Stoppage Time Winner (12/2)

WORK FROM HOME --  H4-Korea Republic (South Korea) scored in first minute of stoppage time to pull off upset of H1-Portugal, 2-1, to become the 3rd Asian team to make the R16.  H3-Uruguay took an early 2-0 lead over H2-Ghana but could not add to the total, and just one more goal would have advanced them.  As such, they lose the goals for tiebreaker to KOR.  I'm sure GHA will relish eliminating URU after an intentional handball by Luis Suarez (who helped with 2 URU goals today but was subbed off in the 66' after picking up a yellow card) in 2010 Quarterfinal forced GHA into a PK which they missed and URU eventually prevailed.  

While G4-Cameroon and G1-Brazil's B-team battled scoreless for most of the day, G3-Switzerland and G2-Serbia exchanged plenty of goals.  SRB rallied to take a 2-1 lead (briefly taking 2nd place slot) but SUI scored twice more to win 3-2 and make the R16 for 4th time in last 5 WCs.  CMR actually got a stoppage time goal but still would need SUI to give up two goals so a moral victory.

BRA's 17-game unbeaten streak in group stage matches came to an end (yes, it was their B-team but that's a pretty good B-team).  No team won 3 games for the first time since 1994 with 1A-ENG #1 thus far (7 pts, +7 GD).  When KOR made the R16 in 2002 they need to beat -- POR in the 3rd group match.  KORvPOR was first non-scoreless tie at halftime (then followed by SRBvSUI 2:2 at half), after the first 23 halftime ties were 0-0.

One busy Friday working from home with several Zoom meetings but still enjoyed the endings of the matches.  Wore my 2020 POR Away jersey with Nations League champion patch.  But I was rooting for KOR so maybe I need to shell out for a KOR jersey.

As it happened:

Youth and Speed (7/6)

OJAI OLIVE OIL FARM, CA -- Just like that, we only have European teams left.  South American sides 1A-Uruguay and 1E-Brazil both had allowed just one goal in four matches this tournament.  They were also the last of the non-European teams left.  The youth of 1C-France outplayed URU with an early goal in the first half and then a rocket that went through the hands of the URU GK that sealed their fate, 2-0.  FRA has scored on their last six shots on goal and advances to the Quarters for the first time since '06.

1G-Belgium got a gift of an own goal but BEL used their fast and deadly counterattack to

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

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

African & Asian Teams Shine (6/25)

DAHLGREN, VA -- B4-Iran nearly scored a stoppage time goal that would have eliminated B1-Portugal but had to settle for a hard-fought 1-1 tie that featured three VAR reviews.  Ronaldo missed an early PK after getting the benefit of a PK via VAR but had to settle for 2nd in Group B after Iran scored a PK in stoppage time.  B2-Spain had to rally twice against B3-Morocco (who had scored zero goals), the latter on a smart quick corner kick late in stoppage time that VAR review looked at and overruled the lineman's offside flag.  The 2-2 tie gave Spain the Group on goals scored over Portugal and still hasn't lost in 23 matches.  Due to goals scored, ESP still would've advanced with a 2-1 loss.

In the battle for first, A4-Uruguay scored

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

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

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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 #4.1.3 "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

Sam's PANDO! or GORDO? # 15 (June 24 - Day 13)

USA v POR becomes the most-viewed soccer match in US Television history, more than the USA Women's World Cup or NBA FINALS.. ..  

 Match 40:  COSTA RICA v. ENGLAND

Date: Tuesday June 24, 2014      

Venue: Estadio Mineirao, BELO HORIZONTE

PANDO! or GORDO? Gordo?

WE ALL KNEW THIS MATCH WOULD BE BETWEEN A WC HOPEFUL VERSUS A WC ALSO-RAN; WE JUST NEVER ENVISIONED THE ALSO-RAN WOULD BE ENGLAND!

With the Three Lions fielding the Three Cubs lineup, they figured to be sloppy and boy, were they > ENG was just dreadful playing the ball out of the back, committing a WC-high 9 unforced TOs in the 1H alone .. .. Think USA v GHA, but worse .. ..

CRC ruled the midfield, but ENG did get a few quality chances once they held on to the ball, but KEYLOR NAVAS didn't have to break a sweat in the first-45 .. .. CRC was not afraid to continue their version of 'tikky-tak', even deep in the ENG third .. .. CRC already had 4 set-pieces before ENG took three consecutive CKs in the 34th minute .. ..

CRC kept shutting down ENG all over the pitch and ENG kept giving the ball away all over the joint .. .. ENG huffed and puffed their way to 7 set-pieces (1 for CRC), but again nothing really came of it .. ..

CRC meant to shut it down and they did .. .. Perhaps the highlight of the match was

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

Updates Galore

What an incredible 8 matches so far.  There have been 28 goals and just two of the 16 teams have been shut out.  There also have been no ties (typically 30% of the round robin matches end in a tie).  Also, 4 teams have rallied to win (just 3 in 2010) so far.  Two former World Cup champs have been shocked as Spain and Uruguay now face an uphill battle.

But, more info on the pool have been revealed.  8 matches is a nice cutoff point so the first Pool Standings are now up.  Earlier, the Team Distribution (how many entries picked which team to win each match plus how many entries picked a team to reach what round) and Everyone's Picks were posted.  And I'm using Excely's World Cup spreadsheet to update the Results.

The Dutch Dream Closer!

Wow, URU made it interesting in the end, scoring in the 90'+2 as the ref rightfully added an additional two minutes beyond the announced three and the Uruguayans had several chances.  It's interesting though, you can tell NED's Robben cause he's the one always trying to go left and you can tell NED's Sneijder because he always has both hands up calling for the ball.

Fourteen picked NED (no one had URU) which allowed Baba and LB (both 2nd-Tied, 104 pts) to charge up the standings with the latter the one having NED as his champ.  FC Spermacidals (4th, 103) also has NED as his champ.  The last NED champ pick that has a chance to win money is Zulupalooza (I don't know how I'm still alive) who moved from 30th-T to 13th-T (95) and the last of 11 still alive to win money. 

Forza Pazza remains in first (109) holding a five-point lead.  He's in every possible outcome but if he loses the tiebreaker if NED beats GER in the final, he will finish 5th and out of the money.  LB will win outright if NED wins the title while Forza Pazza will win outright if ESP beats NED and will battle Number 10 via tiebreaker if GER beats NED.

If NETHERLANDS beats GERMANY then…
	LB	118
	FC Spermicidals	117
	Zulupalooza	109	(Tie: 5.5)
	Forza Pazza	109	(Tie: 6.5)
	Number 10	109	(Tie: 8.0)
If GERMANY beats NETHERLANDS then…
	Forza Pazza	109	(Tie: 6.5)
	Number 10	109	(Tie: 8.0)
	Baba	104	(Tie: 5.5)
	LB	104	(Tie: 8.0)
If NETHERLANDS beats SPAIN then…
	LB	127
	Forza Pazza	118
	FC Spermicidals	117
	EEChick1400	110
If SPAIN beats NETHERLANDS then…
	Forza Pazza	127
	Corner Kick Kid	118
	Former MLS Writer	117
	Soccerbix	110

Rout?

The ARG defense is nowhere to be found and GER scores their third goal with 15 minutes left.  So, BRA tried a new tactic and ARG tried an outspoken coach and both are going to be out of the WC.  Uruguay seems to be the saving grace for South America with Paraguay playing later today against Spain.

El Chileno Still Alive Thanks to URU

Before the Macross Frontier concert (featuring Megumi Nakajima and May'n and awesome secret guest Yoko Kanno), I watching live on my Droid Incredible the Verizon VCast ESPN broadcast of the URU-GHA match in the Nokia Theatre.  Drew a little crowd and "how are you doing that" comments.  But the concert, delayed by 20 minutes, started right after the 1st overtime period tied at 1 (I'm almost glad the USA didn't make it because then I would have to miss the match for this concert).  After the truly amazing, most awesome concert ever, I tried viewing the video highlights of the match.  But although you can watch live ESPN TV, the highlights are extremely delayed (only had the NED-BRA highlights).  Frustrated, I drove home.  Turned on the DVR.

The most amazing 120th and last minute of the URU-GHA match, the very last free kick of the match.  Wow.  Thank goodness I didn't hear or read about it.  The ball bouncing everywhere in the URU goal box with GHA getting three point blank shots, one saved, one blocked, and one saved by a deliberate handball by Suarez.  Desperately deliberate.  If Suarez lets the ball go in, Ghana wins 2-1 and the game is over right then and there. So goal-scorer Suarez sacrificed himself... he was red-carded and out of the possible PK round and possible semifinal round (at least; maybe so deliberate FIFA would kick him out of the Final as well?).   So it seemed Africa would finally get a team in the semifinals.  Asamoah Gyan, who had already scored 2 PKs in the WC already, lined up.  But like in Japan's only PK miss, he hit it hard but it hit the crossbar, silencing the Vuvuzelas.  The URU GK saved two PKs (one on a weird soft one step take by the captain, easily saved) and Sebastian Abreau sealed it with a cheeky soft kick to win the PK shootout 4-2.  So heartbreaking for Ghana.   But the match did feature two mind-bending goals by GHA and URU where the GKs guessed wrong as the ball swerved from right-to-left-right (or vice versa).  Crazy ball.

El Chileno was the only one to pick URU so he is still alive and moves from 4th-Tied to 3rd but more importantly, from 9 points down to just two (93).  Forza Pazza and EEChick1400 were shut out and remain at 95 and 94 pts, respectively.  With NED's win, Baba moved from 13th-T to 4th and FC Spermacidals (1 of 6 to pick NED to win it all) moved from 20th-T to 5th-T.  Samersig (42nd-T, 75), who was already eliminated, missed a chance for a moral victory by picking GHA in the semis.  There are just 23 alive and 10 can win 1st. 

Forza Pazza still has the best chance with a 11 in 32 (34.4%) chance for 1st and 65.6% for money.  EEChick1400, El Chileno, Lionelmessi (5th-T, 87), Number 10 (7th-T, 86), Ghost of Ireland (28th, 80), and Flying Elvi (32nd-T, 78) had BRA as their champ but are still alive.  They'll need more upsets to help them out (e.g. ESP losing).  Not so lucky was Doughboy who is tied for 13th (83) and now elimianted.

Blast from the past?

Uruguay, behind Suarez's two goals including the GWG in the 80', holds of South Korea 2-1.  URU, probably the least remembered WC champion (the four stars are for 2 WC and 2 Olympic titles, I think, none since 1950), reaches the QF for the first time since 1970.  The pitch and weather were bad and while URU should've gotten a PK, KOR missed a golden opportunity for the tying goal in the late minutes.

I got something right

I was chatting with Soccerbix on the eve of the World Cup and told him Uruguay would win Group A.  He laughed.  So I chickened out but  had them win the group on my second entry.  And good for France for finally scoring a goal and joining the likes of such teams like North Korea.