Euro 2012 Fantasy Player Pool - Day 7 Roundup

Well, fantasy friends, what to say about Shay Given? 


Under Furia fire from the opening kick, Given was often beaten and never graceful, but ultimately he was the only thing that kept Spain from reaching double digits on the scoresheet.


The amazing thing is that, despite conceding four times, Given's incredible ELEVEN saves made him Ireland's highest fantasy scorer on the day.  That right, Given has picked 7 balls out of his own net and almost got "credit" for putting one in there, himself, but he may've been the best choice of Irishman you could've made for this pool.  Of course Italy may still have something to say about that.

As for the Azzuri's fantasy exploits so far, Andrea Pirlo is pulling away from his teammates, curiously only finding his way onto three rosters. Chiellini, by far the most popular choice of Italian, hasn't scored well so far, perhaps a minor karmic retribution for his pre-tourney humble bragging ways.

Pirlo's free kick was sooooo sick, most definitely should've gotten bonus points for that one. When I do this pool for the Rio World Cup expect a MAJOR scoring system overhaul. 


It's funny, I used to vocally, almost aggressively hate on the Italian team and Pirlo especially, but I just don't have the energy anymore...in fact as I pass into old manhood I really can't summon up the passion for sports hatred too much at all these days. 


Another factor is that it's just too hard to hate greatness for an extended period of time, and Pirlo is truly great. It's the same reason I've softened my stances against Tiger, Kobe, Jeter and others over the years.  On top of it all, I've spent hundreds of hours of my life listening to 311.

These guys taught me it's a waste to be a Hater

Even amidst such detente, however, you know I was still cheering for my Croatian boys to win it today.  I had a sinking suspicion that the squad from Tie Land was more than a tad overrated after Matchday 1, simply because they had scored three insanely soft goals vs. the Irish.  They were nowhere near as good as that 3-1 scoreline, and in fact the Irish goal revealed a shocking lack of discipline on the Croat backline.


But as my former colleague Derek Rae so brilliantly called on ESPN2 after Mandzukic's equalizer today, Croatia showed they had "the stomach for the fight." Modric may be the popular pick in this pool, but from what I've seen the Croat attack up the middle has gone nowhere; instead it's been fullbacks bombing up the flanks to connect with the strikers that's worked best for them. I would love to see them advance while continuing to get nothing from little Luka...if that happens I'm a real threat to jump into the Top 20!


Anyone else think 'Cesc was more than a little pissed to be back on the bench today?  He smashed the shit out of that ball, his first time on ball after subbing in, then started gesturing angrily after scoring.  I wrote a bit in my Euro Diary this morning about how this tournament has rekindled my love for Fabregas, as well as my frustration at his near constant under-utilization by the Spanish national team. Is it possible he's starting to share the same frustration himself?

"Do Not. Put Me. On the F$&%ING BENCH!!!"

I'll probably never know for sure what was running through Fab's head at that moment, just like I'll never know what the hell got into Fernando Torres today (seriously, he looked like vintage '08 El Nino out there), but it's great to see him succeed just the same.  If Spain is going to pull off three in a row, Fabregas will be vital to the effort, just like he was for the first two, in whatever role they put him in.


For pool purposes, Fab was great, Iker wasn't too shabby himself, and somehow Spain scored 4 goals without an assist from Xavi or Iniesta.  Meanwhile David Silva and Torres are laughing at us all.


We have a new leader yet again, Andrew L. reclaiming the top spot. Dan P.'s slow day (11 pts) knocked him down from 2nd to 5th, Tyson G. continued his roller coaster ride (third day of single digit scoring to go with a pair of 25+ pt days), and Michael L. made a nice move through the middle of the pack, somehow managing to earn the day's top scoring honors despite a Siminuc DNP (winning combo of Pirlo and Captain Casillas helped him out there).


But tomorrow's final standings will mean much more than today's, since we'll have seen each team exactly twice.  I haven't actually counted, but a quick skim makes me think we have more diversification in our Group D choices than in any other group, lots of chances to earn unique points.  Go out there and get 'em, guys.