Bitcointalk's FIFA World Cup Pool Discussion Thread

[buwaytress]

I'm just hoping England don't royally fuck up this chance to get into the final. Sweden were far from perfect in their game against Switzerland, and I know the same can be said about England. However, I think England have the players capable of getting wins when they aren't exactly the better team on the day. Harry Kane has been doing extremely well recently.

As the result, I'm down to 18th position IIRC. Almost zero chances to boost my position into at least top 5.

Hey, pull up a seat. I've been keeping the fire stoked for a while down here! Let us bask in our inability to predict scores

Well if anyone wants to join me in mid-table mediocrity, I've also got some seats already warmed up I've put my Jokers on my heart's favourites, I should get at least 700 points if any of them hits, since my favourites aren't tourney favourites. In fact, bookies have my favourite as the ones with worst odds (Uruguay), can you believe Russia's tipped higher than them now?

Anyway, Trofo well done on top spot. Fewer games left to hold onto, I still believe anyone can break into top 5 but we'll probably already guess the standings by Semi Finals.

My bets for today: Suarez to score and Uruguay to win outright:
https://www.bitcoinrush.io/sportsbook/ShareBet?id=hrCm6MySAPVw1jwLGPLEsg3TilBgx3NMJNoxduJT4XM%3D
https://www.bitcoinrush.io/sportsbook/ShareBet?id=YXE8WABipUPfF0nNYvDcrOTburKOnxH08lEozklKQ3A%3D

[tokeweed]

^  It's just the top three that's paying tho, right?

And I think after the quarter finals, if I don't get back in form, then there's no chance to be in the money again...  This is the most crucial part imo.

I'm gonna take a chance and predict Brazil vs Belgium X - X and make that my joker. 

[ralle14]

It's just the top three that's paying tho, right?

4th and 5th will be getting a portion of the prize too the amount allocated for the last two places are the same as the entrance fee. Not bad for a last prize it could also be a free entry for the epl pool  

I have Uruguay to win against France. On the other match I have Brazil atm but i'm having second thoughts of changing it to Belgium.

Edit : Rip my prediction lol after I post this France scored a goal. Hoping for Uruguay to score at least two after the HT break.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

^  It's just the top three that's paying tho, right?

And I think after the quarter finals, if I don't get back in form, then there's no chance to be in the money again...  This is the most crucial part imo.

I'm gonna take a chance and predict Brazil vs Belgium X - X and make that my joker. 

Played my joker in that too, desperate for a big boost in points

[Barcode_]

I have Uruguay to win against France. On the other match I have Brazil atm but i'm having second thoughts of changing it to Belgium.

Edit : Rip my prediction lol after I post this France scored a goal. Hoping for Uruguay to score at least two after the HT break.

I must admit you does have much courage to support Uruguay as their star striker Edinson Cavani is struggling with an injury, and even though he is on the substitution list now, I don't think he would be able to perform much with an injury even if he is being substitute into the match at the second half, my money are on France.

[Trofo]

I have 2:1 for France with Joker on that game as well. What was the bonus question which opens only after line ups are known. Didn't make it in time to chose. So now I am wondering if I would got that correct or no.

[hilariousetc]

I have Uruguay to win against France. On the other match I have Brazil atm but i'm having second thoughts of changing it to Belgium.

Edit : Rip my prediction lol after I post this France scored a goal. Hoping for Uruguay to score at least two after the HT break.

I must admit you does have much courage to support Uruguay as their star striker Edinson Cavani is struggling with an injury, and even though he is on the substitution list now, I don't think he would be able to perform much with an injury even if he is being substitute into the match at the second half, my money are on France.

I would have gone 1-1 had Cavani started. Uruguay were probably the better team in the first half but they've been outplayed in the second.

I have 2:1 for France with Joker on that game as well. What was the bonus question which opens only after line ups are known. Didn't make it in time to chose. So now I am wondering if I would got that correct or no.

I also had 2-1 and Uruguay need to get a goal in the last 2 minutes neither of us are going to get any points. The bonus question was "Player to take the most shots". I'm going to use my Joker on either the Belgium/Brazil game or England/Sweden tomorrow.

Edit: game is over now. 2-0.

[BitcoinSupremo]

I didn't know Cavani would have not played so I played it 1-1 exact result. Didn't play Joker on today games but at least got the exact number of goals in the France game. Can't say I am happy with Brazil performance so far , in fact I have my doubts now if they can equalize, let alone win tonight. Guess the last one of the bigs is out tonight.

[hilariousetc]

I have the game down as 2-2 so need Brazil to get another 2. Maybe they can pull a Belgium and come from 2-0 down to win. I'd rather Belgium go through though as I have them to win on the bracket challenge and also they're who I backed at the start with a tenner on (and I get a free £5 bet every time they win a game), but a 2-2 and them to win on penalties would be even better. I didn't use my joker on this game so will probably put it on the England game tomorrow.

[BitcoinSupremo]

Goodbye Brazil, if this is not the world cup of surprises I don't know what world cup this is. All the bigs out except France, if we can call France a big. A world cup where all bigs are out before the semi finals, don't remember such world cup before, probably the only one in history so far.

[tomahawk9]

With Brazil and Uruguay KO'd from the tournament today, this WC now resembles the UEFA Euro lol

Goodbye Brazil, if this is not the world cup of surprises I don't know what world cup this is. All the bigs out except France, if we can call France a big. A world cup where all bigs are out before the semi finals, don't remember such world cup before, probably the only one in history so far.

The teams that have won at least one World Cup are usually called the "big teams". Those are: Brazil (5) Germany (4), Italy (4), Argentina (2), Uruguay (2), England (1), Spain (1), France (1). So there are two big teams left, England and France, this could very well be the WC final this year.

[Barcode_]

I never expected Brazil to drop out of this world cup tournament at the quarter-finals stage, it was quite sad to see that there is no more teams from south america anymore to compete in the rest of the tournament, and I wonder if host nation Russia are able to create another miracle victory today in their match against Croatia.

[BitcoinSupremo]

What is even more pathetic is that Brazil could't score more than one goal to a team like Belgium which has strong attacking play but lack a lot in defense that is why they will be eliminated against France.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

What is even more pathetic is that Brazil could't score more than one goal to a team like Belgium which has strong attacking play but lack a lot in defense that is why they will be eliminated against France.

Kompany, Alderweireld & Vertonghen are a good defence & Courtois is a top goalkeeper. I don’t agree that Belgium lack anything in defence.
Surely the champion will be France or Belgium though, I don’t see anything from the others that suggests they will win the world cup.
Croatia look ok but England will choke, they always do.

[buwaytress]

Wow. I lost heavily on Uruguay, I knew France were good, but I thought Suarez had it in him to score at least one goal. It's really too hard to climb the ladder now. Even my perfect score on Belgium only netted 318 points, including the bonus challenge of teams making the most passes. And that only brought me up to 14th. Only 2 jokers left, so I'll just watch the top and see the excitement.

England France does look likely, doesn't it? I've got bets on both to win the WC of at least 10/1 on either, so that will return me some losses if that's how it all ends up.

Just one bet today on the favourites to advance @2.24. Sweden can't possibly do more than draw. Russia the same. Right?

https://www.bitcoinrush.io/sportsbook/ShareBet?id=O%2FjvzyWtj8SeKsTDbJTwqHPciVFMAVSQa359tqDxHCk%3D

[tokeweed]

^  It's just the top three that's paying tho, right?

And I think after the quarter finals, if I don't get back in form, then there's no chance to be in the money again...  This is the most crucial part imo.

I'm gonna take a chance and predict Brazil vs Belgium X - X and make that my joker. 

Played my joker in that too, desperate for a big boost in points

Lol.  What was your prediction?  I went for 2 - 2.  So close... 

Anyway, that's it for me guys.  Good luck to the rest who still has a chance to get in the money, it's been fun playing.  Can't wait for the EPL betting pool to start! 

[LFC_Bitcoin]

^  It's just the top three that's paying tho, right?

And I think after the quarter finals, if I don't get back in form, then there's no chance to be in the money again...  This is the most crucial part imo.

I'm gonna take a chance and predict Brazil vs Belgium X - X and make that my joker.  

Played my joker in that too, desperate for a big boost in points

Lol.  What was your prediction?  I went for 2 - 2.  So close...  

Anyway, that's it for me guys.  Good luck to the rest who still has a chance to get in the money, it's been fun playing.  Can't wait for the EPL betting pool to start!  

Man, I had Brazil to win 2-1. I just did not see Belgium winning. I also had Uruguay to win damn it.
I have a feeling England MIGHT struggle against Croatia in the semi finals, Modric & Rakitic are much better footballers than Englands’s midfield. Kane can score from nothing though so obviously England could still get to the final.

Wow. I lost heavily on Uruguay, I knew France were good, but I thought Suarez had it in him to score at least one goal. It's really too hard to climb the ladder now. Even my perfect score on Belgium only netted 318 points, including the bonus challenge of teams making the most passes. And that only brought me up to 14th. Only 2 jokers left, so I'll just watch the top and see the excitement.

England France does look likely, doesn't it? I've got bets on both to win the WC of at least 10/1 on either, so that will return me some losses if that's how it all ends up.

Just one bet today on the favourites to advance @2.24. Sweden can't possibly do more than draw. Russia the same. Right?

https://www.bitcoinrush.io/sportsbook/ShareBet?id=O%2FjvzyWtj8SeKsTDbJTwqHPciVFMAVSQa359tqDxHCk%3D

England vs Croatia
France vs Belgium

Semi finals

Good luck with your bets

[tokeweed]

^  Lol.  I had France 0 - 2 then changed it to 1 - 1 (stupid me).  Would've given me a chance to rack some points to chance the money slots.  Oh well...

Anyway, rooting for England and Croatia in this round of matches.

[Barcode_]

What is even more pathetic is that Brazil could't score more than one goal to a team like Belgium which has strong attacking play but lack a lot in defense that is why they will be eliminated against France.

I agreed with you too that the Belgium defense is basically very weak at the moment, after watching how Belgium conceded two goals against Japan, and the number of shot on goals created by Brazil in the match yesterday definitely shows the Belgium defenders need to do a better job in defending, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois performance was excellent in the match against Brazil, he managed to put up a lot of magnificent saves that keeps Belgium in the lead, and in my opinion he is one of the key person who puts Belgium into the Semi-Finals.

[tomahawk9]

What is even more pathetic is that Brazil could't score more than one goal to a team like Belgium which has strong attacking play but lack a lot in defense that is why they will be eliminated against France.

The one responsible for this was Roberto Martinez. I've been saying for a very long time that Belgium's defence was shaky, they conceded 5 goals in 5 games, so I expected Neymar and company to exploit Belgium's biggest weakeness in this WC so far. Martinez playing Fellaini and Chadli confirmed that I wasn't imagining things, he knew the defence (and midfield) needed some help in that match or else they were fucked.

So Martinez went for what apparently was a defensive formation but it was actually a great startegy to set up counter attacks: a 7-3 formation (four defenders + three "defensive" midfielders, and De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku)...and it worked perfectly, especially in the first half (even though Belgium looked a shaky in the first 15min or so). It looked so simple, bunch of guys defending and then the front three for counter attacks, but it was so effective that it managed to stop Brazil from causing riot in the defence, and they scored two goals before HT.

Brazil improved in the 2nd half mainly because Tite managed to stop Belgium's counter attacks by playing 3 at the back (two CB + Fernandinho) which allowed Brazil to deploy a man-to-man marking, so Marcelo and Fagner could play more on the offense without having to worry about Lukaku/De Bruyne/Hazard. Still, the 7-3 formantion was pretty solid, most of Brazil shots were outside the box, they simply couldn't get past the defensive wall, and even when they did, they couldn't connect plays inside the 18-yard box because of how many players they had in front of them. And Belgium still had the three up front causing damages whenever they had the ball (especially Hazard). Then it was 'park the bus' mode with Vermaelen coming in for Lukaku. Overall, Martinez was brilliant with his tactics, that's why Brazil failed to score more goals, that and Courtois being immense (: