Sunday, June 28, 1998                     http://www.HWCI.com/wc98
Issue # 24.2.2 "The golden goal..."

		1998 HWCI WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT POOL
		===================================

    GOLDEN GOAL GOES TO FRANCE WHILE DENMARK PLOWS THROUGH NIGERIA
    The two who didn't pick France are eliminated from money spots

	LA MIRADA, CA (smt)-  Laurent Blanc scored the first-ever
Golden Goal in World Cup play (this was the first World Cup to
institute it) to lift host France (4-0) to a 1-0 victory over the
defensive-minded Paraguay (1-1-2) to advance to the quarterfinals
to face Italy (3-0-1).  France, playing with suspended Zinedine Zidane
and the last half without injured Thierry Henry (3 goals), scored
their goal in the 114th minute (2nd OT period) to avoid the penalty
kicks after the 120th minute if the score were to remain tied.

	In what some consider the biggest upset of the tournament so
far, Denmark (2-1-1) picked apart fan favorite Nigeria's (2-2) defense
to rout them, 4-1.  While Nigeria displayed some awesome ball 
individual handling skills the team could not put much together 
while Denmark picked apart some poor play and produced more goals in
this match then their previous three matches combined (3).  Nigeria, 
which won the "Group of Death" and was criticized by Spain and 
Bulgaria of "throwing away" the match with Paraguay (which Paraguay 
won, 3-1, to advance over Spain and Bulgaria), had many runs but many 
turnovers.  Ebbe Sand scored Denmark's third goal after coming in as
a sub and being on the field for only 22 seconds.  Group C advances 
both of their teams to the quarterfinals (France and Denmark).

	Group F winner Germany (2-0-1) will take on rally-hardy 
Mexico (1-0-2) while Group E winner Holland (1-0-2) will battle
Yugoslavia (2-0-1).  That's tomorrow's lineup.

	THE BRUTE SQUAD and TOM FUNG were the only ones who didn't
pick France, and coincidentally, are now the first two people to
be eliminated from the pool.  They both can't finish higher than
fifth place.  Only six picked Denmark to advance to give MLSBOB his
biggest lead to date, six points.  SOCCER SPICE, buoyed by Denmark's
win, leapfrogged from 7th to 2nd with 83 pts.  RUSSO still brings
up the rear with 58 points and can't finish higher than 4th place.

(DISCLAIMER: My elimination claims are about 92% accurate (so there
still might be hope) because of modifications in the program not
compatible with the World Cup (used for NCAA pools).               )

Love the golden goal!...
Scott HW
                                            
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Scott M Tamashiro, HWCI Engineering       \\||//\\||//  /o-o\\ \ \ `
WC98 Pool Administrator                    \  /  \  /  (o-o-o)) ) > > >
Email:    scott@hwci.com                    ||    ||    \`o'// / / ,  
Updates:  http://www.HWCI.com/wc98          ||    ||  WORLD CUP   
----------------------------------------------------  POOL 1998