{"id":21949,"date":"2018-07-15T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/home.apeconsulting.co.uk\/adrian\/?p=21949"},"modified":"2018-07-15T10:31:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T09:31:45","slug":"world-cup-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home.apeconsulting.co.uk\/adrian\/world-cup-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2018 (It’s Coming Home?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I love a World Cup year, and there’s nothing better than being ‘between contracts’ in a World Cup year with the tournament due to kick off tomorrow!<\/p>\n

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Not going to say much, other than the BBC has a great web page for predicting the results so I thought I’d link mine here to see how I get on after all the dust has settled.\u00a0 Oh, and a pretty nice wallchart<\/a> too \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Update 1″ _builder_version=”3.8.1″]<\/p>\n

Update<\/h2>\n

So the groups are all finished and the last 16 known.\u00a0 I’ve been checking to see how I’d done throughout and you might have even seen some different updates to this blog.\u00a0 Made a pretty good start predicting Group A, C and D perfectly and got 1st and 2nd the wrong way around in Group B.<\/p>\n

Not so good with E & F as I expected Serbia to finish 2nd on Group F (not Switzerland) and never imagined the Germans would finish bottom of their group with Sweden and Mexico taking 1st and 2nd place.<\/p>\n

Group G as predicted but Columbia were the surprise package in H, knocking Japan down into 2nd and Senegal out.<\/p>\n

Not too bad, although wouldn’t have made me rich with any accumulator!<\/p>\n

I’ve updated the BBC frame below and posted the original one below that, but also have a created a table above to make it easier to see who might play who, along with my last 16 predictions…<\/p>\n

World Cup Last 16<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Last 16<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nQtr Finals<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nSemi Finals<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\nFinal<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
France<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nArgentina<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nFrance<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nUruguay<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Uruguay<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nPortugal<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nFrance<\/em><\/td>\nBelgium<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brazil<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nMexico<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBrazil<\/em><\/td>\nBelgium<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Belgium<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nJapan<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nBelgium<\/em><\/td>\nEngland<\/strong><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spain<\/em><\/td>\nRussia<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nRussia<\/em><\/td>\nCroatia<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Croatia<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nDenmark<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\nCroatia<\/em><\/td>\nEngland<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sweden<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nSwitzerland<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\nSweden<\/em><\/td>\nEngland<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
England<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\nColumbia<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Well, after the first 4 games my predictions for the last 16 have been 50:50, although I don’t suspect many people expected both Portugal and Spain to be leaving at that stage.\u00a0 Frame below and table updated, although still dreaming of an England win, made easier with Spain going out.<\/p>\n

Last 4 games much better with a 100% success rate.\u00a0 It still might be ‘coming home’…<\/strong><\/p>\n

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[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Update 2″ _builder_version=”3.8.1″]<\/p>\n

Update 2<\/h2>\n

Never really believed England would get through to the semi-finals, or at least not before the tournament had started.<\/p>\n

My semi-final predictions weren’t too bad, with only Brazil v Belgium going the other way.\u00a0 Belgium has been looking good though and deserved the win.\u00a0 I think they might even give France a run for their money tomorrow…<\/p>\n

I have to keep the faith and believe England can beat Croatia on Wednesday, and then it’s anyone’s\u00a0game in the final.\u00a0 Is it really coming home?<\/p>\n

It’s been quite hard to follow my predictions as I’ve updated things at various stages.\u00a0 Whilst my last 4 only included France, all 4 semi-finalists were in my quarter final\u00a0line up!<\/p>\n

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Update 3<\/h2>\n

It’s taken a little while to update after the semi-finals,\u00a0as even though I’d never imagined England would get this far, it’s always a big disappointment to get knocked out so close to the finish line, especially when it was so close.<\/p>\n

My semi-final predictions\u00a0were 100% wrong, with Belgium beating England (again) yesterday in the 3rd place play-off match.\u00a0 It felt like another meaningless game, although the better team won.<\/p>\n

This will be my last update, so I thought I’d compare back to my original prediction.\u00a0 Although I’d got the last 4 in the quarterfinals, I’d only given France a chance to the semi-final, and then they’d lost to Brazil.\u00a0 So overall, a pretty poor show.<\/p>\n

Who’s going to win today?\u00a0 To be honest, I don’t really care!\u00a0 I think France should be too strong, but Croatia have shown some real determination and with players like\u00a0Modri\u0107 and Mand\u017euki\u0107 they could create a real shock.<\/p>\n

I’ll be looking forward to the European Championship in 2020 and the World Cup in 2022 to see how England can progress over the next 4 years, and maybe then football might come home…<\/p>\n

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