Bitcointalk's FIFA World Cup Pool Discussion Thread

[Theb]

Gained 266 pts with  my Belgium vs England Prediction. Let see if my prediction at France vs Croatia will be right. Got them at 3-1 with France winning the world cup. Currently it is 2-1 at Half Time and I think I am on the right track as of the moment, I know I won't win the pool anymore I just want to see my name climb up to the leaderboards. Goodluck to your World Cup predictions everyone.

[1714051680]

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[1714051680]

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[ralle14]

France scored so much goals against Croatia looks like they already won even though there's 20 minutes left. My prediction got destroyed after Croatia scored during the 1st half I had 1-0 France together with the joker. The only hope I have left is the bracket prediction I don't remember which team I chose to win though.  

[BitcoinSupremo]

Talking about ugly football, France is the most perfect example. Croatia did all the game in the first half and they got knocked by an own goal and a very doubtful penalty. It looked to me like the referee clearly was in favor of France, anyway the winner cannot be judged they say. I feel very sorry for Croatia.

[Joca97]

When will the rewards be given out?
Im 4th as i see 

[SyGambler]

so world cup already ended , grats for the winners and hope the other guys were able to profit by betting on this world cup
I enjoyed this competition ( at least in group stages  ) and enjoyed reading most of what you guys write about your analysis 
hope to have another competition like this in the future , I'm not into EPL so probably won't join it

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Predicted France 2-0 Croatia & used my joker.
It finished 4-2 to France so I got the 2 goal difference right & 234 points. Should be enough for me to hold on to 2nd place.

[tomahawk9]

So Trofo is the big winner, #1 in both the Predictor and the Bracket challenge...insane! Congrats. I think I failed to even get into the top 10  

a very doubtful penalty.

Don't know if it was a clear pen but I think the ref made the right call. I think what gave it away is the movement, the hand goes to the ball which can be called a deliberate action according to the rules.

When will the rewards be given out?
Im 4th as i see  

In due time  

[buwaytress]

so world cup already ended , grats for the winners and hope the other guys were able to profit by betting on this world cup
I enjoyed this competition ( at least in group stages  ) and enjoyed reading most of what you guys write about your analysis 
hope to have another competition like this in the future , I'm not into EPL so probably won't join it

Aww, come on Sy! I'll share half your stake to enter EPL (if I'm allowed to do that!) cause I suspect we'd gain a lot from your participation. Very enjoyable pool everyone. Thank you to hilarious for organising. I finished 13th (actually really similar to the last EPL pool I think I also finished 13th haha). I see I'm 18th in the bracket, backed all the underdogs, but the wrong ones!

Well done to Trofo, I'm not exactly sure who's finished 2nd and 3rd, too lazy to count the bracket. You led so far up and also topped brackets, so you did really well.

Talking about ugly football, France is the most perfect example. Croatia did all the game in the first half and they got knocked by an own goal and a very doubtful penalty. It looked to me like the referee clearly was in favor of France, anyway the winner cannot be judged they say. I feel very sorry for Croatia.

I got what I asked for. A goal fest. I also think the penalty call was a hard one, I'd never have given it no matter who I supported. But it was justified in any case. Poor Lovren must be heartbroken for losing 2 finals in 2 months p

[BitcoinSupremo]

a very doubtful penalty.

It was not the right call, it was not an intentional hand touch, and when you do not touch the ball with your hand intentionally there is common consensus it is not a penalty. Beside that it did not change the way the action was going, after Perisic was another Croatian player and Croatian goalkeeper and not any France player. You can't dare to change the way a final will go by giving a nonsense penalty. Only a south american referee can do that. I don't understand why they didn't put an European referee to judge a final which was all European. An European referee knows much better the way of play European teams play than a south american one.

[Theb]

Damn!!! My predictions was 2 goals shy. But I still have moved up in the leaderboards in the match predictor's leaderboard

When will the rewards be given out?
Im 4th as i see  

I don't think you are the clear winner at the 4th place. Yes you are right that you are placed at 4th in the match prediction part but for the bracket challenge you are 2nd to last. Remember that we will be adding both scores for both leagues based on the rules given by hilarious. The members with the most total points from both leagues will be the winners of the pool.

[Trofo]

This was a tough game for us. If somebody offered us 2nd place before tournament we would have taken it gladly. But now after the final game and seeing how well the guys played there is a little bit of sorrow. If we had a little bit more luck on our side this could have ended very differently.

But France has deserved the gold medal. They played very consistently throughout the whole tournament and didn't even needed any extra time and/or penalties to finish their opponents. Any of you guys here from France maybe? If affirmative, congratulations.

[BitcoinSupremo]

This was a tough game for us. If somebody offered us 2nd place before tournament we would have taken it gladly. But now after the final game and seeing how well the guys played there is a little bit of sorrow. If we had a little bit more luck on our side this could have ended very differently.

But France has deserved the gold medal. They played very consistently throughout the whole tournament and didn't even needed any extra time and/or penalties to finish their opponents. Any of you guys here from France maybe? If affirmative, congratulations.

Unfortunately it was only the referee fault for what happened to Croatia. I had bet on them to win the World Cup but the penalty totally changed the way of how the game proceeded further. I can never accept a south american referee in a final of a World Cup where both teams are from Europe. I am feeling sorry for Croatia too, it just shows how corrupt FIFA is.

[LTU_btc]

Unfortunately it was only the referee fault for what happened to Croatia. I had bet on them to win the World Cup but the penalty totally changed the way of how the game proceeded further. I can never accept a south american referee in a final of a World Cup where both teams are from Europe. I am feeling sorry for Croatia too, it just shows how corrupt FIFA is.

I don't think that referee made mistake by giving penalty. It would be very strange if he wouldn't give penalty, especially after VAR review. Perisic hands wasn't close to his body.
And found interesting thing on Twitter that France won World Cup without these players:
Benzema, Martial, Payet, Lacazette, Koscielny, Ben Yedder, Coman, Rabiot, Zouma, Laporte, Bakayoko, Gameiro, Lenglet, Kurzawa, Digne.
It shows how much talent they have in current generation. Mbappe is only 19 y/o and he was already one of the best players in tournament.

[STT]

By that measure England won the world cup in 1986 based on some bloody awful referee decisions.   On that basis I have no choice but to concur.    The whole way some fluky decision can change the whole game is displayed in the idiots who roll about on the game like they are five years old.   '86 broke my heart and never had as much faith in the game to deliver a dream result since.   Most people will not forget Croatia's achievement anyhow

[tomahawk9]

Unfortunately it was only the referee fault for what happened to Croatia.

First time today that I've read someone blaming the ref     is it the ref fault that Croatia conceded two goals in just 6 minutes (59' and 65')?

An European referee knows much better the way of play European teams play than a south american one.

What does that have to do with the pen? we're talking about a clear handball and a penalty, not who knows more about how european teams play.

Only a south american referee can do that.

I can never accept a south american referee in a final of a World Cup where both teams are from Europe.

See, you have a biased opinion, and that changes everything. You simply do not like south american refs.

The fact that FIFA chose Pitana, a south american ref who was probably the best ref in this WC, was actually fair imo since he wouldn't have any "preferences" because at the end he probably doesn't care who wins or not, so he's less likely to be bias towards France or Croatia. Things would've been a lot different if the ref was someone from Belgium or Germany (or even Europe) since people would've said the ref favored France because he lives next to France. All in all, clear pen. Good job, Mr. Néstor Pitana.

[hilariousetc]

Top five winners:

Trofo_ 5302 + 240 5542
LFC_Bitcoin 4744 + 160 4904
slaman29 4667 + 154 4821
Joca977 4659 + 103 4762
HugoSt1 4529 + 167 4696

a very doubtful penalty.

It was not the right call, it was not an intentional hand touch, and when you do not touch the ball with your hand intentionally there is common consensus it is not a penalty. Beside that it did not change the way the action was going, after Perisic was another Croatian player and Croatian goalkeeper and not any France player. You can't dare to change the way a final will go by giving a nonsense penalty. Only a south american referee can do that. I don't understand why they didn't put an European referee to judge a final which was all European. An European referee knows much better the way of play European teams play than a south american one.

99% of handballs in the area are accidental but they still get given penalties half of the time. If somebody purposely handballs it then they should be sent off like Sanchez was in the Columbia/Japan game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcAiSPDgh1c

If someone boots the ball at your hand point blank then it shouldn't be a penalty. The handball rule is so ambiguous though as it is up to personal opinion at the end of the day. It's silly that the ref spent so much time at the VAR, then went back, then gave it. If you have to spend so much time looking at it then it's not 'clear and obvious'.

This was a tough game for us. If somebody offered us 2nd place before tournament we would have taken it gladly. But now after the final game and seeing how well the guys played there is a little bit of sorrow. If we had a little bit more luck on our side this could have ended very differently.

But France has deserved the gold medal. They played very consistently throughout the whole tournament and didn't even needed any extra time and/or penalties to finish their opponents. Any of you guys here from France maybe? If affirmative, congratulations.

Unfortunately it was only the referee fault for what happened to Croatia. I had bet on them to win the World Cup but the penalty totally changed the way of how the game proceeded further. I can never accept a south american referee in a final of a World Cup where both teams are from Europe. I am feeling sorry for Croatia too, it just shows how corrupt FIFA is.

C'mon, don't be silly. You're just being a sore loser now because a game didn't go your way. Croatia winning the tournament was the only way I could have won money but France were the much better team and even without the penalty they still would have won the game. How does it show corruption as well? Why would FIFA care whether France or Croatia won?

[LFC_Bitcoin]

2nd - Not bad!
I’ll take my winnings to - 1KQ2ZvnRGezVHosYrWx27ftGMPNVR6KKKw

tokeweed you owe me $10 for the sidebet, I’ll take it there too ^^

[Trofo]

Top five winners:

Trofo_ 5302 + 240 5542
LFC_Bitcoin 4744 + 160 4904
slaman29 4667 + 154 4821
Joca977 4659 + 103 4762
HugoSt1 4529 + 167 4696

My BTC address for the winnings: 1FW576Z8WfxwpypkyZAgvXzsBet7qFAE3Q
SegWit one if you prefer: bc1q9upqppsh845lvuuhracw0t8yfy4l2s3vcvp58e
I use both wallets so it doesn't matter to me.
[/quote]

C'mon, don't be silly. You're just being a sore loser now because a game didn't go your way. Croatia winning the tournament was the only way I could have won money but France were the much better team and even without the penalty they still would have won the game. How does it show corruption as well? Why would FIFA care whether France or Croatia won?

After watching the VAR the referee had to give penalty to cover himself. It is handball and we can't say anything about that. He even gave the ball to the goalkeeper before they called him to check with the VAR. So even if I obviously don't like the decision I can't say anything bad about it. If there wasn't VAR it wouldn't be a penalty for sure, especially in world cup final.

First goal came after very soft foul and we can say that France shouldn't have gotten it, but again there is a lot of decisions like that in the game and nobody wouldn't mention it if there wasn't a goal as result from that free kick. It happens, on first viewing I would give the foul as well, but after watching the tape you can see that he dived before contact. Again, can't really blame the referee.

That is why I said that with a little bit of more luck result could have been quite different. Congrats to France once again.

[SyGambler]

Aww, come on Sy! I'll share half your stake to enter EPL (if I'm allowed to do that!) cause I suspect we'd gain a lot from your participation. Very enjoyable pool everyone. Thank you to hilarious for organising. I finished 13th (actually really similar to the last EPL pool I think I also finished 13th haha). I see I'm 18th in the bracket, backed all the underdogs, but the wrong ones!

Well done to Trofo, I'm not exactly sure who's finished 2nd and 3rd, too lazy to count the bracket. You led so far up and also topped brackets, so you did really well.

hehe ok I will join it mate , the thing is that I rarely keep up with the EPL since I mainly follow La Liga and Serie A but maybe joining will give me an incentive to follow EPL
I will share with you the info and tips that I get from the tipsters that I'm subscribed to , I do bet the EPL but I never watch it  

[panjul07]

Grats to all 5 winners, too bad I earned zero point for the Final match as I had Croatia to win the match with 2-1. Felt so confident when Perisic equalized the score with his great goal but the penalty plus with high ball possession by Croatia. But the penalty changed everything, second half got even worst for me when France lead by 3 goals.
By the way, it was very nice competition. Cant wait to start the new competition of the new EPL season, although it will be a long competition but it will give more chance to earn points.