Bitcointalk's FIFA World Cup Pool Discussion Thread

[LTU_btc]

France 2:1 Australia. France didn't impressed me, but maybe it's not worth to expect that strongest teams will show their best game in first game of tournament.
Argentina 1:1 Iceland. Can we call this result as sensation? I don't think . Argentina had ball posession, made much more shots, but it's not enough to win against solid Iceland team. Messi had really bad penalty attempt :/ And I can't understand why Dybala didn't played.
Denmark 1:0 Peru. Finally I predicted correct score . But it's qorth to say that Peru had decent game, but Schmeichel made some great saves. And terrible penalty shoot by Cueva - it reminds me shot to the moon by Ramos few years ago.
Ok, let's watch Croatia ws Nigeria. It should be fun game, I predict that Croatia will win 2:1
EDIT Croatia won 2:0, still not that bad for me

[BitcoinSupremo]

Nigeria just became the first team in history to score 2 consecutive own goals in 2 different World Cups, last one in Brazil 2014 and now in the game that is actually being played. Talking about hall of shame I think Nigeria fits in perfectly and Croatia will have an easy win tonight.

[HugoStiglitz]

Quite strange that prediction "First team to score" - Croatia wasn't counted because it was an own goal. Is it a typical rule for all bets or FIFA predictor has its own atmosphere? I have never faced such situation before)

[Welsh]

I'm not doing too well at the moment, but I haven't managed to do any of the bonus questions due to not being around to do it. Let's hope that my predictions get a tad better...

[Joca97]

Sliding into first place easily ))


Croatia 2-0 correct result won

[tomahawk9]

Nigeria just became the first team in history to score 2 consecutive own goals in 2 different World Cups, last one in Brazil 2014 and now in the game that is actually being played. Talking about hall of shame I think Nigeria fits in perfectly and Croatia will have an easy win tonight.

I'm one of those who overestimated Nigeria, especially after that win vs Argentina 2-4 in one of the last friendlies. I thought they were going to be a hard matchup for Croatia, but their performance yesterday was horrendous, and tbh, they might actually be the weakest team in the group...a bit surprising considering Iceland is in the group.

[hilariousetc]

Currently second on the leaderboard,but not happy with it

Need to be first to continue my tournament winning streaks on the forum

do group stage positions count as well for the end ?

Yes. Points will be added up from both leagues.

Nigeria just became the first team in history to score 2 consecutive own goals in 2 different World Cups, last one in Brazil 2014 and now in the game that is actually being played. Talking about hall of shame I think Nigeria fits in perfectly and Croatia will have an easy win tonight.

I'm one of those who overestimated Nigeria, especially after that win vs Argentina 2-4 in one of the last friendlies. I thought they were going to be a hard matchup for Croatia, but their performance yesterday was horrendous, and tbh, they might actually be the weakest team in the group...a bit surprising considering Iceland is in the group.

Nigeria aren't up to much, but I wouldn't put too much weight on friendly results as they're often misleading and squads often don't put out their strongest squads. Iceland shouldn't be underestimated though. They rivalled Argentina the other day, though Argentina played poor. They also knocked out England in the Euros remember. Can't say I'm that excited about the Serbia/Costa Rica match today. Serbia are the strong favourites but I don't think they'll have an easy win and the game could be a dull one. Looking forward to the Brazil and Germany games though especially as they're the only two big teams out of the top 4 that haven't played yet. I've backed both Germany and Brazil to get into the final and either of them to win so hoping for a good performance to give me some confidence.

[panjul07]

I'm not doing too well at the moment, but I haven't managed to do any of the bonus questions due to not being around to do it. Let's hope that my predictions get a tad better...

Hahaha, the same situation with me mate. No correct predictions so far from me, it is not easy to predict score in this kind of big event especially because it is a National team event. Big mistake in predicting Argentina and Morocco could win easily, but the result are not as expected.
Still many matches to gain points so hopefully we can boost our points from the remaining matches.

[BitcoinSupremo]

I am still last and the only one to miss three digits score so far, it appears my crazy results are not paying off yet I am continuing with them in a hope that surprises will start to happen sooner rather than later in a WC where surprises have been almost inexistent.

[Barcode_]

My prediction have gone way wrong for quite a few games recently, the match between Argentina vs Iceland was the most disappointing result for me, I never expect Lionel Messi to miss a penalty shot in such a big tournament, I hope my prediction would be more accurate for the next few big games.

[BitcoinSupremo]

Although I had Germany vs Mexico a draw as a surprise the surprise gone too far by making Germany lose to a team they had always beaten in their recent games. Guess will still be last for another few days.

[buwaytress]

Just checking in here after a while, team, looks like my good old Joca is at the top of the table right now... maybe your usual tactic of over/under is working out in this system yes? I actually only realised today, after reading posts, that you get bonus points from the bonus challenge, so have entered all available ones now. My fault for not reading the update OP!

So far, I've been even more or less on my bettings. Big risks on Iran and Croatia have offset miserable parlays failed by Argentina and now Germany. Many days left and I've got some underdogs under my eye. Brazil up next, I'm going for a high-scoring game this one!

[tomahawk9]

Mexico 1 - 0 Germany   ...wtf? and a few players were crying at the end I think, one would've thought they just won the WC    but tbh, that was probably the best match so far after the Portugal vs Spain

Also, Germany could be 2nd place in the group, and if Brazil wins their group, then we'll get Brazil vs Germany in the Round of 16!

[hilariousetc]

Mexico did very well and they deserved the win. Game was pretty much 50/50.

Also, Germany could be 2nd place in the group, and if Brazil wins their group, then we'll get Brazil vs Germany in the Round of 16!

I hope not. This will fuck up a lot my bets so bad if it happens. I have Germany to meet Brazil in the final plus them both to get to the semis along with France and Spain plus some other bets. Really hope Germany can come out on top but that's pretty hard to do if you lose a game.

[SyGambler]

I'm waiting for Brazil performance tonight , after seeing the big names performance if Brazil also disappointed me today I'm going to place Portugal to win the title
I already have spain to win that I was able to catch at X7.80 and looking at Germany today I guess I can eliminate it from winning cause there is no way they can win with such performance

Portugal is a one guy team , but Ronaldo never stops surprising us so I do believe there is a chance just like the previous EURO

[hilariousetc]

I'm waiting for Brazil performance tonight , after seeing the big names performance if Brazil also disappointed me today I'm going to place Portugal to win the title
I already have spain to win that I was able to catch at X7.80 and looking at Germany today I guess I can eliminate it from winning cause there is no way they can win with such performance

Portugal is a one guy team , but Ronaldo never stops surprising us so I do believe there is a chance just like the previous EURO

The Spain/Portugal came has been by far the best match/performance so far, but I wouldn't get too excited about Portugal or write off any other team just yet. As they say, it's not how you start the tournament but how you finish it. Spain lost their opening game in 2010 and went on to win it, but Germany are just going to have to make sure they slaughter Sweden and Korea and hope those two can get a draw or a low-scoring win.

Brazil just scored. Nothing exciting so far though.

[SyGambler]

I'm waiting for Brazil performance tonight , after seeing the big names performance if Brazil also disappointed me today I'm going to place Portugal to win the title
I already have spain to win that I was able to catch at X7.80 and looking at Germany today I guess I can eliminate it from winning cause there is no way they can win with such performance

Portugal is a one guy team , but Ronaldo never stops surprising us so I do believe there is a chance just like the previous EURO

The Spain/Portugal came has been by far the best match/performance so far, but I wouldn't get too excited about Portugal or write off any other team just yet. As they say, it's not how you start the tournament but how you finish it. Spain lost their opening game in 2010 and went on to win it, but Germany are just going to have to make sure they slaughter Sweden and Korea and hope those two can get a draw or a low-scoring win.

Brazil just scored. Nothing exciting so far though.

true , but personally I'm eliminating germany from the outright
Germany was the 2nd favor in betfair after Brazil with like X6.00 , after today's match they are the 4th favor now with X10.00 so even market makers changed their minds
luckily for me Spain now is the 2nd favor with X6.200 to win , so was able to get some value ( not sure if I should trade it or let it run though )

[hilariousetc]

true , but personally I'm eliminating germany from the outright
Germany was the 2nd favor in betfair after Brazil with like X6.00 , after today's match they are the 4th favor now with X10.00 so even market makers changed their minds
luckily for me Spain now is the 2nd favor with X6.200 to win , so was able to get some value ( not sure if I should trade it or let it run though )

Well I wouldn't back them right now either but maybe someone could take advantage of the odds, because the bookies only changed their minds because statistically it's now a lot more difficult for them to go through. Usually a loss means you're not going to get through, but as I said above if they demolish Sweden and Korea they'll probably be ok. Korea and Sweden are playing tomorrow so that's certainly going to be an interesting game. The best result for Germany would be a draw but I think Sweden are the stronger team by far (though they're probably not up to much now especially without Zlatan). There's also the possibility that Mexico might get too cocky and complacent and lose or draw themselves.

[LTU_btc]

It's not big surprise that strong teams like Germany, Argentina or Brazil aren't showing their best football in first their games. These teams just don't need to be in best shape in earliest stage of championship.
Honestly, before tournament I didn't expected that Mexico can play so well and their win against Germany is deserved. But how they Mexico failed to score when 2 their players made counter attack and there was only one german defender left.
And now Brazil are struggling against Switzerland.

[BitcoinSupremo]

Lost big money on Brazil tonight, I thought they would have an easy win against a mediocre team like Switzerland. It shows that there are no favorites in this competition. Probably the betting companies are impacting the games of today as I don't see any other explanation to this.