Thursday, July 27, 2023 
Issue #4.1.3 "Underdogs Roar Back" 
[||| Mini-Updates | Dailies: July 25-26-27 ]

PHILIPPINES AND NIGERIA STUN CO-HOSTS; USA DRAWS
Eggman 2 takes the lead with 19 points

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt) --  After 24 matches, underdogs put on a show with #46 A3-Philippines (two California-born players leading the way) stunning co-host A1-New Zealand 1-0 and #40 B3-Nigeria rallying with three straight goals to beat co-host B1-Australia, 3-2.  B4-Canada had to rally to prevent #22 B2-Rep of Ireland from an upset, winning 2-1.  C4-Japan scored twice in two minutes in the first half but settled for a 2-0 win over C2-Costa Rica which allowed C1-Spain to edge JPN on goal differential when they put up 5 against C3-Zambia.  ESP and JPN both advance to the Round of 16 but ESP holds the GD edge to win the group if they tie in their last match.

In the competitive matches between teams just ranked 8 spots apart, both matches drew with #20 A4-SUI and #12 A2-Norway producing the third nil-nil draw and #9 E3-Netherlands allowing a second-half goal to tie #1 E1-USA, 1-1 (in the first of 3 matches between top 10 teams (upcoming CANvAUS and F1-France vs F3-Brazil)).

USA came out strong in the first 10 minutes and then listed in the first half as NED struck first in the 17', the first time USA has trailed in a WWC match since 2011 (17 matches).  USA uncharacteristically made just one sub the whole match, but Rose Lavelle's halftime entry seemed to spark the team, even picking up a yellow in the 51' and providing the corner kick assist to Lindsey Horan in the 62'.  Horan was just taken out hard by club teammate (Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)) Danielle van de Donk (no foul as Donk got to the ball first) and a shoving match ensued. But on the next play, she scores off the corner (interestingly, Horan is the only USA player to not play for the NWSL). 

Luckily the JPN ref did a great job trying to calm everyone down because she did give Horan a yellow for the shove, she would have missed the 3rd match (after getting a yellow in the first match).  Even with the stronger second half effort, NED still had the possession advantage (46-39%) though USA had 11 CKs to NED's one.  With the LA Galaxy-Leon Leagues Cup match being moved from Tuesday to Wednesday, had my iPad watching the match while trying to do stats live for the game on the field.  With the majority of fans rooting for Leon, didn't see anyone watching the match as I walked from the parking lot to the press box.

With teams in Groups A, B, C, and E each playing two matches, IRL, CRC, ZAM, and VIE have been eliminated.  ESP and JPN have advanced but no one will get those 3 points each until all teams in that group play their third match.  So 46 will get ESP making the R16 and 45 JPN after the July 31st matches.  One entry (Rutin4Putin (41st-Tied, 13 pts)) actually had VIE in the Quarterfinal, 2 had IRL, 2 CRC, and 1 ZAM (Firewire (41st-T)) erroneously making the R16.  Assuming USA and NED win their 3rd matches, it will come down to goal differential and right now, USA has a +2 advantage but only scoring 3 against VIE could haunt them as NED gets their chance.

After 24 matches, Eggman 2 leads the pool with 19 points.  6 are tied for 2nd with 13 points.  Jolly Old England and Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! are tied for 2nd with 18 pts and 7 tied for 3rd with 17 pts.  4 of the 8 matches were picked correctly by less than 10 entries in a tough stretch of matches.  Tiny Destroyer is last with 9 pts, 3 behind a trio of entries.

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 - [24 Matches/4 Ties] - Goals: 54 (2.25/match) [Own: 4 (5-CRC>ESP 21', 15-MAR>GER 54', 15-MAR{2}>GER 79', 19-IRL>CAN 45'+5), Subs: 7 (6-JPN 90'+11{pk}, 8-DEN 90' {gw}, 14-ITA 87' {gw}, 15-GER 90', 20-ESP 69', 20-ESP {2} 85', 22-NGA 72' {gw}), 90+/120+: 2 (6-JPN +11 {pk}, 22-AUS +10), Extra Time: 0 (-)]... Scoring First: 17-3-1 [3 Nil-Nil ties (4-NGAvCAN, 11-FRAvJAM, 18-SUIvNOR); 12-RSAvSWE, 19-IRLvCAN, 22-AUSvNGA]... Leading at Half: 13-0-1 [10 ties (8 scoreless); 19-CANvIRL 1:1, 22-AUSvNGA 1:1]... Shutout: 23 [1-NOR, 2-IRL, 4-CAN, 4-NGR, 3-PHI, 5-CRC, 9-VIE, 6-ZAM, 7-HAI, 8-CHN, 10-POR, 11-FRA, 11-JAM, 14-ARG, 15-MAR, 13-PAN, 16-KOR, 17-NZL, 18-SUI, 18-NOR {2}, 21-CRC {2}, 20-ZAM {2}, 24-VIE {2}]... PK: 5/9 [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', 16-COL 30']... Extra Time: 0 [-]... PSO: 0 (-/-) [-]... Red Card (GF/GA): 3 [4-NGA R 90'+8 (0/0), 6-ZAM 2Y 90'+7 (0/1), 11-JAM 2Y 90'+2 (0/0)]...  Multiple Goals: 6 [Smith 2 (9-USA), Miyazawa 2 (6-JPN), Popp 2 (15-GER), Borges 3 (13-BRA), Hermoso 2 (20-ESP), Redondo 2 (20-ESP)]... Goal Line Tech: 1 [9-USA xG 85'].. VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 18 [ 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', 10-NED Off-{g+} 13', 20-ESP Off-{g+} 70',  20-ESP Off-{g+} 85']... 58%+ Poss (w/in contest): 11 [3-SUIvPHI (65/24) W, 5-ESPvCRC (64/18) W, 9-USAvVIE (59/23) W, 7-ENGvHAI (63/23) W, 12-SWEvRSA (59/27) W, 11-FRAvJAM (60/24) D, 15-GERvMAR (59/22) W, 13-BRAvPAN (61/25) W, 17-NZL (59/24) L, 20-ESP{2}vZAM (63/23) W, 24-PORvVIE (61/24) W]... Zero SOG (Shots): 4 [3-PHI (3), 5-CRC (1), 9-VIE (0), 6-ZAM (0)]... 20+ Shots (S/SOG/G): 8 [5-ESP (46/14/2(1 og)) W, 9-USA (26/7/3) W, 6-JPN (26/11/5) W, 13-BRA (33/9/4) W, 21-JPN {2} (25/11/2) W, 20-ESP {2} (22/13/5) W, 22-AUS (27/7/2) L, 24-POR (28/9/2) W]... Breaks (>30 min): 0 [-]... Regions (Teams/R16/QF/SF/F/C): UEFA (12) 10-4-4, AFC (6) 4-6-0, CONCACAF (6) 2-4-3, CAF (4) 1-4-1, CONMEBOL (3) 2-1-0, OCEANIA (1) 1-1-0... Match Order of Play: RR: 1-2 | 4-3-5 | 9-6-7-8 | 12-10-11 | 14-15-13 | 16¹-17-18 | 21-20-19 | 23-24-22 | 27-25-26 | 30-28-29 | 32²-33-34^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:  AUS and NGA got 6 days rest between matches.. first-time WWC teams are 2-11-0 (PHI, VIE, ZAM, IRL, HAI, POR, MAR, PAN)... even possession between SUIvNOR (44/45%)... AUS had a 15-2 advantage on CKs and were the first team with 20+ shots to not win... both AUS and NGA first-half goals were in stoppage time... VIE finished with 6 shots and 1 on goal (after zero shots vUSA)... ZAM found their offense with 10 shots and 2 on goal after no shots vJPN... no WWC host has failed to make the knockout stage and now AUS and NZL have made it much tougher on themselves... USA had their 13-match WWC win streak snapped (0:0 SWE in 2015)... in this stretch of 8 matches, there were no PKs called and just two VAR interventions (both reversing offsides for goals for ESPvZAM)... IRL scored an Olimpico as the CK went over the head of the GK into the net in the 4'...

Locally in AUS/NZL, on Tuesday (which includes 2 Group A matches),  5 entries went 2-1 today (Kds911-2 (7th-Tied, 12), Kds911-3 (7th-T), GenX99er (34th-T, 10), Reggae Vibes (23rd-T, 11), Eggman 2 (2nd-T)) with Eggman 2 and Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! joining Jolly Old England at the top with 14 points (18 matches);  7 are tied for 4th with 13 pts; Tiny Destroyer is still last with 6 pts; 16 picked COL, 5 picked PHI, and 9 got the SUI-NOR draw in the low scoring day... on Wednesday, 36 went 3-0 including Eggman 2 and Jolly Old England, who are tied for 1st with 17 points; the other 11 entries went 2-1; 41 got CAN correct, 45 ESP, and 44 JPN; although you won't get the 3 points for JPN and/or ESP until after Group C play is complete, 46 had ESP advancing and 45 had JPN... on Thursday, 8 went 2-1 leaving Eggman 2 on top with 19 pts; Jolly Old England and Tiocfaidh Ár Lá!!! are tied for 2nd with 18 pts; four went 0-3 including my 3am Down Under (25th-Tied, 15); Tiny Destroyer is still last with 9 pts; 40 got POR and 7 got the USA-NED draw; two kids in our pool, Kung Fu Master Kai (44th-T, 12) and Pink Penguino (25th-T) were the only two to get NGA's win correct...

---
Will the hosts go 0-2 in making Round of 16 after such a promising start?..
Scott