Saturday, June 13, 1998	                     http://www.HWCI.com/wc98
Issue # 8.1.4 "Nigeria, Mexico for real..."

		1998 HWCI WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT POOL '98
		=======================================

	NIGERIA RALLIES, MEXICO ROUTS, AND BELGIUM STIFLES
	Only three players remain at top of pool standings

	LA MIRADA, CA (smt)- The "Super Eagles" of Nigeria (1-0)
rallied from a 2-1 deficit with 2 goals in five minutes to give
them a thrilling 3-2 win over Spain (0-1) in Group D action.  
Mexico (1-0) dominated the second half with 3 goals, 2 by Luis 
Hernandez, in their 3-1 win over South Korea (0-1) in Group E play.
Belgium (0-0-1), beaten badly by Holland (0-0-1) twice in qualifying,
held on to a 0-0 tie in a defensive match in Group E.

	Mexico and Nigeria both entered the World Cup amidst
questions and poor play in pre-World Cup matches.  However, both
lit up when it counted.  Nigeria used the last 30 minutes to rally
to victory while Mexico took advantage of short-handed South
Korea in the second half.  Seok-Ju Ha scored for South Korea in
the 28th minute and was red-carded in the 30th, the Cup's first
straight-out red card of the tourney, and first via FIFA's new
get tough policy on tackles from behind.  Even when Belgium went
up a man via a brilliant acting performance they played for the tie.

	Mexico takes a surprising lead in Group E.  Spain, the
FIFA-picked top seed in Group D, finds itself in last place.
Group H gets an early start tomorrow with Argentina-Japan and 
Jamaica-Croatia, while Group F sends out Yugoslavia and Iran.

	Couldn't wake up for the Nigeria match and, unfortunately,
woke up to see South Korea get butchered in the 2nd half.  Because
I was watching Univision, I never knew South Korea was down a man.
I thought they were better than that.  Also, couldn't find the
Holland match on ESPN because it was on ABC.  I gotta check my
schedule better.  Well, one thing I learned (when did this happen?)
was that the side ref will hold up exactly how many minutes of
"extra" time will be played in the half (in BEL-HOL's case,
4 minutes for 2nd half).  That's pretty neat, though probably 
just as arbitrary.

	With two non-draw matches today, the logjam at the top
is broken.  MLSBOB, TRIPLEX, and KING OF THE WORLD take the early
lead with all five matches predicted correctly (of the five
non-draw matches played).  The logjam is now for 4th place with
12 tied with 4 points each.  SWEET TEETH holds down the anchor
position (21st place) with just two points.  South Korea and Spain's 
losses put some worry on three people who thought they'd win it all.

	Current standings are now available on HWCI.com.  I can't
guarantee how often it will be updated, but it's there.  Also, links
to other World Cup 98 sites should also be up by tomorrow.

Soccer commercials are the best!...
Scott HW
                                            
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Scott M Tamashiro, HWCI Engineering       \\||//\\||//  /o-o\\ \ \ `
WC98 Pool Administrator                    \  /  \  /  (o-o-o)) ) > > >
Email:    scott@hwci.com                    ||    ||    \`o'// / / ,  
Updates:  http://www.HWCI.com/wc98          ||    ||  WORLD CUP   
----------------------------------------------------  POOL 1998