The future isn't Orange

5 of us predicted Spain to win. There cannot have been any neutrals by half-time not wanting Spain to win. Had I wanted to watch the Karate Kid (parts I, II & III), I could have watched Channel 5.

Spain's victory means that Stephen has timed his run perfectly - overtaking Tim to the title - congratulations.

Here are the final scores:

Champion: Stephen 237
Runner-up: Tim 228
3rd: David 227
4th: Jake 212
5th: Andy 203
6th: Steve 192
7th: Stu 186
8th: Andy P: 177
9th: Phil 172
10th: Gregor 152
11th: Ruaridh 140

Netherlands v Spain

So, after 62 games of footie, there are just 2 left.

David has proved to be master predictor - going for an unfancied Holland against a highly fancied Spain. Congratulations to him for that- just a shame that he hadn't done enough in group games to put him in a winning position....

Jake, Stu, Andy, David & Stephen all went for Spain to win - so still have 10 more possible points to claim. No-one has either Germany opr Uruguay to finish 3rd - so no more points can be awarded there.

Ultimately, if Spain win - Stephen will overtake Tim in the final game, and David will finish 1pt shy of 2nd place with 227pts. So, Tim will be cheering on the Dutch, while the rest of us hope Spain to prevail.

Wooden spoon to Ruaridh.

1. Tim 228
2. Stephen 227
3. David 217
4. Jake 202
5. Andy 193
6. Steve 192
7. Andy P 177
8. Stu 176
9. Phil 172
10. Gregor 158
11. Ruaridh 140

Last 4

Not many points in the last round of matches for anyone. The biggest result (in terms of standings) was Netherlands beating Brazil - touted as potential champions by Tim & Steve. Then Argentina getting thrashed by Germany (who saw that coming?) who were picked by Phil & Andy P.

Scores are as follows:

1. Tim 220

2. Stephen 219

3. David 201

4. Jake 194

5. Andy 185

6. Steve 184

7. Andy P 177

8. Stu 176

9. Phil 172

10. Gregor 158

11. Ruaridh 140

If Spain win the world cup, Stephen will win. If they don't Tim will win. David cannot now finish higher than 3rd. Ruaridh & Phil cannot score any more points - so a McIntyre 9, 10, 11 is guaranteed.....

Final 8 teams - points standings

Here are the scores with only 8 teams left in the world cup.

1. Tim 213

2. Stephen 212

3= David & Jake 187

5. Andy 178

6. Steve 177

7. Stu 176

8. Phil 172

9. Andy P 170

10. Gregor 151

11. Ruaridh 140

In terms of points over the next few matches - there will be very little change.

Points of interest (my quick maths calculations mean that only Tim or Stephen can have outright victory. David requires Netherlands to beat Brazil, get to final, where they beat Spain and need Brazil to win 3rd place playoff in order to finish on equal points with Tim - a bit of a long shot.

Smart money has to be on a Brazil v either Spain or Argentina final - with Brazil champions given they'll have had the easier draw. That's the kiss of death then. Watch out for Ghana v Paraguay final.

England's worst player?

There are so many to choose from. Rooney? Lampard? Upson? But for me John Terry shines brightest. Since he bagged Wayne Bridge's misses, he hasn't been very good on the field, and I thought his overall performance this world cup has been spectacularly awful.

Theo Walcott and Rio Ferdinand must be chuffed to bits not to be there. Where was the passion? Skill? Hunger? Pathetic. We were soundly beaten by a very average Germany - had we been playing Argentina, it could have been a score (on one side only) of recent tennis match proportions. Now there's a team that can play - rather than us hoofing it around the park. The world cup certainly won't miss England - and if we are honest, the 2nd round was beyond what our performances merited.

The sad thing is I'm not even upset. That's how overpaid, moronic footballers in the Premier league have left me feeling.

An uneventful day score-wise. The most noteworthy fact is that Ruaridh's world cup is almost as dead as England's. Winners?! What pills was he on?! I'm glad I was the only one who didn't have them in my final 4....

David will be feeling fairly stupid not to have had Germany in his last 8.

Tim 195

Stephen 194

David & Jake 169

Andy 160

Steve 159

Stu 158

Phil 154

Andy P 152

Ruaridh 134

Gregor 133

Ghana & Uruguay's time

Hands up who had Ghana in their final 8? Ah. No-one. OK. Hands up who had Uruguay in their final 8? David McLaren step proudly forward.

It's not as if we could claim we were hard done by with the losers - only Gregor & Ruaridh had USA, while the mighty South Korea were chosen by.....er no-one.

So, all in all, it's a massive 6pts for David on the field - which means he's now 6pts ahead of me :-(

Scores:

Tim 183

Stephen 182

David 163

Jake 157

Andy 148

Steve 147

Stu 146

Phil 142

Andy P 140

Ruaridh 128

Gregor 127

Ruaridh now has only 3 of his teams eft in the competition - and given that they are England, Brazil and Argentina, it is now totally and utterly impossible for him to come anywhere near winning. I haven't done the maths for everyone else - but if I were a betting man, I'd be a happy camper if I were Irish and my name rhymed with Jim.

End of Group standings - 2 horse race?

Tim 183

Stephen 182

David & Jake 157

Andy 148

Steve 147

Stu 146

Phil 142

Andy P 140

Ruaridh 128

Gregor 127

scores after group matches

Here are scores before addition of final 16pts:

Stephen 122

Tim 118

David 107

Jake 102

Steve 97

Stu 96

Andy P 95

Phil 92

Andy 88

Gregor 87

Ruaridh 83

and scores for last 16:

Tim 65 (13 correct teams)

Stephen 60

Andy 60

Jake 55

David, Steve, Stu & Phil 50

Andy P & Ruaridh 45

Gregor 40

Day 14

Standings so far with final phase 3 matches today:

Stephen 112
Tim 103
David 98
Jake 89
Andy P 87
Steve 86
Stu 85
Phil 84
Andy 78
Gregor 77
Ruaridh 76

Very tight in the middle of table and Ruaridh and his big brother fighting over wooden spoon....Stephen surely has this wrapped up. It's his to lose.

Day 13 - lucky for some?

Didn't have time to do scores for yesterday - but what a fun day today's footy has been.

England v Germany. The old enemy again. Waiting for those Tabloid headlines over the next few days....

Here are the scores (not including pts for final 16 teams):

Stephen 107

Tim 98

David 90

Jake 85

Andy P 83

Steve 82

Phil & Stu 78

Andy & Gregor 76

Ruaridh 69

Day 11 Standings

Stephen 85

Tim 77

Jake 71

Steve 70

David 69

Andy P 65

Andy 62

Phil 61

Stu 60

Gregor 57

Ruaridh 50

It's beginning to get more stretched....

Day 10 Standings

Good to see that Italy and France are taking the headlines from England. Who would have thought that it is possible that 4 of the so-called European "greats" might not make it to the 2nd round....? (Germany, Italy, France & England). Throw in a bad result for Spain and some of us will be truly well down the toilet.

Fricker is leading the race - stretching his lead, but given that he has laughably predicted an England v Spain final, I think there is still all to play for.

Stephen 73
Tim 63
Jake & David 60
Steve 57
Andy P 54
Stu & Phil 52
Andy 50
Gregor 48
Ruaridh 41

Fricker-tastic

Stephen Fricker with 2 perfect results now is starting to take a healthy lead. Can he be stopped?

Cameroon become the first team to officially be knocked out.

Here are the scores:

Stephen 66

Tim 57

Jake 53

David 51

Steve 49

Stu, Andy P & Gregor 46

Phil 43

Andy 42

Ruaridh 35

words fail me

Never in my life have I seen a performance as bad as that. Potential winners?! About as likely as Jeremy Bates winning Wimbledon. You won't get 2 worse teams than that. No bottle. Cannot handle the pressure. These are England's finest from supposedly the best league in the world. I can take solace in the fact that most of them earn at least £50K a week.....and Rooney has the audacity to question the paying supporters for booing them. Is he for real?

Let's hope Slovenia put us out of our misery - because we don't deserve to be in the finals, let alone the 2nd round.

On a remarkably low scoring day, here are the scores:

Stephen 52

Tim 50

Jake 48

David 43

Steve 41

Stu 40

Andy P 39

Gregor 38

Phil 34

Andy 33

Ruaridh 31

France on the ropes

France getting beaten does not bode well for me - having them in my final 4.
Tim has pointed out that he does in fact have South Korea (not Africa) as I put on spreadsheet, in his final 16. Apologies Tim. Again, like Steve, had he put teams into the spreasheet, it would have saved the possibility of human error. I must also therefore apologise (again) to Steve who queried why an Irishman might have 3 teams from group A in his final 16. My response was that this is within the rules, and also that Tim is, indeed, Irish.

Here are the scores after an exiting days play - Argentina setting the cup alight - but will remember that this is exactly what they did last time when they defeated Serbia & Montenegro 6-1 in 2nd phase, only to get beaten by Germany later on....its all about results, rather than flair and guile - which will be a relief to England.

Big match this evening - I have the outlaws arriving while the Mrs heads off to the USA for a few days - she will do anything not to have to watch it on TV....

Tim 49
Stephen 47
Jake 46
Stu & David 40
Andy P & Gregor 37
Steve 36
Phil & Andy 31
Ruaridh 26

some excitement at last!

Finally - we see some teams playing decent football.

5 of us picking Spain is not looking too clever right now - but they'll still get out of the group - and now might have a tasty game against Brazil in 2nd round...

South Africa all but out, barring a miracle - who had them in final 16? Tim, Phil, Andy P & Gregor, that's who.....Andy P even had them in his last 8.....ooops.

Here are the scores after South Africa's 3-0 defeat:

Tim 44

Jake & Stephen 40

Stu & David 36

Andy P 34

Steve & Gregor 32

Andy & Phil 27

Ruaridh 22

Day 5 Scores

This world cup has yet to take off. Brazil saw off a dogged display from North Korea, but otherwise yesterday's matches (from what I saw from the "highlights"- and I use that term loosely) were pretty dire.

Tim now has a 2pt lead, and the field is starting to stretch a little...

Tim 37

Stu 35

Jake 33

Stephen 32

Andy P 31

Steve & David 28

Andy & Gregor 26

Phil 23

Ruaridh 19

You should also be aware that the Steve's final match predictions for groupds E & F have been posted on spreadseet incorrectly. He did inform me of this before the kick-off - it was my fault (although it wasn't helped by him putting them all in a different order to what I sent out....) They are fairly obvious when you look at them - his actual predictions are as follows:

Paraguay 2-0 New Zealand

Slovakia 1-4 Italy

Cameroon 2-3 Holland

Denmark 2-0 Japan

Uninspiring so far..

Not really very much to get excited about in this World Cup. The football hasn't been great, very few goals and even the stadiums don't look that full. Let's hope it improves.

Scores after 3 pretty drab matches today are as follows:

Stu & Tim 28

Jake 27

Stephen 25

Steve & Andy P 24

David 21

Andy & Phil 20

Gregor 19

Ruaridh 14

oh to be German....

Finally - a team that can score goals and play decent football. Best performance so far. How do they do it? They always manage to have the bottle required - fair play to them....but they are in no-ones final 4. Will we ever learn?

Here are the scores on the doors:

Tim 23

Jake 22

Stu & Stephen 21

Steve 19

Andy P 18

David 17

Phil 15

Gregor, Ruaridh & Andy 14

Donkey

So England have no goalkeeper, no centre backs that can run faster than me, a striker who cannot score for his own team, let alone his country (and he had a good game for heavens sake!). Oh we've also got Sean Wright-Philips - who, while he might be able to ghost past me, clearly has the touch of an elephant's bottom.

A game where we had all the best chances, should have won but once again managed to prove that we can't get over the finishing line. Gerrard needs to play off Rooney if we are to have any joy in this tournament - but without fit defenders - Carragher - you are having a laugh....we haven't got a prayer. Happy with some (mostly) good passing football - but if you can't score, you won't win.

It is therefore perhaps only right that Stu is leader after day 2 - a Scotsman living in USA who was the only one who predicted anything but an English victory - well done.

Here are the scores at the close of play:

Stu 16

Tim & Stephen 15

Jake 14

Andy P 13

Steve 12

Ruaridh 10

Phil 9

David 7

Gregor 6

Andy 5

and they're off....

An exciting start to the World Cup is followed by the disappointment of France.

Everyone is off the mark at the end of day 1.

Scores on the doors:

Stu, Tim & Phil - 6pts

Jake 5pts

Steve, Stephen & Andy P - 4pts

Andy D & David 2pts

Gregor & Ruaridh - 1pt

Spain to win

This is the team that 5 of us have gone for - 3 for Argentina, 2 for Brazil and one for England....

Interestingly, I am the only person not expecting England to get to the final 4.

Spreadsheet will be on its way to you imminently....

Humble Apologies

Steve

Please accept my humblest apologies for robbing you of your glory in Euro 2008. Upon checking my records, you are quite correct in saying that you did beat Phil at the last Euros. My excuse: I was looking at the spreadsheet on my computer at home, which was not quite completed. Mea Culpa.

Apologies to Phil also for swelling his ego - but he is surely the man to beat with a 1-2 record in the last 2 major tournaments.

Now let battle commence...

Time is running out....

I have so far had 4 sets of predictions - 3 from the McIntyres and David has also submitted his. This leaves Stephen, Stu, Tim, Steve, Andy (D & P) as well as my own to be done. I will endeavour to send all predictions by spreadsheet to everyone, as well as put daily predictions on web, depending on the time it takes....but will put daily scores up.

Welcome to my new World Cup 2010 Blog

Having been inundated with requests to start a new World Cup Blog, and with another glorious English failure just around the corner, here is my World Cup 2010 predictor blog. Specifically for Stu, Tim, Steve, Phil, Andy, David, Stephen, Gregor and Andy P - but also my gift to the world in general.

Please post your comments - it'll make me feel as if I am not just talking to myself - and one day, many years from now you may find yourself on one of those tv programmes as that person who encouraged a certain Jake Thomas to nurture and develop this magnificent gift of writing (after I have toppled JK Rowling & Bill Shakespeare as the greatest literary giant in the history of the written word...)

It's all about football - the plan (like 2006 World Cup) will be for me to write daily musings on the World Cup - giving the latest scores as we do battle for the honour of flukiest predictor. Phil Mc is currently (like Italy) the reigning champion - but given how rubbish he has proved since 2006, his chances of successfully defending are about as high as me leaving an open bottle of red wine unfinished.

Let battle commence, and may the best man (me) win.