There seem to be a lot of football experts, self-styled or otherwise, on this site, so here’s the chance to show off your knowledge and get a prize.
The contest:
Guess the two teams who will play in the final World Cup match, the victor, and the score.
Deadline for entering: Tomorrow, Monday June 16, 5 p.m. Chicago time.
The prize: An autographed copy of WEIT, with a special drawing of a cat playing football wearing your team’s colors.
Roolz: One guess only per person. In case of a tie, the first correct entry wins. If nobody gets the final teams and the score, the winner will be the first person to correctly guess the two teams and the winner. If nobody gets even that, then nobody wins, and you’re a bunch of n00bs.
Brazil – Argentina
Argentina to win.
Brazil-Netherlands 3-1 Netherlands
Very close to my thinking, only I think the victory margin will be closer:
Netherlands def Brazil 1-0
Everyone will make sure Robben is out of the game now… they will be lucky to go so far. I hope so though…
I forgot…2-1 Argentina
Germany v. Brazil
Germany 2 Brazil 1
Argentina – Germany 3:2
Argentina-Germany. Germany wins 2-1.
Brazil vs. Netherlands 2:1
Brazil vs. Netherlands 4:2
Oh, that’s easy.
The Neptunians will lose to the Slitherpuffs, six hurdles to four mimseys with 8,927.34 balrogs in abeyance.
b&
Nonsense. Mimseys only come in odd numbers.
Exactly — in terms of mimseys, four is a very odd number. So odd even you don’t expect it!
b&
I’ll wager 5000 quatloos on your prediction
Is it not cheating to copy a prediction from one of the many psychic animals?
Not when the animal in question is Baihu, and when he’ll be getting most of the spoils….
b&
And getting paid more than small countries while doing it….
http://vectorbelly.com/electrical177.html
I think that the Slitherpuffs have got injury problems & will be lucky to make it beyong the quarter finals!
Nah, they’re fine. They’re just trying to lull the opposition into a false sense of security….
b&
Brazil over Spain 3-2
Gryffindor over Slytherin by 5 points? (I don’t know much about football.)
serious guess –
Germany 3. Belgium 1 (which may be just as likely, but I was going for a combo that hasn’t been picked yet.)
Brazil 0 – 3 France
(What do you mean this is wishful thinking? How dare you?!)
Brazil vs Spain 1:2
Brazil 2, Colombia 1
Brazil over Argentina 2-1
Germany-Spain (Yes(!)) 2-1
Brazil 1 – Argentina 3.
Reminder, today after Messi’s magic is the turn of Ginobili’s magic along our preferred NBA coach and his guys going for the championshimp against the Heat!
Italy – Deutschland 1:0 (leider)
Italy 2
Netherlands 1
Eng 1 – Arg 2
Argentina – Brazil
Argentina 1 Brazil 3
Brazil 3; Germany 2
Brazil 2 – Netherlands 3
I will take Argentina over Brazil. A popular choice so I will take the score 2-2 aet – Argentina wins on penalties.
Brazil – England
1 – 2
Nederlands : Germany
1:2
That will not be acceptable!
Hehehe!
I’m looking forward to that game, I have a friend in Noord-Holland and exchanging texts and tweets is always fun during a game.
Nederlands (with s is the language); Nederland (without s) is the country.
Ooops yeah, the default mistake for Germans. In German it’s a plural: Die Niederlande
In English too: The Netherlands, and officially in Dutch too “Koninkrijk der Nederlanden”
OK then – Holland! There are endonyms & exonyms…
Germany-3 Brazil-2
“Football is a simple game. Twenty – two men chase a ball for 90 minutes
and at the end,
the Germans always win.”
— Gary Lineker
Germany @ 3 over Argentina with 2
Blue
Argentina 3 Netherlands 2
Germany 0, Netherlands 6 (and a bicycle).
Seriously, though, I’ll come back to this after the first round of group games.
LOL
(Let me guess, you’re Dutch?)
Actually, I’m English, but my mum was Dutch.
With that jar of Marmite you’ve gotta be English;-)
A lot of my Dutch relatives like Marmite. But then, as a nation, they are crazy for licorice, or ‘drop’, both the sweet and salty varieties – and many varieties of both. I’m very fond of the salty stuff, but my wife says it tastes like one has been licking an old car tyre for 10 minutes. Like Marmite, it’s an acquired taste.
That Dutch slaty licorice is very hard to find in the US. Peet’s Coffee shops have it, but they’re rare, too. It’s definitely an acquired taste as it has a whiff of ammonia ….
“salty”
Yeuch!
Germany – Brazil
3:1
Holland – Brazil, Holland wins: 2 – 1
Brazil-Argentina
Brazil wins 2-1
Germany 1, Brazil 1, Germany wins on penalties.
Argentina 3 – Spain 2.
Brazil 3 – 2 Spain
I just spotted someone else went for the same result & score above so I’m changing to Brazil 3 – 3 Spain. Then Brazil win on penalties. Am I allowed to change?
Brazil 1 – Netherlands 2
Balls someone else has that already. I will go for:
Netherlands 2 – France 1
Netherlands 0 – Brazil 1
Brazil 3 – Netherlands 2
It’s gonna be an awesome final!
Jerry – could the cats be dressed as the philosophers of the winning country, (and in that country’s football colors, of course)?
Brazil beat Belgium, 2-0
Brazil – Argentina, final score 3-1 to Brazil.
Germany 3 — 2 Netherlands
(I have no idea, but that would be fun)
I found this nice graphic showing all groups, pairings and games in one.
Argentina 2, Netherlands 1
Brazil Vs Holland. It will be a draw at 1:1 and brazil to win on penalties
Correct me if I’m wrong, but several pairings that have been selected for the final are not possible:
Brazil vs. Netherlands, Spain, or Colombia
Germany vs. Argentina
Italy vs. Netherlands
Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
All those are possible except perhaps Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. If Brazil win Group A. they would play the second place from Group B – which includes ESP and NED. But the winner of Group B is on the opposite side of the bracket from the winner of Group A. If Colombia finish second in Group C, they are also on the opposite side of the bracket from Brazil.
Same is true for the other two pairings you said are not possible. If GER and ARG win their groups (F&G), they are in opposite brackets. If ITA and NED win their groups (B&D), they are in the same bracket. If one finishes second and the other first, they are in opposite brackets.
You are quite right. Aneris graphic (see 41) is very helpfull to determine possible final-setups.
You is drbobdrbob2
Actually, I am right. The Aneris graphic is confusing. It is not set up like a bracket. If Brazil wins its group and reaches the semifinal, its semi is W57 (which would be Brazil) versus W58 – which is not the team feeding up from the bracket below Brazil. It is the team from the bracket opposite Brazil. The team from the bracket below Brazil is W59 which is in the opposite semifinal.
One thing to keep in mind is that two teams from the same group cannot meet again until the Final. Given this division, any Final matchup is possible at the beginning of the WC.
In that case, Spain to beat Netherlands 5-1.
Actually this happened once. In the European Championship 1988 The Netherlands lost their first match against the Soviet Union 1-0. Both teams met again in the final where the Dutch won 2-0.
And yes, you are right. Aneris graphic is confusing.
Back in 1988, the UEFA championship had only 8 teams (two groups of four) – so high probability of a rematch. In 2016, UEFA is going from 16 to 24 so some third place teams will make it through. So there will be a chance of a group rematch before the final. Not sure it will be true once UEFA goes to 24, but with 16 teams, the overall quality of play was higher than the WC.
I believe that two teams from the same group CAN meet again after group play, but only in the semi-final game. Likewise, two teams from the same half (groups A through D and groups E through H) can meet in the semi-finals, but not in the finals. The finals will be populated by one team from groups A through D and one team from groups E through H.
NO!!!!! Read what I wrote above about the bracket that Aberis linked to. The semifinals are between the brackets across from each other not the brackets on the same side. Got too lazy to check the FIFA web site but from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup
“The competition is organised so that teams that played each other in the group stage cannot meet again during the knockout phase until the final (or the 3rd place match).”
I see. The bracket that Aneris presented is confusing, as you say, because it fails to clearly show that of the two teams advancing from each group, one of them always switches over to the other side of the bracket for the Round of 16. I found a bracket that shows this perfectly at http://www.worldsoccertalk.com. Thanks for helping me to clear that up, George.
Everyone seems to be opting for the usual teams. Being the happy owner of a signed copy of WEIT already, I’ll choose something different:
Switzerland 3 – Uruguay 2
Even though they are ranked 6th and 7th by FIFA, unlikely to happen. If it does, I’ll buy everyone a drink. Hopp Schwiiz!
“If it does, I’ll buy everyone a drink.” – Swiss Appenzeller ?
Maybe something from my neck of the woods: a nice glass of merlot or a grappa?
Great manager from the way he changed the team yesterday…
Yes, Hitzfeld is probably the best they ever had, probably even better than Roy Hodgson who managed to qualify the team for the ’94 World Cup.
Netherlands Vs Uruguay 4:2
Argentina 4 – Brazil 2
The old rivalry
Nederland vs Germany 2-1 reversing 1974
Brazil vs Portugal 1-1; Brazil win on penalties.
Brasil – Italy
Brasil wins 4-2
Germany vs Brazil, Germany wins 2-1. Fred is sent off early in the second half for another Oscar worthy dive, this time the referre gets it right though.
Spain vs Netherlands, Netherlands wins 1:2
Brazil and Argentina, 1-1 on regular time, Brazil wins 3-2 on penalty shots.
3-2 on penalties? Don’t you get 5 penalties per round? That would mean some pretty lousy penalty taking on both sides.
Germany 1
Nether region (I mean lands) 0
It would my dream that Argentina face Brasil in the finals, and win 3 to 1. I am Argentinian of course. That would be awesome
About all the predicted scores are for the usual suspects have been given.
As said, if the Low Countries continue to play like they did against The Red, they should win.
However, for this bet I’ll go for something less predictable -and less probable-, what about e.g. Cote d’Ivoire 3 – Portugal 1?
Brazil 2×0 Argentina (Neymar and Oscar)
Brazil – 2; Italy – 1
Uruguay 3 Belgium 2
Costa Rica!
Brazil 1 Belgium 0
Is that wishful thinking or do you really think that Belgium can reach the finals.
I do hope they will, but I think they lack experience. We do have quite a young team and we didn’t make it to the big tournaments these last years. So it’s all quite new for the players.
Germany – Italy
2 – 1
Brazil 1, Netherlands 4
Holland 2 Argentina 1
Don’t let me down Dutchmen: I don’t know how else to get a copy of WEIT in North Thailand.
Argentina beat Brazil on penalties.
Not sure if the above counts as predicting the score, but let’s say that the above is after a 1-1 draw, both goals in the 2nd half of normal time.
Argentina miss a penalty first (one of the midfielders), then one of the Brazil stars and one of their defenders miss and Argentina win by 2 misses to 1.
Argentina 2 – 1 Italy
After extra time.
Germany 2:1 Netherlands
Brasil 2-0 Portugal
Brasil – Netherlands 0-2
I predict that Brazil is going to loose against the Netherlands 0 – 2, reclaiming Dutch ‘total football’
Goals by Van Persie & Depay
France 1 – 3 Argentina
France 1 Belgium 2
However I would guess Colombia & Argentina & brazil may well be there, & it would be strange for a European team to win the final. It is just that sometimes the best team does not win.
Sorry – Brazil!
I meant I had not capitalised Brazil…!
Brazil vs Germany,
4-2
Netherlands over Argentina 3-1
I know next to nothing about football, but I drew Argentina in the company pool… so Argentina 1-0 over Brazil. Go Messi!
Germany 1 – 0 Argentina
Argentina 3, Germany 1.
Germany 3-1 Argentina
Brazil 2
Netherlands 2
Brazil wins on penalties
Italy 2 – 1 Brasil
netherlands vs germany
netherlands will win 2-1
Argentina 2 – Spain 1
The Dutch have Arrived!
Germany-1 VS Netherlands-2
Italy defeats Germany 1-0
Germany over Netherlands 2-1
Ha ha ha
Brazil 2
Argentina 2
Brazil win on penalties
Brasil beats Argentina 4-3
Germany 3 / Argentina 1
Germany to beat Argentina on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Brazil over the Netherlands
2-0
No way the Selecao loses on their home turf twice in 64 years. Moacyr Barbosa is finally vindicated.
France – Germany
2:3
Brazil 1 vs Netherlands 2
Germany 3 – 0 Brazil
Brazil-Croatia 2:0 – unless Brazil loses to Germany in the Semis….
Brasil will win 1 – 0 against Argentina.
However, should I fail in this comp, I have Chile in the sweep stack, plus a national interest in England where I hail from. My love of capoeira though means I’ll be happy with Brasil winning.
The contest is now officially closed. A helpful reader made a spreadsheet for me, and I see there are about a dozen duplicate predictions. Remember, if there are ties, the first one to guess wins.
Good luck to everyone; we’ll have to wait a few weeks for the winner.
Germany – Holland
2-0
I’m a holland fan btw.. hahaha. This result would tie holland w germany on most finals lost. =D
France vs Holland 3/2.
Netherlands – Germany
2 – 1
germany vs holland
1 – 2 for holland.
holland is good player especially arjen robben he was a good player, and he knows germany players, i am a fan of holland and holland has experience became a champion, so holland is champion this year ………….
Brazil vs Argentina 3:2. Brazil Wins!
Final Will be Argentina vs Germany
Argentina 2- Germany 1
Final- Holland vs Brazil
Holland 1- Brazil 0
Holland wins the worldcup
Argentina vs Germany, 0-1
Final – Brazil vs Argentina
Argentina 1 Brazil 0