CERRITOS/EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- While the big dogs beat up on each other to draws, teams like Denmark, Croatia, and Ukraine rose to the top of their groups.  Spain, Italy, England, and France picked up a point.  Russia and Germany picked up wins and Netherlands was the only superpower to lose.  It's been a great start to EURO 2012 as teams played for wins (except for England), 14 teams scored at least one goal and there were no scoreless draws.  Though no matches were halted for racist chants at least two were stopped due to fireworks thrown onto the field.  Great crowds and festive stadiums with only humid and rainy weather and a dry pitch being the few downsides.

The first match was about as exciting and drama-filled as it could get.  Bad ref calls, a missed PK, a player being sent off on two calls that may not have even been fouls (much less cautions), a home team peppering its opponent, and a team coming out of halftime with a new attitude to tie the game up despite being a man down.  Such was the case as Poland and Greece tied 1-1.  Russia showed it is the team to beat in Group A with a 4-1 thrashing of the Czech Republic.

In Group B, the Group of Death, Denmark made its mark as the de facto fourth-place team said "not us" and stunned the Netherlands, 1-0 to co-lead the group with Germany, who struggled but beat an inspiring Portugal team, 1-0.  Instead of the upcoming NED-GER match being possibly a battle for first place, it could be a battle to advance from the group.

In Group C, a battle between the last two World Cup champs (you'd never get that as a first game of a World Cup) saw Italy and Spain duke it out in a great contest that saw both GKs make lots of key saves (9 total).  In the end, it was the first touch of new sub Antonio Di Natale that gave Italy the lead and three minutes later Spain's Cesc Fabregas that produced the game's only two goals.  Both goals were great one touch scores coming off incredible passes.  The first touch of much maligned sub Fernando Torres did not fool the GK on a breakaway that would've given the Spainards the lead.  He also flailed on a couple of other chances as he became this tournaments' early Gordo candidate.   In the other match, Mario Mandzukic scored within the first three minutes of each half as Croatia easily handled Ireland, 3-1.  No luck for the Irish as one goal came off a shanked clear to the Croatian player and another went off the right post and the GK's head and into the net. 

The last group of the day saw another classic matchup as France extended its unbeaten streak to 22 but had to settle for a tie with England.  The English GK Joe Hart had moments of brilliance (6 saves) but had just as many shaky moments with France's goal coming from outside the box.  It was sort of sad the England has been reduced to hoping for a tie in a competitive match as after the goal their offensive wasn't really heard from being outshot 19-3.  In the battle of the yellow/blue teams, The final two teams played and the second half was fun to watch with Ukraine becoming the first team to allow the first goal and win, 2-1, over Sweden.  35-year-old Andriy Shevchenko, who is a legend, got what some might consider a ceremonial start with Urkaine being co-hosts and his first good opportunity was wasted on a weak shot wide left, which showed his age.  But he bounced back with two great header goals, the first one as he bull-dozed over Sweden's Olof Mellberg, landing on top of him as if he just body-slammed him.

After each team has played a match, BigRedMessi2 and Walleye are tied for first with 12 points, going 6-2 (in the old system, with 3 ties, the most wins you could've gotten was 5).  Walleye had won 4 in a row before Sweden's loss.  Currently, BigRedMessi2 and Bix Pix (3rd-Tied, 10) are on 3-game win streaks.  Mikeonthemike lost his first six games but is on a 2-game win streak (29th-T, 4).  SalsaKing (6th-T, 8) was the only one to pick the Denmark upset.  Just 8 correctly picked the tie between Spain and Italy (how far they have fallen -- no one picked them to win).  Absolutely Clueless and V2 Wedding Bells!!! (both 29th-T) are on 4-game losing streaks. 

This is the first pool to allow you to pick ties, and in our first match, it was topsy turvy.  Poland was on fire and looked like they were going to blow out Greece, especially when they went a man down, giving 18 entries the first two points, but then Greece tied it so 10 who picked "tie" were happy.  Then Greece got a PK, giving 11 who picked them a sure fire victory, but the PK was missed giving the 10 the first ever entries to win on a "tie". 

Thanks to everyone.  You've exceeded my optimistic expectations of 20-25 entries with 39.  I thought we'd be official today but I was at work until almost midnight so it was too late to go to the PO Box.  So tomorrow, hopefully we'll be official at 39.  Thank you to those who encouraged me to start the EURO pool as this has been a fun tournament to watch and it is always more interesting when you have a team to root for.  Got goosebumps when Poland scored their first goal and when Shevchenko scored not once, but twice.

Don't forget to read Albert Perez's column "A to the Z SPORTS!" and Eric Foster's "Foster's Football Brew".  So enjoy them and please +1/Like/Share/Tweet anything and everything on our blog or Facebook page.  You can join in discussions by commenting on any post on the blog or Facebook page. 

    SIDES 'N KICKS:  First stoppage in play occurred in Russia-Czech Republic as a flare was thrown from the crowd and onto the pitch, so if you had stoppage due to "flare" vs "racism", you win; another flare after Croatia's second goal... when watching in fast-forward the Ireland-Croatia match, when Ireland scored, I heard a whistle just before the header so I thought it was waved off and hit the jump 30 seconds button only to see the score did hold up; more fake whistles throughout the match which on TV sound real... The Dutch outshot Denmark 28-8 but on goal it was just 5-4... Spain had won 14 straight competitive matches... FIFA/UEFA are great at televising games - they should not only do all soccer matches, but ALL sports; first-class broadcasting.  The moment I liked is the instant reaction in the locker room of POL GK Wojciech Szczesny who was red-carded and jumping up for joy when his backup saved the PK.  If there is one thing FIFA could back away from, is quicker transitions with their logo (for replays)... no one picked powerhouses ITA (vs ESP) or POR (vs GER); the only other game where one team got no votes was UKR (vs ENG)... France-England one of the most evenly divided with 14 picking FRA, 10 ENG, and 15 a tie... the upcoming Greece-Czech Republic is the other evenly split one with 16 GRE, 10 CZE, and 13 tie... no free kick goals thus far... when scoring the first goal, teams are 4-1-3 (0 nil-nil draws)... when leading at the half, teams are 3-0-1 (3 scoreless at the half)... total goals: 20 (2 shutouts, zero 0-0 ties), 2.50 per match... Blogs/Facebook/Twitter are the discussion points these days (if you don't do social media, comment on our Blog!)... being new to Twitter, I think this is the process for updates -- twitter for mini-updates which post to Hwci WorldCup's Facebook page and on twitter at #hwcieuro; the blog for notable updates through this rss feed; then this newsletter for bi-weekly updates...