The Beautiful Pool

They’re the second best team in the world, and there’s no higher praise than that.

Kevin Keegan¹

ENG can take some comfort from that Kevin Keegan quote, I guess. The English will probably blame the EU or something, but ESP were clearly superior, IMHO.

And isn’t this guy² amazing? Just turned 17.

And just like that, it’s over. It feels like we were just starting to get to know each other, but it’s time to say good-bye. I hope you had at least a little bit of fun, and that you will come back³ for the World Cup in 2026.

Here are the final top rankings.

Rank	Name	Points
1	Richard H	85
1	Yukari S	85
2	Seanie G	83
3	Ozgur T	80
4	Allan Y	79
5	Cindy B	75
5	Greg W	75

And the winners are….

Prize	Name	$Cdn Winnings
First (tie)	Richard H	$195.00
First (tie)	Yukari S	$195.00
Second	Seanie G	$195.00
Group Stage (tie)	Anil K	$58.33
Group Stage (tie)	Letizia C	$58.33
Group Stage (tie)	Rocky I	$58.33
Mercy / Merci	Glenn C	$20.00

Richard H was also tied for first at the end of the Group stage, but can’t claim two prizes, so his share was redistributed to the others.

I will send the winnings by e-transfer soon (trust me).

Click HERE for the all the final standings

Newbies vs. Grizzled Veterans

Hey look at this! The Grizzled Vets surged to finish 2.4 points ahead of the Newbies. The Vets also snagged 60% of the prize money, so maybe they knew what they were doing all along. Since all of you are now Vets, your chances of winning something in the next pool are looking better and better.

	Newbies	Grizzled Vets
Avg Score	62.4	64.8

The Beautiful Pool Hall of Fame

	1st	2nd	Group	Merci
2010-World	Jim T	Richard H	Amy B + BIll B	Colin B
2012-Euro	Mauricio C	Sofia I	Joe P	Seanie G + Sherman H
2014-Wolrd	Jim T	Sayaka T	Sherman H	Craig B
2018-World	Dario P	Jim T + Phil A	Stuart B	Cindy B + Heidi VW
2022-World*	Anil K	Rod J	Andrew C	n/a
2024-Euro	Richard H + Yukari S	Seanie G	Anil K + Letizia C + Rocky I	Glenn C

-30-

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Keegan ↩︎
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamine_Yamal ↩︎
3. And bring at least two Newbies each. ↩︎

The thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.

Terry Pratchett

The UEFA mega-brains have decided that this year’s Euro Cup is to be a rematch of the English versus the Spanish Armada. So I made a picture of English coach Gareth Southgate giving his own Tilbury speech while the battle rages behind him¹. You’re welcome.

Not a lot has changed in the leader board, but Ozgur T’s hopes of winning are fading. There is a 4-way tie for first place, and 3 of those correctly picked ENG and ESP as the finalists. Alas, Ozgur T did not, so there is no way that he can be the winner.

Rank	Name	Score
1	Anil K	70
1	Ozgur T	70
1	Richard H	70
1	Yukari S	70
2	Seanie G	68
3	Cindy B	65
4	Allan Y	64
4	Nick LD	64
5	Dario P2	62

As usual, the full standings are available by clicking on the link below:

SEMI FINAL RESULTS

We need to say goodbye to a few more participants who can’t improve on their score as they didn’t pick either ESP or ENG in the final. Heidi VW, Dario P1, Ken K, Sara+Milton and Sayaka T are officially done. It was great while it lasted. See you next time, I hope.

The Newbies and Vets, are almost tied again 57.7 to 57.3. Who cares, right?

The final update will come out after the final and I’ll calculate the winnings. Enjoy the game².

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1. Actually, a suit of armour would be an improvement on the dweebish dad-shirts he wears to the matches. I am no fashionista (that’s for sure) but, come on, he needs to sharpen up. ↩︎
2. There is no way ENG can win, IMHO, unless they succeed in boring ESP into a false sense of security and then sneaking in an amazing goal at the last second (like they did to poor NED). ↩︎

By 1546, Carlos I of Spain dominated almost all of the territories in the region of the Netherlands, but in the mid-1560’s, the Dutch began a revolt that become known as the Eighty Years war. It wasn’t until 1648 that the matter was settled with the formation of the Dutch Republic¹.

Ozgur T, who remains in first place, thinks there will be a NED v ESP rematch in Berlin next Sunday. He might be right. He has a pretty good record.

There are other possibilities for the final:

• FRA v ENG: a replay of the Battle of Agincourt², to settle it once and for all.
• ESP v ENG: Francis Drake may not be so lucky in the English Channel and this time the Spanish Armada might prevail³,
• FRA v NED: I didn’t know it⁴, but France and the Dutch Republic were at war from 1672 to 1678⁵. Both sides incurred deaths and casualties in excess of 100,000. Let’s hope any rematch is settled amicably.

Here are the pool leaders at the end of the quarter finals:

Rank	Name	Score
1	Ozgur T	67
2	Anil K	64
2	Richard H	64
2	Yukari S	64
3	Cindy B	62
3	Seanie G	62
4	Nick LD	61
5	Dario P2	59

Ozgur T shouldn’t feel too smug about his lead. There are still 21 points to be awarded, and his 3 point lead could disappear in a heartbeat. Check out the complete standings at the link below to see how close you are to knocking him from the top spot.

QUARTER FINAL RESULTS

It is all over⁶ at the bottom of the pool. Glenn C accumulated 39 points, but his picks for the semi-finals (GER and ROU) have both been eliminated so he can’t improve his score. He is hereby awarded the Merci prize, and we thank him for playing. I will refund his $20 entry fee at the end of the tournament.

Name	Score
Heidi VW	42
Andrew B	40
Glenn C	39

There are a few others who can’t pick up any more points. I wish I could give them more but rules are rules; so it’s goodbye to Andrew B, Austin M, Letizia C, and Sadhana V. I hope they will be good sports and stick around to the end to contgratulate the winner.

The Newbies are coming in with an average score of 55.2, and the Vets have 54.3. That doesn’t seem statistically significant⁷, but it should encourage anyone who was afraid to sign-up because they didn’t know enough about fútbol: Everyone, Newbies and Vets, are in the same boat.

I actually feel bad that TUR didn’t make the semi-finals, and not just because I picked them to advance. The NED v TUR game was genuinely exciting, compared to the other games I’ve watched⁸. Hopefully the semis will be gripping.

Look for another update after the semi finals.

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighty_Years%27_War ↩︎
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt ↩︎
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada ↩︎
4. There are a lot of things I don’t know, TBH. ↩︎
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Dutch_War ↩︎
6. Except for the crying, as the saying goes. ↩︎
7. If someone wants to do a statistical analysis I’ll happily share the data. I can’t be bothered. ↩︎
8. Especially compared to ENG v SUI which was dull, dull, and dull. ↩︎

Ladies and gentlemen we have a new leader.

Newbie, Ozgur T racked up a perfect score in the Round of 16, picking up 24 points, and is sitting pretty in the top spot. Kudos to Veteran Sayaka T too, who also correctly picked every Round of 16 winner, moving from the lower circles of Hell solidly to the middle of the pack with 49 points.

Here’s the current lay of the land:

Rank	Name	Score
1	Ozgur T	55
2	Cindy B	53
2	Dario P2	53
2	Seanie G	53
3	Allan Y	52
3	Anil K	52
3	Letizia C	52
3	Richard H	52
3	Rocky I	52
3	Sadhana V	52
3	Yukari S	52

It’s also a different story in the lower circles. I am no longer low man on the totem pole. Now it’s Heidi VW and Glenn C, with Andrew B avoiding ignomy by a hair. It’s looking pretty grim for my immediate family; likely that one of us will get their entry fee refunded.

Name	Score
Jen S	44
Phil A	44
Stuart B	44
Russ P	43
Andrew B	40
Glenn C	39
Heidi VW	39

As before, the rest of you are stuck in the middle, and time is running out for you to break away. Click the link below to see the complete standings.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS

There seems to be no significant difference between the performance of Newbies and Vets with average scores of 47.7 and 48.1.

Don’t look away, there’s still lots of drama to come. POR and ENG are not looking particularly strong, and there are three other countries¹ still in the running which none of you have picked to take the cup. If one of these dark horses goes all the way, then it could be Slaughter on 10th Avenue.

Look for another update after the quarter finals.

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1. SUI, NED and TUR. ↩︎