Saturday, June 20, 1998 http://www.HWCI.com/wc98 Issue # 15.1.11 "Orange butchery..." 1998 HWCI WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT POOL '98 ======================================= CROATIA JUST GETS BY, MEXICO RALLIES, HOLLAND DEMOLISHES MLSBob remains on top with perfect record (17-0-10) 2/3 LA MIRADA & 1/3 ROSEMEAD, CA (smt)- Davor Suker scored in the 77th minute to help Croatia (2-0) overcome a fiesty Japanese (0-2) team, 1-0, in early Group H play. Croatia will advance to the Round of 16 if Jamaica does not win tomorrow against Argentina. Japan is virtually eliminated. Mexico (1-0-1) rallied from a 2-0 second half deficit to tie Belgium (0-0-2), 2-2, in Group E action. The Netherlands (1-0-1) rebounded from their frustrating 0-0 tie to Belgium to rout South Korea (0-2), 5-0, in the most lopsided match in this year's World Cup. Holland and Mexico are tied for first in Group E with 4 points while Belgium, who plays South Korea next, is in third with 2 points. South Korea joins Saudi Arabia as the only teams eliminated from the next round. Why is Japan wearing blue jerseys? Anyway, very impressed with their play against the better team, but like the USA, they can't finish. Always one too many passes in the box. But holding Argentina and Croatia, their two toughest opponents, to just one goal each is an achievement going into 2002. Meanwhile, Mexico did better in the extreme heat than Belgium, dominating both halves when they were even. Belgium went up a player in the 29th minute and scored twice (43rd, 48th). But when a Belgium player was red- carded in the penalty area in the 55th minute, the tide turned back to Mexico, who scored on the subsequent penalty kick and then in the 63rd minute on a brilliant score from Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Each team had their chances after that, but Belgium seemed to tire in the 90+ degree heat. If South Korea played badly because they were down a man against Mexico, they had no such excuses today. A great match for the first 35 minutes turned sour in a hurry as the Dutch took a 2-0 lead at halftime. MLSBOB was one of seven people to pick Belgium over Mexico and lost their point when Mexico scored twice to tie. Three had hopes for South Korea- too bad. There are now only five people one point behind MLSBOB. THE BRUTE SQUAD got double whammied as he sits in last place with 11 points and has his team to take it all, Korea, eliminated from competition. This essentially eliminates him as well. Yugoslavia (1-0) and Germany (1-0) play a crucial match in Group F, with the USA (0-1) looking on before they play Iran (0-1) later in the day. If Germany beats Yugoslavia and USA beats Iran, then the USA would have destiny in their hands going into their third and final match with Yugoslavia. It should be a victory for the USA, but the question is whether or not the USA could win 3-0 or sneak by 1-0. The other match in Group H takes place tomorrow as well as Argentina (1-0), coming off a sluggish win vs. Japan, plays Jamaica (0-1), who were outplayed by Croatia. If Jamaica loses, Croatia claims a spot in the Round of 16. Bad day for Southeast Asia... Scott HW -----------------------------------------\\ || /\ || // ___ 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