Tuesday, July 7, 1998                     http://www.HWCI.com/wc98
Issue # 33.4.1 "Taffarel..."

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

  TAFFAREL SAVES BRAZIL AND SENDS THE FOUR-TIME CHAMPS INTO FINAL
      Bye-bye to San Diego Suckers and Luis Enrique's Armada

        EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)-  Brazilian goalkeeper Taffarel guessed
right on every Dutch shootout attempt and made two big saves to 
give Brazil (4-1-1) a 4-2 penalty kick shootout win over the
Netherlands (3-0-3) and sent Brazil into the World Cup final for
the sixth time.  Holland had tied the score at 1-1 when Patrick 
Kluivert, who had ample opportunites go awry, finally headed one
for a goal in the 87th minute.  The third scoreless overtime period 
of the tourney sent the match to penalty kicks.

	I was watching the second half and the match surprisingly
lacked fire.  I heard the first half was *z-z-zzzz* but Holland
finally pushed up and Kluivert, who had more chances here than the US
team had in three matches, couldn't put one in.  Once he did, the
match was entertaining.  Brazil dominated the first overtime period.
There was at least six Brazilian runs INTO the penalty box in the 
first ten minutes of overtime.  Now, I'm not talking about a pass 
into the box, I'm saying that a Brazilian player would dribble right 
into the box!  But they couldn't put any of their chances away and, 
coincidentally, Kluivert had the best chance of the OT period- 
missing (just wide), of course.  Ronald de Boer's final missed
Dutch penalty kick was possibly the worst I've ever seen.  First
he hesitated, then he fell for the goalkeeper fake, then shot a weak
shot that was saved- bye, bye Holland.

	Holland's loss is NAW'DEEN's gain.  She will take at least
fourth place, and can guarantee third place if Croatia beats France
tomorrow.  The bad news is that SAN DIEGO SUCKERS and LUIS ENRIQUE'S
ARMADA (oddly, both team-oriented nicknames for a single person)
have lost out in winning any money.  That leaves just two people
(SOCKER SCOOTER (12th place, 101 points) and SOCCER SPICE (4th place,
114 points) (oddly, both start with "Soccer")) vying for the final 
money position.  If Croatia wins, SPICE gets the final spot, 
otherwise, we have to wait for the final to finish.  Remember, first 
place will go to MLSBOB (leads with 134 points) if Croatia wins, else
LE BIX (2nd with 126 points).  Eleven picked Brazil to advance to 
the Final.  Brothers THE FLYING ELVI and JAYBIAN IV are forever
stuck with 103 points (pending tiebreakers).  
                
Brazil slips by again...
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