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     USA QUIETS DOUBTERS, NOW THE NEW VILLAIN?
Three tied with 11 points as 11 of 12 matches produce a winner

HOME, CA (smt) -- If there was a doubt how ready the F1-USA team would be, they squashed it in record fashion, demolishing F2-Thailand, 13-0, thanks to Alex Morgan's record-tying five goals and three assists.  USA scored 10 goals in the second half on a pair of four-goal stretches in six and eight minutes that ruffled casual fans of the game but don't understand goal differential is the first tiebreaker and F4-Sweden, who beat F3-Chile 2-0, has yet to play THA.  Soccer fans, however, are upset that the USA continued to excitedly celebrate as the match wore on, with the most egregious being Megan Rapinoe's slide and kick celebration after the USA's NINTH goal.   Megan, you had me until that slide.  The U.S. may have turned neutral observers into detractors but if they keep the winning going, holding up the trophy will be its just rewards. 

Favorites struggled with the aforementioned SWE not scoring until the 83' (#39 CHI), E4-Netherlands needing stoppage time to find their goal (#19 E3-NZL), B1-Germany and E1-Canada each scoring just once in their win (#16 B2-CHN and #46 E2-CMR), C1-Australia getting upset in stoppage time (#15 C2-Italy), B3-Spain coming from behind to late to win (#49 B4-RSA) and D4-Japan being held to a scoreless draw (#37 D3-ARG). 

A3-Norway and C3-Brazil picked up 3-0 wins against vastly inferior opponents.  In the battle of Britain, D1-England held of D2-Scotland, 2-1.  UEFA won all seven matches against non-UEFA teams with all UEFA ENG-SCO the only blemish, as UEFA went 8-1-0.  The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had a disastrous start going 0-4-1 and suffering the worst two losses (KOR losing 4-0 to FRA and THA losing 13-0 to USA), the only real upset (AUS losing to ITA), and the only real surprise (#7 JPN held 0-0 to #37 ARG).  African teams are also winless (0-3-0) but no team was ranked higher than #38.  FRA (A), ESP (B), BRA (C), ENG (D), CAN & NED (E), and USA (F) lead their groups after their first match.

Video Assistant Referee (VAR) plagued ITA a couple times but ITA still came back to win in the last minute of stoppage time.  I'm less concerned that VAR can draw "perfect" lines of a person's shoulder and determine offsides than a sideline ref actually calling offsides on that close a call.  It's one thing if there was no offsides and it was called by VAR (like in the FRA match), but I want a "tie to goes to the runner" and the sideline ref not calling an offside.  A severe thunderstorm paused the CHI-SWE match for 40 minutes in the second half, which at the time was a scoreless draw.  Low attendances have also spread across the WWC with some as low as 10,654 and just one higher than 20,000 (besides the first match). 

Fotografo il Migliore, Mauihammy, and Pazzo Americano are tied for first with 11 points.  With just one tie and just two upsets (ITA>AUS, JPN=ARG), everyone is doing well with Imhereforthecommentary in last with 7 points.  We officially have 44 entries from 31 people and we will have a top 4 prize pool (no Bonus).  Specific amounts will be announced during the two rest days before the Knockout Round.  Interestingly, 13 entries picked no ties while Soccerhorn (40th-Tied, 8) picked 12 ties.  All six teams people picked to win the Cup won their opening match.

I'll be doing daily gameday updates on our Blog and re-posted on Twitter.  These updates will be every few days or so and will be emailed out.  Everyone can view their pick and bracket by clicking the "Pick" link in the standings next to their nickname or the picks page.  If you want to know who everyone is, the Who's Who in the Pool is now available.

   Ins 'n Outs -  Goals (12 Matches): 38 (3.17/match) [Own: 1 (2-NGAvNOR 37'), Subs: 5 (4-ESP 89', 10-NED 90'+2, 11-USA 85', 11-USA 90'+2, 12-SWE 90'+4), 90'+: 4 (5-ITA 95'+, 10-NED 92'+, 11-USA 92'+, 12-SWE 94'+), Extra Time: -]... Scoring First: 9-2-0 [1 Nil-Nil ties (8-ARGvJPN); 4-RSA, 5- AUS]... Leading at Half: 6-2-0 (4 ties; 4-RSA, 5- AUS)... Shutout: 10 (1-KOR, 2-NGA, 3-CHN, 6-JAM, 8-ARG, 8-JPN, 9-CMR, 10-NZL, 11-THA, 12-CHI)... PK: 3/5 (4-ESP 69', 4-ESP 82' {2}, 5-aus {s} 22', 6-bra {s} 38', 7-ENG 14')... PSO: -... Red Card (GF/GA): 1 (0/2) [4-RSA 81' {2Y} (0/2)]... Multiples: 6 [Renard 2 (1-FRA), Hermoso 2 (4-ESP), Bonansea 2 (5-ITA), Cristiane 3 (6-BRA), Morgan 5 (11-USA), Mewis 2 (11-USA), Lavelle 2 (11-USA)]... Zero SOG (Shots): 0... Goal Line Tech: 1 (6-BRA 64')... VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 7 (1-FRA xOff+{g-} 27', 4-ESP xPK= 66', 4-ESP xPK+ 81', 5-ITA Off={xg} 9', 5-ITA xPK= 67', 5-ITA Off={xg} 81', 6-BRA PK= 37', 7-ENG xPK+ 12')... 63%+ Poss: 5 [4-ESPvRSA (72) W, 9-CANvCMR (65) W, 10-NEDvNZL (69) W, 11-USAvTHA (75) W, 12-SWEvCHI (64) W]... 20+ Shots: 4 [1-FRAvKOR (21) W, 4-ESPvRSA (25) W, 11-USA (39) W, 12-SWE (25) W]... Regions: UEFA (9) 8-1-0, AFC (5) 0-4-1, CAF (3) 0-3-0, Concacaf (3) 2-1-0, CONMEBOL (3) 1-1-1, OCEANIA (1) 0-1-0...

   Bits 'n Bobs -  GER has not allowed a 1st half goal in 18 straight WWC matches ('03 Final vSWE)... ESP had two PK goals... NOR had 3 goals on 2 shots on goal at one point (own goal was 3rd)... AUS-ITA combined for 39 fouls (AUS 20)... AUS's Kerr PK was saved but put in her own rebound... UEFA was 5-0-0 before a UEFA-UEFA match guaranteed the first blemish (ENG>SCO)... ENG is 8/8 on PKs in WWCs... BRA is 8-0-0 in WWC opening matches... BRA's Formiga is the oldest player in WWC history at 41 years, 98 days and has appeared in 7 WWCs... ARGvJPN nil-nil draw was the first scoreless draw in 40 WWC matches ('95 USA=SWE)... Half of JPN's six fouls were yellow cards... in the first half, there were just two shots and none on goal (JPN 2, ARG 0)... NZL committed just 4 fouls... from the best I can tell, play was stopped at 71:11 (ref's whistle) and resumed at 71:30 (8:12 local time)... USA and THA each had just 5 fouls in their match... USA had a record 21 shots on goal (a record 39 total shots) with Morgan having 7 shots on goal off 11 shots... USA set records for most goals in a half (10), goals (13), number of players who scored (7), and margin of victory (13)... USA had a tourney high 42 minutes of actual playing time (THA the lowest with 14)... USA is 18-1-3 in group stage matches... USA is 11-0-4 against Asian teams in WWC... Carli Lloyd has scored in 5 straight WWC matches... the 3 African teams had some of the lowest actual playing time (NGA 20 minutes (tied with ITA, CHI), NZL 19, CMR 17, RSA 15, THA 14)... it's still funny that the official FIFA scoresheet doesn't have a stat for "saves"... forty went 3-0 on Saturday (43 got ESP, 43 got GER, and 41 got NOR) resulting in a 40-way tie for first... Mauihammy and Mauihammy II were only two to pick ITA and went 3-0 on Sunday to lead... four picked JPN-ARG tie thus 4 went 2-0 on Monday resulting in a 4-way tie for first (Mauihammy and Mauihammy II both had their 7-match win streak to start tourney snapped with ARG-JPN tie)... 34 went 3-0 on Tuesday while three went 1-2... the men's U-20 USA team fell to Ecuador in the quarterfinals and the next day the USMNT got clobbered 3-0 by Venezuela in Cincy... 

Love the trumpets during the NZL-NED match ...
Scott