Topic: Bitcointalk's FIFA World Cup Pool Discussion Thread - page 24. (Read 4964 times)

It's already happening. You can still join the World Cup pool if you want, but the Premier League Pool is still open. I'll probably create a separate thread for it now the World Cup has started so look out for that.


It's just been confirmed Salah will start on the bench today. I think Uruguay will have this game comfortably with or without Salah.


The majority of people got 16. The rest probably went for draws. I thought it would be a lot closer with only one or two goals.

My predictions for today not in our challenge but for the ticket at bookies:
Uruguay to win @1,6 - Without Salah I was thinking about 1:0 or 2:0 for Uruguay but now even high scoring game is an option.
Marroco  not to lose @1,35, I am expecting this one to end with a draw actually, maybe 1:1
Portugal not to lose @1,9 - I am expecting low score result maybe even unpopular 0:0, Spain is a bit of unknown since they sacked the coach so....

^  Even 3 - 0 is kinda pushing it (at least for me).  It was the opening game of the tourney, so I was expecting both teams to play with less intensity.  But it looked like one of the teams was sleeping.  Lol.

I didn't watch the game or read the news...  But I assume Saudi Arabia commited stupid errors to let Russia score 5 goals...?

I had it at 3 - 0. Haha. I didn’t expect that game to be high scoring. They dominated the enemy team. Can’t wait for the next games.

Yup...  I don't think anybody saw a 5 - 0 thrashing by Russia coming.  Lmao.  Not in the betting pool at least...  Maybe Stephen Curry did. 

Anyway I had it at 1 - 0 for Russia.

And yup...  Salah vs Suarez should be somewhat good.  But needs a bet to make it interesting.

Same I received 16 pts from yesterday's match. I failed to pick the correct team on the free kicks though did you guys hit that curious to know how many points would that give.

@Welsh
Now i'm convinced he's going to play tomorrow, which means I'm gonna have to change my predictions in the Match Predictor website  

Relevant (video in spanish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVsclHutog

it's a little kid asking Suarez 'not to bite in the World Cup' LOL

well yeah, that's true. Btw, I completely missed Perú in 11th pos, a team that qualified to a WC after 36 years, and they did it through the play-off, this team is right below Spain...wow.

Well, not the best start for me - I predicted 1:1...
I'm impressed to see how Russia played today. Yeah, they beat one of the weakest teams in tournament, but actually Russia rarely score 5 goals even against weak teams. When I was watching La Liga, sometimes I wondered why Cheryshew rarely plays for Russia national team. Today he showed what he can. And Golovin - young talented guy who had great match today. But it's interesting bow injury of Dzagoev will affect Russia in further matches - he is one of key players.
Tomorrow I think that Uruguay will win, even if Salah will play. It's just more solid team with more experienced players. About Iran - Morocco game - I think it will end 1:1. But I don't know much about these teams, so it's just prediction.
Saudi Arabia is a weak team, but still, FIFA ranking aren't best way to determine best teams. Switzerland is in 6th position, Peru 11, while there are many better teams in lower positions

I would agree if it was an injury to a different body part, but it's the shoulder. Something which isn't easy to target without giving away a foul or getting a possible yellow card. If it's a injury to the leg it's much easier to go in hard, and injure it again. A shoulder doesn't really effect your footballing ability. Yeah, it can prevent you from running as fast, and you might not go in as strong as usual, but Salah isn't one to normally be involved with shoulder barges or anything like that.

Rugby players often dislocate their shoulders, and some just pop it straight back in, and continue playing. They will then get ice on it right after the match or at half time, and would likely do light training for the following weeks. Some have different recovery paths. I would argue that Rugby involves a lot more shoulder work than football. I'm not dismissing shoulder injuries, because some are worse than others. But, a few days after the injury they confirmed it wasn't that bad. I believe a pundit made a rather controversial comment on why he left the pitch in the first place.

It's not something that can be injured again easily, and that's why if he's fit or near fit I don't see a problem with starting him. You want to pick up points wherever you can in the World Cup.

Fast forward to tomorrow where he injures it again, and I'll have to eat my hat In fact I think it's worth a bet for Suarez biting Mo on the shoulder, and injuring it again.


Yeah against one of the weakest teams, however how many people predicted them to keep a clean sheet, and beat them convincingly like they did? So far no one in this thread did. Russia also have some decent players (Denis Cheryshev)

Honestly, Uruguay is their hardest matchup in the group, with that in mind, I would go defensive mode, try to get a draw, and rest Salah for the upcoming games, no need to rush him back. Godín and company are not gonna go easy on Salah if he's 100% fit, and if something goes wrong tomorrow then Mo won't be able to play for the next two games, which are far more important than the match tomorrow. But we'll see, I'd like to see him play but I don't want them to rush him back.

against one of the weakest teams in the WC  according to the FIFA World Ranking, Saudi Arabia is 67th, worst position in the table (after Russia who are 70th) among the 32 teams in the competition.

I guess I'll make the bold prediction that he is going to start tomorrow.  In the world cup you take the games as they come, and I wouldn't be saving my best player for later games. If they can get a result against Uruguay then that would be a real launching pad into them qualifying. I just don't think the mind games would be effective. It would make more sense for them to say "Yeah, Salah isn't going to be starting", and then starting him. To say that he's starting seems like a calming effect on the rest of the squad, and Egypt fans.

I would expect them to get a result over Saudi Arabia, but I wouldn't be too sure about Russia. They put in a great display today, and have probably taken everyone by surprise by how they dominated the game. Plus, finishing first in the group will likely mean more favorable opposition in the next round as opposed to finishing 2nd.

I think points haven't been added up. I got 16 points for 1:0 win for Russia and Sygambler got the same for 2:1 for Russia so I guess it is 16 points for getting the winner correct.

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I also think this could be mind games. I don't see Salah starting tomorrow unless he is really 100%. I would keep him on the bench for last 30 minutes and play him only if the result is still active. That way he has time to heal completely and play 2 games which should be more easy to win then this one.

It's a shoulder injury, and mind games only go so far. It might have an impact on the selection, but honestly I doubt it will. Salah is their biggest threat, and they are always going to be wary of him starting anyway. It's also one of the harder opposition to play in my opinion, and if they have any chance they'll need Salah.

It's a shoulder injury, and it's nothing serious anyway. Probably play with an injured shoulder. If anything declaring him 100% fit might protect some of the opposition players from going in particularly hard against him.

He's posted several videos way before the World Cup on his rehabilitation, and looked fairly alright.

Hey!

Rather than go through the comments, I just came across this and thought the idea sounds fun and worth a go!

Is it going to happen? and possible to just join for 2018/19 premier league season?

5-0...got some nice profits with +1.5 goalss and first to score, although I missed the BTTS.

I got 1-1 thinking that it was going to be a close game LOL Saudi Arabia already KO'd, 5 goals conceded, and now they have to play vs Uruguay and Egypt, both far superior than Russia. Well, gg Saudi Arabia  

Héctor Cúper (Egypt coach) said that Salah is ready to play tomorrow...I think he's playing mind games with Uruguay, I mean, the entire world agreed that Salah was not gonna play the , and now out of nowhere the manager says he's fit to play? hmmm, i don't know.

It's being reported than he's actually fit for the game. However, whether the manager risks him is another thing. It's a big game, and I doubt he would leave him out of the squad entirely I would at least expect him to be on the bench.

The BBC are reporting he's fit, and they are somewhat reliable when it comes to Football news. Here's a quote:
Probably safe to assume that he's at least going to play whether it's from the bench or not. Your bet isn't in jeopardy yet!

I checked the league in predictor and everyone seems on 0 points, probably no one predicted 5-0 of Russia over Saudi Arabia. Anyway there are three intriguing games tomorrow culminating with Portugal vs Spain. Egypt vs Uruguay should be an easy win for Uruguay since Mohammed Salah will probably miss the first opening game and I was probably wrong to bet on Egypt asian handicap.

Yeah you seem to be right. I found it strange at first, and that's what it says on the prediction website for me. I've since had a look, and the Egypt one is 13:00 for me, and then the Iran one is 16:00. When converting to local time on the prediction website it converts to the right times. But, it's strange due to before that it's saying 17:00, and 18:00. Seems that my extensions were causing the issue.

Should be able to catch before of them considering it's a Friday!

I think Uruguay is going to win tomorrow quite convincingly actually. However, if Salah plays I think he'll nab a goal.

hmm you sure about that mate , cause the site I'm using is showing 3 hours difference between each single match
the time is 15.00 , 18.00 and 21.00 all GMT +3

I didn't see it coming, I had predicted in the predictor 1-1 as I thought last games of Russia showed only losses and draw and this deceived me. For tomorrow I am a bit surprised at the low odd of Uruguay so I am backing an asian handicap for Egypt tomorrow too.