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     GERMANS ROUT, CAMEROON DOMINATES IN DEBUT
22 entries from 19 people in inaugural Women's WC pool

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) -- B1-Germany showed why it is the #1 ranked team scoring 5 goals in each half in a 10-0 rout of the lowest-ranked team (#67) in the tournament, B2-Ivory Coast.  Fellow group-mate B3-Norway pulled off a 4-0 rout of their own.  As one of eight teams to debut in the World Cup, the second-lowest ranked team (#53) C3-Cameroon put up 3 in each half in their 6-0 rout of the third-lowest ranked team (#48) C4-Ecuador.  Three of Cameroon's six goals came off the PK spot as six (in 7 tries) of the 40 goals scored in the tourney thus far have come from the spot.  The two finalists from '11 (C1-Japan, D1-USA) struggled but came away with victories while the host (A1-Canada) needed a stoppage time PK for their win.  CONCACAF went undefeated as in addition to CAN and USA's wins, E4-Costa Rica and F4-Mexico picked up draws versus E3-Spain and F3-Colombia, respectively.  A3-Netherlands and title contenders E1-Brazil and F1-France picked up wins as well while D4-Nigeria came back twice to tie D3-Sweden 3-3.

After the first couple of 1-0 matches, the last 10 matches saw 38 goals (and no nil-nil ties thus far) despite the first six matches ending with one team shutout.  Group D (the Group of Death) is the only group where all teams have scored at least one goal, with 3 of them scoring three.  The eight newcomers to the World Cup went 2-4-2 (head-to-head: CMR won vs ECU and ESP and CRC played to a tie) while the 7 teams who have made all 7 World Cups went 5-0-2 (head-to-head: SWE and NGA played to a tie). 

The Fox Sports GO app and website hasn't been the most reliable but the fact they offer tactical and 360 versions of each match is really cool.  Handy as well, as I still don't have a TV after my Plasma HDTV screen broke just before March Madness.  Despite that, I only got to see some of the matches (Canada, USA, Japan, Germany) as the viewing hours are during my normal work shift (almost better that the matches were on at 11 pm / 1 am).  The turf was not pleasant to watch and it's unfortunate FIFA allowed this to happen (but not surprised, of course, with all that went on). Even worse, some stadiums only got the turf but the turf needs to be broken in for months - thus poor quality. 

I only wish the US men's national team (USM) had a midfielder like Megan Rapinoe.  Of course, her long cross to Abby Wambach in the 122'+ vs Brazil in 2011 was when I first noticed her (there is no Major League Soccer (MLS) midfielder at that time (besides Beckham), and maybe even today, who would attempt that long cross and with such precision) but watching her over the years and more recently live at the StubHub Center last month, she is one of the best playmakers in soccer.  And her game vs Australia just added to the legend.  Just hope she doesn't pick up a another yellow card in the next two matches.  Tobin Heath is also a joy to watch and if you saw her "why didn't her leg break on that move" play at the StubHub Center (unfortunately, can't find the closeup and slo mo), it sent the press box into a frenzy!

As for our first-ever HWCI Women's World Cup pool, we definitely had a late start -- as in just a couple days to promote and get entries in.  Postponing the deadline until Sunday 10 am (vs Saturday 3 pm - thus first two Group A matches were not picked) helped get at least 5 entries in as I was able to corral some reporters and friends at the StubHub Center during the LA Galaxy listless performance (no shots on goal for the first-time ever at home) vs Vancouver Saturday night.  With 10 more coming later that night and in the morning, we ended up with 22 entries, which is one more than we had in our first-ever HWCI Men's World Cup Pool in 1998.  Still far off the 75 we got last year but it's a start.  And who knows how many more if I wasn't behind due to work, family, travel, and IEEE commitments.  Interestingly, just 3 of the 22 were from women.  A nice social experiment!

Because of the way FIFA implemented the Round of 16 (top 2 from each group plus top 4 third-place finishers are already pre-slotted), #1 Germany would have to potentially knock off #3 France and #2 USA just to reach the Final.  As such, only one person picked Germany to win it all (Ponytail Houligans) while 16 picked USA and two each picked Canada and France.  Japan was the only other team someone thought could win it all (YellowCard).  Ecuador was the only team no one thought would reach the Round of 16.  Despite Marta's presence (it was a joy to watch her live when she was on the LA Sol), only one person picked Brazil to reach the final (Art).  Four of the 34 matches were unanimous (GERvCIV, NORvTHA, USAvAUS, and ENGvCOL -- the first 3 coming true) while people had the toughest choice with CMRvECU (10-5-7 tie -- CMR won).

After 12 matches (of which only the last 10 were picked), seven (Anthony's Weiner WFC, D.R., Ponytail Houligans, Sepp Luvs the Ladies, Thecomebacker, Toney Tribe, Vivisdaddy) are tied for first with 7 points but everyone has at least 5 points (my Futbol Fabone 7, UAU!, YellowCard).  Everyone was a perfect 2-0 after the second day of matches and nine were 5-1 after the third day.  Soccerhorn and Tobey Tribe were the only two to get the TIE correct in SWEvNGA while no one got TIE between ESPvCRC.  Eight started the tournament 5-0.

    Bits 'N Bobs:  Goals: 40 (3.33/match, 12 matches) (1 own goal (8-NGA), 3 goals by subs (3-GER (2), 8-SWE))... Shutouts: 8 (1-CHN, 2-NZL, 3-CIV, 4-THA, 5-SUI, 6-ECU, 9-KOR, 11-ENG)... Hat Tricks: 3 (Anja Mittag (3-GERvCIV), Celia Sasic (3-GERvCIV), Gaelle Enganamouit (6-CMRvECU))... PK: 6/7 (1-CAN, 4-NOR(x), 5-JPN, 6-CMR, 6-CMR, 6-CMR, 9-BRA)... 90'+ goals: 2 (1-CAN 92', 6-CMR 94')... Leading at Half: 7-0-3 (2 ties)... Scoring 1st Goal: 9-0-3 (0 0-0 ties)... Red Cards (goals for/against): 1 (6-ECU 66' (0/3))...  Anthony's Weiner WFC was the only one to go 3-1 on Day 4 as one of just 4 who got TIE correct in COLvMEX... nine went 3-1 in Day 3... Futbol Fabone 7 (geez, hate writing bad news for me) went 1-3 on Day 3 while four went 1-3 on Day 4 (UAU!, Art (8th-Tied, 6 pts), YellowCard, Where's Heather Mitts (8th-T))... four teams (all won) had more than 60% possession (CAN 62%, GER 61%, NOR 65%, BRA 62%)... six CIV starters picked up yellow cards and the team was whistled for an incredible 29 fouls... while COL were called for 25 fouls, KOR and NGA were called for just 3 and 4, respectively... three teams had 25 or more shots (GER (29), NOR (25), CMR (25)) with GER having 17 on goal... CRC and ENG only had 3 shots with ENG, MEX, and CHN only getting one on frame (still one more than LA had last Saturday!)... SWE blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads in their draw... despite the crazy FIFA way of slotting 3rd place teams, most people got it right and the few who accidentally doubled up on a team, quickly corrected it...

Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen. -- The Emperor, VI:RTOJ...
Scott