Briefcase Posted June 4 Posted June 4 Hoping with the expanded World Cup the Czech's can at least 0-0 their way out of the group stages. Quote
RedTwoster Posted June 4 Posted June 4 (edited) 10 hours ago, tiger_rick said: FRANCE Group: I World Ranking: 1 Star Player: Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid) World Cup Appearances: 17th time Best Result: Champions (1998, 2018) Rick Predicts: Semi Finalists Drawn by: @RedTwoster Wonder what’ll be more disappointing, Hearts not winning the league or France not winning the World Cup? Time to find out! Vive la France! Edited June 4 by RedTwoster Quote
Paid Members Monkee Posted June 4 Paid Members Posted June 4 Missed this. There’s one going in work and I got Argentina. I’m not really into football but might pay more attention if there’s skin in the game. Quote
Paid Members Scratch Posted June 5 Paid Members Posted June 5 16 hours ago, deathrey said: Guess I'll be flying the Algerian flag for the next 2 weeks No ads on YouTube, too 👌 Quote
Paid Members Scratch Posted June 5 Paid Members Posted June 5 20 hours ago, tiger_rick said: GROUP J ARGENTINA Group: J World Ranking: 3 Star Player: Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid) World Cup Appearances: 19th time Best Result: Champions (1978, 1986, 2022) Rick Predicts: Semi Finalists Drawn by: @Scratch Quote
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted June 5 Awards Moderator Posted June 5 So why have they expanded it this year and how does that work? I thought it made sense with 32-16-8-4-2-winner. The wrestling fan in me kind of wants triple threats in the second round. Or Croatian / Tunisian Rules matches where my sweepstake picks here and at work are booked to win. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted June 5 Author Paid Members Posted June 5 6 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: So why have they expanded it this year Quote
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted June 5 Paid Members Posted June 5 (edited) 2 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said: So why have they expanded it this year and how does that work? I thought it made sense with 32-16-8-4-2-winner. The wrestling fan in me kind of wants triple threats in the second round. Or Croatian / Tunisian Rules matches where my sweepstake picks here and at work are booked to win. It doesn't make sense anymore, but as Rick says, it makes money. You now have a situation whereby 72 group stage games are played, just to eliminate 16 teams from the competition. That's a ridiculously inefficient tournament. Edited June 5 by Arch Stanton Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted June 5 Author Paid Members Posted June 5 (edited) FIFA are a hideous organisation. I know that's not news but given we had the major corruption scandal that saw the end of Sepp Blatter, they've somehow ended up even worse. Now, I'm sure they're more careful these days so the corruption is out in the open, securing votes for "legitimate" FIFA grants but it's secured support for Infantino and his greed and willingness to buddy up with the worst fucking people on this earth knows no bounds. I'm not going to suggest they'll kill the World Cup because I think it's just too big and established these days but the greed has led to taking it to Qatar in the winter, expanding to 48 teams to create an extra 40 matches, selling out to Saudi in 2034, which will surely be another winter World Cup. That Saudi tournament will be interesting because FIFA have also made hosting the tournament in one country almost impossible unless you're Qatar, who can build 10 massive stadiums on a whim, or the US who have them anyway. It will be interesting to see whether they compromise their own rules to allow Saudi to use a load of smaller stadiums because the Saudis will pay the difference. The days of the World Cup being held in Spain, France, Germany, etc are over. All future World Cups will need 2/3 hosts unless they keep returning to Saudi, Qatar and the US. And they love those countries because they'll either get paid up front or they can hide behind US consumerism to absolutely fleece people. They also created the Club World Cup, which no-one needs, as another cash-in. Considering FIFA is "not for profit" and already has a massive revenue generating tournament and tons of branding deals that allow them to spread wealth around the world of football - without digging into their $4 billion cash reserves - so why would they need another tournament? I supect going forward, they'll give the Club World Cup to countries who can no longer host the World Cup as a little pat on the head to stop people questioning them too much when the World Cup ends up in Saudi every 4 years. I hate Infantino more than I hate Trump. I hope he's at that UFC event on the White House lawn and I hope a meteor lands on it. Edited June 5 by tiger_rick Quote
Mapper96 Posted June 19 Posted June 19 (edited) I've uploaded the UKFF sweepstake here for live tracking: https://worldsweepstake.com/ukff-world-cup-sweepstake Edited June 19 by Mapper96 made the message better Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted July 13 Author Paid Members Posted July 13 On 6/4/2026 at 12:15 PM, tiger_rick said: GROUP H SPAIN Group: H World Ranking: 2 Star Player: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) World Cup Appearances: 17th time Best Result: Champions (2010) Rick Predicts: Winners Drawn by: @The King of Old School On 6/4/2026 at 12:22 PM, tiger_rick said: GROUP I FRANCE Group: I World Ranking: 1 Star Player: Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid) World Cup Appearances: 17th time Best Result: Champions (1998, 2018) Rick Predicts: Semi Finalists Drawn by: @RedTwoster On 6/4/2026 at 12:26 PM, tiger_rick said: GROUP J ARGENTINA Group: J World Ranking: 3 Star Player: Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid) World Cup Appearances: 19th time Best Result: Champions (1978, 1986, 2022) Rick Predicts: Semi Finalists Drawn by: @Scratch On 6/4/2026 at 12:43 PM, tiger_rick said: GROUP L ENGLAND Group: L World Ranking: 4 Star Player: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) World Cup Appearances: 17th time Best Result: Champions (1966) Rick Predicts: Quarter Finalists Drawn by: @Frankie Crisp Here we are then, the final four. Not a four way, over the top rope brawl, sadly. France vs. Spain @RedTwoster vs. @The King of Old School Argentina vs. England @Scratch vs. @Frankie Crisp The first time in World Cup history that the top 4 seeds have made the semis. It's by design, they were kept apart on purpose but they all had to get the job done to make it happen. Looking at my predictions, I predicted 3 of the 4 semi finalists. Only England are incorrect. That wa sin part because I don't like to big up England and in part because I genuinely thought Brazil would be better. I changed my mind as soon as I saw Morocco run all over them in game 1. Quote
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted July 13 Paid Members Posted July 13 @Frankie Crisp cheering on England. Quote
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