The (Hand of the) King is Dead

by smbrannan

Brazilian Style
There are 75 entries in this pool, and 73 of you picked ESP to make it to the elimination rounds. Nearly 2/3rds of you have them getting at least to the quarter-finals. I mean, why wouldn’t they?  ESP won the last three international tournaments and brought many of their brilliant players from those competitions to Brazil. They might not win, but surely they would put up a good fight.

Except they’ve been eliminated, after only 2 games. That’s what makes the World Cup so interesting. Sometimes you’d be better off making your picks at random (as I have been known to do), or picking the nicest uniforms. (If you had selected based on the tightest uniforms, then you would have easily predicted the URU victory over ENG.).

Many of you sent in your picks confident that you had foreseen the way that the games would unfold. Such hubris. Now I suspect that many of you are just hoping that your picks are less bad than the others. Let’s see.

Something more predictable

We have done some good things in this World Cup but we haven’t done the ultimate good thing, which is to win the games.

Joe Hart (England’s goalkeeper)

It has always been easy to poke fun at those who pick ENG to do well in international tournaments. Their talent for falling apart is legendary. But this time, they almost sucked me in. I thought the displayed great talent in their opener against ITA, and I started to regret not picking them to get through the Group stage.

Alas, as Joe Hart observed, they failed to do just one thing, win. So, in 2014, ENG have finally realised their dream. After years of trying, they are finally as good as ESP. Both are eliminated.

What about me?

Even without vuvuzelas, there have been some thrilling games, and you might be wondering how you are doing in the pool. Here are the standings as of this moment, when all teams have finished 2 games.

Rank Name Points
1 Laura B 37
1 Monique P 37
2 Adam E 34
2 Roberto A 34
3 Linda D 33
3 Molly S 33
3 Rezmi M 33
3 Seannie G 33
4 Charles R1 32
4 Charles R2 32
4 Ray W 32
4 Sherman H 32

Remember, the prize for being in the lead at the end of the group stage is $177.50

There is also a prize for coming last, at the end of the tournament.  At the moment, Craig B seems to have a lock on this with only 15 points.  Well behind Mark A2 and Aidan G with 20 each.

USA-GHA highlight reel

Watch this animated version of the highlights from the USA-GHA game. Its pretty bizarre.