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.