Team GB Qualify, bye bye Uruguay!
02/08/14 01:06
Footcall VIII Day 3...
So the final 8 Group Stage matches were played out today as the chances of qualification into the Knockout Stages beckoned. As if trying to keep up with two or three games going on at once on previous days wasn't hard enough, we had four matches kick off at 5pm today!
The early games of the day saw Brazil demolish poor old New Zealand three zip whilst Egypt beat Belarus three one, and this was their first victory of the tournament which saw them sneak through their group and qualify on the inside rail.
Then came the festival of football. I was primed; I had four browser windows open at the same time displaying all the games at once. Thank goodness my broadband had been upgraded recently to cope with all this added bandwidth! Five o'clock came round and four starting whistles blew simultaneously. This was it, surely an avalanche of goals one after another, I was ready although the thought of it brought me out in a cold sweat. Well you know what, I needn't had worried! In the four matches only one goal was scored by Mexico as they beat Switzerland 1-0. Korea v Gabon, Japan v Honduras and the hapless Spaniards v Morocco all ended goalless! My brother had abandoned his 0-0 prediction game which worked so hopelessly in the Euros and I bet he'd stuck with it!
Finally the evening kickoffs were to decide the fate of Group A. Team GB were not safe by any means but a draw against Uruguay would see them through. Meanwhile the exciting boys from Senegal were challenging UAE to also qualify. Once again GB bossed the match, passing it effortlessly but we always know they are prone to lapses in concentration and with Suarez on the opposing team we knew what a threat that posed. To be fair (as Peter Beardsley used to say) the first half was dire! Very few scoring opportunities and the thought of a gold medal bout in the Fencing (sabre) was just too tempting. It was as I turned over, the GLW notified me that Sturridge had put us one up on the stroke of half time. So back to the football for another 45 minutes of half chances fluffed but we managed to hang to the win and we were in the KOs. On the other side UAE went one ahead on Senegal and looked set for their first win of the competition but ITMA, Mossa Konate to steal the show, bag his fourth goal of London 2012 and pinch a draw. With team Suarez losing this meant team Konate were through along with us. Hoorah!
And so the Footcall league...
This was the Group deciders and with so much football going on it was tough to keep up with the live scoring and just who was doing well in the league. The lead was changing hands over and over, and after the 5pm matches, new boy, Stewart King was standing proudly at the top of the table with what will undoubtedly be the player of the day, Tat Wah Liu coming from nowhere straight up into second. Tat picked up an amazing 10 points before the evening matches was absolutely flying!
The evening games were certainly going to be decisive and at the half way stage this evening, Christine "I can't bear to look" Jenner had jumped ahead of Stewart and Tat right into the number one spot as she was in line for a perfect six. Sadly however this was short lived as it was Konate's equalizer robbed Chris of three vital points and handed them on a plate to none other than Kevin "Hall of Famer" Appleton! The results remained and Kevin has once again topped the Group Stages tree, the big question is, can he stay there for the Knockouts?
Other players to mention must be Footcall veteran (I hope he won't mind me saying that) Bryan Relf is up into joint second alongside Christine and Stewart (not bad for his first go at Footcall). Sadly Tat lost ground and slipped to fifth, Andy Booth has moved into contention along with James Vallender and Leigh Boardman. I'm sure you are all pleased to see me drop like a stone to ninth?
Russell "Granite" Morris had a good day as too did Rachel "the answer is four" Rowland. Les "the man" Herbert picked up a nice three pointer and so did James "I'm not out of this yet" Parker, David "it's a marathon not a sprint" Frost, Robert "the bhoy" McNamara, Joanna "how is it I'm consistently better than Dan?" Mackenzie, Adam "or is it Archie" Jones, Lauren "Dad you promised me a day at the beach and you take me to a sodding granite farm!" Morris and Dan "here I am Jo, don't blame me I'm not match fit" Mackenzie!
I'm going to give the second player of day award to young Oliver Whitfield who was languishing in 53rd place out of 53 players until he scooped a magnificent 6 points today to see him rocket into 38th... way to go Ollie!
We shouldn't overlook the coveted Vuvuzela award for last place. This is being closely contested by Peter "I demand a countback!" Mulvey and Leanne "I knew I shouldn't have left Sean to do the predictions" Maloney. Let's see if they what the Knockouts have in store for them.
Well that's it for the Group Stages and maybe I should at this point mention what we are all playing for as I know for some of you, Footcall is kind of like a little retirement fund!
Group Stages
1st: £30 (Kevin Appleton)
2nd: £20
3rd: £10
4th: £5
As we have three way tie for second, Bryan Relf, Christine Jenner and Stewart King get £11.67 each!
Knockout Stages
1st: £110 & Trophy
2nd: £60
3rd: £50
4th: £40
5th: £30
6th: £20
7th: £10
Last: Vuvuzela Award
Don't forget the five Division winners get free entry into a future Footcall tournament. Along with Kevin, Christine and Stewart, the current Divisions situation would see Patrick Ferguson and James Vallender in line for a bonus.
Ooh ooh, I nearly forgot, there will be a small prize for the most popular team name again.
So we move on to the Knockout Stages. Most of you should know the drill, hopefully we won't have any technical mishaps this time round and you will be able to login and click the Make Knockout Predictions link on screen in your account page. You will have until Saturday at 11am to get these completed in time for the first Knockout match. Read the RULES page on the website for more info.
There will be a massive 24 points available (more than the leader has at the moment) and all you have to do is pick all of the winners for all of the remaining knockout matches. You have to go right through to who you think will win the Gold Medal. Please also vote for your favourite other team nam of the competition as it might be the only prize that player receives.
That's it from me, I look forward to seeing your KO predictions roll in before Saturday.
Until then...
David