Ronaldo Who? (12/6)

SAINT LOUIS, MO -- How many TV shots were there on 1H-Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo in the yellow sub jersey?  Well, his replacement Goncalo Ramos only scored a hat trick as POR routed 2G-Switzerland 6-1.  POR scored 6 goals on just 13 shots (9 were on goal) including some wicked strikes.  Ronaldo did come in as a sub but his future is uncertain if the team keeps playing well without him.

While favorites were dominating save 2018 runner-up 2F-Croatia who won in Penalty Shootout, 2E-Spain garnered 68% possession (with in-contest) and 13 shots, but just put one on goal.  1F-Morocco, surprise winners of Group F, were patient as ESP passed the ball around and had a good number of chances, but after 120 minutes, the match was the 7th 0-0 draw.  In PSO, MAR's GK saved 2 of 3 shots with the other hitting the right post as MAR hit 3 of 4, the latter game-winner right up the middle (a hard panenka, I guess) from a player born in Spain.

Flew out to St. Louis for a work technical information meeting and I allegedly have a view of the Arch, except it was rainy and foggy so you could only see some UFO lights in the sky.  But Busch Stadium is nearby and it was a good walk late at night.  Wore my replica 2012 ESP home jersey with the 2008 Euro champion patch.  I did not wear it at LAX's Delta Sky Club but watched as ESP took 3 tepid PKs.

58 got POR and two actually picked MAR (FTRxBigJim (22nd-Tied, 86 pts) and Inconceivable! (42nd-T, 80)) into the Quarters.  FTRxBigJim was the only one to get both MAR and POR while 50 got none.  Five are now tied for first with 91 points with 5 more tied with 90.  Markofthebeast is still last with 57 pts.

The Gambler 1 (1st-T) has the best chance to win the pool (14.1%) with Soccerbix (1st-T) the best chance to win money (34.4%).  21 can still win the pool and 57 can still finish in the top 5 money spots.  FTRxBigJim is tied for 22nd but can't win money while Kicking it Old School is tied for 88th (72) but can still win the pool.  Tiny Destroyer is tied for 6th but can't win the pool.

Scissor Kick (11/24)

FAMILY TURKEY DINNER @ HOME - G1-Brazil's Richarlison got one heck of a golazo scissor kick, his second goal of the match, to lead the #1 team to a 2-0 victory over G2-Serbia after a scoreless first half.  In fact, all four matches were scoreless in the first half with H1-Portugal and H2-Ghana putting up 5 total in the second half (3-2 win for POR), G3-Switzerland getting an early second half goal for a 1-0 win over G4-Cameroon, and H3-Uruguay and H4-Korea Republic playing to the tourney's 4th nil-nil draw.  In fact, neither URU nor KOR had a shot on goal!

Ronaldo scored a PK meaning he is the only player to score in 5 different World Cups (BRA's Marta has done the same for the Women's WC). KOR's tie meant that the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) went 2-0-1 in their last three games after losing their first three.  Both CAF (Africa) (0-3-2) and CONCACAF (North/Central America & Caribbean) (0-2-2) were winless (excluding Oceania who didn't place any teams).  UEFA (Europe) went 7-2-4 while CONMEBOL (South America) went 2-1-1.

Wore my 100th anniversary POR jersey (2014 Home) as we hosted the family dinner this year.  Our oven was great, zipping past the 170F for turkey but with an injector using my wife's unique seasoning, everyone loved the turkey.  Whew.  

In the pool, nine entries are tied for 1st with 11 points (though not the same 9 from yesterday).  Ten went 4-0 today while 4 went 1-3.  85 picked SUI, 107 BRA, 102 POR, and 14 got the surprising URU-KOR tie.

As the second matches for teams kick off tomorrow, if a team qualifies for the Round of 16, you won't get the 3 points until after each team plays their 3rd match of the group.  

Fierce Competition (6/30)

The top dogs were in play today in UEFA vs CONMEBOL showdowns and first we got a power matchup between 1C-France and their young stars and 2D-Argentina featuring Messi.  In a wild match, FRA scored first on a PK but then ARG scored twice to take the lead.  But in a 11-minute span, 19-year old Kylian Mbappe, who was everywhere on the pitch, drawing fouls and the penalty, followed Benjamin Pavard's wicked strike to tie the match with two goals in 5 minutes.  ARG managed to get one goal back in stoppage time off a great Messi cross but it was too little too late as FRA held on 4-3.  FRA scored on all 4 shots on goal.

In another power matchup, 1A-Uruguay and 2B-Portugal faced off.  7 minutes after

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