CERRITOS, CA (smt) -- An interesting thing happened on the way to the Semifinals.  One team dominated each of the four quarterfinal matches and all four teams actually won.  The Czech Republic didn't get lucky on any of their TWO shots they managed to get off.  There will not be another miracle Greece run.  France won't get redemption that they didn't deserve.  England won't take their ugly defensive shell to the next round.  The teams playing the best, all from Groups B & C, in this tourney all went through. 

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his hot streak as Portugal finally broke through in the 79' in beating the Czechs, 1-0.  Ronaldo also hit the woodwork twice.  The Group A winners didn't have one shot on goal and were outshot 20-2, which is amazing considering they had six corner kicks.  Portugal will meet Spain, which for some reason UEFA scheduled two days after the POR-CZE match.  Xabi Alonso had an early goal in the 19' which helped Spain toy with France and nailed the PK in the 90'+1 for the 2-0 victory.  France somewhat came alive in the second half in an otherwise lackluster meeting between two soccer powers.  France just had four shots (only 1 on goal) while Spain only had 9.  So France ends the tourney with two straight losses after a 23-match unbeaten streak.  The all-Iberian semifinal will feature Portugal with five days rest and Spain with just three.

Like Portugal, Germany dominated the first half but they managed to put one in the net and seemingly was in control.  But Greece, despite only having possession 1/3 of the time, shocked Germany with a tying goal in the 55'.  But Germany exerted their prowess with three straight goals in a 15 minute span.  Only a late PK goal (89') made the score closer than it seemed at 4-2.  Germany dominated with 14 shots on goal (outshooting Greece 24-9) and won a world-record 15th straight competitive match.  We even got a classic Miroslav Klose header.  Germany will face Italy who, despite winning the 2006 World Cup in the penalty kick shootout (PSO), have had its share of PSO disappointments.  Luckily, they faced a team with even a worse record of PSO disappointments as Italy and England managed the tourney's first 0-0 tie.  An early Italian miss gave England the edge, but the English missed two straight and Alessandro Diamanti won it for Italy, 4-2.  The cockiest score was Andrea Prilo's slow chip into the center (almost enough time for GK Joe Hart to think about going back to save it) while down 2-1.

In the pool, Flying Elvi (79 pts) had his 9-game win streak snapped with ITA's win as had his 7-point lead slashed to just one over Walleye, who is still trying to hold despite losing his champ NED early.  Adivinanza and SalsaKing are just two points behind in what has become a very tight race for our first-ever HWCI EURO Pool champion.  Thirteen (13) got 3 of the 4 Semifinalists while Bix Pix (33rd, 55) and Mikenjo (38th, 49) only got 1 of the 4.  Despite getting 2 of 4 teams correct, Blue Panther is still in last with 48 pts.

While 19 entered the Quarters with a chance to win money, only six were eliminated after 4 matches leaving 13 still have a chance in the wide-open race.  Two people (Charles D and Eric F) have two entries with a chance though no one has covered all 8 possible outcomes.  Flying Elvi had a 43.8% chance for 1st (7 of 16 possibilities) and a 93.8% chance for money (30 of 32 chances) at one time but that has been reduced to 25% and 75%, which is still pretty darn good.  In fact, four people could win the pool and it will depend which team wins the title:  Germany (Flying Elvi), Italy (Adivinanza), Spain (SalsaKing), and Portugal (Sisyphus (16th-Tied, 66)). 

The 13 are vying for the four money spots which were announced earlier this week.  The $390 (39 entries) will be split this way:

   1st Place =  $ 190
   2nd Place =  $  95
   3rd Place =  $  65
   4th Place =  $  40

The tiebreaker could come into play in a few scenarios (remember, the total goals in the semis & final only includes goals scored in regulation and overtime, no PSO goals (i.e., the official score, like the ENG-ITA match is officially 0-0)).  If you took the lowest three scoring games, that is 2 goals while the three highest scoring games is 16 (I know you could only choose up to 15, but the highest anyone chose was 13.5 (Russo (16th-T)).  The lowest pick was Fabio (8th-T, 72) with 3 goals.  The average for three games is 7.4 goals.

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:  The streak of 14 matches without a tie was snapped with ENG-ITA... ESP is the only team to record three shutouts and UKR and FRA are the only teams to be shut out twice...  FRA and ENG each eliminated 3 entries... POR kept 3 from winning the pool while FRA & ENG each eliminated one from the pool title... like our four HWCI World Cup pools, someone will pick the correct champion (14 GER, 12 ESP, 1 ITA, 1 POR)... 38 of 39 picked ESP to make the semis, 37 picked GER, 11 ITA, and 3 POR; 15 lost  FRA and 5 ENG (no one picked GRE or CZE to make the semis)... when scoring the first goal, teams are 20-2-5 (1 nil-nil draws)... when leading at the half, teams are 12-0-3 (13 scoreless/tied at the half)... total goals: 69 (14 shutouts, 1 0-0 ties), 2.46 per match... red cards: 3; with advantage: 1 GF-1 GA...  PKs: 3-for-4... PSOs: 6-for-9... 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 twice-weekly updates...