Saturday, December 2, 2017

Football4Mates marching towards Moscow


The World Cup trophy and official Russia 2018 match ball in Moscow. Photograph: Arsen Galstyan Handout/EPA

The teams have qualified, the draw has been made, and Football4Mates returns in 2018 to lead our football family through every match, every kick and every goal. The World Cup creates heroes and undoes reputations. Predict the outcome of every game, and watch for the correct score. Stay in touch with the leaders through the Group stages and march onto where others have failed, Moscow, and the title of Football4Mates Archon. All games have a purpose and every minute, bar the penalty shootout, counts. Extra-time will add further anxiety, and failure leads to another four-year wait to ponder what could have been. The Kudos which comes with victory brings the reward of bragging rights, and one's name on the honours roll. For the losers, its derision and ignominy and the pondering of 'oh, if only'. Below is a table for the groups as drawn at the Fifa ceremony, produced by the Guardian Football website. Very amusing how the English being English have gone about rating their team's Group, with the likes of Panama and Tunisia, as 'strong' while Australia, who has France, Denmark and Peru, all ranked much higher than the Poms opponents, as 'weak'. Let's see what the English can produce at this World Cup other than the usual barrel of laughs. Nevertheless, despite our love for mocking the English football team, we cannot throw the same jokes at someone who will be competing next year in Moscow, Si W, who along with Stylianos are the two favourites going into this tournament.

Top seeds: Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Poland, France and Russia (host)
Predictions take into account an ‘upset’ percentage based on previous matches.
Table Source: www.theguardian.com/footbal
weakest

Group A

FIFA ranking

Russia65

Saudi Arabia63

Egypt30

Uruguay17
strongest

Group B


Portugal3

Spain8

Morocco48

Iran34
weak

Group C


France7

Australia43

Peru10

Denmark19
balanced

Group D


Argentina4

Iceland21

Croatia18

Nigeria41
balanced

Group E


Brazil2

Switzerland11

Costa Rica22

Serbia38
strong

Group F


Germany1

Mexico16

Sweden25

South Korea62
strong

Group G


Belgium5

Panama49

Tunisia28

England12
weak

Group H


Poland6

Senegal32

Colombia13

Japan44