Friday, June 28, 2024
Issue # 4.1.3 "Favorites Switching Positions"
[||| Mini-Updates | Dailies: Jun 23-24-25-26 ]

PEARL HARBOR, HI (smt)- Seven more draws muddled up the group standings a bit and the two draws in Group E (E2-Slovakia-E3-Romania 1:1, E4-Ukraine-E1-Belgium 0:0) left UKR as the first time to earn 4 points (due to finishing 4th) and not make the Round of 16 (when field expanded to 24 teams).  Two nil-nil draws in Group C (C4-England-C1-Slovenia, C2-Denmark-C3-Serbia) allowed 3-point SVN to sneak into the R16 though they lost out on 2nd place to having more yellow cards than DEN (thanks to a SVN assistant coach picking up a yellow in the first game). 

Upsets rocked Group D and F with #74 F2-Georgia pulling off the biggest upset in Euro history stunning almost a full strength #6 F3-Portugal 2-0 to take 3rd, #25 D3-Austria outlasting #7 D2-Netherlands 3-2 to win Group D, and #28 D1-Poland rallying to tie #2 D4-France 1-1 to push FRA to 2nd place in Group D.

A3-Hungary won 1-0 over A2-Scotland but fell short of a R16 spot (5th best 3rd place team) while B1-Spain (B-team winning 1-0 over #66 B4-Albania) and C4-England struggled but still won their groups.  Defending champ #9 B3-Italy secured the minimum draw they needed over #10 B2-Croatia to advance as did F1-Türkiye (in a card-marred match which they actually won 2-1 over F4-Czechia).  ESP was the only team to get all 9 points while every team picked up at least one point.  ESP was also the only team not allow a goal while every team scored a goal (though FRA's two goals were via own goal and PK).  

With the mix-ups, we get FRAvBEL a round early than expected and ROU's reward for winning Group E is facing #7 NED who fell to 3rd in Group D. ENG avoids both FRA and BEL in their half of the bracket and gets #78 SVK as their first matchup.  The top half of the bracket has #2 FRA, #3 BEL, #6 POR, #8 ESP and host GER (#16). 

Of the top 7 teams (chosen by at lest 2 entries) picked to win it all, all made it.  ITA also made it and Rutin4Putin (4th-Tied, 56 pts) is the first entry to lose their champ (SRB).  Just one picked SVN (Cool Guy) to make the R16 and 3 picked GEO.

Rainman (9th-T, 54) went 7-5 for Matchday 3 while 11 went 1-11 (only ESP's win was easy to pick).   Seven got 13 of 16 R16 teams correct while Lukakus Lost Brother only got 10.  Toast is now in first with 60 points but closely followed by El Buenísimo (59) and Germany Minus One (58).  Lukakus Lost Brother and Cool Guy are tied for last with 44 pts.  Flying Elvi fell from a tie for 5th after Matchday 2 to a tie for 40th (50).

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   Ins & Outs - [36 Matches/14 Ties] - Goals: 81 (2.25/match) [Own: 7 (1-GER>SCO 87', 8-AUT>FRA 38' {gw}, 12-CZE>POR 69', 15-ALB>CRO 76', 16-ITA>ESP 55' {gw}, 23-TUR>POR{2} 28', 31-NED>AUT 6'), Subs: 14 (1-GER 68', 1-GER{2} 90'+3, 2-SUI 90'+3, 7-NED 83', 11-TUR 90'+7, 12-POR 90'+2 {gw}, 15-ALB 76' {og}, 15-ALB{2} 90'+5 {gd}, 18-SVN 90'+5 {gd}, 21-UKR 80' {gw}, 23-GER{3} 90'+2 {gd}, 24-HUN 90'+10 {gw}, 28-ITA 90'+8 {gw}, 36-TUR 90'+4 {gw}), 90'+/120'+: 10 (1-GER +3, 2-SUI +3, 11-TUR +7, 12-POR +2 {gw}, 15-ALB +5 {gd}, 18-SVN +5 {gd}, 23-GER{2} +2 {gd}, 24-HUN +10 {gw}, 28-ITA +8 {gw}, 36-TUR +4 {gw}), Extra Time: 0 (-)]... Scoring First: 18-4-10 [4 Nil-Nil ties (20-NEDvFRA, 29-ENGvSVN, 30-DENvSRB, 34-UKRvBEL); (4-ALB, 7-POL, 12-CZE, 21-SVK)]... Leading at Half: 14-1-4 [17 ties (11 scoreless); -]... Shutout: 20 [3-CRO, 5-SRB, 10-UKR, 9-BEL, 8-AUT, 14-HUN, 16-ITA, 20-NED, 20-FRA, 23-TUR, 22-ROU, 24-SCO, 27-ALB, 29-ENG, 29-SVN, 30-DEN, 30-SRB{2}, 34-UKR{2}, 34-BEL{2}, 35-POR]... PK: 7/9 [1-GER 45'+1, 3-cro (s) 80', 19-AUT 78', 24-GEO 45'+4, 28-cro{0/2} (s) 54', 32-FRA 56', 32-POL 79' {retake}, 33-ROU 37', 35-GEO{2/2} 57']... Extra Time: 0 [-]... PSO: 0 (0/0) [-]... Red Card (GF/GA): 3 [1-SCO 44' {R} (1{og}/3), 36-CZE 20' {2Y} (1/2), 36-CZE{2} 90'+8(Post) {R} (-/-)]... Multiple Goals: 0 [-]... Goal Line Tech: 1 [34-UKR (xG) 83']... VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 37 [1-SCO FoulBox-{PK-} 25', 1-SCO xFoul+{RC+PK+GER} 42', 1-GER xOff+{g-} 76', 1-SCO xOff={og=} 87', 2-SUI Off-{g+} 12', 3-CRO xEncroach+{g-} 82', 4-ITA xOff={g=} 16', 7-NED YC~(14<23) 15',  6-DEN xFoulxPK= 53', 10-ROU xOff={g=} 57', 9-SVK xOff={g=} 7', 9-BEL xOff+{g-} 56', 9-BEL xHB+{g-} 86', 11-TUR xOff+{g-} 27', 12-POR xOff+{g-} 87', 14-GER xOff={g=} 22', 14-HUN xOff+{g-} 45'+2, 13-SUI xOff+{g-} 33', 13-SUI xOff+{g-} 82', 20-NED Off={ng=} 69', 24-CZE xHB+{g-} 23', 24-CZE xHB+{pk+GEO} 45'+1, 24-GEO xFoulxPK= 60', 23-GER xFoul+{g-} 17', 23-SUI xFoulxPK= 70', 24-SCO xFoulxPK= 68', 28-ITA xHB+{pk+CRO} 52', 31-NED HB-{g+} 75', 31-AUT xOff+{g-} 83', 32-FRA xFoul+{pk+POL} 74', 32-FRA xGKOffLine+{retakePK+POL} 77', 29-ENG xOff+{g-} 20', 33-SVK xFoulBox+{pk+ROU} 34', 35-POR xF+{pk+GEO} 53', 36-CZE xOffxFoul={g=} 66']... 63%+ Poss: 8 [1-GERvSCO (68) W, 4-ITAvALB (65) W, 7-NEDvPOL (65) W, 10-UKRvROU (66) L, 12-PORvCZE (69) W, 14-GER{2}vHUN (63) W, 29-ENGvSVN (72) D, 35-POR{2}vGEO (68) L]... Zero SOG (Shots): 2 [1-SCO (0), 26-SCO{2} (4)]... 20+ Shots (S/SOG/G): 6 [7-NED (20/4/2) W, 11-TUR (22/8/3) W, 15-CRO (20/5/1 {og}) D, 16-ESP (20/8/0 {og}) W, 24-CZE (26/11/1) D, 35-POR (23/5/0) L]... Breaks (>30 min): 0 [-]... Match Order of Play: RR: 1 | 2-3-4 | 7-6-5 | 10-9-8 | 11-12¹ | 15-14-13 | 18-17-16 | 21-19-20 | 24-23-22² | 25-26^A | 27-28^B | 31-32^D-29-30^C | 33-34^E-35-36^F | R16: 38-37 | 40-39 | 42-41 | 43-44 | QF: 45-46 | 47-48 | SF: 49 | 50 | FIN: 51... 

   Tids & Bits - Group C tied for the fewest combined goals (7) in the group stage and featured 5 draws... no one has scored more than 1 goal in a match with GEO's Georges Mikautadze leading with 3 goals to go along with 7 own goals... 7 was one short of last tourneys's 8 in the group stage... POR had 13 CK to CZE's 0 in the first game and 11-1 CKs over GEO... SCO had zero shots on goal for the 2nd time... there have already been 37 VAR delays (though ESPN only is tracking 20 major incidents for now)... okay, at least 18 yellow cards in CZEvTUR match and 2 red cards where bench players and coaches were carded as well... FRA has just two goals - one own goal and one PK goal... there were 10 second half stoppage-time goals and 7 have been game-winners or game-tying (in all the group stage, there were just 3 in 2021)... entries averaged 8.3 correct picks on Matchday 1 (12 games), 4.9 on Matchday 2, and just 3.1 on Matchday 3... the total correct picks averaged 16.3 (36 matches)... entries are averaging 51.9 points so far... Oy, USMNT fell to Panama 2-1 (yes, USA had a dumb red card but still, PAN) so now even an improbable win vs Uruguay may not be enough to advance in this "easy" group while advancing with a loss is still possible if Bolivia upsets Panama... I wore my authentic 2016 home USA jersey (I like the subtle patterns in the white) and was surprised to see an aircraft carrier (USS Carl Vinson) docked in Pearl Harbor -- it's hard to imagine such a large vessel up close...

On Sunday, 25 got HUN's win and 15 picked the SUIvGER draw.  All 58 had GER advancing and 49 had SUI.  Five went 2-0 in the matches while 23 went 0-2.  49 got both teams advancing while 9 got just one (GER).  El Buenísimo (4th-Tied, 22 pts), BlueIsTheColour I (10th-T, 21), Matt's Mostly Wrong (10th-T), Salah (23rd-T, 20), and Rainman (35th-T, 19) all got the max 8 points today.  At the top, it's a 3-way tie for first with 21goals, Disabling Below Jobs, and Toast tied with 23 pts.  Carseroni (52nd-T, 16), Danglish (57th, 14), and Cool Guy (58th (last), 13) all just got 3 of 8 points.  If HUN were to advance later, 34 entries had them in the Round of 16.  19 lost SCO as a R16 team.  ... on Monday, a good day for entries as all 58 picked up at least 6 of the 8 possible points today.  55 picked ESP and 18 picked the CROvITA draw.  17 went 2-0 while FC Spermicidals and Cool Guy went 0-2.  All 58 got both ESP and ITA into the Round of 16.  That meant 17 got the max 8 points and two got 6 of 8 pts.  There is a 5-way tie for first (30 pts) with El Buenísimo and Germany Minus One joining 21goals, Disabling Below Jobs, and Toast at the top. Cool Guy is still last with 19 pts. ... on Tuesday, whereas yesterday was a good day for entries, today was a bad day.  Toast was the only one to pick the AUT win, Rainman was the only one to pick the FRAvPOL draw, and no one picked ENG to tie SVN.  17 did get the DENvSRB draw correct.  So Toast went 2-2 today while 40 went 0-4.  Six teams advanced from Groups C & D (remember, you will get F3-Portugal's 3 points tomorrow after Group F completes) today (well, FRA, ENG, and NED technically advanced yesterday but you get the points today).  Cool Guy was the only one to pick SVN into the Round of 16.  All 58 got ENG, 57 FRA, 56 DEN, 54 NED, and 30 AUT.  24 got 5 of 6 teams  while the other 34 got 4 of 6.  Toast got 17 of 22 possible points to take sole possession of first with 47 pts.  24 got just 14 of 22 points.  El Buenísimo is second with 46 pts and Disabling Below Jobs and Germany Minus One are tied for 3rd with 45 pts.  Cool Guy is still last with 32 pts. .. on Wednesday, 24 picked the TUR win, 14 the SVKvROU draw, and 10 the URKvBEL draw.  No one imagined GEO winning.  13 went 2-2 while 23 went 0-4.  All 58 had BEL advancing (barely), 56 had POR, 43 TUR, 36 SVK, and 13 ROU.  Cool Guy, El Buenísimo, and Danglish (56th, 45) actually had GEO making the R16.  Alyonushka (4th-Tied, 56 pts) and Rutin4Putin (4th-T) (coincidentally, the same person) got 5 of the 6 teams.  Flying Elvi (40th-T, 50) only got 2 of the 6.  Alyonushka and Rutin4Putin picked up 17 of 22 possible points (no one else had more than 14) while Flying Elvi got just 6 of 22 points. Toast still leads with 60 points with El Buenísimo second (59) and Germany Minus One third (58).  Lukakus Lost Brother fell into a tie for last with Cool Guy (44).  Overall, Toast had the most Round Robin wins (21) while Cool Guy had the least (11) (out of 36 possible points).  7 entries got 13 of the 16 teams in the Round of 16 while Lukakus Lost Brother got just 10. The last 12 matches saw entries only get an average of 3.1 correct (total of 16.3) as 7 more ties reared its ugly head.  Entries got 11.9 teams in the R16.  Email update likely late tomorrow since I'll be traveling in four hours and no elimination runs (still haven't made it efficient), but likely after the R16 is over.  So there is still hope (for now)...

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Why doesn't FOX have ability to watch both games in a double box like NFL Red Zone?...
Scott