Euro 2012 Fantasy Player Pool - Qtr #4 Roundup

The last Quarterfinal of Euro 2012 gave us the most exciting Nil-Nil draw I've seen in quite a while, even if the English attack eventually lost steam and the air of Italian inevitability took over once it went to the penalty shootout (even if "some people" were dumb enough to predict the exact opposite).


But for our purposes, the game was more than just a good soccer match. Even though the ball never hit the back of the net (at least not without the flag going up), extra time and clean sheet bonuses turned this one into a fantasy bonanza.

120 Minutes is more than just one of the greatest shows in MTV history, it's also a hell of a long time to run around competing at soccer's highest level. Players' ability or inability to go the distance in the tournament's first session of extra time was the big factor in dividing the day's fantasy haves and have-nots.


If you own Scott Parker, Danny Welbeck, Antonio Cassano, or god forbid Theo Walcott, you lost major bonus points on Sunday. Theo was especially brutal because he subbed on in the 61st minute, just a few seconds too late to at least pick up a 2 point bonus.  Walcott's whiff on the scoresheet gave Mike S. even more reason to disapprove of Woy Hodgson's wacky ways.

Dan P. gets the news about Maggio's booking

Funnily, even though this was by far the highest scoring single game of the fantasy pool so far, there was still one player who managed to bring less than zero to the table. Christian Maggio's late sub/yellow routine (known as "The Pogrebnyak" since the Group Stage), put an annoying little Negative One on Dan P.'s ledger, part of the reason he dropped from 3rd to 5th on the day. It's looking like Iniesta or Bust for Dan's chances to get back into money position.


The real winners on the day were the owners who had either Buffon or Hart...and thanks to a sweet combination of both goal keepers, Andrew K. has surged back into relevance in this pool.  Andrew was tied for 11th after the Group Stage, and after a terrible effort from his Nani/Rosicky combo in Quarterfinal #1, appeared to be going nowhere.


But big numbers on the last three days now have Andrew sitting as our highest-scoring owner in the Knockout stage, less than 6 points out of 2nd place, and definitely a threat with Ozil wearing the captain's armband. 


Hart outscored Buffon by virtue of facing a whole lot more shots that needed saving.  But seriously there's got to be some way for GiGi's moment of brilliance to make a bigger fantasy impact than just a third of a point, no?

"What's that?? Casillas the best keeper in the world??? Naaaaaaaaaaaaah SON!"

Our current Top 2, both Chiellini owners, will be sweating the guys in slots 3 and 4 who have Buffon.  The latest news indicates Giorgio will return for Thursday's semifinal, but that's no guarantee.


The other players who will factor most importantly in deciding our money winners: Ronaldo, Iker, Ozil, Nani, Gomez, Lahm, Iniesta, Alba, and Ramos.  It's not quite that no one else matters, but it's close to that.


Down in the shallow end of the pool, where your faithful pool administrator has been swimming all month, we salute Tom C. and Jeff R. - who each turned in their 2nd-highest scoring day of the tourney so far to make some decent moves up the ladder for pride-only purposes.  Tom C.'s big day helped him pass his son Michael on the Leaderboard - you know that had to mean something!

Watch out Brian E, Austin S has your number!

The real shout out of the day, though, goes to Austin S., our long-time cellar-dweller. Austin rode the combo of Buffon and Captain Rooney to turn in the highest score of anyone on the day. It still wasn't enough to get him out of last place, but it gave him hope that he might actually get there by the final whistle on Sunday - in fact he's just one-tenth of a point behind Brian E. for 28th now.


For fantasy MVP purposes, Pirlo has pulled into the lead, a nice coincidence since most pundits seem to be picking him out as Man of the Tournament so far, as well.  And of course national disgrace Wojech Szczesny maintains his chokehold on LVP, still the only player to go negative this campaign. 


But the fantasy scoring doesn't always match the results on the pitch so neatly...take the case of Ashley Young- one of the most disappointing players in eastern Europe this month, yet he somehow outscored Peter Cech! Daniele de Rossi is the 3rd-highest scoring Italian so far, but he's looked washed up and just plain exhausted every time I see him on the pitch. Little incongruities like that are part of the reason this has been such a fun exercise for me, I must admit.