The Beautiful Pool

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:

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.

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.

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. ↩︎