Final WC 2018 Update - In a last-gasp effort, Leandro and Jamel were rewarded for being the only ones to pick France as the WC 2018 Winners and manage to snag the top 2 places accordingly; Modric being selected as the tournament's MVP instead of Griezmann ensured Leandro is the now two-time WC prediction champion after his 2014 victory, earning eternal glory, cash, and bragging rights for the next 2 years at least, so congratulations must go to him first and foremost.

A word of praise must also go to Michael who led the pack for a good while until the death and now ends up in 3rd, while David narrowly misses out on the podium. Alex deserved a mention for having been the early leader of the competition for a very long time before falling behind, and naturally the bottom 3 need to be highlighted, with Ricardo emphatically surpassing the competition and Jose and Kevin closely fighting it out for 2nd to last place.

Finally, I hope you have all enjoyed this year's prediction game and will be back for EURO 2020, where mighty Portugal defend their crown! Leandro, Jamel, and Michael, expect your cash on PayPal by tomorrow.

Please don't hesitate to send me feedback on what you would like to see improved - at this stage a special thank you to Roberto for double-checking my calculations and catching a few notable mistakes along the way.

Cheers

Marco

Semi-final update corrected - We have drama until the final second of the World Cup as everything is still up for grabs. Most participants have now settled on their final scores, with only 6 contestants with possibilities to get points, albeit that Frank and Malte need Griezmann to score thrice and Roberto needs Hazard to go on a 4-goal rampage against England.

Kevin has realistic chances to get further up the table but already leaves Ricardo and Jose in his wake with a heroic effort as Ricardo is now confirmed as the undesirable bottom place in the competition. At the top, Jamel and Leandro will be avid Les Bleus supporters on Sunday, as they can both still finish in the top 2 places, whereas Leandro now has the advantage and is in prime position. Barring a cataclysm, Michael has at least 3rd place locked up, and both he and David will be desperately cheering on Croatia.

See you on Sunday after the bombastic final conclusion in this fight to the death!

PS - note that I had to correct Jamel's score as it was incorrect from further back as he had submitted an incomplete file and sent, in time, a completed 2nd version which I did not see initially, but in which he tipped Nigeria to pass the Group Stages instead of the original Croatia bet, resulting in a -20 pts deduction. He also had 2 group stage games with changed scores but they cancelled each other out. 

Quarter-final update - After Brazil's shock exit, most participants only correctly predicted France to reach the semi-finals, with the exception of Roberto who has his chips on Belgium. Sadly four others have no more teams in the competition and fall down as a result, with Kevin making a late threatening recovery to renew interest for the race at the bottom. At the top, no relevant changes and still several contestants in the game for a win.

Next update after the conclusion of the semi-finals!

Round of last 16 final update - Michael consolidates his position at the top by being the top scorer in this round and overall with 5 teams in the quarters, while David and Roberto round out the top 3. The majority of participants have 4 teams in the quarterfinals, with Kevin, Ricardo and Thea losing out and dropping downwards as a result.

I leave you to ponder the emptiness that is the next 2 days of your life without football and will be back on Saturday with more action after the next update!

Last 16  - A first interim update of the round of last 16, with a series of upset causing mayhem in most participant's predictions due to both Spain and Portugal crashing out. Michael and Frank both benefit from having bet on Uruguay to beat Portugal and now occupy the top 2 respectively, with the rest of the table remaining the same so far, though Kevin also correctly predicted Uruguay to advance and now moves a bit closer to Jose and Johannes.
Next update will follow after the conclusion of the round last 16 on Wednesday!

Final Group Stage Update – Bear with me with this huge table and the long text due to a massive update with cataclysmic consequences to the overall table. Please note that participants earn 20 points per team that they predicted to reach the Last 16, plus 10 points for each 1^st placed team and 5 points for each 2^nd placed team – do check your scores to make sure they are accurate.

As can be seen, while some groups were relatively straightforward with the maximum score of 55 for most participants (B, G), others had wild deviations – only David and Malte got Group D right and the former was also the only one to impressively hedge on Japan in Group H, while Germany, Peru, Egypt, Serbia and Poland were some of the main culprits for point losses.

The top performer in this set of updates was Roberto, followed closely by David and Malte – at the other end, the worst performers were Johannes, Jose and Kevin, leading them to form the new bottom 3. David thus is the new Leader and Michael retains his 2^nd place but is now tied with Roberto. Malte, who coming into the round was 4^th from bottom, has a meteoric rise to 4^th place.

Stay tuned for an update after the two mouth-watering games tomorrow!

Day 15 - the final day of the group stage provided a lot of correct predictions and therefore shifts in the table leading into the elimination rounds. Another snoozefest in G45 meant Malte, David and Daniel predicted Belgium's win correctly (though England fans are the ones celebrating), only Gilberto and Malte again foresaw the Tunisian result (G46), a host of 5 participants got the Polish win correct in G47 and 4 more benefited from the Japanese calculated loss.

Individually speaking, Daniel becomes only the 2nd player to hit 3 games right on a fantastic day, boosting him up to 2nd place, while Malte hangs on to his lead and David and Gilberto both round out the top 4 with good results with Alex having another bad day at the office. Johannes and Malte closed the gap to mid-table with excellent outings, particular the latter who leaves the bottom 4 for the first time since the competition began. Despite a correct prediction Leandro remains Kevin's closest challenger.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a major update with the scores gained from the final positions in the Group stages which no doubt will provide big shake ups!

Day 14 - as the end of the group stages draws near we unsurprisingly had a bloodbath of negative scores with a few highlights in between. The exception was Brazil's win (G41), where Serbia's poor finishing ensured Daniel, Gilberto and Michael got a correct prediction and boosted their chances.
Switzerland's own goal in G42 meant no one at all got that score right, while naturally no one at all foresaw Germany's epic humiliation. Finally, Frank and Roberto benefited from tipping on a Sweden win in G44, where everyone else lost more points.

The above means that for the first time since the early days of this competition, we have a new points leader - Michael! Alex now drops to second and David maintains his place on the podium, with Gilberto now the closest chaser after a remarkable, gradual recovery. At the bottom Kevin is once more able to ruthlessly expand on his lead over the chasing pack.

Day 13 - A bombastic day with a bit of everything. Firstly, everyone got a healthy dose of negative points due to France's bore draw (G37), which was followed up by Peru handily dispatching the Socceroos, a result that only Jamel and Frank got right and that ensured Kevin's grip at the bottom strengthened.
In G39, we had the match with the highest number of correct predictions to date (10) thanks to the lucky Argentinian win over Nigeria. Finally, Croatia's goal at the death to beat Iceland also proved extremely significant, as it meant 5 participants got that score right while 4 others missed out.

At the top, Alex had a rare bad day at the office, enabling Michael to come within a point of the lead for the first time in ages, and David moved back into 3rd. Meanwhile Jamel becomes the first participant to ever get three (!) correct predictions in one day and has a massive jump to 4th, while Frank continues his impressive recovery with a great day and Jose also moved upwards significantly. Conversely, Ricardo and Johannes both dropped 5 places each after bad outings, and the rear end remains unchanged.

Day 12 - Another day, another lack of perfect predictions. That having been said, most did predict Uruguay to beat Russia, albeit less comprehensively - on the other hand no one at all put their money on the Saudis, but Alex did chance on a draw and got rewarded accordingly.
In the evening games, unsurprisingly no one foresaw the double draw, with Spain clawing back at the death and Portugal being absolutely robbed by VAR.

In the grand scheme of things, the top 3 became clearer as Michael cleared off on 2nd place and Ricardo solidified 3rd, while everywhere else things remained very similar.

Day 11 - The first day since round 1 without a single correct prediction, so not much changed massively - everyone lost a similar amount of points in the English devastation of Panama (G30), but G31 brought some different scores as backers of Colombia were rewarded as Poland supporters perished. In G32 there were those who correctly foresaw the draw between Japan and Senegal but not the exact score.
In terms of meaningful changes, Johannes didnt have the best day as he slips to 5th and Ricardo ties Michael for a place on the podium - Alex and Kevin remain uncontested at either side of the spectrum, fending off their pursuers effectively.

Day 10 - a big day in terms of correct predictions sees 5 participants benefit from the lucky German win (G27), while another 4 correctly foresaw the narrow Mexican win. Unsurprisingly, no one quite predicted the Belgian rout, which was a rare result punishing those who went for the low-scoring goal strategy.

In terms of the table, David now moves into 2nd place, while Michael edges Ricardo to 4th with a fantastic outing of +1 point overall and there were also good recoveries from Jamel, Thea and Frank which must be noted. At the bottom, Kevin ensures his omnipotence with another unwavering round of negative scores, with Malte in desperate pursuit.

Day 9 - Gilberto was the only one to accurately predict the Nigerian win, while 5 participants were rewarded as Brazil scored 2 at the death and Thea and Leandro conspired to be the only ones to get the correct prediction in the narrow Swiss victory over Serbia.
No major shifts at the top but correct predictions earned their participants some good boosts in mid-table, while Kevin is now uncontested at the bottom.

Day 8 - another day at the office as David, Ricardo and Daniel correctly predicted France to edge Peru while Alex and Ricardo again managed to foresee the Danish - Aussie draw. The highlight of the day was the Argentinian debacle, where Johannes was the only one to put his faith in Croatia and was rewarded accordingly, while Kevin and Alex established a new joint-record for worst score with -10.

The above means no changes at the very top but that David moves back into the top 3, now closely followed by Ricardo, with Daniel slowly but surely creeping upwards as well. At the bottom, Kevin wrestled back his old place from Malte but Leandro is not giving up on it without a fight.

Day 7 - a matchday of minimalist scores foiled most of the participants, with only Gilberto predicting his fellow Latin Americans to limit themselves to one goal versus Saudi Arabia and Daniel and Frank tipping Portugal to go the same way against the stubborn Moroccans - no one at all foresaw Iran to cause Spain so much trouble.

Despite no correct predictions, Alex spends another day at the top with a great round of results and Johannes and Jamel cemented their places on the podium. Meanwhile at the rear end, Kevin now joins Leandro in pursuit of Malte, who does remain the undisputed King having reached the round number of -70.

Day 6 - the most unpredictable day so far ensured devastating blows to most scorelines and major changes in the table. No one predicted Senegal's exact scoreline but Roberto and Ricardo did foresee they would win and reaped the rewards, while Thea established a new record for the heaviest negative scoreline on that match but conversely was the only one to get a prediction right on the day through her slick backing of the Japanese. Finally, Russia made a mockery of Egypt and 90% of our participants, with Ricardo, Roberto, Alex and Daniel being the only ones predicting the win to go in their direction at all.

Alex continues to expand his lead admirably and as a result of the above, Roberto now moves to tied for 4th  place and Ricardo jumps to mid-table, with Leandro now establishing himself as the main challenger to Malte's unenviable sceptre at the bottom.

Day 5 - things are hotting up as successful predictions start to come in all around. David, Jamel, Daniel and Ricardo all foresaw Sweden's narrow win, a total of 7 participants predicted Belgium's battering of Panama exactly and Gilberto was the sole correct predictor of England's unusual scoreline.

At the top, Alex holds the lead for another day but David had a great day with 2 correct predictions and is in firm pursuit, with Johannes and Jamel both having positive outings as well. Gilberto's resurgence from the depths of last place continues with a great double hit day leaving him in mid-table, and a host of correct predictions at the bottom mean Malte is now the new leader at the rear, closely followed by Kevin, whose bold Tunisian prediction backfired.

Day 4 - a day of 2 unexpected results yielded no correct predictions from games 9 and 11, though Thea did predict Brazil to draw and David did the same for Germany, netting them both an advantage. Serbia provided a whopping 7 participants with a correct prediction strongly boosting all of them in the table.

At the top, Alex cemented his lead considerably and Johannes continued his rise moving into 2nd place, with Roberto also surging up the standings and Ricardo and Frank now vying for the coveted last place.

PS - again please note the last game of the day is actually G9 in the table.

Day 3 - Lot's going on here as we had 4 games being played.
Thea and Johannes correctly predicted France to whimper past the Socceroos in G5, Jamel was the sole successful G6 predictor on the Danish win, David masterfully predicted Argentina to draw with Iceland and 4 participants correctly foresaw the Croatia - Nigeria outcome in what was the most correctly predicted game so far.

This now means Alexandru edges Michael (who had a good day despite not getting a game fully right) for first place with Johannes' two successful predictions getting him into the top 3. Meanwhile, at the bottom, a host of participants paid the price for betting on the wrong Turkey in G6, which may prove costly later on as well.

Please make sure to check your scores as always.

Day 2 - We have our first full day of matches and 3 correct predictions (in green) propelling Michael into the lead, closely followed by Alex and David. No one got G3 right but it did provide an early advantage to those that have picked the GOAT as the MVP and/or Top scorer of this World Cup.

Note that the game number order follows the excel sheet and official match order, which is not equal to the order in which the matches are played (Iran vs Morocco is G4). Please do check that there are no mistakes in your scores.

First day, all hail Putin. Everyone missed on the scoreline.

First round of updates after everyone's submission on the day before the World Cup starts!