Tuesday, June 19, 2018 
Issue #2.1.1 "Favorites Exposed in Russia" (After 16 Matches)
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GERMANY STUNNED AND GROUP H UPSIDE DOWN
A record 79 entries vie for 6th pool title; Ilvecchio is in 1st

LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (LAX), CA (smt) --  The host nation A1-Russia opened the World Cup in grand fashion thrashing A2-Saudi Arabia 5-0 but it was F2-Mexico who provided the biggest shockwave of the tournament, literally according to seismologists, with a 1-0 win over the defending champions.  F1-Germany is ranked #1 in the world and won all 10 UEFA qualifying matches with a +39 goal differential.  The biggest upset, however, was the smallest-ever qualifying nation of D2-Iceland scoring a game-tying goal against powerhouse D1-Argentina.  Just a few years ago Iceland was ranked in the triple-digits and then the shocking win over England in EUROs two years ago gave them a Gonzaga-like vibe and who wouldn't want to do the Skol Viking Chant?  Lionel Messi also missed a penalty kick that kept the game tied at 1.  The odds-on favorite to win the World Cup, E1-Brazil, struggled against a foul-against-Neymar E2-Swiss team and ended up with a disappointing tie, even though SUI is ranked 6th in the world.  It's much better than their previous two WC matches, a 3-0 loss to Netherlands and a 7-1 thrashing by Germany.  Only G1-Belgium came away with a victory, a convincing one as well 3-0, amongst the top 6 ranked teams in the world. 

In the most anticipated match of the Group Stage, Match # 3 saw the two Iberian peninsula powers, B1-Portugal and B2-Spain, go at it for what seemed like the millionth time and the match didn't disappoint.  From Ronaldo's penalty kick goal to start the scoring to Diego Costa's one-man effort against five red shirts to Ronaldo with a goal mishandled by GK David De Gea just before the half to Costa getting his brace, it was 2-2 10 minutes into the second half.  Then Nacho scored a golazo to put the Spaniards up 3-2.  But in the 86', Ronaldo wouldn't be denied and hit a perfect free kick over the wall against a stunned De Gea.  3-3.  Six goals.  Ronaldo, who had to watch his team win the EUROs in 2016 after an early injury, got back on the world stage and became the oldest player to score a hat trick and fourth player to score in four World Cups.

Group H is flipped with heavy favorites H1-Poland and H3-Colombia on the bottom and H4-Japan and H2-Senegal on top.  Japan caught Poland sleeping and our first red card, a straight red, was pulled for an obvious handball in the box (really should have been a card earlier when a Polish player tried to drag down a Japanese player 1v1 with the GK but credit for not diving or going down too easily, as the continuation resulted in the rebound shot and handball).  Colombia played well down a man for 87 minutes and even tied the match but Japan managed the game-winner in the 73'.  Senegal never let Poland take control of the match and used an own goal and a poorly ref'd timing of a sub getting back onto the field for their second goal and held on, 2-1. 

C1-France had to be aided by VAR (Video Assistant Review) for their first goal (changed to a penalty kick) and then by goal-line technology which also turned out to be an own goal by C2-Australia.  FRA won 2-1 with AUS's only shot on goal a penalty kick score.  A late stoppage time own goal by B3-Morocco gave the game to B4-Iran while D3-Croatia prevailed 2-0 over D4-Nigeria via penalty kick and an own goal.  G3-Tunisia's only shot on goal was a penalty kick and was proving enough for a tie with G4-England before Harry Kane put in a stoppage time header, his 2nd of the match, to save England, 2-1.  The Zlatan-less F3-Swedes needed VAR to get a penalty kick for the only score of the match.  C3-Peru missed a penalty kick in their 1-0 loss to C4-Denmark.  E4-Serbia and A4-Uruguay each won 1-0. 

In the meantime, the day before the WC started, FIFA's membership voted to award the 2026 World Cup to Team United, a joint bid by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.   First Morocco loses the 2026 bid (134 to 65) and then they score a goal for Iran in losing their opening match two days later.  After the scandals in awarding the 2018 and 2022 bids, FIFA opened up voting to the whole membership and each vote was made public.  So it's interesting seeing Russia voting for the United bid while a lot of the other European nations voted for Morocco (much closer travel and games would not be spread over four time zones).  Of course, USA hot spots Iran had to do "None of the Bids", Cuba "Abstained" (as did Slovenia and Spain (sacked coach and won't vote)),  and North Korea (Korea DPR) voted for Morocco.   

Ilvecchio picked the first 8 matches correctly and remains in first place with 11 points.  Argh was the only person to pick MEX and she sits in 29th (Tied, 8) place.  Spermicidal FC was the only person to pick JPN (and also only person to pick both JPN and SEN) and he sits tied for 2nd (10) and has picked 4 straight matches correctly.  Dentista de Suarez (49th-T, 7), All In Archila (70th-T, 5), and Goolazo (70th-T) all missed 7 straight matches (#6-12) with the former getting the first 5 right, then missing 7, then getting the next 2 right.

We received a record 79 entries from 52 people, topping 2014's 75 entries and the fifth straight year the number of entries has gone up (we had 60 people in 2014).  Thought it would be near impossible, after getting the online entry up late (just 5+ days before) and no USA to provide casual fan interest in the World Cup.  But you are all great and diverse soccer, er, futbol fans and this will be a fun pool to run.   This year, Sammy will take a break from his "PANDO! or GORDO?" newsletters after 3 WCs.  Eric's "Foster's Football Brew", a HWCI EURO Pool staple, is back, already two issues in.  If anyone else wants to contribute, let me know.  Anyone else going to Russia and want to send pictures or mini-reports?

With a "World" Cup, a lot of nicknames have local twist to them ranging from Spanish (Kona Coast Soccer Uno, Ceceo, BigRedAlbiceleste, Dentista de Suarez), French (Sacre Les Bleus), German (Blitzkreig813, Teuton), Russian (Futbol Fabone Devyat', Alyonushka), Italian (Ilvecchio), Japanese (Toshiyori), Portuguese (Popozao), and Pirate (Argh).  Then you have Danny B's two entries:  Ionath and Krakens.  And you have the USA of Christmas Past (Wondolousy's Skyball), Christmas Present (Stillcryin4USA), and Christmas Future (USA 2026 WC Champs).  And you have the before and after in the Spanish coach drama with the fired Lopetegui's Tears FC and his replacement FernandoHierrosArmada.

Eleven teams were picked to win the World Cup, led by Brazil (23), Germany (22), Argentina (9), Spain (7), and Belgium (7).    Everyone picked France, Argentina, Germany, and Belgium to make the Round of 16 but no one picked Morocco or Tunisia to make the Knockout Stage.

In the Group Stages, the only unanimous pick was FRA over AUS (also the only match were no ties were picked).  However, no one picked KSA over URU (2 ties), MAR over POR (2 ties), SWE over GER (7 ties), TUN over BEL (1 tie), or MAR over ESP (3 ties).   The closest matches are PER-DEN (26-34-19 ties), CRC-SRB (38-28-13), RUS-EGY (33-23-23), and PAN-TUN (26-30-23).

The prize distribution and Bonus Prize will be detailed at a later date (although eagle-eyed viewers will already have seen the distribution).  The Bonus Prize will be the same but if we go to the Bonus2 contest, because those with 0.5 are at a disadvantage, the total goals predicted will be doubled and include the two semifinal matches (4 matches total).

The best way to keep up with the pool is to follow @HWCI_Pools on Twitter or visit the #HWwc 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.

   SIDES 'N KICKS:  [16 Matches / 3 Ties] Goals: 38 (2.38/match) [Own: 4 (4-MARvIRN, 5-AUSvFRA, 8-NGAvCRO, 15-POLvSEN), Subs (incl. Own): 3,  Stoppage: 4 (1-RUS +1, 1-RUS +4, 4-IRN +5, 14-ENG +1)]... Scoring First: 13-0-3 (0 Nil-Nil ties)... Lead at Half: 4-0-2 (10 ties)... Shutout: 9 (1-KSA, 2-EGY, 4-MAR, 6-PER, 8-NGA, 10-CRC, 11-GER, 12-KOR, 13-PAN)... PK: 7/9 (3-POR, 5-AUS, 5-FRA, 6-per, 7-arg, 8-CRO, 12-SWE, 14-TUN, 16-JPN)... Red Card (GF/GA): 1 (1/1) [16-COL 3' (1/1)]... Multiples: 5 [Cheryshev 2 (1-RUS), Ronaldo 3 (3-POR), Costa 2 (3-ESP), Lukaku 2 (13-BEL), Kane 2 (14-ENG)]... Zero SOG (Shots): 2 [1-KSA (6), 12-KOR (5)]... Goal Line Tech (Award): 1 (5-FRA 81')... VAR: 2 (5-FRA PK+ 56', 12-SWE PK+ 63')... 63%+ Poss: 2 (4-MARvIRN (63) L, 7-ARGvISL (73) D)... 25+ Shots: 2 (7-ARG (26vISL) D, 11-GER (25vMEX) L)... Regions (Teams): UEFA (14) 8-2-4, CONMEBOL (5) 1-2-2, AFC (5) 2-3-0, CAF (5) 1-4-0, CONCACAF (3) 1-2-0, OCEANIA (0)... AUS's and TUN's only shot on goal was their PK goal... Ronaldo is the oldest player to get a hat trick in WC... there were 43 fouls in the SWE-KOR (20/23) match and 36 fouls in the CRO-NGA (20/16) match... ESP has a 21-match unbeaten streak and DEN has a 16-match unbeaten streak... BRA's Neymar was fouled 10 times (of 19 SUI's fouls)... GER was the first European team to lose (5-0-3) and is the 3rd straight defending WC champion to not win their opening match... there were five straight matches with one PK attempted (3, 5-8)... SWE won opening match for first time since '58... the other teams picked to win the WC were France (4), England and Poland (2 each), and Russia, Portugal, and Denmark (1 each)...  Colombia and Uruguay were each picked by one person to reach the final... 11 people entered twice and four entered the max three times... 527 ties were picked, or 13.9% of the matches... 9 entries picked no ties while Soccerhorn and Krispy Kremer picked 18 ties each...  Picked to win their Group/Finish 2nd - A: URU/RUS (68/39), B: ESP/POR (53/52), C: FRA/DEN (74/40), D: ARG/CRO (78/37), E: BRA/SUI (77/56), F: GER/MEX (77/59), G: BEL/ENG (60/56), H: COL/POL (46/29)... if you were to pick By Ranking only, you would have 7 pts ()...  USA was awarded the 1994 WC over Morocco as well (and Brazil)... JPN became first AFC team to beat a CONMEBOL team in WC...  COL's Carlos Sanchez's red card was the 2nd fastest in WC history... 

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Just realized I could be in Berlin a couple days after Germany wins the World Cup -- uh, thanks Mexico...
Scott