Issue #9.4.1 "Indoor Soccer? : Striker7"

Thursday, July 10, 2014 

HOST HUMILIATED WHILE ITS RIVAL MAKES FINALGandhi United & JB take the lead; No one guaranteed money

LIVERPOOL, NY (smt) -- Four goals in six minutes?  Really?  Haven't seen stuff like that since following my old Anaheim Splash indoor soccer days where goals would come in bunches all the time (if you take out the 30-45 seconds for goal celebrations, this is probably more like 4 goals in 4 minutes).  Soft 1A-Brazil got routed by an opportunistic 1G-Germany team, 7-1, to throw away their chance to avenge a '50 loss on home soil.   The host teetered throughout the tournament needing a gift PK call vs Croatia, were punchless vs Mexico, and needed PSO vs Chile.  But utter collapse?  Crying?  There goes our first Major League Soccer player to win the World Cup as Julio Cesar was peppered for 7 goals (5 in the first 29'), mostly due to lack of a defense in front of him.  I guess when your team is made up from children's TV shows

Issue #8.3.2 "Alive Again : QATAR 2022-Oh Wait!!!"

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Monday, July 7, 2014 

      SEMIFINALS A BATTLE OF EUROPE VS SOUTH AMERICA

Correction to possibilities mean 18 can win money; Bonus prize details announced

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (smt) -- If I'm writing from Minneapolis, this can't be good.  While my flight is delayed until morning (now past midnight, if a pilot can be found), it did provide a nice opportunity to officially roll out the Bonus Prize as we wait for the semifinals in a battle of Europe vs South America.  In years past, I used the Winningest Group as the Bonus Prize but always meant to do Winningest Region (analogous to Winningest Conference in our HWCI NCAA pools).  So that is what has happened.  This means that 43 can still win the Bonus.  Actual possible outcomes will be run after the semifinals are played.  The way the $40 Bonus will  work is that when you picked your Round of 16 bracket, you subliminally were choosing which region would do well in the knockout stage.  Whether you had Spain winning it all or Germany, it still meant you thought a European team would win the tournament.  I've tabulated everyone's picks and the result is now in the updated standings. 

The rules for Bonus1 are

Issue #7.3.1 "The Usual Suspects : WC Glory Days"

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Saturday, July 5, 2014 

                   SOCCER SUPERPOWERS DOMINATE FINAL FOUR

No change at the top; just 4 can win title

CERRITOS, CA (smt) -- The 3 traditional soccer superpowers (10 titles) took early 1st half leads and held on to advance while always the bridesmaid 1B-Netherlands needed the penalty kick shootout (PSO) to advance to the semifinals.  3-time champion 1G-Germany used a 13' goal by Mats Hummells to quell 1E-France, 1-0, to advance to their 4th straight semifinals.  Five-time champion 1A-Brazil used a 7' goal by Thiago Silva to hold off their 2nd straight South American opponent, 1C-Colombia, 2-1, to advance to their 1st semifinal since 2002.  Two-time champion 1F-Argentina used a 8' goal by Gonzalo Higuain to then frustrated 1H-Belgium, 1-0, to make the semifinals for the first time since 1990 (really, no ARG since we started our pool 16 years ago?).  Three superpowers used the early goal to get comfortable and relatively easily held on (ARG went a lot of the 2nd half without a shot on goal until Lionel Messi's stoppage time attempt that was saved).  However, BRA lost Neymar to injury for the rest of the WC and Silva picked up a silly yellow card and will miss the semifinal.

In the most interesting match, three-time runners-up 1B-Netherlands could not

Issue #6.2.1 "Chalk! : Belgium Craft Beer"

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014 

               ALL GROUP WINNERS ADVANCE; EXCITING EXTRA TIMES

EEChick, The Mighty Mobelfakta, and TheSpecialOneLA tied for 1st; 30 still alive

LIVERPOOL, NY (smt) -- For all the criticism that soccer is the beautiful game and any team can win since it's so low scoring, for the first time ever, all 8 Group winners advanced to the Quarterfinals.  But they all got there in exciting ways with 15 of the 18 goals scored in the Round of 16 occurring in the 2nd half or extra time including two games where 3 goals were scored in the 30-minute extra time.  Luckily the endings have been great so with my limited time to catch games, if I can catch the last dozen minutes or so, it's great.  Whether I'm watching listening to the penalty kick shoot-out (PSO) on the Kidz Spot's speakers on their grand opening, watching our neighbors to the south implode on my Moto X in one of  many ice cream shops in Cooperstown, or watching Team USA rally at a local red-white-and-blue bar with my co-workers as a nice break of a 14-hour workday, this has been a great World Cup.

The first day was all about South America as four of the five teams played.  2B-Chile rallied to tie host 1A-Brazil but in the PSO, BRA jumped to a

Issue #5.1.4 "Backing In is A-OK : JURGEN IST PANDO!"

Archive (NOTE: This is after Group Stage (48 matches))

Thursday, June 26, 2014 [Released 6/30]

AMERICA RULES ROUND OF 16; ASIA WINLESSJB & Rainman join Win It All in 1st

GOLETA (smt) -- While working near Santa Barbara, I got to listen to the last few minutes of the 1st half and things looked promising for G4-Team USA (they weren't getting blown out) and G2-Portugal had a one-nil lead at the half for a three-goal cushion (more or less).  But a G1-Germany goal and a G3-Ghana goal narrowed it down to just one.  Luckily I wasn't listening to this so it was stress free because when I started to listen at the end of the 2nd half, the person who kept us from clinching a place into the R16, Cristiano Ronaldo, put in an easy rebound to seal USA's entry into the R16.  So kind of a lackluster "yay" but I will take it.  First time USA has made back-to-back R16s (luckily they didn't keep alternating with FRA who did follow the great-horrible-great-horrible-great pattern this year).  USA's qualification meant 8 of the 10 North and South American teams made the R16.  Go America!

H1-Belgium may not be a traditional power but they know how to win games late as they once again

Issue #4.1.3 "Bite Me! : Parked Behind the Bus"

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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

SLOW 1ST HALVES WITH BITING FINISHES
Win It All roars into lead; Meli rising fast

GOLETA, CA (smt) --  The two-hour trek to Goleta past the midnight hour was uneventful.  Kind of like the Group D matches that saw a pair of nil-nil halftime scores and just one goal combined.  But drama ensued as the supposed clash of titans between D1-Uruguay and D4-Italy fizzled in the heat, as URU's Luis Suarez once again took a bite out of an opponent (3rd time? profit!) and did not get penalized for it.  A couple minutes later, URU had their lone goal that stood up and sent them to the Round of 16 and ITA home(wow, ENG, ESP, ITA all eliminated already). 

Talk about a bus.  In the 8 matches, four were 0-0 at the half (now half the 40 matches played have been tied at the half) and two more were just 1-0.  Of the 23 goals scored, just 7 were scored in the 1st half.  But the second half was a different story.  Of the 16 goals scored in the second half, 14 of them came in the last 21 minutes of the match.  A3-Mexico's explosion of 3 goals in 10 minutes threatened A1-Brazil for the top spot in Group A.  C2-Greece needed a stoppage time (90'+3) penalty to put them through to the Round of 16, to the heartbreak of

Issue #3.1.2 "Worst Tie Ever! : Let It Goal!"

This is after 32 matches -- Archive

Sunday, June 22, 2014

GOALS IN BUNCHES AS EURO POWERS STRUGGLEThe Mighty Mobelfakta leads Gandhi United by a point

CERRITOS, CA (smt) --  The story was written.  G2-Portugal would be the 3rd European superpower to be eliminated after just two matches.  They would be the 8th team to lose when scoring first.  The top 3 CONCACAF teams would be 5-0-1.  It would be the G4-USA, not G1-Germany resting its starters in the 3rd match.  USA would win its first-ever WC match when allowing the first goal.  Back-to-back game-winning goals in the 80'+ minute.  History would repeat with G4-USA beating Portugal again in the WC.  Cristiano Ronaldo would remain the only superstar to not make an impact for his team.    But alas, it was not meant to be.  As Ronaldo (14 shots, 0 goals in 2 games) crossed a perfect ball to Varela to head in with about 30 seconds left in stoppage time (which now becomes the latest goal scored in group play this year (90'+5, was E1-Swiss's 90'+3 game-winner in their first match)).  So now, while the USA is in good position (win or draw and they're in, own tiebreaker vs D3-Ghana), the battered Americans will have just three days rest to battle GER with four days rest.  Who knows if Zusi going down gave the official a reason to add +1' (5 minutes total of stoppage time), heat/humidity (first ref given water break at 39'!), or if Michael Bradley is just not world-class (according to Sammy) but the defensive lapse and late goal is devastating (though some are used to it -- see tweet below). 

 

D2-Costa Rica is the dark horse, giant killer downing 2-time champs D1-Uruguay (ranked #7) and now 4-time champs D4-Italy (#9) in back-to-back matches to

Issue #2.1.1 "I Believe That We Will Win : TheComeBacker"

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Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Issue #2.1.1 "I Believe That We Will Win : TheComeBacker"
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OPEN PLAY MEANS NO LEAD IS SAFE; NED, CRC, USA SHOCK WINSOur 5th World Cup pool has a record 75 entries; Americano Pazzo & The Mighty Mobelfakta share lead

LA HABRA, CA (smt) --  This crazy FIFA schedule has A1-Brazil and A3-Mexico finishing their second matches before #H3-Russia and #H4-South Korea started their first.  That, coupled with FIFA caving in and changing some times around due to heat (foreshadowing 2022 if Qatar keeps it), means match #'s are not necessarily in order.  This World Cup has also started off with a bang with 49 goals scored in the first 17 matches (in first 16 in 2010, just 25 goals) and six teams coming back to win their matches (just 3 times in all of 2010).  Also, just 2 ties in the first 16 matches (6 in 2010) before A1-Brazil and A3-Mexico kicked off their second matches with a herculean MEX GK effort in a scoreless draw.  It took 12 matches before the first tie, listless scoreless draw between F3-Iran and F4-Nigeria.  With the varied climates, the humidity, rain, and heat haven't stopped the goals from coming, thanks to some poor GK (how many goals went in after hitting the GK's hands?) and superstars actually performing (last year, the first 25 goals were scored by 25 different players).

Haven't seen most of the World Cup live despite taking two weeks off from work.  Been reduced using my Moto X to tether 4G to my Roku 2 player and using WatchESPN to project that to the

Issue #1.0.1 "Please Bet on Us"

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And so it begins! Less than 9 days to get your entry(s) in! Spread the word!  Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.  I'll be at the June 8th LA Galaxy match if you want to hand in your entry and fee then.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Issue #1.0.1 "Please Bet on Us"
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CAN SPAIN REIGN ON BRAZIL'S PARADE?
Our 5th World Cup pool now includes ability to pick ties and simplier interface

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) --  There may be scandals in the news (incuding the betting one) but that won't stop us from conducting our betting pool! The World Cup draw last December provided some interesting tidbits, the least of which was the #14G-USA's group being deemed the Group of Death with #2G-Germany and #3G-Portugal in the group.  How about a rematch of the 2012 WC final on Game 3 (#1B-Spain vs #15B-Netherlands, who narrowly missed out being a group seed by 3 points)?  How about #8E-Switzerland and #12H-Belgium, snatching two group seeds (based on 10/17/13 ranking)?  How about South America getting 4 of the 8 group seeds?   Will the third time be the charm for USA in facing nemesis #38G-Ghana (losing to them in '06 round-robin final match and '10 R16 match)?  Will #16E-France continue the great ('98)-horrendous ('02)-great ('10)-horrendous ('14) pattern and be great, especially in the weakest group?  Will a European team finally win a title on American (North or South) soil?  How will the lone newcomer, #25F-Bosnia-Herzegovina do?

Four years is a long time to wait, but those who participated in our 1st-ever HWCI EURO Pool, only had to wait 2 years!  If there is decent interest, now that the Women's World Cup is expanding to 24 teams, to do the 1st-ever HWCI Women's World Cup Pool next year.  That would only leave 2017 as the odd man out in terms of soccer pools.  But back to the pool!  There are a couple differences than the last time.  The first is