Sunday, June 22, 2025 
Issue #3.1.2 "Some Shockers and Lots of Goals" 
[||| Mini-Updates | Dailies: Jun 19-20-21-22 ]

INTER MIAMI, BOTAFOGO, AND FLAMENGO PULL OFF UPSETS
16 entries received from 9 people in first edition of Club World Cup; 3 tied for first

HOME, CA (smt) --  A classic Messi free kick goal put A4-Inter Miami over A2-Porto, 2-1, to put the Major League Soccer team into a virtual tie with A1-Palmeiras, who beat A3-Al Ahly 2-0.  MLS's first win over an UEFA club in real competition wasn't the only shocker.  Brazilian side B3-Botafogo stunned the reigning UEFA champions, B1-PSG, 1-0, to sit atop of Group B with 6 points.  Another Brazilian side B1-Flamengo ran over D3-Chelsea 3-1 to win Group D with a game left. 

However, other top UEFA clubs rolled over their opponents with C4-SL Benfica winning 6-0 as C2-Auckland City became the first team eliminated, G4-Juventus winning 4-1, B2-Atlético Madrid winning 3-1,  and G-Manchester City winning 6-0 (MCI tried hard for a 7th, but alas, JUV will win the goals for tiebreaker if these two teams draw).  F2-Borrusia Dortmand was cruising 4-1 but had to hold on to beat upstart F4-Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3.  Another Brazilian side had an easy win as F1-Fluminense beat F3-Ulsan HD, 4-2.

D4-Los Angeles Football Club was the last team to qualify (May 31 in playoff with América) and got a gift PK late in stoppage time but a miss gave D2-ES Tunis a 1-0 victory and were the 2nd team eliminated.  E4-Inter Milan struggled again but managed to rally to beat E2-Urawa Reds on a stoppage time goal, 2-1.  TE1-River Plate and E3-CF Monterrey played to a scoreless draw as did H4-Salzburg and H2-Al Hilal. 

With the heat in the southwest, southeast, and midwest slowing down some games (and delaying 3 more than 60 minutes), goals are still coming in bunches.  Even with the two scoreless draws, 53 goals were scored in the 16 matches (3.31 per match) or 3.79 goals per match in the other 14 games.  There were just two ties (the scoreless draws) in this set of 16 matches after getting 6 of 16 in the first set.

MCI's win sent them and JUV into the Round of 16 and eliminated WAC and AIN.  BAY and FLA are the other teams to make the Round of 16.  9 teams have 4 points and none have clinched a spot yet.  Even B4-Seattle has a chance despite sitting on zero points while BOT has 6 points and are not in yet.

We officially have 16 entries from 9 people in this first FIFA Club World Cup pool.  For comparison, our first NCAA pool had 12 entries, our first World Cup pool had 21, our first Euro pool had 39, our first Women's World Cup pool had 22, and our free MLS is Back pool had 15.  This is the 8th straight year we have had a soccer pool (previous dark years were 1999-2001, 2003-2005, 2007-2009, 2011, 2013, and 2017).  Hopefully there will be CWC in 2029, which will keep our soccer streak alive.  Also, the Women's Euros begin July 2 in Switzerland and the CONCACAF Gold Cup tries to be relevant in the USA (oh, the USA barely got by Saudi Arabia and Haiti to go undefeated in the Group Stage).

PSG was picked by 6 entries to win the title with Manchester City and Real Madrid being picked by 3 each. Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and Juventus each were picked by one entry. 15 of 16 have PSG in the semifinals while 12 have RMA making the semis. 

BigRedMessi, 1 Billion Cash Grab, and Sweet Futbol Fabone are tied for first with 12 pts (16 matches played).  Five are tied for last with 9 pts.  No one will get the 3 points per team for BAY, FLA, JUV, and MCI until their group matches are complete.  Thus, you could get 8 points per group (1 each for 2 matches, 3 each for top 2 teams) and 16 per day (since 2 groups play each day) as things heat up in the pool.

The best way to keep up with the pool is to follow @HWCI_Pools on Twitter or visit the #hwciCWC 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 - [32 Matches/8 Ties] - Goals: 97 (3.03/match) [Own: 3 (17-AHL>PAL 49' {gw}, 25-MSU>BVB 59' {gw}, 29-WAC>JUV 6'), Subs: 20 (2-BAY 67', 2-BAY{2} 73' {pk}, 2-BAY{3} 84', 3-PSG 87', 3-PSG{2} 90'+7 {pk}, 6-CHE 79', 10-RIV 73', 15-SAL 76' {gw}, 17-PAL 59', 19-ATM 47' {gw}, 21-SLB 63', 22-FLA 62', 22-FLA{2} 83', 25-MSU 90', 26-INT 90'+2 {gw}, 27-FLU 66', 27-FLU{2} 90'+2, 29-JUV 90'+4 {pk}, 32-MCI 84', 32-MCI{2} 89'), 90+/120+: 5 (3-PSG +7 {pk}, 21-SLB +8 {pk}, 26-INT +2 {gw}, 27-FLU +2, 29-JUV +4 {pk}), Extra Time: - (-)]... Scoring First: 21-4-2 [5 Nil-Nil ties (1-AHLvMIA, 4-PALvPOR, 9-FLUvBVB, 28-RIVvCFM, 31-SALvHIL); 18-PORvMIA 1:2, 22-CHEvFLA 1:3, 25-MSUvBVB 3:4, 26-URDvINT 1:2]... Leading at Half: 19-4-2 [7 ties (6 scoreless); 18-PORvMIA 1:0 (1:2), 22-CHEvFLA 1:0 (1:3), 26-URDvINT 1:0 (1:2), 27-UHDvFLU 2:1 (2:4)]... Shutout: 20 [1-AHL, 1-MIA, 2-AKL, 3-ATM,4-PAL, 4-POR, 6-LAF, 8-EST, 9-FLU, 9-BVB, 11-UHD, 13-WAC, 16-AIN, 17-AHL{2}, 20-BOT, 21-AKL{2}, 23-LAF{2}, 28-RIV, 28-CFM, 32-AIN{2}]... PK: 10/13 [1-ahl (s) 43', 2-BAY 73', 3-PSG 90'+7, 7-SLB 45'+3, 10-URD 58', 14-HIL 41', 14-rma (s) 90'+2, 18-POR 8', 21-SLB{2} 45'+8 {gw}, 21-SLB{3} 90'+8, 23-laf (s) 90'+11, 29-JUV 90'+4, 32-MCI 45'+4]... Extra Time: - []... PSO: - (-/-) [-]... Red Card (GF/GA): 8 [3-ATM 2Y 78' (0/2), 7-BOC R 45' (0/2), 7-SLB R 70' (1/0), 7-BOC{2} R 88' (0/0), 13-MCI R 88' (0/0), 22-CHE R 68' (0/1), 28-RIV 2Y 90'+1 (0/0), 30-RMA R 7' (3/1)]...  Multiple Goals: 10 [Olise 2 (2-BAY), Musiala 3 (2-BAY{2}), Mueller 2 (2-BAY{3}), Kolo Muani 2 (16-JUV), Conceicao 2 (16-JUV{2}), Barrios 2 (19-ATM), Barreiro 2 (21-SLB), Di Maria 2 (21-SLB{2}), Yildiz 2 (29-JUV), Guendogan 2 (32-MCI)]... Goal Line Tech: - [-]... VAR (-Reversal(Taken Away), +Reversal(Added), =Confirmed, xNo Call): 13 [3-ATM xF+{g-} 57', 3-ATM xF+{pk+PSG} 90'+3, 7-BOC xF+{R+pk+SLB} 44', 7-SLB Y-{R+} 70', 12-MSU xHB+{g-} 29', 13-MCI RC= 88', 14-HIL RC-{Y+} 89', 18-MIA xF+{pk+POR} 5', 19-SEA F-{pk-ATM} 38', 21-AKL xF+{pk+SLB} 90'+4, 23-LAF F-{pk-EST+YC} 51', 23-EST xF+{pk+LAF} 90'+8, 32-AIN xF+{pk+MCI+YC} 45'+3]... 58%+ Poss (w/in contest): 10 [2-BAYvAKL (64/28) W, 3-PSGvATM (69/25) W, 6-CHEvLAF (60/33) W, 8-FLAvEST (63/29) W, 11-MSUvUHD (62/30) W, 13-MCIvWAC (61/31) W, 15-PACvSAL (65/34) L, 16-JUVvAIN (59/33) W, 20-PSG{2}vBOT (68/24) L, 26-INTvURD (73/18) W, 29-JUV{2}vWAC{2} (59/32) W]... Zero SOG (Shots): 0 [-]... 20+ Shots (S/SOG/G): 7 [2-BAY (31/17/10) W, 14-RMA (21/8/1) D, 21-SLB (32/16/6) W, 26-INT (23/4/2) W, 27-FLU (24/7/4) W, 30-PAC (24/11/1) L, 32-MCI (22/11/6) W]... Breaks (>30 min): 3 [11-UHDvMSU 65m @ 0' (ORL Weather [rain, lightning]), 15-PACvSAL 97m @ 54' (CIN Weather [rain, lightning]), 21-SLBvAKL 134m @ HT (ORL{2} Weather [rain, lightning])]... Regions (Teams/R16/QF/SF/F/C): UEFA (12/4/-) 14-4-6, AFC (4/-) 0-6-2, CONCACAF (5/-) 1-6-3, CAF (4/-) 2-5-1, CONMEBOL (6/-) 7-1-4, OCEANIA (1/-) 0-2-0... Match Order of Play: RR: 1 | 2-3-4-5 | 6-7-8 | 9-10-11-12 | 13-14-15-16¹ | 17-18-19-20 | 21-22-23-24 | 25-26-27-28 | 29-30-31-32² | 33-34^B-35-36^A | 37-38^C-39-40^D | 41-42^F-43-44^E | 46-46^G-47-48^H  R16: 49-50 | 51-52 | 53-54 | 55-56 | QF: 57-58 | 59-60 | SF: 61 | 62 | F: 63 ]...  

   SIDES 'N KICKS:  SLB had 18 shots and 8 SOG but just 1 goal in the first half... LAFC didn't have a shot on goal until 90'+4 (ended with 2)... BVB only had 8 shots but 6 were on goal (3 goals plus own goal)... JUV were outshot by WAC 14-8 but scored on all 3 SOG (plus OG)... RMA (playing with 10 men) were outshot by PAC 24-8 but scored on all 3 SOG (PAC had 11)... there were 32 shots (18 by HIL) in the 0-0 SALvHIL draw... MIA, FLA, BVB, and INT all came back to win after allowing the first goal while FLU trailed at halftime and won... in a game delayed by an hour due to a storm in Orlando, an attendance of 3,412 were announced for UHDvMSU with some folks estimating around just 1,000 while 80,619 was announced for the PSGvATM match in LA...

On Thursday, in the first day of the pool (start of the 2nd round of group stage matches), three went 3-1 which happen to be all of Scott T's three entries (1 Billion Cash Grab, Inter's Revenge, and Sweet Futbol Fabone).  5 went 1-3.  The belief in Inter Miami!  12 got PAL correct, 4 MIA, 14 ATM, and no one picked BOT over PSG (this was 1 of 9 matches where all 16 picked the same team to win)... on Friday, all 16 entries picked SLB and BAY to win while just 5 picked FLA and no one picked EST.  1 Billion Cash Grab and Sweet Futbol Fabone are tied for first with 6 points while Alyonushka, Kona Coast Sliders, and Oreshnik are tied for last with 3 points... on Saturday, All 16 picked INT, 15 BVB, and 13 FLU.  Just 4 had the RIV-CFM draw.  Bobby Cee Racer and Mancitymania got all 4 correct to move from a tie for 5th to a tie for 3rd (8 pts).  1 Billion Cash Grab and Sweet Futbol Fabone still are tied for first with 9 pts. One lost URD in the R16 (Mauihammy (tied for 12th (last), 6)) (yesterday, 2 lost LAFC).  You won't get points for BAY and FLA advancing until after their group games are complete... on Sunday, All 16 picked JUV, MCI, and RMA while just 3 picked the SALvHIL draw, thus 3 went 4-0.  BigRedMessi was one of the 3 to move into a tie for first with 1 Billion Cash Grab and Sweet Futbol Fabone with 12 pts.   Four have clinched spots in the Round of 16 (BAY, FLA, JUV, MCI) but you won't the 3 pts each until after their group has completed play.  Mauihammy (tied for last (12th) with 9 pts) was the only entry to lose a team in the R16 between AIN (his pick), WAC, and PAC...  

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I like DAZN's feature that if the game is still going on, you don't get a spoiler score and you can choose to watch from beginning...
Scott