2006 HWCI World Cup Pool Update

Friday, June 2, 2006
Issue # 0.0.0 "Deal or No Deal?"
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CERRITOS, CA (smt) -- Defending world champion Brazil heads the list of 32 teams in the FIFA World Cup to be played in Germany, home of 2002's runner-up. The United States, though ranked #5 in the world (careful what you believe) has to play seeded team Italy and the #2 ranked team, Czech Republic, in Group E. While most of the big teams are in, it's some of the little teams that failed to qualify that made news. Turkey, the 3rd place winner in 2002, failed to qualify and could have given the relatively large Turkish population in Germany a reason to come out. South Africa, currently slated to host the 2010 World Cup, failed to qualify and follow in the footsteps of the USA (who snuck in 1990 for the 1st time in 40 years and hosted in 1994) and Japan (qualified in 1998 for the 1st time ever and co-hosted in 2002) in building momentum for their World Cup. And Cinderella Senegal, which shocked France and advanced to the Quarterfinals in 2002 (kinda takes the polish of USA's quarterfinal finish, eh?), are nowhere to be seen.

But it is now 2006. Five nations are making their World Cup debut and two others (Czech Republic & Ukraine) are making their debut as independent nations. And Serbia & Montenegro (SCG), formerly the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) which was formerly the larger Socialist FRY (YUG), will play its last major tournament as a team as a recent referendum passed allowing Montenegro to become a separate state (and have already split their soccer team into two). Got that? And this World Cup also marks the effective death of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) as Australia moved to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) at the beginning of the year, leaving the OFC with New Zealand and 10 other countries that have are more likely to host the "Survivor" reality show (including next season's Cook Islands locale) than win a soccer tournament.

There are only seven teams that have participated in the past five World Cups (including this year). Although you could easily guess Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, and Spain, would you have guessed Korea and the USA (of course both were assisted with the automatic qualifier as the home team (the U.S. in '94 and Korea in '02)).

So who do you think will win it all (besides Brazil)? Can the Yanks (where young Freddy Adu will be watching like us on the tele) survive the Group of Death and then avoid a Round of 16 matchup with Brazil? Will Germany become the seventh team to win it all at home (having already done so in 1974)? Will the Socceroos of Australia (led by Guus Hiddink who led the Netherlands (1998) and Korea (!) (2002) to the semis) become the first Oceania team to advance to the Round of 16?

We already have eight entries and are hoping to top the 23 entries we had in 2002. So without further adu (no pun intended)...

Here are the basics:

WHAT:        	3rd HWCI World Cup Soccer Office Pool
FEE:         	$10.00 per entry
DEADLINE:    	9:00 a.m. PDT on Friday, June 9th (if by mail, then postmarked by Thursday night)
WHO:        	Anyone with ten bucks!  Invite friends!  No more than three entries per person
REFERRAL:	For those who participated in 2002, refer 5 people to enter and get a free entry with one paid
SOC STAT:	Brazil is the defending World Cup champion
PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1998- LE BIX (Fernando B) $115
		2002- PUNA (Tina M) $110

For more info, see the "Rules", "How to Enter", and "FAQ" sections. Then please enter online using our Web Entry page.

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Just $2.50 a year for 4 years...
Scott