I'm currently 11th. How are you doing? I'm actually astonished. I finished something like 40th in 1999 and figured the vagueries of upsets and the sheer number of pickers would make it hard to repeat. I really thought the China loss were hurt me pretty bad.
Before the tourney that was a tough pick between France and Brazil. I lost points because I actually had Argentina finishing third in Group C ahead of Japan. I guess I read too much into the 3-2 WCQ they played against Brazil. I suspect there won't be too much movement unless Sweden wins. Only one person ahead of me also had China beating Canada. If China *had* beaten Canada we'd be 1,2 right now. C'est la jeux
I am currently in first place! If Germany wins, I should win the thing. I have not looked at all the others, but I would assume someone picked Sweden to win it and they would win contest. Looked like most of the top 10 had Germany winning it. Having the right final four and the right final two have been the keys. (my only real screw up was having Australia coming out of group play) I figured based on recent results Canada could upset China. WIth the Germany USA match I thought they basically even teams, but that the US team would be hurt more by the WUSA announcement. Plus, I knew 90% of the entrants would be picking the US to win it. When you have a prohbitive favorite, especially one who probably does not deserve it, bet against them to win. Go Germany! I want to have a Mickey D's shake with Aly Wagner
Congrats. I hope you enjoy your watery soda, cold burger with Angela Hucles in freezing rain in Boston while she body slams you like she did to SLittle. Then, makes you do an hour of physical fitness until you see your burger and soda again. I'm not bitter Truly congrats!
Andy -- Do you realize you would've won if you'd picked Canada to beat China? Of course, if I'd gone with Germany over the U.S. (which was my toughest call), I'd have finished 13th.
And if I'd been watching the games on TV, I might have. The problem with going to games every match day is that I did not see any of Group D's games and only saw 1 Group C game (GER/ARG) before making my 2nd round picks. I only saw the match reports of China's struggles, not the on the field play. Oh well. Then again I probably still would've picked China. To be honest, though, I still think my 40th place finish in 99 is more impressive. 40th place with the US winning has a lot more competition than 10th with the US losing!
I saw them struggling but figured they might somehow put it together. In my column, I actually picked that game to go to PKs, where I thought China's experience would be the difference. The other things I missed: - Germany-USA, which could've been a coin flip for me. - Brazil, which I severely underestimated. I thought they were too young, and bringing Ronaldo's wife for PR purposes didn't help my impression of them.
It appears I have won. But I have heard nothing from the organizers yet. Perhaps I can get the prize changed to a clinic with the German national team, ideally to be held in the summer of 2006! Sean