World Cup Prediction Thread - Group Stage

[Dauphin]

atawa, you missed out the Spain vs Tunisia game on your predictions. As you'd guessed on all the others I presume you intended to, but didn't?

[Dauphin]

LoA, I presume you copied atawa, as you have also missed out the same game.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

spain v tunisia 2 - 0

[Winston]

Dauphin, how about your own predictions?

Just so you don't forget.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

I think Swiss hooligans will be more of a problem than the national team. Or is the Swiss national team a bunch of hooligans?

the swiss came out of the most difficult uefa (and probably world) qualifying group. then they beat the team who finished 3rd in 2002.

who will be laughin when cabanas and frei put three by france in stuttgart on the 13th?

[Winston]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
who will be laughin when cabanas and frei put three by france in stuttgart on the 13th?

World - (France + U.S.)

[Lawrence of Arabia]

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Winston
Dauphin, how about your own predictions?

Just so you don't forget.

I was going to wait a bit before posting them.

Here you go...

The world champions:
Spain.

The top scorer in the competition:
Fernando Torres SPA

Group A:
Germany 1st
Poland 2nd

Group B:
Sweden 1st
England 2nd

Group C:
Netherlands 1st
Argentina 2nd

Group D:
Portugal 1st
Mexico 2nd

Group E
Czech Republic 1st
Italy 2nd

Group F
Brazil 1st
Australia 2nd

Group G
France 1st
Switzerland 2nd

Group H
Spain
Tunisia

Matches:
Germany vs Costa Rica 2-0
Poland vs Ecuador 2-1

England vs Paraguay 2-0
Trinidad and Tobago vs Sweden 0-3
Argentina vs Côte d'Ivoire 2-1

Serbia and Montenegro vs Netherlands 1-3
Mexico vs Iran 2-1
Angola vs Portugal 0-2

Italy vs Ghana 1-0
USA vs Czech Republic 1-2
Australia vs Japan 2-0

Brazil vs Croatia 2-0
France vs Switzerland 1-1
South Korea vs Togo 1-0

Spain vs Ukraine 3-2
Tunisia vs Saudi Arabia 3-1
Germany vs Poland 2-0

Ecuador vs Costa Rica 2-2
England vs Trinidad and Tobago 4-0
Sweden vs Paraguay 3-1

Argentina vs Serbia and Montenegro 3-1
Netherlands vs Côte d'Ivoire 2-1
Mexico vs Angola 2-0

Portugal vs Iran 3-0
Italy vs USA 2-2
Czech Republic vs Ghana 2-1

Brazil vs Australia 3-0
Japan vs Croatia 2-2
France vs South Korea 2-0

Togo vs Switzerland 0-2
Spain vs Tunisia 3-1
Saudi Arabia vs Ukraine 1-2

Ecuador vs Germany 0-2
Costa Rica vs Poland 1-1
Sweden vs England 1-1
Paraguay vs Trinidad and Tobago 2-1

Netherlands vs Argentina 1-1
Côte d'Ivoire vs Serbia and Montenegro 1-2
Portugal vs Mexico 2-0
Iran vs Angola 1-1

Czech Republic vs Italy 0-0
Ghana vs USA 1-2
Japan vs Brazil 0-3
Croatia vs Australia 1-2

Togo vs France 0-3
Switzerland vs South Korea 1-0
Saudi Arabia vs Spain 0-4
Ukraine vs Tunisia 2-2

[Dauphin]

I notice that 0-0s are in short supply.

[Winston]

They are. It's one of the most common results, but strangely one that you don't often consider while making predictions.

I have a suggestion for the scoring system. Could we add points for having predicted a team for the group winner that finishes 2nd? Likewise for predicting a team for runner-up that turns out to win the group? I suggest awarding 2 points for each of these situations.

Also, we should decide upon what results of matches to go by. Or rather, explicitly state which results will count. We have so far recognized the result after ordinary full time as the one that counts for the prediction game. Any results obtained after extended time, shootouts, golden, silver, titanium goals, whatever the heck they use these days don't count for the purpose of our game.

[Dauphin]

The standard rule that has previously applied and shall be applied is that the result used is the result after ordinary time.

In the group stage, should lots need to be drawn for placing teams, the final placings are the placing as per the draw of lots.


If we change the points allocation for 1st and 2nd, based on your suggestion:
Correctly guess 1st place: 5 pts (currently 5pts)
Correctly guess 2nd place: 5 pts (currently 3pts)
Choice for 1st finishes 2nd: 2 pts (currently 0pts)
Choice for 2nd finishes 1st: 2pts (currently 0pts).

If people want to play by that system I can change the rules in my first post.


Also, who wants to include LoA's suggestion of guessing the best youth player of the tournament?

Eligible contenders for the title can be found here:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/bypa/yptw.html

[Lawrence of Arabia]

(note half the swiss team.

you guys should all pick johan vonlanthen )

[Ecthy]

Who defines what is a youth player? That site?

[Dauphin]

The youth player award is awarded by FIFA, so the result is whoever FIFA give it to. And that is FIFA's world cup site, so yes, they do.

[Winston]

It seems rather arbitrary to take a guess at who will be selected by FIFA as youth player of the tournament.

Let's stick to guessing the more tangible outcomes of groups, match results, world champ and top scorer.