France 4 Croatia 2

Congratulation to France and Sara Greenhoff. Both are winners.
I will be contacting Sara, Martin and Bob today to arrange the handing over of prize money.
Thanks to everyone for playing. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Here's the final scoreboard.

's the final scoreboard.

Belgium 2 England 0

So 4th place is not bad for an England team that most of us thought were not going to make it to the quarter finals.. It does feel odd not to have a feeling of despondency after an England World Cup Campaign. Perhaps things are changing?

Tomorrow France take on Croatia in the World Cup Final.

If France win, the prediction game will award 20 points to Sara Greenhoff and Martin Mills giving them 1st and second spot respectively. Bob Darch will finish in 3rd. A Croatian win will give Jason Stapleton 15 points and a total equaling Bob Darch's 93. A shared prize pot for them with Jim Halls creeping up into 3rd spot with 89 points.

I hope you've enjoyed this little prediction game again this year. It's been full of surprises.

Thank you again for taking part. I will contact all prize winners after the final tomorrow.

France 1 Belgium 0, England 1 Croatia 2

So that's the Semi-Finals completed. England will be heading home after playing the 3rd place play-off on Saturday. France will play Croatia on Sunday for the trophy.

No-one predicted Croatia would make it through to the final. There are still 35 points available depending the the outcome of Sunday's Final. A French win and 20 points awarded will mean Sara Greenhoff will be in top spot with Martin Mills runner-up. A Croatian victory will mean Bob Darch will stay at the top but will share it the winnings with Jason Stapleton who will get 15 points for predicting France as runners-up. Jim Halls will then jump up the leaderboard into 3rd spot

Good Luck everyone.

Sweden 0 England 2, Russia 2 Croatia 2 ( 3-4 on pens)

I have never been this excited at the prospect of a Semi.

England are into the last 4 along with Croatia, France and Belgium. An all European line-up is something I don't think I've ever seen before.

10 points to Bob Darch, Nick Walton, Connor Rees, Sara Norris, Debbie Moth, Ian Parker, L Lawton, Dave Holder, Jo Beviss and Bob Huntley who all had faith in their national team, shame and a lack of points to the rest of us.

Bob Darch leads the way now and looks in a strong position, providing Belgium beat France on Tuesday.
If not, Sara Greenhoff is looking favourite. Unless Croatia win the trophy. ( I hope you are keeping up with this). A French victory over England in the final will mean Dave Holder pips everyone and grabs the money, ( I think).  If England beat Croatia and then win the whole thing Debbie Moth will win the money and well deserved it will be!

Here is how it stands tonight.

Uruguay 0 France 2, Brazil 1 Belgium 2.

So  now we know the first Semi-Final line-up.
How many of us had France and Belgium in the last 4?
I'll tell you how many...4!

Well done to Bob Darch, Jason Stapleton, Connor Rees and Jim Halls. Bob and Connor have the chance of getting another 10 points tomorrow if England are able to win against Sweden.

Is football coming home??

Good Luck Everyone.

Sweden 1 Switzerland 0, Columbia 1 England 1 ( England win 4-3 on pens)

Exhausted!

Well done Martin Mills for predicting 6 out of the 8 Quarter Finalists.

Brazil 2 Mexico 0, Belgium 3 Japan 2

Brazil breeze through, Belgium scrape through.

Favourites Brazil make it into the last 16 with a 2-0 victory over Mexico while Belgium overcome Japan with the very last kick of the game. With just a few exceptions we all had them both in our last 16 choices.

England play Columbia tomorrow. Only 4 of us (me included) do not think England will make the Quarters. Only Dave Holder and Mel Mitchell stand to win 5 points if Columbia win.

I still can't work out who is in the best position to take the money at this point.

Spain 1 Russia 1 (3-4 on pens) Croatia 1 Denmark 1 (3-2 on pens)

Much fancied Spain leave the competition, crashing out with a woeful performance against Russia.
Denmark failed to impress against Croatia. Both matches decided on penalties, both matches very underwhelming.

Sara Greenhoff now has a 5 point lead after predicting both Russia and Croatia would reach the Quarters. A Mexican win today against Brazil will move her even further ahead.  Most of us have Brazil to progress.

France 4 Argentina 3. Uruguay 2 Portugal 1

South America 1 Europe 1

2 football heavyweights leave the tournament today after 2 great games.

Argentina lose in a thrilling last 16 opener, whilst France march on to the Quarter-Finals.
Uruguay give Ronaldo an early exit too, leaving many of us looking at our last 8 choices and wondering what has happened!
Yesterday's leader Nick Walton had neither France nor Uruguay in his last 8 and therefore drops down the leader board.
Joe Darch now leads the way with Louise Sheppard not far behind. Both have the same teams left in their predictions. Brazil's progression in the competition could decide it. Nick Walton has a possible 5 point surprise with Denmark, who will need to beat Croatia tomorrow for him to retake the lead. However, a Croatian win will see Martin Mills in the running whether Spain beat hosts Russia or not. With Spain, Croatia and Russia in her last 8 predictions Sara Greenhoff has the chance to earn 10 points if Croatia and Spain win and jump into the lead with Joe Darch.

It's still all to play for.

Good Luck Everyone.

Japan 0 Poland 1, Senegal 0 Columbia 1, England 0 Belgium 1, Panama 1 Tunisia 2

That's the group stage of the World Cup done. England are through and will play Columbia next Tuesday evening.

Sara Greenhoff scored an impressive 9 points today and races up the leader board to 3rd place. Nick Walton leads the way though with a 4 point lead. His 50 point tally includes 10 correct score predictions. Top predicting.

No game tomorrow so we can all have a look at the last 16 draw and work out how many of your teams we have a chance of making it to the quarters. 5 points for each one that makes it through.

South Korea 2 Germany 0, Mexico 0 Sweden 3, Serbia 0 Brazil 2, Switzerland 2 Costa Rica 2

I was surprised to find that there are many ways to say goodbye in German, here a few

abschied	farewell, goodbye, parting, say goodbye, saying goodbye, bid farewell, bye
wiedersehen	reunion, bye, goodbye, say goodbye
verabschieden	adopt, say goodbye, goodbye, approve, bid farewell, saying goodbye, say farewell
lebewohl	goodbye, farewell
tschüss	bye, goodbye
adieu	adieu, farewell, goodbye
ade	ade, goodbye, farewell

Sweden, Mexico, Brazil and Switzerland are all through to last 16 stage of the tournament. The Germans will be packing their leather shorts, bratwursts and huge beer tankards and heading home in the morning. Good luck getting the suitcase closed boys.

All 53 of us had Germany to reach at least the last 8. We were all wrong.

Another good day for Nick Walton picking up 6 points from tonight's games and still leads the way.

Australia 0 Peru 2, Denmark 0 France 0, Iceland 1 Croatia 2, Nigeria 1 Argentina 2

Groups C and D are now complete. Denmark , France, Argentina and Croatia are through to the last 16. Argentina just managing to scrape through, without the help of the hand of God (makes a change). This keeps alive the hopes of a very proud footballing nation (and me).

Points were well earned again today, Aaron Shenton having the best day with a 6 point addition to  his total. A change of leader at the top sees Nick Walton overtake Louise Sheppard.

Another 4 matches tomorrow.

Good Luck everyone.

Saudi Arabia 2 Egypt 1,Uruguay 3 Russia 0,Iran 1 Portugal 1, Spain 2 Morroco 2

Firstly, I must apologise for uploading the wrong spreadsheet this morning. It was 24 hours out of date. I have corrected my error now. I am obviously not meant to try an do complicated spreadsheets early in the morning. Thank you to those of you who pointed out my mistake.

On with the Football stuff.
Group A has been completed with Uruguay and Russia going through to the last 16. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are packing their bags and heading home.
Spain and Portugal progress from Group B. VAR seems to have been the most influential element in tonight's fixtures with some pretty ludicrous decisions being made.
Iran and Morocco are also heading South West.  All 4 games today produced results that meant prediction points were well earnt.Well done to Bev Holder for being the only one of us to predict  a 2-2 draw in the Spain Morocco game.

As the 4 teams are all heading in the same general direction, to save costs I suggest they charter a plane together.

Flight plan suggestion for teams leaving in the morning.

Louise Sheppard still leads the way, but only by a single point from Nick Walton, neither scored a single point today so there is hope for the rest of us to catch them.

England 6 Panama 1, Japan 2 Senegal 2, Poland 0 Columbia 3

Panamania (word just invented by me) has hit.
England are now going to win the World Cup.

3 matches yesterday and 3 points were very hard to come by. Only Dave Meaney, Joshua Halls , Jason Stapleton and Connor Rees managed to correctly predict a result.
Debbie Moth came close with her 7-0 England win, no one predicted the 6-1.

Groups A and B conclude today with 4 matches being played later. 12 points available to any top predictioneers.

Louise Sheppard is still out in front.

South Korea 1 Mexico 2, Belgium 5 Tunisia 2, Germany 2 Sweden 1

Germany score a last gasp winner to keep their World Cup campaign alive, it was almost a certainty that they would score in the last minute to win the match. We've all seen it happen before.

A great win for Belgium in England's group means that England will need to knock a few past Panama tomorrow to keep in contention for group winners.

Mexico breezed into the last 16 with a win over South Korea who will be heading home after their last group match.

Lots and lots of prediction points scored today as all 3 games went to the fancied teams. Top scorers today were Gaz Heseltine and Bob Darch both seasoned predictioneers and both glad to pick up 7 points today I'd imagine.

52 of us think England will beat Panama tomorrow. Only Dan Irvine predicts a draw.
6 of you are going for a nervous 1-0 win for England.
18 think a more comfortable 2-0 win
9 of us (me included) are going for 2-1
10 of you are hoping for an easy 3-0 victory
8 of you are predicting a 3-1 win
And Debbie Moth is predicting a 7-0 goal bonanza! Good luck with that Debbie.

Louise keeps the yellow jersey for another day.

Brazil 2 Costa Rica 0, Nigeria 2 Iceland 0, Serbia 1 Switzerland 2

Some great matches today. Nigeria, Brazil and Switzerland all picking up 3 points and giving many of you (not me) 3 point predictions throughout the day.

Louise Sheppard still leads the way, extending her lead to 3 points.

Argentina 0 Croatia 3

Another game that no-one predicted correctly. Only Dave Holder and Martin Mills scored a single point from this game. Much fancied Argentina never looked like scoring. Croatia look like a team that could go far.

Thanks to Willy Cabalero and his antics I am now bottom of the pile. Louise Sheppard still leads the way.

There is still a long way to go though.

3 more games tomorrow.

Denmark 1 Australia 1, France 1 Peru 0

A handful of players picked up 3 points in the first game today predicting a 1-1 draw  between Denmark and Australia.

Only Debbie Moth correctly guessed a 1-0 win for the French, sending the Peruvians home early. Everybody else except Charmaine Bridle had a French win, no one fancied Peru, we were right not to. Apart from a few glimpses from them in their two matches they were pretty poor and deserve to go out at the group stage.

Argentina v Croatia to come this evening. Only Martin Mills and Dave Holder will be hoping the Croatians will be victorious, 10 of you, including Louise Sheppard and Nick Walton think a draw, the rest of us will be cheering for Mr Messi and Argentina.

Louise Sheppard is still out in front

Iran 0 Spain 1

Spain go through to the knock-out stages of the tournament with the third 1-0 of the day. Iran will need to beat Portugal to progress any further.

Louise Sheppard scored the first 9 point maximum of the competition and now leads by 2 points.

Another 3 games today.

Portugal 1 Morroco 0, Uruguay 1 Saudi Arabia 0

Two Games, Two 1-0 wins, Two teams are heading home.

Portugal and Uruguay put pay to any dreams that Morocco or Saudi Arabia may have had to progress out of the group stages of the tournament this time round. Both winning sides are heavily fancied to make it through to the last 8 or further by us predictioneers (not a real word, spellchecker is not happy with me).

Spain take on Iran tonight with 52 of us predicting a Spanish win, only Dave Holder has predicted that Iran will manage a draw. Here's how the rest of us think the Spanish Goal-fest will pan out.

Only Louise Sheppard (1st place) and Jo Beviss are going 1-0
11 of you going for a 2-0
just Bev Holder with a 2-1
15 of you going for a 3-0
11 of us (me included) going for a 3-1
Cheryl Hutton 3-2
6 of you 4-0
Peter McBride has a 4-1 win
and 4 of you have a 5- 0 win for Spain
Good luck everyone (especially me).

Louise Sheppard is on for a 9 point max today if Spain win 1-0. She has already picked up 6 points so far today and therefore tops the list with Joe Darch ahead of the Spain game.

Here's how it looks.

Russia 3 Egypt 1

A great win for the Hosts tonight, Egypt look like they will be heading home fairly soon unless there is some sort of a miracle.

Only Bob Huntley correctly predicted the 3-1 win for Russia. Nick Walton picked up a point in this game and has put himself on top of the leader board with an impressive 22 points.

Both Portugal and Spain play their second games tomorrow against Morocco and Iran respectively. Uruguay and Saudi Arabia will fight it out in the 4pm kick off.

Leaderboard below

Poland 1 Senegal 2, Colombia 1 Japan 2

Two surprising winners today ends phase 1 of the group matches. Another day of hard earnt points for everyone. Only 4 players managed a correct score so far today, Dan Irvine and Me predicted the Senegal win and Jo Beviss and Nick Walton getting the Japan result correct. That 3 points put Nick equal with Joe Darch at the top.

Russia v Egypt now to start the second phase of matches off.

Here is how we stand.

Sweden 1 Korea 0, Belgium 3 Panama 0, Tunisia 1 England 2

The world cup is finally underway for England and what a mediocre performance that was. Tunisia did their best to wrestle their way to victory but were thwarted by Harry and the boys. I'm sure the Tunisians would have faired better had they have been able to cover themselves in Olive oil and donned a large leather nappy before grappling with Mr Kane's valuables.

A great day for Joe Darch, scoring 7 points today. That haul puts him in 1st position with Teresa ( & Mr) Rogers just a point behind.

The last 4 teams run out tomorrow along with the start of the second phase of games. We should all have some idea how our predictions are shaping up with another 9 points available, I'll be happy to score 1.

Here's how it looks tonight

Brazil 1 Switzerland 1

Another shock result tonight as Switzerland hold much fancied Brazil to a 1-1 draw. Only Ian Parker and Nick Walton scored points tonight, both correctly predicting a 1-1 and getting 3 valuable points pushing them both up the leader board.

England start their World Cup campaign tomorrow.
51 of you are thinking England will beat Tunisia, whilst Me and Dan Irvine think it will be a draw. I'll happily take zero points for an England win.

Here is how it look tonight.

Costa Rica 0 Serbia 1, Germany 0 Mexico 1

A great result for Mexico this afternoon is probably the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Top predicting from Peter McBride, earning himself the only 3 points from that match. 9 players got a 3 pointer from the Serbian win. Only Teresa (& Mr) Rogers scored points from both games putting her (them) on top of the leader board.

Brazil v Switzerland this evening. 51 of us have a Brazilian victory. Only Nick Walton and Ian Parker have gone for a 1-1 draw, surprisingly, no-one fancies the cheese-loving, cuckoo-clocking, triangular chocolate makers to overcome the Samba specialists.

Here's the scoreboard

Croatia 2 Nigeria 0

A dull game to end Day 3 at the FIFA world Cup.

A Croatian victory means 8 players scored 3 points tonight making it a 4 way tie at the top of the leader board with Joe Darch and Teresa Rogers joining previous leaders Connor Rees and Dan Irvine at the top.

Another 3 matches tomorrow, included World Champions Germany taking on Mexico and heavily backed Brazil playing Switzerland means another 12 points on offer to everybody.

Here is the leader board after 8 games.

France 2 Australia 1, Argentina 1 Iceland 1, Peru 0 Denmark 1

Day 3

Three games played so far today, just the Croatia v Nigeria game to be played later this evening.
The majority of us had the French down to beat Australia at lunchtime today with a few people correctly predicting the score.
A gutsy performance from the Vikings of Iceland and a missed penalty from Lionel Messi meant only 2 people picked up 3 points. Teresa Rogers (& Mr Rogers) for-saw an Icelandic upset, but a special mention today for Dan Irvine, who is on a 9 point day so far with a controversial but highly possible 2-1 Nigeria win for a 12 point maximum haul. This top predicting has catapulted him to the top of the leader board, I hope he has brought himself a lottery ticket for tonight. Only 3 others have gone for a Nigerian victory. Good luck with that prediction later Dan and the others. 13 of us, me included, think the final game today will play out as a draw, whilst the majority (36 of you) are hoping for a Croatian win.

Here is the scoreboard so far today.

Spain 3 Portugal 3

A brilliant game of football. Needless to say nobody predicted a 3- 3 draw. Many of us had the
game down as a draw including Connor Rees who has had a fantastic 7 point day and has opened up a 2 point lead at the top with Jim Halls in second place, impressively scoring points on every game so far. Only Dave Holder is yet to pick up a point. That could all change tomorrow with another 4 matches scheduled.

Here's how we stand after day 2

Egypt 0 Uruguay 1, Morroco 0 Iran 1

Day 2

Late winners for both Uruguay and Iran meant that points have been hard earned so far today for most of us. However, Connor Rees is on a 6 point roll today and finds himself heading the pack ahead of the Spain v Portugal game.

Here is the leader board so far today.

Russia 5 Saudi Arabia 0

A goal-fest for the hosts Russia in the opening game. Saudi Arabia looked poor.
No one predicted a 5 goal opener so a single point for 46 of you. 7 of us predicted either a draw or a Saudi win and therefore scored a big fat zero on day 1.

Positions are alphabetical so Aaron Shelton leads the pack.

3 more group matches tomorrow including Egypt v Uruguay and Morocco v Iran
Pick of the Games tomorrow is the massive Iberian encounter between Spain and Portugal.
22 have a Spanish victory, 9 fancy Christiano and his mates will win while another 22 of us including me think the match will play out a draw.



Here's the standings so far.

And so it begins.. Russia v Saudi Arabia

Day 1
.

The Prediction Super Computer is loading up all your predictions in preparation for the kick off of  match 1 Russia v Saudi Arabia.

53 players have entered the prediction game this time around making the prize pot a not to shabby £265. The overall winner will receive £185.50, Runner Up will get £53 and 3rd Place will win £26.50.
Please check the scoreboard below and let me know if any of your predictions have been incorrectly entered.

5 players have gone for a draw in this first game, just Dave Holder and Andy Holder (Me)  have the Saudi Arabians beating the hosts, both of us going for a 1-0 win, everyone else is expecting a Russia win.
The Game has just kicked off.

Good Luck Everyone

Here is the full list of players and the team predictions.

Only a few days to go...

The 2018 FIFA World cup kicks off on Thursday at 3pm with an interesting match up between two of the Worlds' greatest human rights abusers. Hosts Russia are no longer the footballing heavyweights of yesteryear. Whilst Saudi Arabia are an emerging football nation with untold oil riches at their disposal. Both countries will be hoping for a winning start, opening matches have the habit of being dull, this one may well surprise us all. Lets hope so.

Entry forms have been steadily arriving back to me over the last week or so, A full list of players will appear here as the tournament begins.

Make sure your completed entry form an £5 entry fee are returned to me at the Fleetline Taxi office in Town before the match kicks off to ensure your involvement in probably the Best World Cup Prediction Game I've run since the last one.

Good Luck Everyone.

World Cup 2018 is almost here.

Yes Folks, it's that time again. World Cup fever is sweeping the nation (It Isn't).

Surely this time we can beat Iceland.

If you have played along at previous tournaments the rules have not changed. Just predict the team you think will win the tournament, the losing finalists, the two losing semi- finalists and the 4 losing quarter finalists. Simple.

Then predict the match results for all 48 group games.

Get your completed form to me before the first game kicks off.

A £5 entry fee gives you the chance of winning untold riches (a couple of hundred quid) if you do some top predicting and score more points than anyone else.

Please try and print your entry form as a 2 sided document, makes my life easier and saves the trees (a bit) Thanks.

Click Here to Download an Entry Form NOW

Check back to this site soon to see how large the prize pot has got.

Good Luck everyone.