Euro 2012 Fantasy Player Pool - Qtr #1 Roundup

For those like me who are conflicted about the ambivalent nature of their mixed feelings toward Cristiano Ronaldo, the first game of the Euro 2012 Knockout round dished out a generous slice of cake then let us take a big old bite.

Ronaldo's performance vs. the Czechs came flavored with all his classic attitudes, emotions, and abilities. Early, it was petulance dashed with determination topped off with a bit of blubbering disbelief. Later, strong notes of savage brilliance, and a tiny sprinkle of raw, honest patriotism, all served up with a sauce of brittle arrogance, unable to forget for even one single moment that most of the world still thinks Messi is better.

Messi's not even in this tournament but Ron's fragile ego doesn't seem to know that

Much like Cristiano's captivating quarterfinal woke up this Portugese broadcast booth, our move into a new phase of the fantasy game should wake a few people up to a sad fact: A miracle run from deep down the table is a lot less likely than you might hope for.

The Leaderboard is locking up, and if you're not within 15 pts or so, it's hard to think you've got a shot to win it anymore. The problem for chasers is you're just running out of time.

With Portugal now headed to the Semis, we've only got 6 games left to score fantasy points.  There would be 7 games left, of course, if this were the World Cup and not the Euros. UEFA parted ways with FIFA after Euro 1980, abolishing the third place game for the '84 tourney and just listing the losing semi-finalists alphabetically in the final order of finish. Wow, Europeans settling for mediocrity...shock of all shocks!!!?!

This man kicked the last-ever ball in a Euros 3rd Place Match

Anyway, that last-ever Euro 3rd Place match sounds like it was a real cracker, too! (Sadly a video that was on YouTube has been removed).

An earlier incarnation of the Czech non-Republic (one that came with heavy hints of Sovietism as well as a "Slovakia" attached) took out the mighty Italians.  The result came in a 9-8 Penalty Shooutout after a 1-1 draw on the pitch.  The shootout featured 16 made kicks in a row until Italian defender (and Maroune Fellaini forerunner) Fulvio Collovati stepped up and saw his shot saved by the Commie keeper. It's a tough way to lose but that's the beauty of the 3rd Place Match - it doesn't really matter if you win or lose, just that you created an opportunity for more fantasy points.
 
Since we won't get that one extra opportunity in this pool, we'll savor those who made the most of the chances that did come. Cristiano's big day helped just about everyone's cause, especially the 10 owners who had the day's top scoring Cech/Ron. The media is falling all over itself to start calling this "The Tournament of Ronaldo" after the last two performances, conveniently forgetting this, I suppose...what will really impress me (though it would essentially kill off the competition in the pool, I think) will be if he can manage to be Mr. Wonderful again vs. Germany (sorry, Greece). 

Cech was solid despite the loss and ends the tournament as the steadiest Czech you could've chosen for fantasy purposes, even if a couple others scored higher overall. Props to Jared D. for being the only Gebre-Selassie owner and props to no one for the group whiffs we all took on Jiracek and Pilar. Of course my own lineup proved once again that when you try to go off the board, it's all about risk/reward. In this case it was Limbersky as my Czech DEF as opposed to Kadlec, the safe choice. A ridiculous 90th minute yellow card vs. Portugal capped off a tournament where Limbersky scored consistently lower than his backline counterparts...yet another reason that it's no surprise my own scores know all about the phrase "consistently lower."

A Shocking Card from Sir Alex's Personal Referee!

But the real losers on the day were the two Nani owners in our group of top contenders. I guess it took Man United fan Howard Webb about 30 minutes to recognize that the dude out there running the wing for Portugal was also a Red Devil.  Ryan W. and Kyle M. will wish Webb hadn't apparently missed having his customary pre-match chat with Alex Ferguson.

Nani's booking against Ronaldo's goal created a five-point swing in the standings that sent Ryan and Kyle both crashing out of the Top 4.  Dan P. and Mike S. replaced them, and Mike S. (along with Scott W. in 2nd place), both gained a few precious points on leader Andrew L., by virtue of Cech outscoring Kadlec. To finish in the money, Ryan and Kyle will need Nani to bounce back in the Semis and keep pace with, or preferably outscore, his partner in pouting. We'll see.

Of course we all know what happens to the standings each time Germany takes the field, so look for some shakeup all the way through the table today. Despite being the most popular choice of (sorta) German in the pool overall, Mezut Ozil doesn't appear on the rosters of too many of our major contenders (only 2 of the current Top 11, in fact).  That means a huge game from him could get a LOT of people moving up from the back of the pack, and shoot Dan P. up into serious title shot status.  More likely tho, expect the stats of Gomez, Neuer, and Lahm to make the biggest impact on the standings.

Sotiris Ninis: Dog Lover, Instagrammer, Bench Warmer

On the Greek side, it's really just about damage control. If you have a Greek defender on your team, and you most likely do, you'll take a 1-0 GER final all day. Meanwhile the 5 owners who took a chance on Sotiris Ninis might greedily hope for him to finally do something to justify his selection. Dan P. could get really greedy I suppose and hope for a Given-esque double-digit saves day from Sifakis, which would help catapult him up no matter what Ozil does.

The bottom of the pool didn't feature much movement, though cellar-dweller Austin S. fell even further off the pace (1 of 5 unfortunate Rosicky owners). Rob M. made a stab at getting out of the Bottom 10 by being the only one in that group to feature Cech/Ron, though Marco Reus and Kyriakos Papadopolous should give some of that ground back today. And finally, Andrew K., owner of Nani and Rosicky and their 2 points total on the day, is probably just happy to move on from Quarterfinal #1.