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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.