When it comes to matches like this you indeeed just might never know, who/who not to back due to the grand effect a little margin of error of a split second can cause, who knows if Switzerland would have been more sensitive defensively knowing that they are playing against Ronaldo, arguably one of the most efficient finishers of all time, but paid a little attention to a maiden Ramos striker paid dearly for it.

I really can't draw a conclusion between Argentina and Netherland, because my biases and flawed perception in this situation might be tilted towards Argentina, so I'm likely not being very objective enough, but I'll fancy Argentina's chances here because apart from the round of 16 fixture against USA in which the Netherlands still got somewhat dominated statistically, they've pretty much struggled against every other team, even when those teams are playing highly defensively.

"Should've been, could've been, ain't, so why bother with ?"

I think Ronaldo just isn't accepting that he's approaching the end of his career, If they scored 6 goals in the group stages and the only one he could afford was that one from the penalty spot, why should we think it would have been different today ? Because Switzerland conceded 6 goals ? That could easily have been attributed to the fact that the coach dropped him and every other player on the pitch isn't worried about not picking out Ronaldo when he's making a run because he would definitely display complaining gestures, but yes! that's as some other players will as well. Ramos were picked out 3 different times and the goals all counted because he was able to time his runs very perfectly, and the first one Ronaldo gets was offside because he couldn't do the same, If Rafael Leao was able to get on the scoresheet despite been brought on 13 minutes after Ronaldo was and just 3 minutes away from the initial 90, then I don't think there is any justification for Ronaldo, It either wasn't meant to be, or he's just lost his pro touches and finesse, perhaps both.

He was, I was expecting him to turn up for the grand stage as usual, but I didn't want him on my team, and I literally kept the 12th man out of play in the group stages simply because I wasn't certain about who would start or not, and everyone I was sure that I wanted were already on my team. If only I had read about his antics with the coach I might have second thought.

I guess the chip was just meant to never yield a result for me, because I was seconds away from having it on Lautaro Martinez, before I muttered "f**k it! I might not be the biggest fan of Ronaldo, but I believed this are stages he live(d) and showed up for... It would probably have all worked out well for me with a Ronaldo hattrick, if only Fernando Santos was just big enough to swallow his pride and play his biggest player, what an utter disrespect for CR7  



I'm still all in, in for a penny,.... ? you all know the rest.

I went with an all out for Netherlands defenders in MD5, it didn't pan out too well because I didn't manage to have Daley Blind too, but I've got my Wild Card intact and I don't think I'll have a better chance than right now to use it to take a gamble, while still having my 5 transfers to put things in places should things decides to go south, again.

13. Magomed Ankalaev
12. Paddy Pimblett
11. Santiago Ponzinibbio
10. Dricus Du Plessis
9. Bryce Mitchell
8. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Raul Rosas Jr
6. Edmen Shahbazyan
5. Chris Curtis
4. Billy Quarantillo
3. T.J. Brown
2. Vinicius Salvador
1. Cameron Saaiman

Match 13 winner Total Strikes: 73

Brazil are definitely going to have tough game vs Croatia, because of Croatia chemistry and style of play, disciplined decisive and very compactly organized as a team, but If any team has what it takes to oust Croatia, that'd be Brazil, they've got every assets that they can use to hurt just almost any team.

I've just successfully wasted my 12th man chip 

I didn't expect it to have turned out this way to be honest, but I'd rather not be in the position most of the guys are right now with those marginal decision that they await with Ronaldo being on the bench and some expecting a goal.

I was typing while Portugal just scored, and that would have made it 22 or more goals option is a Yes already, and those with the early goal minutes too.

I really can't say I'm anticipating the next round of questions, because these were mind bugging enough 

Except I get extremely unlucky which can be the case sometimes, I believe I will make it through to the next round, all I need is just one goal from either of the remaining two fixtures, but a goalless halftime from Spain and Morocco is not having me full of optimism.

Should Spain get knocked out, I'll also advance as well but I don't want them to get eliminated just yet, however I don't think karma gives two f**ks about what we want over what's deserved.

That's nothing but just a mere speculation, Barcelona are definitely not going to make any bid whatsoever for him, Barcelona has got multiples for the position Kudus, and were even looking to offload some of them during the last transfer window, so I think Kudus could likely get offers from English Premier League sides but that's likely going to be from mid-tier teams or even lowers ones, but he'll have a huge point to prove for himself to make a name for himself, maybe just like his fellow country man Sadio Mane did before leaving Liverpool.



I might be very wrong with my opinion, but I know no English team would want to a risk on a Ronaldo investment right now tbh, not after the outburst that led to him leaving Man United, so why would any team except Man City who doesn't him anyways want to sign a player to that seem rather bigger or can't be controlled by their coach.

At least today is not the day 

I was already scared I'd potentially be facing Buwaytress, at least that's if I make past this stage with another tough guy LTU_btc from almost every pool I've participated in so far, we've got 6 question left and we have to answer in common, I just need two more of the four questions we shared different perspectives about to go my way then, then I'll be through to the next stage, the most likely being the Croatians to dominate Japan, and the round of 16 having more than 22 goals.

After Saka and Harry Kane had scored, I was sure Foden would also get an attempt at goal if he was left on the pitch for the entire game, but Gareth Southgate did me a favour of taken him out before he gets that opportunity.

13

I'm highly anticipating the quarter finals fixture to be very honest, I really can't rule out England after what I saw tonight and the encounter vs France would definitely be a one to anticipate, Mbappe has been on fire, but it's going to be a different level of task in a faceoff versus Kyle Walker who has been impressive.

I really think I might even back England to advance in that fixture, and it will all be a battle to be won in the midfield which England also have a luxury of right now. It seemed more like a walk in the park for England after they've found their rhythm after the first goal, and from there it was just a matter of time.

Yes, I totally agree with you, I understand his position very clearly but don't get me wrong. I only said that because I've watched him well and over again, over the years and I'm well aware that Perisic plays on the left flank for Croatia, but while at Inter and Bayern he played more down that left midfield and often dropping further back sometimes, that seemed to have affected he's goal scoring form/zeal, so he's been more of a provider than an actual goal scoring personnel, hence my sentiment of actually preferring outright midfielders with more goal intentions rather than being just a provider, Perisic is likely to have more assists to goals ratio, of something like 10:1 if not bigger, than getting goals for himself, so that's why I felt him being classified as defender who could be getting clean sheets as that would complement the deeper role he plays and he could still be providing those assists regardless, in FPL for instance I think he's racked up more points from Clean sheet than in goals and assist combined.

What most every other users scores now doesn't actually affect you or your chances, for now the only results that matters is just between you and your opponent.

My opponent LTU_btc, also had the both set of the first two questions wrong and as did I, but we've got a couple of different opinions about a lot of other upcoming questions and the most crazy thing is that we actually have just a minute difference between our tie breaker answers, so it's going to be a really close and unpredictable one.

I've so far been very worried or rather curious about how I fallen so bad down the pecking order of the table without getting points significantly lower than others for the game week, but It's solely due to the fact that I never understood how the transfer and substitutions actually really works, but I think I've gotten a better understanding of the game play now, I only just hope it's not too late yet to catch up.

I would love to have Perisic in my squad too, but I'm not just sure if it will be worth it, I'd definitely have jumped on the bandwagon if he was classified as a defender, because of the potential short at a clean sheet too, but without that advantage, I'd stick with natural forwards classified as midfielders or actually attacking minded midfields

I just used my 12th man booster, and I splashed it on Ronaldo, I think he's due for a brace or even an hattrick right ?!

I'm going to stick with Messi as my captain, I initially didn't even have Mbappe on my team after the first draft, but I switched to him by replacing Lautaro Martinez some minutes before the deadline, my biggest flaw is the Netherlands concede, it would have been a big haul for me, or If I had went with Daley Blind, instead of Ake or Van Djik, It would have been complement, but since Argentina also conceded a goal, I felt it no team defense is actually safe right now or stands a better chances of keeping a clean sheet, perhaps just Brazil.

I also got the notification from my email, and I already have it on 4 games parlay of Netherlands Win, Argentina HT win and I'm left with Croatia and England to win their respective games to win the 4 game parlay, I also got Free 5 spins from one of their pragmatic provided slots, I didn't get any from that though, you understand how lucky you need to be hit a big win from 5 spins.

Thanks.

9

I was on the opposite side of this bet, it was -2.5 for the Sacramento Kings when I saw the bet, and the injury worries were too significant for me to overlook in this case, the Kings looked really solid enough to have the game, so it was an easy to make for me, De Aaron Fox didn't even need to be explosive before Sacramento Kings could the game easily, Domantas Sabonis was the real destroyer, he was the Kings best offensive player, and after being able to create a significant lead for the team at half time, they was no coming for the Clippers

I went for the win or burst for this round by banking on four defender from Netherlands, too bad I overlooked Daley Blind and Netherlands also had to concede, it would have made absolutely f**king sense if they kept the clean shit...

And Berghuis not coming on made lost a point in the other competition, Damn, Lose Van Gaal 

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Vamos Argentina! let's run riot tonight 

07 is my chosen number, thanks!

Good luck to everyone!