Saturday, July 22, 2023 
Issue #2.1.1 "USA Sleepwalks to Win" 
[||| Mini-Updates | Dailies: July 20-21-22 ]

NO ROUT THIS TIME, VIETNAM HOLDS USA TO 3
Our 3rd Women's World Cup pool gets record 47 entries

DIGNITY HEALTH SPORTS PARK, WREXHAM TOUR, CARSON, CA (smt) --  #32 E2-Vietnam, 1 of 8 teams making their WWC debut, was determined not to lose by a lot and came out aggressive, frustrating #1 E1-USA as the ref was letting them play.  USA broke through after a great flick by Alex Morgan found a speedy Sophia Smith who struck the ball under the 5'-5" GK's legs in the 14'.  USA benefited from 2 VARs, the first in the 41' resulting in a PK but Morgan's attempt was saved and the second in the 45'+7 where offsides was taken away, keeping the goal.  USA had 26 shots and great chances but other than the first goal, there wasn't much clever attacking as VIE's defense held firm.  VIE had zero shots and rarely put the ball in the final third.  Hard to say if this was good or bad for USA as they face #9 E3-Netherlands next, in a rematch of the 2019 WWC final.  Win and we'll forget about not building up a big goal differential.  But a 3-0 win is a 3-0 win.

Well, while the Leagues Cup (MLS v Liga MX) happening at the same time as the WWC was not a big deal, there was one match the world was waiting for, and that was the debut of Lionel Messi with Inter Miami in their Leagues Cup opener vs Cruz Azul.  At the half hour mark of the USA-VIE match on FOX, Messi made his debut in the 54' as a sub.  Even I, had to follow the first Messi match, watching on my iPad using the Univision app since I do have the MLS Pass.  Getting to see Messi nail the free kick live (you just knew, and I snapped screenshots as it happened) late in stoppage time as the game-winner was great for MLS.  But back to the WWC...

The WWC opened with a double host celebration as A1-New Zealand got their first WWC win in 16 tries and B1-Australia beat B2-Rep of Ireland by identical 1-0 scores.  Group D also saw 1-0 scores as D1-England struggled against #53 D2-Haiti and D3-Denmark held off D4-China PR in an evenly-played match.  In the only nil-nil draw thus far, B4-Canada missed a PK and tied with D3-Nigeria.  C1-Spain had 46 shots (!) and only could put two in the net as an own goal made the score 3-0 while C4-Japan had two goals taken away by VAR reversals (offsides) but still put 5 against C3-Zambia.  A4-Switzerland won 2-0 in their opener. 

Nine matches have been played and the first 3 saw scoreless first halves, the first 8 saw one PK attempted, the first 8 saw at least one VAR check, and all 9 saw at least one team shut out.  Four teams had zero shots on goal with VIE and ZAM not even attempting a shot.  Only 1 draw so far.

We had just 16 entries with 24 hours to go but a flurry of entries piled in putting our final total to 47, 3 more than in 2019.  The 31 entries on the last day was the most of our 14 soccer pools, men's or women's, though if you look at the last full day to enter, it was still our 3rd most (39 in 2018, 38 in 2022, both men's World Cups).  A WWC-record 34 people entered with four entering 3 times and 5 entering twice. 

After 9 matches, Jolly Old England and ShrimpOnTheBarbie are tied with 8 points, both missing NZL's win.  7 are tied for last with 5 points.  ENG's win was 1 of 2 group stage matches that were picked by all 47 entries (the other, the upcoming H1-Germany over H2-Morocco).  26 picked USA to win it all while 6 picked GER.  Just 7 of 32 teams were picked to win the WWC title (ESP 5, ENG 5, F1-France 2, G1-Sweden 2, and F3-Brazil 1).

Will Eric's "Foster's Football Brew" be back this year?  I hope so!  If anyone else wants to contribute, let me know.  Anyone else going to down under 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 #hwciWWC 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.

   Ins & Outs - [9 Matches/1 Ties] - Goals: 17 (1.89/match) [Own: 1 (5-CRC>ESP 21'), Subs: 2 (6-JPN 90'+11{pk}, 8-DEN 90' {gw}), 90+/120+: 1 (6-JPN +11 {pk}), Extra Time: 0 (-)]... Scoring First: 10-0-0 [1 Nil-Nil ties (4-NGAvCAN)]... Leading at Half: 5-0-0 [4 ties (4 scoreless); -]... Shutout: 10 [1-NOR, 2-IRL, 4-CAN, 4-NGR, 3-PHI, 5-CRC, 9-VIE, 6-ZAM, 7-HAI, 8=CHN]... PK: 4/8 [1-nzl (x) 90', 2-AUS 52', 4-can (s) 50', 3-SUI 45', 5-esp (s) 34', 9-usa (s) 44', 6-JPN <retake> 90'+11, 7-ENG <retake> 29']... Extra Time: 0 [-]... PSO: 0 (-/-) [-]... Red Card (GF/GA): 2 [4-NGA R 90'+8 (0/0), 6-ZAM 2Y 90'+7 (1/0)]...  Multiple Goals: 2 [Smith 2 (9-USA), Miyazawa 2 (6-JPN)]... Goal Line Tech: 1 [9-USA xG 85'].. VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 15 [ 1-NOR xHB= 52', 1-NOR xHB+{pk+NZL} 87', 2-IRL xHB= 45', 4-NGA xFoul+{PK+CAN} 48', 4-NGA Y-{R+} 90'+6, 3-PHI xFoul+{PK+SUI} 43', 9-VIE xFoul+{PK+USA} 41', 9-USA Off-{g+} 45'+7, 6-JPN xOff+{g-} 21', 6-JPN xOff+{g-} 49', 6-ZAM xOff+PK-Y= 51', 6-ZAM xEnc+{retake PK+JPN} 90'+10, 7-HAI xFoul+Foul-PK- 17', 7-HAI xHB+{PK+ENG} 26', 7-HAI xEnc+{retake PK+ENG} 28']... 58%+ Poss (w/in contest): 4 [3-SUIvPHI (65/24) W, 5-ESPvCRC (64/18) W, 9-USAvVIE (59/23) W, 7-ENGvHAI (63/23) W]... Zero SOG (Shots): 4 [3-PHI (3), 5-CRC (1), 9-VIE (0), 6-ZAM (0)]... 20+ Shots (S/SOG/G): 3 [5-ESP (46/14/2(1 og)) W, 9-USA (26/7/3), 6-JPN (26/11/5)]... Breaks (>30 min): 0 [-]... Regions (Teams/R16/QF/SF/F/C): UEFA (12) 5-2-0, AFC (6) 2-3-0, CONCACAF (6) 1-3-1, CAF (4) 0-1-1, CONMEBOL (3) 0-0-0, OCEANIA (1) 1-0-0... Match Order of Play: RR: 1-2 | 4-3-5 | 9-6-7-8 | 12-10-11 | 14-15-13 | 16-17-18 | 21-20-19 | 23--24-22 | 27-25-26 | 30-28-29 | 32-33-34^A-31 | 37-38^C-35-36^B | 41-42^E-39-40^D | 45-46^G-43-44^F | 47-48^H | R16: 49-50 | 51-52 | 54-53 | 56-55 | QF: 57-58 | 59-60 | SF: 61 | 62 | 3rd: 63 | F: 64 ]...  

   SIDES 'N KICKS:  ESP outshot C2-Costa Rica 25-1 in first half and had 64%-17% possession... USA outshot VIE 16-0 in 1st half and JPN outshot ZAM 12-0 in first half...   JPN had 9 offsides, 2 of them negated goals... 8 PKs so far and 4 of the first 6 PKs were missed and the last two were only converted after a second chance when VAR showed GK encroachment... 57 players play in the NWSL (22 of 23 USA players hail from NWSL (Lindsey Horan plays in FRA))... 22 of 23 VIE players play in VIE while just 1 of 23 PHI players play in PHI an no CAN or JAM players play within their home country... first-time WWC teams are 0-5-0 (A3-Philippines, VIE, ZAM, A2-Rep of Ireland, HAI) thus far with E4-Portugal, MAR, and F4-Panama yet to play... just 5 of 47 entries needed some corrections, which is really great for my stress level... 6 people have done all 3 HWCI WWC pools (7 entries overall)...

Locally in AUS/NZL, on Thursday, three picked NZL (TroJenn, TroJenn2, Tiny Destroyer) and 44 of 47 picked AUS to win with the two TroJenns tied with 2 points a piece;  KevLo 3 and Merman got both matches wrong... on Friday, three got all 3 matches correct and all 3 are tied for first with 4 points; Big Blue, Jolly Old England, and ShrimpOnTheBarbie take pole position while 8 are tied for last with 2 points, including yesterday's leader, Tiny Destroyer, who was the only one to miss all 3 games;  three got NGA-CAN tie, 40 got SUI, and 46 got ESP... on Saturday, 25 went 4-0 with Jolly Old England and ShrimpOnTheBarbie tied for 1st with 8 points; all 47 barely got ENG, 46 USA, 42 JPN, and 29 DEN;  7 are tied for last with 5 pts...

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Glad I got to see Messi's goal live on Univision (boo Apple TV)...
Scott