PUNTER’s PAGE – BETTING OPTIONS & TIPS FROM EUAN
Match Day 13
They think it’s all over….it is now. The World Cup Predictions competition draws to a close with the final four matches, kicking off with South Korea vs Portugal. Portugal were through, the main aim seemed to be to help Ronaldo break another record, this time Eusebio’s international goals record, but The South Koreagonians had other ideas. They needed a win, while a Uruguay defeat or draw would be helpful. After 5 minutes, Portugal were one up, and you were thinking, here we go, Portugal Uruguay are through, but no. South Korea do not win a lot of games, but they did this one. Equalising on the 27th minute, they scored their winner in the 91st minute, a beautiful move in which Son showed the Portuguese defence who was the daddy, as he slipped through a beautiful pass to Lee to put away with aplomb. Uruguay won, but it mattered not, Portugal and South Korea progress to the next round.
In the second games, it was Cameroon vs Brazil, and Serbia Switzerland. Again, Brazil were through and any one of the other three could make it. Cameroon needed to beat Brazil (aye right!) and a draw in the other match. Serbia and Switzerland needed to win, so they two pure went fur it! Shaqiri opened the scoring in minute 20, and just for old times sake, when he gets up to full speed, those hips do lie, and defenders have trouble getting the ball off the wee steak pie wae hauns. A right ding dong battle this one, one each, two one Serbia, two each, until Switzerland got fed up with that neutrality and scored 4 minutes later. Cameroon did the unthinkable and beat Brazil, a bullet header from Aboubakar in the 92nd minute, followed by his sending off for the celebration in the 93rd minute. Anyway, Brazil top the group as expected, and with more up and downs than a big Toblerone from the airport, Switzerland joined them also.
So that’s the fitba finished, who won the actual competition. Great question!!
Well done to all of the above, winners one and all, and almost 1.3k for raised of the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity that we will make in the memory of Finlay Mckechnie who’s bravery inspired us to raise some money in his name. We will be in touch with the winners via email one the next few days to arrange your prize transfer.
That’s us. We’re done, but the World Cup continues, with the only excitement left being England’s exit from the competition. Euan wants me to mention he beat me by 4 points, and you should all be buoyed that even though we run this every two years for about 14 years, we are rubbish at it, Ubz joint 261st, me joint 320th.
See you in 2024 for the Euros in Germany?
Frank
Match Day 12 – The Dirty Dozen
And now, the end is near, and so we face, the final curtain..
It was certainly curtains for Belgium as they failed to win their final game against Croatia, and crashed out the World Cup at the group stage. All the pre tournament talk about them being able to win it turned out to be waffle, as they left Qatar earlier than many expected. Kevin De Bruyne did the best he possibly could to inspire the Belgians to victory. It wasn’t enough though as Croatia held them to a goal less draw, and TinTin was out.
Morocco beat Canada 2-1 and finished first in the group, without losing a game. In fact, the unfortunate own goal scored by West Ham’s Nayef Aguerd, was the only one they conceded in their three fixtures. It was a wicked deflection, goalkeeper Bono showed the Desire to get there but it he was beaten at his near post. He, and his team mates, suffering Vertigo as they top the group.
Some of the games during this World Cup have been unpredictable, and none more so than the two Group E fixtures tonight.
Spain took an early lead against Japan, Morata scoring his third goal of the competition, despite only starting one match. It was of course expected and Spain were in cruise control and looking as if they would add to their advantage after the break. Goodness knows what the Japanese had in their half time green tea, but they came out flying in the second half. Ritsu Doan scored with a wonder strike from outside the box before Ao Tanaka nipped in at the back post to put the underdogs ahead. For all their possession, the Spanish couldn’t grab another goal and, amazingly, Japan win the group containing Germany and Spain. Saki all round.
Germany go out, losing 2nd spot to Spain on goal difference. The were losing at one point to Costa Rica but managed to turn it round in to a 4-2 victory. They needed an equalizing goal from Spain in the other game but it never came and, like their European neighbours Belgium, they go home.
Another upset was to be seen in our predictions competition. Highest total of the day was 12 points, with two players getting more than everybody else. One was Cool Nick Taylor and the other was ……. – wait for it – ROBIN HAMMOND!!!! Go on Robin, if you take this form in to the Euros, you’re sure of a top 400 spot! Still propping up the rest but a bit of glory to celebrate..
Ian Hewitt is still on top, three points ahead of Aurelia Barry. Lewis Milne and Martin Robertson are two behind in joint third and, on his own in 5th, is Dark Monaldson. Roddy McDougall and Lisa O’Donnell are together in 6th , followed by the trio of Emily Colgan, Martin McMahon and Craig Liddell. Davy Hamilton is alone in 11th and Steven Norris and Stephen Guthrie are one point behind him. Kev Aitken and Cool Nick are on 88 points, Amrick Barrah Boy, Damian White and Chris Lancaster share 17th place and a plethora of hopefuls are tucked in one point behind.
Twenty points to play for tomorrow. Who will take top prize and be crowned King/Queen of Qatar 2022?
Good luck everybody!!
Euan.
Match Day Eluvun (like you’re stuck in a lift)
It was another barmy set of results today in this World Cup of shocks. Surely the lack of preparation time has had an impact on the big teams getting their tactics together? Or maybe the wee teams are just collectively getting better. at 3pm it was Australia vs Denmark. Denmark needed to win to save their bacon in the tournament, and most people thought the Ozzy’s didn’t have a fxxxxng chance against them. WRONG! Australia 1 Denmark 0, Leckie lighting up the place in the 60th minute to propel Australia out of the group stages for only the second time. They will most likely meet Argentina, so that’s that, well done.
At the same time, Tunisia were taking on France knowing a win for them and a draw in the other match would get them over the line, but surely they couldn’t beat the current world champions? WRONG! With France already through and looking to blood a few other squad players, the Tunisums took full advantage, scoring the only goal of the game just 2 minutes before Australia scored theirs, so for 2 beautiful minutes, it was France & Tunisia getting out of the group. As you can imagine, both these scores have proved to be ‘coupon busters’, apart from Nicky Divers2 getting the full 5 points on the Tunisia game. On further investigation, I assume the ‘2’ after Nicky’s name signifies this was his ‘crazy scores’ go. Nicky Divers 2 is now in 350th place. The prosecution rests your honour.
Tonight’s games had it all, so I’m told, I fell asleep on the couch. Argentina needed a win, Poland could afford to lose with the right result in the other game. That’s what happened, with the mesmeric Messi missing a penalty into the bargain. It looked an unfair award at the time, but the Polish keeper dusted himself down and pulled off a fine save with a wrist as strong as a teenage boy’s. Saudi Arabia and Mexico both needed to win, but with some goal daylight, and had the Saudi’s not scored in the 95th minute, Mexico & Poland would have had the same points, the same goal difference, and had drawn nil each in their own game. Would it have been a coin toss? It doesn’t matter now, Argentina go on to meet the Austrailagers, the Poles face the French.
Top score today was just 12, inevitable with the unexpected results, Nicky Divers alter ego, and Aurelia Barry who needed the points to get back into 2nd place, now just 2 points behind Ian Hewitt, who himself scored a respectable 8 on the day. There are only 2 days left, 8 games, & a total of 40 points available, so I have bad news for the 3 players in places 440, 441, & 442. You cannot win. Sorry to break that to you. Pauline in 439th place however, still in with a shout of getting some money….technically. Good luck tomorrow, the way these scores are going, you’re going to need it.
Frank
Match Day Ten
As we enter the last round of group games things are getting hotter than a Qatari’s sannie with only a few days of our competition to go.
What a day for Nick Horne and Horny Gordy Kilmartin, as they score 18 points each to soar up the table. Nick is now in the prize money, Gordon is just about staving off relegation.
Ian Hewitt had a good day and, with only three days left to go, leads by four points. Lewis Milne isn’t going away though and is clinging on to 2nd spot. Emily Colgan and Martin Robertson share third and Aurelia Barry sits alone on 81. Two points back are Roddy McDougall and Steven Norris, Amrick Barrah Boy and Lisa O’Donnell are joint 8th and there are a few on 77 points. Kevin Mulhern, Joe Watson, Mark Donaldson, Stephen Guthrie, Martin Mano Man McMahon and we can’t rule out Euro 2020 Competition winner Glen Wilson. Glen had been here before and knows what it takes to win. 15 points today and he’s making a charge.
We’ll try to get everyone’s predictions out so you can check all scores over the last few games. We’re on the home straight but there are still 60 points up for grabs!
Things went according to plan for the Netherlands when they played the hapless hosts, Qatar. It possibly wasn’t as comfortable a victory for Holland as they had hoped but they were never in much danger. The home side managed to keep the score line relatively respectable. Word from the camp was pre game they were worried about getting a flogging. Well, it was either that or a clogging. The Dutch now face a good USA side in the last 16.
Senegal’s reward for finishing runners up is a knockout match v England, winners of group B. In an exciting match, Watford’s Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring for Senegal, Brighton’s Caicedo equalised for Ecuador but Chelsea’s Kalidou Koulibaly got the winner for the African champions. There won’t be many strangers in that knockout game.
Ingurland made it through with ease against a disappointing Welsh team, who really didn’t do themselves justice at the tournament. If only things had been different in the play offs – Ukraine could have been there instead. A bit of a doing in the end with three goals made in Manchester, two from United’s Rashford, one from City’s Foden. Interesting selection problem ahead for Gareth Southgate now – what colour of waistcoat should he wear?
USA made it through with a tremendous victory against Iran but at what cost? Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic was injured as he scored the only goal of the game. Him and Tyler Adams had a great first half, Tehran the show and could have been ahead by more. The injury to Pulisic knocked the US off their stride but they did enough to see the game out. Don’t rule out this team beating The Netherlands.
More big games Wednesday, hope you all enjoy!!
Good luck.
Euan.
Match Day Nine
Now that all the teams have played twice, and the next games are, in some cases, Winner Takes All, the Tarbuck stops at the respective managers tactics. Today kicked off with a six goal thriller between Cameroon and Serbia that finished three each, well done to Daniel Rozek the only guy to call it for five points. The Africans had lost their first game, so needed a win to stay in the competition. After a nice period of purple patch possession, Camaroon scored after 29 minutes, but two late first half injury time goals for Serbia left the Africans feeling blue. The came out fighting in the second half, seeing red at the injustice of the score, only for their green and naive defending to let in a third after the 53rd minute. They never gave up mind, two goals within three minutes of each other left them in the pink and with a point. All they need now is a Serbia Switzerland draw and to beat the mighty Brazil. Easy!
Game two saw South Korea take on Ghana, Ghana again needed a win to stay having a say in four days time. This was another high scoring match, after all those nil nils, at last a bit of goal fest. Ghana went one up on 24 mins, adding another in the 34th minute, the Koreans at this point looking like they would be sticking with their Seoul point in the table. They are a dogged team though, and pounced back in the second half, two quick fire goals in minutes 58 & 61 from Cho, and they were going like a train. It was not to be however, Kudas bagged his second for Ghana, and you have to give the forward enormous credit for the finish. South Korea 2 – Ghana 3.
Game 3 was Brazil versus Switzerland, with everyone thinking the Switzerlandiaise had a mountain to climb, if you thought Brazil were losing this, you were cuckoo, bank on a Brazil going nuts on the chocolate munchers! It wasn’t as easy as everyone thought however, with a late winner from Man Utd midfielder Casimiro, leaving Switzerland with a feeling of injustice. Still any of the three teams below Brazil can make it through to the next round.
Finally we had Portugal vs Uruguay, and with Ghana winning earlier, this league had been blown apart. Uruguay forward Cavani was laughing as he had beaten Suarez to a starting spot, and would look to add more bite to the Uruguagers attack. A cagey affair, Portugal took the lead in the 54th minute, when a Fernandez cross missed everyone, including Ronaldo’s hair, and sailed into the net. Then in the 90th minute, a var assisted hand ball decision gave Portugal the chance to seal the victory, Fernandez again with the penalty conversion, Portugal look like they can weather a storm, and again, take any one of three from below them to progress.
12 was the top score in the league today, its hard to predict those high scoring games, but the aforementioned Rozek, Stephen Campbell, & George Popa all achieved just that, those points much needed for George. Ian Hewitt and Emily Colgan share top spot on 76 points, with long time leader Lewis Milne finding himself further back in the grid.
From here on in it’s all a bit like chess. If a team is already through, do they take a chance to blood some squad players, thus given lesser teams a chance? Or go for it and cement their place in top spot for an easier next round opponent? There is still plenty to play for, and in a World Cup of shocks, I am sure we can expect much more over the next 4 days. Bonne chancé!
Frank
Match Day Eight – Super Sunday
A few questions. How on earth did Japan beat Germany? How bad must those Celtic players be not to get in that Japan team? How many would Partick Thistle take off Japan? OK, not all of those were serious questions – I know that Japan were a bit lucky against Germany.
In what I thought was the worst display of the tournament so far, Costa Rica performed a classic smash and grab on the hopeless Samurai Blue. The Ricans had a game plan whereas their opponents were just reekin’. Japan didn’t run out of ideas, they looked as if they didn’t have any to begin with – they didn’t even send any big men up for corners.
The Central Americans defended resolutely, with Keysher Fuller and Francisco Calvo the pick of the back line. In fact, it was Fuller himself that took advantage of some kamikaze Japanese defending, to score the game’s only goal, his curling shot beating big ‘origami hands’ Gonda. 3 points each for these two but pretty tough final games for them both.
The second best team (allegedly) in the world, Belgium, then took the field against a Morocco side who hadn’t lost a goal for five games. The lowlanders had five former Chelsea players playing for them today but it was a current Chelsea player that was the star of the show. Hakim Ziyech ran the game and was unlucky to have a goal ruled out for offside. Still, they persisted and got the goals they deserved through Saiss and Aboukhial, which sealed the victory. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Morocco and the World Cup.
Canada came out the traps flying when they saw the chequered flags against Croatia, with superstar The Fonz O’Davis scoring in only 68 seconds with a cracking header. This Split the teams until the 38th minute when Andrej Kramaric equalized before Marko Livaja sent the Croatese in 2-1 up at the break. Canada tried to Mountie a few attacks in the second half but another from Kramaric and a 4th from Lee Majer meant they ran out easy winners in the end.
Possibly the most eagerly awaited group game was Spain v Germany and it was honours even after a decent 90 minutes (or so). Another ex-Chelsea player, Alvaro Morata, scored from the bench again to put his side ahead but it was German Sub U-9, Niclas Fullkrug, who sank Spanish hearts, with a torpedo of a shot in the 83rd minute to equalize. Some interesting permutations possible now in this group.
Ian Hewitt takes over at the top and Lewis Milne now sits in second place. Emily Colgan on her own in third and Kevin Mulhern and Joe Watson are joint 4th. Grant Donnelly and Amrick Barrah Boy are together in 6th. Tomorrow sees the last of the 2nd Round matches and then we will enter the home straight. Proper exciting now!!
Euan
Match Day Seven
Q: What do Ian Hewitt, Russell Merchant, Joe Watson, John Wearing, Dylan Steele, Hugh Hill Jnr, Katie Marshall and Steven Davidson have in common?
A: All eight players scored a massive 18 points on the four games played today. Outstanding!
Q: What does Julie Nellaney have in common with nobody else?
A: Incredibly, Julie was the only person not to score a single point from today’s fixtures. In fact, Julie has had a blank in the last six games and goes from 4th place to 115th overnight! It just shows you how quickly things can change in this game – both ways.
It was our highest scoring day of the tournament so far with some exciting matches and victories for Australia, Poland, France and Argentina. There were big movers on the leader board but Lewis Milne still holds on to top spot. Kevin Mulhern is two back and is flying solo in 2nd. Joe Watson is 3rd with 58 points and one place back are Emily Colgan and Ian Hewitt, who share 4th. Three players, Craig Bell, Steven Davidson and Grant Donnelly are joint 6th and there are a host of chasers one behind on 54 – Liam Bradley, Steven Murphy, Aurelia Barry, Damian White Ross Donaghue and Amrick Barrah, who is hoping to finish above his brother Weill.
Australia opened the day with a victory over Tunisia, Mitchell The Duke of New South Wales with the only goal. They now go in to the last game versus Denmark, knowing a point will see them through to the sweet 16’s.
Poland then did what Argentina couldn’t do, and that was beat Southern Arabia, with Rab Lewandowski scoring his first ever World Cup goal. He grabbed the second and put the shine on a 2-0 Polish victory. The small matter of Argentina next for them.
Frank had mentioned Christian Eriksen returning from the dead to play at the top level (or ‘doing a Rangers’, as it’s commonly known) but his even his resurrection was not enough to prevent a Kylian Mbappe inspired France taking the three points in the 4pm match. The French safely through to the next round.
Last up it was Argentina v Mexico and it took a bit of Messi magic to swing the match in the favour of La Albiceleste. Benfica babe, Enzo Fernandez, scored his first ever international goal to seal the victory but Argentina now go in to the last match against Poland knowing they need a victory to be sure of qualification.
Enjoy the games on Sunday, some crackers in prospect!
Euan.
Match Day Six
Things were a bit more lively in today’s matches with goals in every game until a stuffy England side held tight against USA. In the earlier fixtures, there was some great end to end viewing and we saw our first red card of the tournament.
In the first game the Welsh were up against it as soon as goalkeeper Hennessey was sent off, with the score locked at 0-0. They thought they were going to hang on for a point but the Iranies got two injury time goals to grab the victory. Big Wayne was greeting, in fact the whole of Wales was blubbering, and they will now need to beat their next door neighbours England to progress.
Senegal showed why they are the African Champions when they played the host nation in the early afternoon fixture. Although missing their best player, Sadio Mane, they looked good and dominated the match. The 3-1 victory means Qatar can’t qualify for the next round and even the most pessimistic of their fans wouldn’t have expected them to beheading out of the tournament so soon.
It’s always a colourful sight and a great atmosphere when Holland play and it was no different when their team lined up against Ecuador. The Dutch have travelled in huge numbers, due to the somewhat misconstrued promise they could drink alcohol and get stoned in Qatar. They were probably the happier of the two sets of fans at the final whistle, as Ecuador had the better chances to win the game. Interesting final matches await.
After they blew away the Iran in their first group match, it was all eyes on England this evening. USA wanted to hand their sorry douchebag asses to them and teach them a soccer lesson but it looked as though that wouldn’t be the case during the first 45 minutes. Gareth’s boys sought to carry on where they left off against Iran but the Americans came in to it in the second half and, although they didn’t exactly pepper Pickford’s goal, they were the better of the two sides. As usual, England went from champs to chumps, and were booed off the park by their fans at the end.
Lewis Milne sees his lead cut to two points as Emily Colgan and Kevin Mulhern share second place. Julie Nellaney still hanging in there but has Drew McComb and Liam Bradley for company now in joint 4th. There is a long way to go as we have only just seen the first day of the second group games. One thing is for sure though, Robin Hammond will need to wait until Euro 2024 to get in the money. Come of Robin, let’s get some points!!
Enjoy the games on Saturday!!
Euan.
Match Day Five
Match Day Five gave us a couple of quiet games early on, followed by two better matches in the evening. Not one goal in the first 45 minutes of any of the games though, hopefully things will liven up as we go in to the second round of matches.
It’s been all about brothers over the last 24 hours at the World Cup. Last night saw Nico Williams (no, not the Welsh guy Neco Williams – he’s a different Neco Williams) come on as a sub for Spain. Nico’s older sibling, Inaki Williams, then lined up for Ghana against Portugal today. Ghana weren’t finished as far as brothers were concerned though as goal scorer Andre Ayew made way for brother Jordan in the 77th minute. “Hold my beer!!” said South Korea, as they listed The Brothers Kim in their starting lineup. Yes, the whole back five were Kims! Kim-Whan, Kim-Two, Kim…
Switzerland beat Cameroon by a single goal from Breel Embolo. This is the first time I’ve ever seen an international player not celebrate a goal out of respect for the opposition. Why? He just became the first player to score at a World Cup Finals against the country of his birth. Anyway, he’s Swiss now, and that’s the way he rolls.
The 1pm game was in danger of not kicking off due to a large group of dyslexic Qatari’s protesting to get Uruguay thrown out of the competition. When things eventually died down, the game went ahead with the South Americans and South Koreans fighting out a drab nil nil draw. The names of the latter’s back five was probably the highlight of the afternoon. Must do better guys.
After a boring opening to Portugal v Ghana, the match was eventually brought to life by an exquisite dive (I think his shoelace might have been clipped) by Cristiano Ronaldo. The man himself took the spot kick and the Ghannish were behind. A brief fightback was quashed by Joao Felix and Rafael Leao, but the Africans came back again and almost snatched a draw at the death, but for a slip that Stevie G would have been proud of. Ronaldo was delighted with the 3 points and the fact everyone was talking about him and his new record of scoring at five world cups. Had the Portuguesians thrown away two points though, I’m sure he would have been on to his agent, Piers Morgan, looking for a move away from Portugal.
The last game saw a bit of flair from Tournament favourites Brazil. Many thought Serbia would be tough nuts to crack but the yellow Cowdenbeath took care of them with relative ease through two goals from Tottenham’s Richard Allison. What a change it will make for him having an opportunity to actually win something. Speaking of which, Harry Kane and England up tomorrow..
On our leader board, Lewis Milne has amassed and incredible 45 points and leads by five from Stuart Cameron. He is one point above Julie Nellaney, who clearly knows more about football than husband David. Robin Hammond is propping up the table, with only ten points to show so far. Don’t worry Robin, we’re only a third of the way through – there are plenty points still to play for. I’ve seen your predictions mind you. Have you tried scrabble?
Best of luck and enjoy Friday’s games!!
Euan
Match Day Four
Croatia made it to the final in 2018, so we knew they would be the favourites against the Fez wearing Moroccers. One player key in that last campaign was Croatian creator in chief, Luca Modric, who some were asking at the age of 37, could he still do it at this level. Anyone who watches him playing for Real Madrid will know his game is full of craft and work, so I’d say he is Modric and he’s loooooking good.
Croatia would be looking to push their forward player up, including Perisic, who would be looking to scope out any opportunities. The Atlas Lions fought for every ball against Croatia, and it was competitive first half. Croatia had the best chance to score, but the Morroco’s keeper Bono made a great save, Croatia still hadn’t found the goal they were looking for.
The second half was much like the first, Morroco working hard and competing, Croatia struggling to carve out opportunities, and before you know you it, the game is over, and it’s a beautiful day for Bono and his teammates. That was the third 0-0 of the tournament so far, while in 2018 we had just one across the whole competition.
The 2nd game of the day saw a The Germurmans take on the Japanese. It was a dull first half, both in atmosphere and in action, with Germany going in one nil up thanks to a 33rd minute penalty dispatched by Man City’s Gündoğan. In the 59th minute it was Gündoğan again, this time his shot hitting the post. By now it was all Germany, they dominating Japn’s territory, surely they must go on to win this battle? With 20 minutes to go, Japan started to get back in it, then in the 73rd minute, GOAL for Japan, two of Japan’s subs combining to score Japan’s equaliser. Game on! 9 minutes later Japan went in front, no one would have thought they could win this game, but win it they did, 2-1 against a disappointing Germany.
Game 3 was 2010 World Champions Spain take on Costa Rica, and again before the match most would say there was going to be only one winner, and that certainly proved to be the case as Spain ran amocha against the Central Americans who were very flat white right for the off. Spain opened the scoring 11 minutes, and by half time it was three nil. Would Spain take their foot of the accelerator? Nope, the continued hit Costa Rica like an Expresso train, scoring another two with 30 minutes, then a late 6th goal in the 90th minute, and then another latte goal in the 92nd minute to make it 7 nil, with 6 different scorers, and Spain looking more like they did 12 years ago.
The final game of the day saw Belgium, a team nearing the end of their ‘Golden Generation’, this probably the last chance for them to take advantage of the talent in their now aging team. Canada included current Reading forward Junior Hoylet, coincidentally Junior being rhyming slang for where Belgium’s form has been in, in the run up to the tournament. I seen this game, and Canada where excellent, really getting into Belgium, but a lack of class up front meant they could capitalise on their many chances, and sadly their effort and endeavor didn’t amountie to anything, and Belgium ended up with a lucky one nil win.
12 points was the maximum scores on Wednesday, with 4 players collecting that haul, 2 players also scoring hee haw. Another 4 games tomorrow and we will have seen all the teams. Switzerland Cameroon, former winners Uruguay vs South Korea, Renaldo debuts with Portugal against Ghana, while we all get to see just how good Brazil will be against Serbia. Enjoy!!
Frank
Match Day Three
Day 3 kicks off with many peoples favourites Argentina taking the Saudi’s, given they were on a run of 36 games unbeaten. It was decent start for La Albiceleste, with their messiah Messi slotting home a 10th minute penalty, and we assumed this was a starter for their number 10. Facing a midfield four from Juventus, Athletico, and Sevilla, the Saudi central midfielders Kanno and captain Al-Faraj, Mick and Nigel to their mates, must have felt they were right up against it. Just after the second half started, incredibly Saudi Arabia scored two in five minutes, the second an absolute peach, then protected their lead until the whistle went to signal one of THE World Cup shock results, and an untidy start for Messi’s men. Just a reminder though, when Argentina lost to Cameroon in their opening match of 1990, they progressed all the way to the final.
The second match of the day seen the Denmarkians take on African side Tunisia. This match signalled Christian Ericksen’s return to international football after his distressing collapse in the Euros, and it is truly delightful to see him back playing at this level. Tunisia had the best first chance, Jebali ghosting into the box only for Kasper Schmeichel to pull off an amazing save. Both teams had goals disallowed, and eventually the tournament seen it’s first nil-nil draw, with most pundits singing the Tunisians praises.
Game three was sure to excite, Mexico always like to taco the game to their opponents, while the Poles can on occasion be electric. Mexico dominated the first 40 minutes, Poland having to deal with wave after wave of Mexican movement, with Polish goalie Szczesny the one and only keeper under any pressure. 0-0 at half time, the game lit up in the 55th minute, Poland get a VAR assisted penalty, and a great chance for the legend that is Lewandowski to score his first World Cup goal. Goals are attracted to this magentic Pole, but the 37 year-old Mexican keeper Ochoa, playing in his 5th World Cup, saved the penalty, and the place went loco! Mexico continued to have the better of the attacks, but In the end it was another nic – nada draw.
In the last game of the day, World Cup holders France opened their defence against the Austrailicans, affectionately known as “The Socceroos”, but you would need to be a drongo to think they could get anything from Les Bleus. The day wasn’t going to plan for the big teams however, and this game wasn’t any different, with Australia taking the lead in the 9th minute, the fans hoping the scorer was an omen, Goodwin netting from a beautiful cross. Of course, this only served to annoy the French, not that it takes much to annoy the French, as they began to take control of the match, pulling 2 back within 5 minutes of each other, and missing numerous other chances. By now Mbappe was maurauding down the left, with the Aussie right midfielder Leckie having an absolute shocker. In the second half it was the Mpabbe and Giroud show, the former scoring a header, before setting up another header for Giroud to become France’s all time joint top scorer with Terry Henry. 4-1 in the end, so despite not having Pogba, Kante, or Ballon d’Or winner Benzema available, you still got to fancy the French to do well.
Some amazing results today, & hats off to Dionne Eaglesham who was the ONLY player to predict the Saudi 2-1 victory & take the full 5 points, while it was a great day for Lewis Milne who stood alone as highest daily scorer on 15 points, propelling him to a quite massive 7 point lead over Aurelia Barry & Blair Sim who are second on 23. What a difference a day makes. Another 4 tomorrow, Morocco vs Croatia, the Germans stake their claim against Japan, Spain take on coffee chain Costa Rica, then it’s Belgium vs Canada. Enjoy day 4!!
Frank
Match Day Two
The day kicked off at 1pm with England vs Iran, with England going in as clear favourites. The Englasians had picked an attacking formation, Harry Kane up front being supported by Mount, Saka, and Sterling, with Iran pretty much playing a 5-4-1. It did take England more than half an hour to break the deadlock, with Jude Bellingham opening the scoring, before Saka and Sterling put their team 3 up before half time. Saka added a fourth on 62′, just before Iran pulled one back. England made some subs, bringing on Rashford and Grealish who both scored to hit Iran for 6, then an injury time penalty for Iran gave us the highest scoring match thus far. England to win the world cup? Persian the thought.
Game 2 saw some people’s fancied outsiders, African champs Senegal playing perennial World Cup under achievers Holland, who of course would be buoyed by not having to face star man Sadio Mani. It was also an opportunity to get some Scottish representation in this World Cup from Dutch midfielder Denzel Dumfries. It was a dull, tense affair, with Holland eventually breaking Senegal’s resolve, a late double from Dutch players Gakpo on 84 minutes, with Klaassen delivering the final lesson in the 99th minute.
The final game for the day saw the US of A take on the WA of Les, and this was probably the best game of the day. With the American women’s team the World champions, there was a lot of focus on the male players to justify their equal pay, so the pressure was probably on the Americonians to deliver on the world stage. They certainly started the better of the two teams, battering Wales back & having decent chances. Wales were stoic in defence & there didn’t seem a way through till suddenly Weah was through, could he score, by George he could! The Welsh came out in a better mood in the second half, and after some sustained pressure of their own, a stonewall penalty after Captain Gareth was up ended. It was a pressure penalty for sure, but hey, Bale executed it with aplomb, and in the end a draw was fair result.
Top scores today was 12, 34 players delivering that performance, with 2 people scoring just 1. Even the randomiser is scoring better than 1!. We have two early leaders in Drew McComb & Aurelia Barry, sharing top spot on 17 points, with another 25 in third on 15 points. There is a long long way to go. 4 games tomorrow, we see my favourites to win, Argentina vs the Saudis, Denmark take on Tunisia, Mexico Poland could be interesting, while France open up their defence as holders against the Socceroos. Enjoy!!
Frank
Match Day One
So the 2022 World Cup got underway with the opening match of Qatar & Ecuador, & since we didn’t know that much about either team, we would all be interested to see what got coughed up during the opening match. I was asked during the week if I could name even one Qatar player, & quick as a flash I said Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, & Frank Zappa. There’s three!!
Qatar lined up with a 5-3-2, Ecuador a more balanced 4-4-2, those lineups suggesting everyone knew who the dominant team were going to be, even though as Euan offered earlier, no host team has ever lost it’s first match in a world cup. Well at least Qatar can say they broke at least one record, as a defeat it was, 2 goals in the first half from Ecuador put the game to bed. Fenerbahce’s Enner Valencia, once of West Ham & Everton, bagging a brace through a cooly struck penalty, followed by a well executed header. The second half was a bit of a wash out, with Qatar hoping long balls behind the Ecuadorish defence to forwards Ali & Afif being enough for them to steal something. It wasn’t. Tough matches ahead for them against African champions Senegal, & the Tulip munchers.
72 players started with maximum points, 133 with 3 points, so just over 200 players getting off to a decent start. 190 of you have yet to record a point, suggesting many thought a Qatari win or draw was feasible. I personally am delighted to see some of you who took a ‘randomised’ set of AI scores have started with 5 points, while my own soccer intelligence contributed just 2.
3 games tomorrow, by tomorrow night we will see some gaps in the league. Good luck to England in their opening match of course.
Frank
World Cup 2022 