From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer


So we have, in the order of play:

France - Morocco

Spain - Belgium

England - Norway

Argentina - Switzerland

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say. The closest match seems to be
France - Morocco. I predict a Morocco win, in whatever way. (Actually
it is too close to call, but I go with Morocco just because I think
last Cup France were aided by the refs and it's time for karma to do
justice).
The others have clear favorites. Norway may upset England as they did
Brazil, but I don't see it happening, England look strong and meaning
business this time. (Whether they will be able to get past Argentina
and Spain is another matter.)

Another observation, contrary to what some predicted there are no less
than 6 european teams in the QFs. 2 of which are certain to reach the
semis.
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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer



FF wrote:

So we have, in the order of play:

France - Morocco

Spain - Belgium

England - Norway

Argentina - Switzerland

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say. The closest match
seems to be France - Morocco. I predict a Morocco win, in
whatever way. (Actually it is too close to call, but I go with
Morocco just because I think last Cup France were aided by the
refs and it's time for karma to do justice).
The others have clear favorites. Norway may upset England as
they did Brazil, but I don't see it happening, England look
strong and meaning business this time. (Whether they will be
able to get past Argentina and Spain is another matter.)

My head says, France - Spain - England - Argentina to make it
through.

Norway and Morocco winning wouldn't be a surprise though.

Another observation, contrary to what some predicted there are
no less than 6 european teams in the QFs. 2 of which are
certain to reach the semis.

There were a couple of strange predictions, maybe based on
hopium more than anything else... but if you're going to win
money on
football you need to go a little bit off-script... some outsider
bets as part of an Acca can roll up the winnings if they come
off! So those predictions would have been worth a punt.

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On 2026-07-08 11:52, FF wrote:

So we have, in the order of play:

France - Morocco

Morocco are very good, and I have been particularly impressed by
teenager Bouadi, who looks very mature for his years. I would not be surprised, given Lille's propensity for selling their best players, to
see him move soon.
However, Morocco seem unable to sustain their high tempo and quality for
a full 90s minutes (see second half vs. Brazil, even letting Scotland
back into the game a bit, and the first half vs. Canada.) and France
simply has too much firepower.

France win .6, Morocco .2, ET and PENS .2

Spain - Belgium

Spain looked very good vs. Austria, a bit ordinary in all their other
games. If they play to capacity, they should take advantage of the fact
that Belgium's back 4 is not the greatest. Belgium need to play another strong game, and be better than they were against the USA

Spain .75. Belgium .1, ET and Pens .15

England - Norway

On paper England should win. But I see this as 50/50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZTP8-8wIs

Argentina - Switzerland

This Argentina team has looked vulnerable the last two games.
Switzerland is solid. Slight advantage to Argentina.

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say.

I disagree, some of these are going to be closer that the pundits think.




The closest match seems to be

France - Morocco. I predict a Morocco win, in whatever way. (Actually
it is too close to call, but I go with Morocco just because I think
last Cup France were aided by the refs and it's time for karma to do justice).
The others have clear favorites. Norway may upset England as they did
Brazil, but I don't see it happening, England look strong and meaning business this time. (Whether they will be able to get past Argentina
and Spain is another matter.)

Another observation, contrary to what some predicted there are no less
than 6 european teams in the QFs. 2 of which are certain to reach the
semis.

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On Wed, 8 Jul 2026 18:52:24 -0000 (UTC), "FF" <...@yahoo.com> wrote:

So we have, in the order of play:

France - Morocco

I haven't gotten to see as much of Morocco as I would have liked. They
seem solid, but probably not enough for France. 2-0 les Bleus

Spain - Belgium

Spain will WC2010 its way to the final. 1-0, goal by David Villa

England - Norway

England knows how to deal with Haaland. Therefore Norway to prevail
2-1

Argentina - Switzerland

Switzerland could very well make it difficult for Argentina. 1-1,
Argies to win on PKs, where even Messi will finally put away his PK.




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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

MH wrote:

On 2026-07-08 11:52, FF wrote:

Argentina - Switzerland

This Argentina team has looked vulnerable the last two games.
Switzerland is solid. Slight advantage to Argentina.

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say.

I disagree, some of these are going to be closer that the pundits
think.

If Switzerland take out Argentina, then the football world has really
turned upside down. Not that it's impossible but I'll believe it when
I'll see it.
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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On 2026-07-09 12:15, FF wrote:

MH wrote:

On 2026-07-08 11:52, FF wrote:

Argentina - Switzerland

This Argentina team has looked vulnerable the last two games.
Switzerland is solid. Slight advantage to Argentina.

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say.

I disagree, some of these are going to be closer that the pundits
think.

If Switzerland take out Argentina, then the football world has really
turned upside down. Not that it's impossible but I'll believe it when
I'll see it.

I was reading some article about how close QFs in the world cup usually
are. Most common result is a win by one goal, penalties very common.

Starting with the first hugely expanded WC in 1998

QF: two one goal wins, one win on PK, one 3-0 but that was against 10 men.

2002

QF: 3 one goal wins, one after extra time. One win on PK

2006:

QF: two wins on PKs, one 1-0, one 3-0

2010:

QF: two one goal wins, one PK, one 4-0


2014

QF: three one goal wins, 1 PK victory.


2018

QF: two 2-0 wins, one PK, one 2-1


2022: two on PKs, two one goal wins



So 9 went to penalties, 14 were by one goal, and only 5 were by more
than one goal. Even when there was an apparent disparity between
teams, the results ended up being close. And some of the lopsided ones
went in favour of the underdogs.

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer


"FF" <...@yahoo.com> posted:

So we have, in the order of play:

France - Morocco

I am late to this, game has already been played. Solid performance by Mbappe, as expected.

Spain - Belgium

Spain, by a minimal margin, something like 1:0

England - Norway

England goes through, but Norway will be a tough cookie, maybe more difficult than England's game vs Mexico or Croatia.

Argentina - Switzerland

Go Swiss, but the Argies take it.

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say. The closest match seems to be
France - Morocco. I predict a Morocco win, in whatever way. (Actually
it is too close to call, but I go with Morocco just because I think
last Cup France were aided by the refs and it's time for karma to do justice).
The others have clear favorites. Norway may upset England as they did
Brazil, but I don't see it happening, England look strong and meaning business this time. (Whether they will be able to get past Argentina
and Spain is another matter.)

Another observation, contrary to what some predicted there are no less
than 6 european teams in the QFs. 2 of which are certain to reach the
semis.

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

On 09/07/2026 21.07, Futbolmetrix wrote:

On Wed, 8 Jul 2026 18:52:24 -0000 (UTC), "FF" <...@yahoo.com> wrote:

England - Norway

England knows how to deal with Haaland. Therefore Norway to prevail
2-1

Seems a very hedged bet.

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From Newsgroup: rec.sport.soccer

MH wrote:

On 2026-07-09 12:15, FF wrote:

MH wrote:

On 2026-07-08 11:52, FF wrote:

Argentina - Switzerland

This Argentina team has looked vulnerable the last two games.
Switzerland is solid. Slight advantage to Argentina.

Very unbalanced quarters, I have to say.

I disagree, some of these are going to be closer that the pundits
think.

If Switzerland take out Argentina, then the football world has
really turned upside down. Not that it's impossible but I'll
believe it when I'll see it.

I was reading some article about how close QFs in the world cup
usually are. Most common result is a win by one goal, penalties very
common.

Starting with the first hugely expanded WC in 1998

QF: two one goal wins, one win on PK, one 3-0 but that was against
10 men.

2002

QF: 3 one goal wins, one after extra time. One win on PK

2006:

QF: two wins on PKs, one 1-0, one 3-0

2010:

QF: two one goal wins, one PK, one 4-0

2014

QF: three one goal wins, 1 PK victory.

2018

QF: two 2-0 wins, one PK, one 2-1

2022: two on PKs, two one goal wins

So 9 went to penalties, 14 were by one goal, and only 5 were by
more than one goal. Even when there was an apparent disparity
between teams, the results ended up being close. And some of the
lopsided ones went in favour of the underdogs.

In the end they pretty much were. Maybe not as much as they seemed at
first, but the favorites won all of them, 2 of them needed extra-time
but none went to PKs. Besides, as I said I think Norway was aided by
the refs, they didn't actually score any clean goal.
The one I thought to be most even ended up being the most uneven one.

The semis look strangely familiar, don't they ? With Argentina instead
of Holland.
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