Sportsbet.io's FIFA World Cup 22 Prediction Pool Discussion thread

[bullrun2024bro]

Probably not many saw Australia reaching next round.

Wow! Never underestimate the Socceroos.  

Joking aside. I never expected Australia to make it to the last 16 in this group. But now, with two well-deserved wins against Tunisia and Denmark, they made it to the last 16. Amazing! This world cup is full of surprises, LOL. Damn, that would have been a great bet. Unfortunately, I didn't have the guts. Like always. Any bets who they will be facing in the last 16?

While Denmark is biggest disappointment for me in this tournament.

Yep, same here. I had them on a clear win today. Extremely disappointing results. I had them actually expected to move on relatively easy.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Just watching Poland vs Argentina. Feels so strange that Argentina could crash out in the group stage if one of Saudi Arabia or Mexico get 3 points in the other game in Group C. Surely Messi will come up with some magic like he always does.

Congrats to our good friend Steve & sportsbet.io as his fellow countrymen did him proud. The Aussies prevail from Group D to qualify for the last 16, finishing runners up behind France.

[cryptofrka]

Such a weird day today. I never expected Australia to progress from their group, and Denmark is by far the team that has disappointed the most.

I'm rooting for Argentina to go far but I'm glad that Szczesny saved Messi's penalty, it shouldn't have been given in the first place.
Argentina is dominating the game so they'll probably still get the winning goal in the 2nd half.

[buwaytress]

Wow. Was actually doing so well, 4 exact scores out of 6 games with 2 solid underdog wins to rescue myself from the bottom -- climbed 29 positions at that point, and one of the missed games was the Tunisia win that no one saw. Unfortunately, I pushed my luck too far backing a Saudi win haha.

Still, happy with progress, but not sure if now's the time to go back to favourites and get scores right, or ping some more picks against the favourites? Seems like the group stages are throwing up great upsets.

Just watching Poland vs Argentina. Feels so strange that Argentina could crash out in the group stage if one of Saudi Arabia or Mexico get 3 points in the other game in Group C. Surely Messi will come up with some magic like he always does.

Congrats to our good friend Steve & sportsbet.io as his fellow countrymen did him proud. The Aussies prevail from Group D to qualify for the last 16, finishing runners up behind France.

Was weird enough Poland would go through on fairplay, made Mexico go for broke, and allowed Saudi to nail the coffin for them.

Australian history, Steve needs to buy everyone beers for the next 4 years!

I'm rooting for Argentina to go far but I'm glad that Szczesny saved Messi's penalty, it shouldn't have been given in the first place.

I thought the Ronaldo pen was soft but this was beyond soft -- not only was it unavoidable, the ball had gone, and it was just gloves on his face. We can forgive it now, but if this happens at latter stages and KO is at stake..?

[casperBGD]

Such a weird day today. I never expected Australia to progress from their group, and Denmark is by far the team that has disappointed the most.

I'm rooting for Argentina to go far but I'm glad that Szczesny saved Messi's penalty, it shouldn't have been given in the first place.
Argentina is dominating the game so they'll probably still get the winning goal in the 2nd half.

so in the end, Saudis saved Poland from draw, and let them into next round
Mexico fought hard, but they will watch it from home

it is Argentina vs Australia and France vs Poland in knock-out round, will be interesting - Argentina to Netherlands and France to England are expected QF pairs

[cryptofrka]

Oh come on, Poland goes through after today's performance? They were horrible throughout the whole 90 minutes.

It is a shame that fair play can be the deciding factor in such situations, it pushed Mexico to go all in and concede that late goal.
Otherwise Poland would still go through, but only because they received less yellow cards than Mexico.

I recall that happening only once, last WC when Japan qualified based on that criteria ahead of Senegal.

[LTU_btc]

Damn, what a drama. It already looked that yellow cards tie breaker will be used to decide who will reach next round - Poland or Mexico. Similar like Japan vs Senegal in 2018 World Cup. In last minutes Mexico even scored 3rd goal that they needed, but there was offside. And then Saudi Arabia managed to punish Mexico, scored goal and made score. Poland - Argentina game was already over and Poland players celebrated Saudi Arabia goal like they scored it themselves.
But in general, Poland didn't played football today, it was just parked bus. They will face France in round of 16 and I don't see big chances for them there.
And that moment when I don't even bother about my pool position. I'm doing so bad that there is no chances for my to fight for prize spots, so I leave my predictions with easy hand.

[Trofo]

Oh come on, Poland goes through after today's performance? They were horrible throughout the whole 90 minutes.

It is a shame that fair play can be the deciding factor in such situations, it pushed Mexico to go all in and concede that late goal.
Otherwise Poland would still go through, but only because they received less yellow cards than Mexico.

I recall that happening only once, last WC when Japan qualified based on that criteria ahead of Senegal.

This was totally undeserved for Poland, they never even thought to try and score a goal against Argentina, they can thank only Szczesny for their place in knockout stages. Saved a couple of almost certain goals and kept their goal difference good enough to push Mexico into overextending. While we are on Szczesny saves, he even saved a penalty by Messi and I must admit this was one of the strangest penalties I have ever seen awarded.

[swogerino]

Oh come on, Poland goes through after today's performance? They were horrible throughout the whole 90 minutes.

It is a shame that fair play can be the deciding factor in such situations, it pushed Mexico to go all in and concede that late goal.
Otherwise Poland would still go through, but only because they received less yellow cards than Mexico.

I recall that happening only once, last WC when Japan qualified based on that criteria ahead of Senegal.

This was totally undeserved for Poland, they never even thought to try and score a goal against Argentina, they can thank only Szczesny for their place in knockout stages. Saved a couple of almost certain goals and kept their goal difference good enough to push Mexico into overextending. While we are on Szczesny saves, he even saved a penalty by Messi and I must admit this was one of the strangest penalties I have ever seen awarded.

I agree,Argentina played with just football with one port and the only occasion Poland had was that header from the veteran player they had still playing in the national team,other than that they just totally parked the bus and this is a stupid thing to do against teams like Argentina.I think the hero of the game was their goalkeeper who gave them this truly undeserved qualification as Mexico showed much better game play and they scored the most magnificent goal so far of the whole tournament with that awesome free kick.

[Harkorede]

Oh come on, Poland goes through after today's performance? They were horrible throughout the whole 90 minutes.

It is a shame that fair play can be the deciding factor in such situations, it pushed Mexico to go all in and concede that late goal.
Otherwise Poland would still go through, but only because they received less yellow cards than Mexico.

I recall that happening only once, last WC when Japan qualified based on that criteria ahead of Senegal.

This was totally undeserved for Poland, they never even thought to try and score a goal against Argentina, they can thank only Szczesny for their place in knockout stages. Saved a couple of almost certain goals and kept their goal difference good enough to push Mexico into overextending. While we are on Szczesny saves, he even saved a penalty by Messi and I must admit this was one of the strangest penalties I have ever seen awarded.

I agree,Argentina played with just football with one port and the only occasion Poland had was that header from the veteran player they had still playing in the national team,other than that they just totally parked the bus and this is a stupid thing to do against teams like Argentina.I think the hero of the game was their goalkeeper who gave them this truly undeserved qualification as Mexico showed much better game play and they scored the most magnificent goal so far of the whole tournament with that awesome free kick.

I wouldn't say it was undeserved for Poland to qualify for the next round simply because they didn't do well enough to posed just one goal threat against Argentina and it seemed they literally all out to only secure a draw, Mexico were not a different when they played Argentina as well, they literally just sat back too and tried to secure a draw which would have left Argentina in dire situation, I'd rather commend the Saudi Arabian team even though they lost the last two matches of the game, I'd say they were the only team of the other 3 besides Argentina to have a approached every game with the hope of getting something positive from it.

If the cases were reversed and it was Mexico playing Argentina last night, I strongly doubt they'd have done any better than Poland actually did, so If the game was unfair to any of the four teams, I'd say it was Saudi Arabia that got unlucky.

[swogerino]

Oh come on, Poland goes through after today's performance? They were horrible throughout the whole 90 minutes.

It is a shame that fair play can be the deciding factor in such situations, it pushed Mexico to go all in and concede that late goal.
Otherwise Poland would still go through, but only because they received less yellow cards than Mexico.

I recall that happening only once, last WC when Japan qualified based on that criteria ahead of Senegal.

This was totally undeserved for Poland, they never even thought to try and score a goal against Argentina, they can thank only Szczesny for their place in knockout stages. Saved a couple of almost certain goals and kept their goal difference good enough to push Mexico into overextending. While we are on Szczesny saves, he even saved a penalty by Messi and I must admit this was one of the strangest penalties I have ever seen awarded.

I agree,Argentina played with just football with one port and the only occasion Poland had was that header from the veteran player they had still playing in the national team,other than that they just totally parked the bus and this is a stupid thing to do against teams like Argentina.I think the hero of the game was their goalkeeper who gave them this truly undeserved qualification as Mexico showed much better game play and they scored the most magnificent goal so far of the whole tournament with that awesome free kick.

I wouldn't say it was undeserved for Poland to qualify for the next round simply because they didn't do well enough to posed just one goal threat against Argentina and it seemed they literally all out to only secure a draw, Mexico were not a different when they played Argentina as well, they literally just sat back too and tried to secure a draw which would have left Argentina in dire situation, I'd rather commend the Saudi Arabian team even though they lost the last two matches of the game, I'd say they were the only team of the other 3 besides Argentina to have a approached every game with the hope of getting something positive from it.

If the cases were reversed and it was Mexico playing Argentina last night, I strongly doubt they'd have done any better than Poland actually did, so If the game was unfair to any of the four teams, I'd say it was Saudi Arabia that got unlucky.

I agree about Saudi Arabia,their coach though which went viral with that motivation video after they were losing 1-0 to Argentina in the first game and after that speech they came in and overturn the situation in their favor 1-2,I must say their coach changed their mentality for the better.While they were always feeling inferior to any team they played in the World Cup they got and won against one of the strong contender for the title.I must say that the most unlucky game they had is exactly against Poland where they missed a penalty which could have changed the fate of that game.

[slaman29]

Oh come on, Poland goes through after today's performance? They were horrible throughout the whole 90 minutes.

It is a shame that fair play can be the deciding factor in such situations, it pushed Mexico to go all in and concede that late goal.
Otherwise Poland would still go through, but only because they received less yellow cards than Mexico.

I recall that happening only once, last WC when Japan qualified based on that criteria ahead of Senegal.

This was totally undeserved for Poland, they never even thought to try and score a goal against Argentina, they can thank only Szczesny for their place in knockout stages. Saved a couple of almost certain goals and kept their goal difference good enough to push Mexico into overextending. While we are on Szczesny saves, he even saved a penalty by Messi and I must admit this was one of the strangest penalties I have ever seen awarded.

For once I agree and we were all together losing a better team to watch, I doubt anyone put Poland through in the bracket. Didn't even remember it happened before but rules are rules and Mexico or any South American team would probably never go through on fair play.

Worse, I was going to get 6 points from both games and because they had to push for the goal they let Saudi score, so I missed a precious 1.5 points, which in this pool is worth many positions.

Also, love Messi but he will be so ashamed to fall to the ground, get the penalty, and miss. Now Poland gives France a free pass, what a match France Mexico should have been!

[LTU_btc]

First of all, how it's offside? I'm not against VAR, but such calls is simply ridiculous

In general, Belgium didn't looked better than in previous games and they deserved to end tournament after group stage. Though, Lukaku wasted so many moments and scoring at least one of it maybe would be enough to reach next round. It's a bit sad that this golden Belgium generation ended their era without significant achievements, but seems that they have problems not just in pitch but in locker room too.
Meanwhile Morocco ends in 1st place in their group, unexpected, but deserved.

[cryptofrka]

The offside call was abysmal, agreed. I really like VAR, it helps a lot, but the people making these calls need some serious training.

We are through and in general we deserved it, but Lukaku should have scored today and we can consider ourselves a bit lucky at the end.

Let's see who we get in the knockouts, so far it looks like Spain - the team whose composition suits us the least.

[bullrun2024bro]

First of all, how it's offside? I'm not against VAR, but such calls is simply ridiculous

It's a joke lol. This VAR decision, WTF? I was yelling at my TV in the scene because I was so upset. It's a real shame for Belgium's golden generation to be eliminated from a major tournament again without a triumph. Out in group stage, uff.


In Group E it looks like Spain and Germany will make it to the last 18. Both teams leading 1-0 in their last group matches. But let's wait and see, there are still 45 minutes to play. Plenty of time for Germany to concede goals.  

/edit: Okay, I jinxed it. Japan leading 2-1 against Spain, LOL.

/edit2: Okay, WTF Costa Rica is also leading 2-1 against Germany.

[buwaytress]

Japan!! I don't care if my pool picks lose, I got money on Japan, and they already did me a favour with Germany, am I getting double joy from them? Now almost regret I only put a freebet on it, but hey, great returns @8.4

2nd goal was not flagged offside or out, and apparently inconclusive technology to decide if it went out of play but my man Ritsu Doan is, as I was talking about in Bundesliga often, my dark horse performer of the tournament! Two subs, he went to Freiburg as a hopeful, but he's proving himself to be amazing on the world stage.

Don't care how the game ends, this is so fun!

[casperBGD]

~snip

/edit: Okay, I jinxed it. Japan leading 2-1 against Spain, LOL.

yeah, Spaniards decided to sent Germany home, but they wont get easier route to SF, since they will be first in the end
Germany also conceived from Costarica, they seem as they know the time has come to go home

and all looked different on half-time, will be interesting to see is there enough strength in Germany to at least win this game

[bullrun2024bro]

yeah, Spaniards decided to sent Germany home, but they wont get easier route to SF, since they will be first in the end
Germany also conceived from Costarica, they seem as they know the time has come to go home

and all looked different on half-time, will be interesting to see is there enough strength in Germany to at least win this game

Now it looks like both Germany and Spain will be on their way home tomorrow. LOL.


/edit:

What an intense 45 minutes on both pitches. Holy F*ck. Very unfortunate for Germany in the end, but tbh they were not eliminated today, but already in the first group match with the 1-2 defeat against Japan.

And well, there's not much to say about Japan: Very well deserved, if you beat both Germany and Spain with 2:1, then you definitely belong in the last 16. What a night.

[famososMuertos]

Ulven you are the owner of the Delorean, congratulations there should be a special prize for the most unexpected exact result the only one that could beat him was CRC 2x Ger1...temporarily and no one had it...

Unexpected classification for this group, even momentary pass for CRC to 16ths.

What a great day... I love football...

[casperBGD]

~snip

Now it looks like both Germany and Spain will be on their way home tomorrow. LOL.

yeah, between fair play and easier route, Spain chose easier route, and will face Morocco
and Croatia also can celebrate, they got Japan

Portugal and Brazil will eventually have that choice tomorrow, but they will not need it, since they are waiting for second placement in the groups