CARSON, CA (smt) -- A1-Germany kept the host record perfect in opening matches (14-0-5) by outscoring A2-Costa Rica 4-2 in the highest scoring opening match ever. The other Group A match saw A4-Ecuador, who had struggled away from home, upsetting A3-Poland 2-nil. In Group B, B1-England needed an own goal (though the angle of the Beckham free kick was going toward the net anyway) to beat B2-Paraguay who lost their starting GK in the 8th minute. The smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup, B4-Trinidad and Tobago, played with 10 men in the 2nd half and used a herculean effort by backup GK Shaka Hislop to hold B3-Sweden to a scoreless tie.

C1-Argentina started off strong and held off C2-Ivory Coast, 2-1, in an entertaining match. C4-The Netherlands outplayed C3-Serbia & Montenegro, 1-0, putting favorites ARG & NED on top of Group C with 3 pts each. D1-Mexico turned it on late to beat D2-Iran, 3-1 while D4-Portugal started strong and played for a 1-0 win over D3-Angola. MEX GK Oswaldo Sanchez started despite losing his father on Wednesday and making two transatlantic flights in three days.

As for the pool, a record 44 entries (topped the 23 in 2002) from 37 unique players were received (pending any mail entries). This despite one entrant actually asking to withdraw (HAJ), probably due to his uneasiness with the HWCI server going down (I never got his money anyway). Once everything is finalized and official, the money prizes will be announced (approx. 50% / 25% / 16% / 9%). You can now view everyone's picks and see the choice distribution (how many people picked which team) online.

Thirteen picked BRA to win it all with seven picking host GER and five for ENG. NED and USA were picked by four hopeful souls and ARG and ITA were picked by just three entries. CZE were chosen by two while MEX, FRA, and ESP each garnered a single vote. Favorite BRA was picked by 29 to make the Final and by 34 to reach the Semis. Amazingly, at least two entries picked every team to make the Round of 16 (even Togo and (Trinidad &) Tobago).

For the first time, there were no unanimous picks for any of the 48 Round Robin matches. Yes, someone (DIVINE PONYTAIL and MIREAL) did pick CRC over GER. Eleven picked ECU's upset and two missed ENG (LANDON IS BEAUTIFUL and MIREAL). There were no other upsets and so after 8 matches, just four have a perfect record (CHERUNDOLO, JJ, PAOLO ROSSI, and SWEET LOU) at 7-0. However, 29 are at 6-1 (6 pts) and MIREAL brings up the rear with 3 pts with "CRAP! or CRAP?" columnist LANDON IS BEAUTIFUL second to last with 4 pts.

WC STATS:  8 matches (1 tie)... 18 goals (2.25 per game)... 1 Red Card (TRI)... 0 PKs... Scoring first: 7-0-0