Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Issue #4.1.3 "Bite Me! : Parked Behind the Bus"
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SLOW 1ST HALVES WITH BITING FINISHES
Win It All roars into lead; Meli rising fast

GOLETA, CA (smt) --  The two-hour trek to Goleta past the midnight hour was uneventful.  Kind of like the Group D matches that saw a pair of nil-nil halftime scores and just one goal combined.  But drama ensued as the supposed clash of titans between D1-Uruguay and D4-Italy fizzled in the heat, as URU's Luis Suarez once again took a bite out of an opponent (3rd time? profit!) and did not get penalized for it.  A couple minutes later, URU had their lone goal that stood up and sent them to the Round of 16 and ITA home (wow, ENG, ESP, ITA all eliminated already). 

Talk about a bus.  In the 8 matches, four were 0-0 at the half (now half the 40 matches played have been tied at the half) and two more were just 1-0.  Of the 23 goals scored, just 7 were scored in the 1st half.  But the second half was a different story.  Of the 16 goals scored in the second half, 14 of them came in the last 21 minutes of the match.  A3-Mexico's explosion of 3 goals in 10 minutes threatened A1-Brazil for the top spot in Group A.  C2-Greece needed a stoppage time (90'+3) penalty to put them through to the Round of 16, to the heartbreak of C3-Ivory Coast who had rallied to tie it the 74' (a tie would've got them through).  C4-Japan took a bunch of shots but C1-Columbia broke through with 3 second half goals in exciting fashion.  Notable names David Villa and Fernando Torres scored for B1-Spain as they salvaged something (and then later, their plane was struck by lightning).  No "van"'s in the lineup for the B2-Dutch, no problem, as they netted two goals to give them 10 for the tourney.  Neymar had his second 2-goal game for BRA.

The group winners (BRA, NED, COL, CRC) and group runners-up (MEX, CHI, GRE, URU) feature six teams from the Americas and just two from Europe.  In the last 4 groups, only two have clinched (ARG, BEL) while Groups E and G are still wide open.  BIH is the only team eliminated.  So will Group F feature an African (NGA) or Asian (IRN) team going to the Round of 16?  One of those two regions won't be shut out.

In the pool, Win It All got 7 of the 8 Round of 16 teams (missing CRC (had ITA) correct to go from a tie for 34th to sole possession of 1st (42 pts).  He also was the only person to get all 4 Group A/B R16 teams correct and picked up 15 of 16 points in Group A & B.  Our past leader, The Mighty Mobelfakta, fell into a 5-way tie for 2nd (41).  Rainman and Meli (both 2nd-Tied) were the only ones to get all Group C & D Round of 16 teams correct.  Meli picked up 15 of the possible 16 points in Groups C/D to move from a tie for 39th to a tie for 2nd.  While no one picked CRC to win Group D, those two picked them in the R16.  Twelve (12) got just 3 of the 8 R16 teams correct with JURGEN IST PANDO! (picking up just 11 of possible 32 points) taking over last place (23).

There are 32 points up for grabs in the next two days.  Check here if you forgot who you picked.

This year, Sammy is once again provide biting commentary (the once Landon lover and now a hater) with his daily matchday "PANDO! or GORDO?" newsletters (his 3rd straight pool doing it).  Also, following his successful HWCI EURO Pool newsletter, Eric's "Foster's Football Brew" is back and he is actually at the World Cup now to provide insights on the ground.  If anyone else wants to contribute, let me know.  Anyone else going to Brazil and want to send pictures or mini-reports?

The best way to keep up with the pool is to follow @HWCI_Pools on Twitter or visit the #HWCIwc hashtag (you don't need Twitter account to view) often for daily updates.  Less often will be our Facebook group page (post comments or organize viewing parties) and then these newsletters every 4 days or so.  But I intend to update the standings at the end of every matchday.

   SIDES 'N KICKS:  [40 matches] Goals: 117 (2.93/match) (Own: 3 (1-CROvBRA, 10-HONvFRA, 11-BIHvARG); Subs: 25)... Scoring First: 26-7-3 (4 0-0 tie; 1-CRO, 3-ESP, 6-JPN, 7-URU, 9-ECU, 15-ALG, 26-HON)... Lead at Half: 15-4-1 (20 ties; 6-JPN, 8-URU, 9-ECU, 15-ALG)... Shutouts: 21 (2-CMR, 5-GRE, 10-HON, 12-IRN, 12-NGA, 13-POR, 17-BRA, 17-MEX, 18-CMR, 19-ESP, 22-JPN, 22-GRE, 24-ITA, 27-IRN, 28-BIH, 31-RUS, 35-AUS, 36-CHI, 39-ITA, 40-CRC, 40-ENG)... PK: 9/10 (1-BRA, 3-ESP, 7-URU, 10-FRA, 13-GER, 15-ALG, 20-AUS, 25-fra, 37-COL, 38-GRE)... Red Card (Goals For/Against): 7 (8-URUvCRC (94+' 0/0), 10-HONvFRA (43' 2Y 0/3), 13-PORvGER (37' 0/2), 18-CMRvCRO (40' 0/3), 22-GREvJPN (38' 2Y 0/0), 34-CROvMEX (89' 0/0), 39-ITAvURU (59' 0/1))... Multiples: 10 (Neymar (2) 2G (1-BRA, 33-BRA), Robin Van Persie 2G (3-NED), Arjan Robben 2G (3-NED), Karim Benzema 2G (10-FRA), Thomas Müller 3G (14-GER), Mario Mandzukic 2G (18-CRO), Luis Suarez 2G (23-URU), Enner Valencia 2G (26-ECU), Jackson Martinez 2G (37-COL))... Goal line technology: FRA G (48')... Regions: UEFA (13 teams) 13-14-5, CONMEBOL (6) 12-3-1, CAF (5) 3-7-2, AFC (4) 0-7-3, CONCACAF (4) 5-2-3 ... Water Break (>89.6F, 30' each half):  1 (30-USAvPOR 39' @Manaus)... after 38 matches, the matches were averaging 3.05 goals... POR's goal vUSA was the latest scored in regulation history (~94:33)... while BRA (18) and JPN (13) peppered their opponent's GK with a bunch of shots on goal, the CRCvENG match only featured 6 shots on goal; in fact, URU (9), COL (9), CIV (9), ESP (8), NED (7), MEX (7) all had more shots on goal than that match; AUS had zero shots on goal... all 7 teams that scored first, won (though CMR, JPN, and CIV did rally to tie only to lose their matches)... TheComeBacker (68th-T, 27) got no Group C & D R16 teams correct (which is just as hard to do!  He had CIV, ENG, ITA, JPN)... every team but IRN has scored and every team has given up a goal except for NGA and both teams are in Group F... 23 got both Group C matches correct while 9 got both wrong... 28 picked both Group C R16 teams while TheComeBacker and QATAR 2022-Oh Wait!!! (66th-T, 28) missed both... 23 got both Group D R16 teams wrong... Ish (48th-T, 32) and JURGEN IST PANDO! were the only 2 to get just 1 of 4 Group A/B matches correct... 14 got all 4 Group A/B matches correct... everyone got at least 1 Group B R16 team right but Win It All and Sanvid (40th-T, 33) got both teams (how could they not pick ESP??)...  since pool started in'98, 100% of teams with 5+ points have made it to the R16... 9 got 6 Round of 16 teams correct, including Gaby; remember last place Gaby?  Well, she's on a tear and now sits tied for 40th (33)...

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We should just cancel the boring 1st half and immediately start with the 2nd...
Scott