONT INN, VENTURA, CA (smt) --  After 2F-Mexico's wins over Germany and Korea Republic, CONCACAF was riding sky high on the Tricolor's chances.  But then the egg against Sweden led to a Round of 16 match against 1E-Brazil instead of 2E-Switzerland and for the seventh straight time, MEX was eliminated in the Round of 16 while BRA won its Round of 16 match for the seventh straight time.  The Iberian powers B1-Spain and B2-Portugal were both expected to go far past their Group A opponents but Ronaldo and POR were stopped by 1A-Uruguay 2-1 and ESP, despite huge advantages on possession, shots, and passes completed, could only muster a 1-1 tie with host 2A-Russia and lost in the Penalty Shootout (PSO), 4-3.  RUS was the 70th ranked team while ESP was the 10th ranked team in the world. 

2G-England shut the door on their PSO curse by

Extra Time (7/1)

NHA HANG TAI SUI RESTAURANT, ROSEMEAND, CA -- 2A-Russia, the worst-ranked team (70th) in the tournament, opened people's eyes with a 5-0 win to start the tournament.  Now the host used a highly efficient defense to shut out the #10 team in the world for 120 minutes to prevail in the penalty shootout, 4-3 (1-1 tie).  1B-Spain's only goal came off an own goal in the 12' and despite playing a highly efficient possession game (completing 91% of their passes (1,031 passes completed vs RUS's 204), having 74% possession time, and having 60 minutes of playing time (vs RUS's 20)), ESP was almost too patient and couldn't score in 120 minutes.  RUS's only shot on goal was their penalty kick goal in the 41'.

In the penalty shootout, RUS was a

Superstars Score... Yawn... (6/20)

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK -- Three prolific scorers scored, all just enough to lead their team to beat a very underdog team, 1-0.  Luis Suarez scored early for A4-Uruguay which held up and sent both A1-Russia and Uruguay into the Round of 16 and eliminating A2-Saudi Arabia and A3-Egypt.  For the second straight match, B1-Portugal's Ronaldo scored in the 4' and that was barely enough to hold off B3-Morocco.  B2-Spain's Diego Costa scored for the second straight match nine minutes into the second half and fought off a tenacious B4-Iran team that you would never have known they had zero shots on goal.  And one of the potential shots on goal that went in in the 62' was called back by VAR after review showed Iran was offsides.  The three heavy favorites were just ho-hum in sleep walking to 3 points. 

Spain's win eliminated

Issue #2.1.1 "Favorites Exposed in Russia" (After 16 Matches)

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Tuesday, June 19, 2018 

GERMANY STUNNED AND GROUP H UPSIDE DOWNA record 79 entries vie for 6th pool title; Ilvecchio is in 1st

LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (LAX), CA (smt) --  The host nation A1-Russia opened the World Cup in grand fashion thrashing A2-Saudi Arabia 5-0but it was F2-Mexico who provided the biggest shockwave of the tournament, literally according to seismologists, with a 1-0 win over the defending champions.  F1-Germany is ranked #1 in the world and won all 10 UEFA qualifying matches with a +39 goal differential.  The biggest upset, however, was the smallest-ever qualifying nation of D2-Iceland scoring a game-tying goal against powerhouse D1-Argentina.  Just a few years ago Iceland was ranked in the triple-digits and then the shocking win over England in EUROs two years ago gave them a Gonzaga-like vibe and who wouldn't want to do the Skol Viking Chant?  Lionel Messi also missed a penalty kick that kept the game tied at 1.  The odds-on favorite to win the World Cup, E1-Brazil, struggled against a foul-against-Neymar E2-Swiss team and ended up with a disappointing tie, even though SUI is ranked 6th in the world.  It's much better than their previous two WC matches, a 3-0 loss to Netherlands and a 7-1 thrashing by Germany.  Only G1-Belgium came away with a victory, a convincing one as well 3-0, amongst the top 6 ranked teams in the world. 

In the most anticipated match of the Group Stage, Match # 3 saw the two Iberian peninsula powers, B1-Portugal and B2-Spain, go at it for what seemed like the millionth time and the match didn't disappoint.  From

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

Classic start and Spain-Portugal an instant classic (6/14-6/15)

For the host nation, A1-Russia got off to a great start in routing poor A2-Saudi Arabia, 5-0 and continued the streak of the host nation not losing in their opening match.  In our LA Galaxy Press Box circles, we refer to this as the "Pando", a rare score just as the rare sight of Pando scoring in the LA Galaxy's 2005 season where Pando Ramirez set a record (that may still exist?) for worst shooting percentage and his only goal was on a penalty kick, that bounced off the post and off the keeper (i.e., really  a miss).  Of course, all was redeemed as he scored the game-winner in overtime of the MLS Cup (where I called it, at the end of regulation, in the bathroom of the restaurant we were watching the game on, to the laughter of those in there... but I knew).  But with the rout, Russia could just hope for one point in the next two matches and pray the goal differential will get them to the next round.

Late goals propelled A4-Uruguay and B4-Iran to 1-0 wins, the latter benefiting on a 90'+5 own goal in a match B3-Morocco should have won.  So in a few days, Morocco loses the 2026 big and their opening match.

In the game everyone was looking forward to, the Iberian Derby, B1-Portugal and B2-Spain played a

Issue #1.0.1 "Six Sigma Not Enough for USA"

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Sunday, June 10, 2018 ***HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIFEY***

IMPROBABLE BUT NOW POSSIBLE, USA AND ITALY ARE OUT
Our 6th World Cup pool arrives late but will still be six-sigma of fun

JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, PASADENA, CA (smt) --  There will be no Red, White, and Blue nor Gli Azzurri (snapping a streak of 14 straight World Cups) nor Clockwork Orange (who also missed 2016 EURO) in the World Cup in Russia.  All three teams will watch from the sidelines as 32 teams vie for the 21st World Cup including newcomers D2-Iceland (which beat G4-England at Euro 2016 and is the smallest population nation to qualify) and G2-Panama and long-awaited returns from C3-Peru (1982) and A3-Egypt (1990).   #1 ranked F1-Germany will have to battle favorites E1-Brazil and fan-favorite B2-Spain if they want to repeat as champions.  Host A1-Russia had the lowest rank when the World Cup Draw happened and will try to not become the 2nd host team to fail to qualify for the Knockout Stage (South Africa, 2010). 

For the first time, FIFA ranked all 32 qualifying teams in rank order, including pots 2, 3, and 4, which were usually divided into regional confederations.  As such, it was possible one group could have all been UEFA members or not have any UEFA members.  But there ended up being a good mix in all the groups... except for Group A, which happens to be the host country.  Russia, which was already ranked lowest in Pot 1 by far, got the 2nd worst team in Pot 2 (A4-Uruguay), the 3rd worst team in Pot 3 (A3-Egypt), and the worst team overall in Pot 4 (A4-Saudi Arabia).  C1-France (worst of Pot 1) drew the 2nd best team in Pot 2 (C2-Peru), the best team in Pot 3 (C3-Denmark), and the 3rd best team in Pot 4 (C4-Australia).  The toughest group has the 3rd best in Pot 1 (E1-Brazil), the 3rd best in Pot 2 (E2-Swiss), the 3rd best in Pot 3 (E3-Costa Rica), and the best in Pot 4 (E4-Serbia).

While Italy and the Netherlands failed to qualify in the harsh UEFA qualifying rounds, the USA somehow managed to not qualify in the easiest region in the world for the first time since 1986.  Before the ill-fated October 10, 2017 day, ESPN's Soccer Power Index (SPI) had the USA with a 97% chance of finishing in the top 4 of the CONCACAF table (top 3 advance, 4th to make playoff).  And despite playing like an amateur team against another third-rate team in front of just 1,500 people, with 43 minutes left,

Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 17 (June 26 - Day 15)

NIGERIA cancels their Sunday practice due to their own conflict with the Nigerian Football Federation over bonuses.. ..  

Match 45: UNITED STATES v. GERMANY

Date: Thursday June 26, 2014     

Venue: Arena Pernambuco, RECIFE

PANDO! or GORDO? Pando!

"We're out to win it!"

Yes & No; It sounds good to the pimped-media, but pragmatically, both sides are trying not to lose .. .. And both USA & GER are doing a world-class job of it .. .. If we can beak - break, if not - just pass it around .. .. If we don't need blood, let's put the knives away .. .. for now .. ..

GER came forward early when USA gave up the flanks early on and some nice 1-v-1 marking by OMAR GONZALEZ kept the match level .. .. Not many quality chances but in the 35th minute, MESUT OZIL hit a ball through the '5' hole of an USA defender and TIM HOWARD did well to parry it away .. .. USA came into the match late on in the 1H, but again is getting

Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 12 (June 22 - Day 11)

I just wanna go to bed .. .. sigh .. .. U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A!.. ..  

Match 31: BELGIUM v. RUSSIA

Date: Sunday June 22, 2014

Venue: Estadio Maracana, RIO DE JANEIRO

PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?

AFTER 135 MINUTES, IT'S OFFICIAL > RUSSIAN DOMESTIC FOOTBALL BLOWS!!

This is what happens when you pick 23 players, all from your subpar domestic league > Bad passing, Bad teamwork & Really Bad finishing .. .. RUS was just horrendous in possession during the 1H, committing a WC-high 7 unforced TOs in just 45 error-strewn minutes .. .. Because of that, RUS Had precious few chances, and just threw away their one golden opportunity when DENIS GLUSHAKOV sent a perfect L/Flank cross to an unmarked ALEXANDER KOKORIN whose easy header went wide right when it was 1,000% harder NOT to put the ball on goal > Hey ALEXANDER, this isn't MLS circa 1998!

Nonstop running BEL dynamo DRIES MERTENS ran all over