June 14th Italy "start slow" and excellent debuts for the Orange and Samurai Blue

No Major Movement on the Leader Board today, though el_keks has now moved up to third with her German/Dutch juggernaut. If those two do well she'll run away with the Pool. nanabanana,  britt and Masterpick still have shots at finishing Part 1/Round 1 with 14 pioints. Otherwise it's Ripe GreenIdeas to take first bragging rights.

I didn't get a chance to sit down and watch any of today's games; sort of regretting my decision to choose yoga over the Dutch/Norwegian battle this morning. Caught a glimpse of the spirit when I cycled past this proud family--thanks so much for letting me take your picture.

The press are calling Japan's victory over Cameroon the surprise of the day--I beg to differ and so do all you poolsters. No one chose Paraguay. Not a single one of us. They were very nearly 2-0 up on the reigning world champions before the half. But congrats to italianbitch, Masterpick and Jdidur  for picking the Samurai Blue.

Now for the fun stuff:

I'm always a sucker for a good dog story:

True love, for the game

Click here to see gorgeous Images from the opening weekend

Lots of you are visiting the site. Make a couple of comments while you're here!