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     NO SEPP, NO ESPN, NO GRASS, NO NORTH KOREA, NO PROBLEM!
Our first-ever Women's World Cup pool extremely delayed; new deadline Sunday 10 a.m. PDT

LEXINGTON PARK, MD (smt) -- With the popularity of women's soccer growing, FIFA has decided to stunt the growth by dominating the headlines with major scandals spanning several World Cups and the election then sudden resignation of Sepp Blatter (though it may not happen to next year... what kind of resignation is that?  Why not just say he'll resign and we'll get a new FIFA president in four years) and "experimenting" not with an U-20 or minor tournament, but THE Women's World Cup by playing all matches on turf, not grass (U-17 WCs have been played on "turf" as early as 2003).  And Fox will also be "experimenting", claiming this to be a dress rehearsal for the 2018 Men's World Cup in televising its first major tournament after outbidding ESPN.  But kudos to Fox for trying to emulate ESPN with nightly pre and post shows, hiring Heather Mitts, and getting their Fox Sports Go app out there to watch matches on your phone or tablet (apparently with optional views as well, such as a 360 channel and Tactical view channel). 

But on to positive news as after a highly successful WWC in Germany four years ago where USA had an incredible comeback with an extra time stoppage goal to win on PKs vs. Brazil in the quarterfinals and then USA saw Japan come back twice before USA lost in PKs in the final, giving Asia its first men's or women's WC title and just months after a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan.  All the top teams will be there except for #8 North Korea (tied with host Canada), who was banned after five players tested positive for steroids four years ago.  Germany enters as the #1 team followed by the United States, France, and Japan.  The first, and allegedly last, all-turf WWC will feature an expanded field of 24 teams and it'll be interesting to see if there's a great disparity between the top and bottom teams, such as #67 Ivory Coast.  And with the top 4 3rd place teams advancing, FIFA has already determined the order of placement, not necessarily by rank.  Thus, it is possible that #1 Germany will have to face #3 France in the quarters and #2 USA in the semis while the bottom bracket would see #4 Japan and host Canada.

So with traveling, work, family, and IEEE all spiking at the same time, it took a while to get the entry form up and running, and with some website cgi-script issues, another couple days to get the online entry up.  With that, instead of the normal few weeks we usually have for our HWCI World Cup or HWCI Euro pools (or even the 4 days for our HWCI NCAA pool), we have just a couple days and change.  Thus, with the expectation that I'll get a few entries at the Saturday LA Galaxy match that starts after the first match, Canada vs China kicks off, the two matches on Saturday won't count.  Instead you'll pick the rest of the 34 matches (plus your own Round of 16 bracket) pushing the deadline from 3 pm PDT Saturday to 10 am PDT Sunday.  Despite that, I still hope to get at least the dozen entries to make this worthwhile.  Adding the WWC to the rotation, that means 3 of the 4 years we will have a soccer pool (this is our 7th soccer pool).

Here are the basic rules and a downloadable entry form:

WHAT:             1st HWCI Women’s World Cup Soccer Pool (7^th overall soccer pool, 28^tH overall pool)

FEE:                 $10.00 per entry

DEADLINE:      10:00 a.m. PDT on Sunday, June 7, 2015 (if by mail, then postmarked by Saturday night)

WHO:               Anyone with ten bucks!  Invite friends!  No more than three entries per person.

REFERRAL:     If you participated in any of our pools, refer five people to enter and get a free entry with one paid

SOC STAT:      Japan is the defending WOMEN’S WORLD CUP champion.

INFO:               HWCI World Cup Pool:  www.HWCI.com/worldcup

PRIZES:           All money from fees will go into pot for 1^st through 3^rd (maybe 4^th) place prizes and maybe a Bonus Prize.  Winners will be determined by points, not correct number of games (see Points section).

POINTS:          34 Round Robin matches=         1 point each (you can now pick ties!)

                        16 Round of 16 teams=             3 points each

                        8 Quarterfinal picks=                 4 points each

                        4 Semifinal picks=                     6 points each

                        2 Final picks=                            8 points each

                        1 Champ pick=                          12 points

                        -----------------------------------------------------

                        Total possible points=                166 (normally 168 but Saturday matches don’t count)

PAYMENT:       If by eCheck or PayPal funds (must choose personal reason, such as “gift”), PayPal (send $10.00 to “[email protected]”)

                                    If by credit card, PayPal (send $10.61 ($10 plus 61¢ PayPal fees) to “[email protected]”) [preferred]

                             Mail a $10 check to (email for snail mail address)

                             Pay the person who referred you (or give to Harry Oei or Lisa MacDonald)

                             Payment due June 9^th unless prearranged earlier

ENTER:            Via Web (www.HWCI.com/worldcup/2015/w_entry.html) [preferred – but entry form won’t be up until June 5^th]

                        Via Email (send pic or pdf of completed form or picks) to [email protected]

                        Via Mail (email for snail maiil address)

CONTACT:       Scott ([email protected])

                        http://www.HWCI.com/worldcup

Do or do not.  There is no try. -- Yoda, V:ESB...
Scott