Euro 2012 Bracket Challenge - The Harsh Light of Day

Well, none of us really deserve any accolades ... but at this point we're sort of obligated to check in and apathetically look at the results of our Euro 2012 Blogger Bracket Challenge. With the semi-finals done, we can pretty much discern how things will shake out.

A quick reminder: to see the overview and rules, click here. To see earlier updates on standings after prior rounds of matches, check here and here. And to see KateL's newest update on the fan-standings, go here. She's been more assiduous about keeping up with it than I. So, again, our thanks go out to Kate, and congratulations on the new job.

So - when we last checked in, the numbers looked like this:

Gianfranco, AC Milan Offside - 11 points

Ted Harwood, The Short Fuse - 9 points

Danny Pugsley, Bitter and Blue - 8 points

Matilda Hankinson, Lion of Vienna Suite - 8 points

Villarreal USA - 8 points

Oatbag, Bavarian Football Works - 7 points

Phil, Bavarian Football Works - 5 points

This ^ was after the Group Stage. As a reminder, bloggers received 3 points for every team they correctly picked in the semis, and 5 for every team they correctly picked to make the final. So, starting at the bottom, let's see who has been able to add to their total. For each, I've listed their semi picks, their final picks, and the new point total.

Phil

SEMI-FINALISTS: Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Croatia

FINALISTS: Germany, Croatia

Points from last 2 stages: 6

Current points: 11

Oatbag

SEMI-FINALISTS: Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France

FINALISTS: Netherlands, Germany

Points from last 2 stages: 6

Current points: 13

Matilda Hankinson

SEMI-FINALISTS: Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Croatia

FINALISTS: Netherlands, Germany

Points from last 2 stages: 6

Current points: 14

Ted Harwood

SEMI-FINALISTS: Netherlands, Spain, Germany, France

FINALISTS: Netherlands, Germany

Points from last 2 stages: 6

Current points: 15

Villarreal USA

SEMI-FINALISTS: Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Croatia

FINALISTS: Spain, Netherlands

Points from last 2 stages: 11

Current points: 19

Danny Pugsley

SEMI-FINALISTS: Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy

FINALISTS: Germany, Spain

Points from last 2 stages: 14

Current points: 22

Gianfranco

SEMI-FINALISTS: Portugal, Spain, Germany, France

FINALISTS: Spain, Germany

Points from last 2 stages: 14

Current points: 25

_________________________

So - some quick observations:

- Yes, two people are doubling my point total. I don't think I could have done worse if I tried.

- No one picked all 4 semi-finalists correctly, but two guys managed to pick 3 of the 4: Pugsley and Gianfranco. No coincidence that they're leading in points.

- A few people got burned by Croatia, though nobody as severely as me.

- If the Villarreal USA guys had taken Spain to win it all, they'd still have a chance to win.

Nobody has either Spain or Italy winning it all, so the standings will remain as they are. I'm going to officially hold off on crowning Gianfranco as King of the Soccer Bloggers until the tournament is over, but we can unofficially see that he has it sewn up. Check in after the Final to see some breakdown of where everyone else went wrong, and a comparison of the brackets filled out by the fans and those filled out by the (barely) professionals. Thanks for reading.