South Africa 2010 - SPAIN ARE CHAMPIONS!!!

This is definitely a tad late and yes, it's copied from my blog - so bite me. Work and a social life kept me from sharing my utter senseless joy at seeing my Spaniards lift the ultimate footballing prize.

For the first time ever, Spain won the top honors after beating a hardy Holland 1-0 in extra time. I don't think Iniesta will ever forget that moment. I would like to remind everyone at this point that it was my Cesc Fabregas who ignited that magical moment.

I don't even recall when I started supporting Spain or why. I only remember being awed by the individual players in their league clubs and noticing that Spanish players were superbly balanced - form, class and flamboyance, without going OTT. As a female admirer of the sport, I despise being slighted for watching football for the hot men. Well, you know what? Having eye candy ain't half bad. And damn, the Spanish team had the best lookers.

Regrettably, I missed Spain's game against Switzerland because I was on a plane. I ached having to see that dreadful scoreline on the in-flight news channel. Somehow I felt that I had let my lads down because I had missed the game. It's the same way when I miss an Arsenal game.

A few years back, I called Spain the Heartbreakers. They had a team so full of talent but were unable to put their name on anything worthy. Still, I was obsessed with them. I know a few players' birthdays by heart (Cesc, Xabi - same as mine!, Casillas, Puyol etc) and I wanted to take up Spanish.

When they became European champions, I was so elated I think I lived on happiness for a whole month. And two years later, the Spaniards repaid my faith in them thoroughly. The World Cup. My God, my Spain are World Champions! How can I ever put all these emotions down in writing?

Many will say that the Germans or the Dutch deserved the title more. I think no one deserves it less. Everyone in the tournament was playing for the highest glory. I can doubt no player's devotion and desire. At the end of the day though, be it luck or sublime football, Spain came out top. And in my most unbiased opinion, the lads deserved every ounce of that gold.

I am so happy.

One star on the shirt, and many more to come.

Results - Game 11 Jul 2010 World Cup Prediction League 2010

Congratulations to Raynaldo for winning the World Cup 2010 Prediction League!!

Anyway, thanks for playing. The response has been very good.

In the meantime, we will be taking a break for what's left of the summer and will be back 1st week of August 2010 for the new season of EPL 2010/2011 Prediction League.

Hope you guys will return to join us then.

Thanks everybody!


Housekeeping Notes:

All of this World Cup's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.





Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
10 Games - cool402
8 Games - edwinsng, Raynaldo, jf
7 Games - ihawk98, Andy, Cha_Dum_Yen
6 Games - TheSaint888, KingMeng, Everton, ianrush, 8plus1, Bedokian
5 Games - Voxeros, Nick
4 Games - Silverelf, jamesdubya, Arrenn
3 Games - hotdog, delay
2 Games - roberttty


Si Ginah Board (Number of Times These @#$%$%@! Throw Spanner Making My Life Damn Difficult)
3 KNNs - Cool402
2 KNNs - 8plus1
1 KNN - ianrush, Nick, TheSaint888


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The World Cup Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton
EPL 2009/2010 - ihawk98
World Cup 2010 - Raynaldo

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

Results - Game 10 Jul 2010 World Cup Prediction League 2010

Looks like the League Title is more or less sealed up by Raynaldo. However, KingMeng still has a mathematical chance of tying the lead and perhaps use the tie-breaker to pull an upset?

At the time of this entry, Raynaldo has already predicted a win for Spain within 90 minutes which means KingMeng HAS to predict either a draw or a Dutch win.

On the Marksmen Board front, it is more straight forward. Congrats to Cool402 for sealing the double of both a Marksman and a Si Ginah. wahahaahahah......

ON TO THE FINALS!!


Housekeeping Notes:

All of this World Cup's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.





Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
10 Games - cool402
8 Games - edwinsng, Raynaldo, jf
7 Games - ihawk98, Andy, Cha_Dum_Yen
6 Games - TheSaint888, KingMeng, Everton, ianrush, 8plus1
5 Games - Voxeros, Nick, Bedokian
4 Games - Silverelf, jamesdubya, Arrenn
3 Games - hotdog, delay
2 Games - roberttty


Si Ginah Board (Number of Times These @#$%$%@! Throw Spanner Making My Life Damn Difficult)
3 KNNs - Cool402
2 KNNs - 8plus1
1 KNN - ianrush, Nick, TheSaint888


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The World Cup Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton
EPL 2009/2010 - ihawk98
World Cup 2010 - [ We're Going To Find Out Soon! ]

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

JayWalk's World Cup 2010 Crystal Ball Gazing - Finals

Well, it's now down to the final day of the tournament and Paul The Oracle Octopus has been spot on so far.

I am sure the aquarium guys will be making Paul pick the eventual winner but no that Germany is no longer in contention for the trophy, will Paul still be accurate?

In any case, I give credit to the marketing folks of Paul's aquarium, I am sure gate numbers must have spiked over the past month. Kudos.

3rd & 4th Placing

Uruguay vs Germany

It should be Ghana in the semi-finals as Uruguay didn't do well enough to earn a place had they not handballed that 120th goal.

Thus make them the weakest of the 4 semi-finalists which means their 4th placing is etched in stone already.

Germany should pick up this win even though the game is inconsequential but I am counting of their impeccable work ethics to still gun for a win.

So with all factors counted. Germany to take 3rd spot.

Final

Spain vs Netherlands

From what was originally thought to be a South American year, we ended up with an all-European final.

Frankly, I thought the Spanish got lucky against Germany with an unguarded header winner out of nowhere. Regardless of all, only the ball that is in the net counts.

Still, I am not saying that the Germans are the better team. I am just saying that Germany didn't deserve to be eliminated within 90 minutes.

Anyway, the bookies are giving Spain a 1.875 decimal odds to beat a 1/4-ball handicap. That's is a lot of confidence on a Spanish victory and likely so if you compare the technicals of the Dutch versus their Spanish counterparts.

The Dutch are good but just too mechanical. The Spanish played with more urgency and hunger. Spain needs to give up on Torres to come up with anything good. I think it would be better to do a Ballack on him and free up everybody trying to accommodate him to come up with something useful. If you ask me, I say Torres is holding everybody back. He has had his chances. It's time for someone else to give it a shot.

Still, there is the infamous self-destruct button that the Spanish are so famous for. I am a little worried that this may be a repeat of the 1998 France World Cup Final where Brazil was tipped to roll over the French for the World Cup only to be soundly beaten by a rather embarrassing margin.

Will this year be the same i.e. Netherlands coming out as the dark horse victor?

I really don't know how to call this one but flipping a coin suggests that Spain will lift the trophy.

World Cup 2010 Prediction League Match Day 25

Final (Prediction for 90-minutes Regulation Time)

WC64: SUN 11/7 Netherlands vs Spain at 2.30am(12/7)

Note: Time is Singapore Time Zone (GMT +8)

Tie-Breaker Rule

1) Predictions are to be made as per normal (90 minutes) EXCEPT that we have to also predict (i) which side scores the first goal and (ii) the time of the first goal scored e.g. at 37th minute.

2) 3 points will be awarded for a correct outcome and 1 point each for correct score on each side.

3) IF after (2) we have a tie, then the person who predicts the correct side to score the first goal gets an additional 0.5 points. If not, we have a winner decided.

4) IF after (3) we still have a tie, then the person who predicts the correct time (or closest) of the first goal will get an additional 0.25 points. If not, we have a winner decided.

• 4.1) There will be a Before-Over-After rule should the difference in predicted time of players who are tied (between predicted and actual time of first goal scored) be identical, the timing before actual time shall trump the timing after actual time.
  Example: A predicts first goal scored at 40th minute. B predicts first goal scored at 50th minute. If actual score is scored at the 45th minute i.e. both A and B timing difference is 5 minutes, A win B with the Before-Over-After rule.

5) IF after (4), we still have a tie, then all players still in the tie shall be declared as joint winners.

6) Prediction Format: Example: 1. Voxeros 2-1, Spain, 37th minute.


GAME ON!

Scoring System

3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)

1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry

Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty

Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout

This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

World Cup 2010 Prediction League Match Day 24

3rd/4th Placing (Prediction for 90-minutes Regulation Time)

WC63: SAT 10/7 Uruguay vs Germany at 2.30am(11/7)


Note: Time is Singapore Time Zone (GMT +8)

GAME ON!

Scoring System

3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)

1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry

Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty

Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout

This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Results - Games 06 - 07 Jul 2010 World Cup Prediction League 2010

We are down to the final 2 games and Raynaldo is keeping a firm hold on the lead.

Will he be able to hang on for the win?

Let go find out!!


Important Note: 3rd/4th Placing Match and Final Match will be in separate posts i.e. you need to go to each entry and post accordingly.

This is due to a special rule requirement for the final match in case we need a tie-breaker. Please pay close attention to the instructions when the final game is release for your submission.


Housekeeping Notes:

All of this World Cup's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.






Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
10 Games - cool402
8 Games - edwinsng, Raynaldo, jf
7 Games - ihawk98, Andy, Cha_Dum_Yen
6 Games - TheSaint888, KingMeng, Everton, ianrush, 8plus1
5 Games - Voxeros, Nick, Bedokian
4 Games - Silverelf, jamesdubya, Arrenn
3 Games - hotdog, delay
2 Games - roberttty


Si Ginah Board (Number of Times These @#$%$%@! Throw Spanner Making My Life Damn Difficult)
3 KNNs - Cool402
2 KNNs - 8plus1
1 KNN - ianrush, Nick


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The World Cup Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners

Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton
EPL 2009/2010 - ihawk98
World Cup 2010 - [ We're Going To Find Out Soon! ]

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

JayWalk's World Cup 2010 Crystal Ball Gazing - Semi Finals

It was a round full of drama. The dream of an all South-American semi-finals has been blown to a gazillion pieces.

A goal-line handball and a red card only to escape the subsequent 120th minute penalty. That followed by a turn of fortune for the Uruguayans to win the penalty shootout to advance to the Semi-Finals.

A total collapse of the Brazilian team. Is samba football no longer the way to win in the modern day of football?

Don't let the 4-0 scoreline fool you. Argentina weren't that bad. It's just that when you go all out attack, you leave your backdoor wide open. It was a case of double or nothing. Maradona lost his bet on that one (thank Gawd we're not going to see him streak the streets) and Paul the Oracle Octopus gets to live another day away from the sushi conveyor belt.

Uruguay vs Netherlands

No brainer here as this is the stop for Uruguay to get off. Their bus ticket only allow them so far. They were lucky not to be knocked out earlier and as such will not have the mettle to advance beyond this round.

The Netherlands caught Brazil by surprise, acting pig eat tiger. Watch out for Sneider as he is the real driving force behind the Dutch. Van Persie was just put there to distract everybody while freeing up Sneider to do the real work. 

The Uruguayans on the other hand are expected to start playing dirty when things don't flow their way. Lotsa card will be flying around if the referee is sharp-eyed enough.

Netherlands for the Finals.

Germany vs Spain

Earlier I talked about Spain's self destruct button. Well, the time is now to push it.

Granted both teams are very strong and are in good form, one cannot but admit that it is the Germans who are chalking up the wins more convincingly.

13 goals in 5 games. Looks like the Krauts has figured out the darn Jabulani ball already.

On the Spainish side, look out for Villa while on the German side, look out for all 11 players and one particular octopus.

I wonder what Paul the Oracle Tako has to say about this game.

German to go Dutch in the next round.

Thus the next and final round should look like this.

3rd & 4th Placing

Uruguay vs Spain

Final

Germany vs Netherlands

World Cup 2010 Prediction League Match Day 22 & 23

Semi-Final (Prediction for 90-minutes Regulation Time)

WC61: TUE 6/7 Uruguay vs Netherlands at 2.30am(7/7)

WC62: WED 7/7 Germany vs Spain at 2.30am(8/7)
Note: Time is Singapore Time Zone (GMT +8)

GAME ON!

Scoring System

3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)

1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry

Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty

Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout

This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Results - Games 02 - 03 Jul 2010 World Cup Prediction League 2010

Congrats to Raynaldo for a massive 7-point lead at this stage with not many games to go! It's time for the run-in and perhaps a tie-breaker may not be needed this year.

Congrats also to cool402 for heading the Marksmen Board with 10 solid correct game predictions!


Housekeeping Notes:

All of this World Cup's tables will be kept in Flickr's photoset. Click Here.






Marksmen Board (Number of Exact Predictions)
10 Games - cool402
9 Games -
8 Games - edwinsng, Raynaldo, jf
7 Games - ihawk98, Andy, Cha_Dum_Yen
6 Games - TheSaint888, KingMeng, Everton, ianrush, 8plus1
5 Games - Voxeros, Nick, Bedokian
4 Games - Silverelf, jamesdubya, Arrenn
3 Games - hotdog, delay
2 Games - roberttty
1 Game -


Si Ginah Board (Number of Times These @#$%$%@! Throw Spanner Making My Life Damn Difficult)
3 KNNs - Cool402
2 KNNs - 8plus1
1 KNN - ianrush, Nick


Scoring System
3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)
1-point each for correct score on each side.

Double Entry
Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty
No points for submission after kick-off. (Disqualification)

Blogspot Blackout
The World Cup Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to my personal blog at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.

Prediction League Past Winners
Copa America 2004 - WeiMeng
EPL 2004/2005 - Friday13
EPL 2005/2006 - ianrush
World Cup 2006 - EdwinSng
EPL 2006/2007 - Voxeros
EPL 2007/2008 - Cool402
Euro 2008 - Voxeros
EPL 2008/2009 - Everton
EPL 2009/2010 - ihawk98
World Cup 2010 - [ We're Going To Find Out Soon! ]

As usual:

1) If you have spotted a mistake, please let me know where and what so that I can amend them accordingly.
2) Please check your scores for accuracy as soon as possible before I update the table during the next round of scores. Once the table has been updated, the old table will be overwritten.
3) In case you are still seeing the old table even if I have announced a new update, please refresh your browser to reload the table.

JayWalk's World Cup 2010 Crystal Ball Gazing - Quarter Finals

No surprises in this round of 16 and every team played according to script. Man..... this World Cup is starting to get really boring with both fewer goals and more predictability.

The bright side is that now that all the weaker teams are eliminated, the stronger ones are left to face each other which means that the game may go either way.

Either that or we are going to get a lot of draws, extra times and penalty shootouts.

So with that, here is my outlook of the Quarter-Final match ups:

Netherlands vs Brazil

No surprises here as both teams were expected to eliminate their respective opponents with relative ease.

I am sad to see Chile go out at this stage where they played their hearts out both for the country as well as their fellow countrymen who are currently still recovering from the recent disaster.

Still, this is a very young Chilean team and I see great potential in them. Expect to see them in the next World Cup and certainly a team you'd expect to see in the second round and hopefully better than this year.

Coming back, Netherlands has not been playing well so far. Brazil played with more flair and creativity and this is essential to breaking down a stubborn defense which seems to be the strategy of the tournaments amongst many teams especially the weaker one whose sole purpose is to avoid an embarrassing slaughter.

I take Brazil to advance. Netherlands with such boring tactics do not deserve to win.

Uruguay vs Ghana

Perhaps the easiest of the four Quarter-final matches. Ghana the sole representative of the African continent is expected to end here while the big boys take over and show them how football is played.

Ghana is plagued with too many suspensions and injuries that simply passes the advantage to Uruguay on a platter. This shows the inexperience of the team who go all out with a bang only to realise that they don't have enough gas to reach the finish line. 

Uruguay to roll them over easily.

Argentina vs Germany

The toughest of the Quarter-final draw as two ex-multiple-champions faced off against each other. It is said that one of the finalist will come from this draw.

Paul the psychic octopus has predicted Germany to win this round.

I predict Paul to end up as tako sushi when he gets it wrong as Germany exits at this stage.

Paraguay vs Spain

The only South American team least likely to advance from this stage but if they were to actually upset the Spanairds, then we may just be able to witness the first ever Semi-Finals with all four teams from the same continent.

Spain hasn't exactly impress me much despite them being tagged one of the hot favourites to lift the World Cup. They are like Tottenham Hotspur with a self-destruct button but I don't see them pressing it here at the Quarter-Finals.

Spain to advance.


So the Semi-Finals will probably look like this:

Uruguay vs Brazil

Argentina vs Spain

World Cup 2010 Prediction League Match Day 20 & 21

Quarter-Final (Prediction for 90-minutes Regulation Time)

WC57: FRI 2/7 Netherlands vs Brazil at 10.00pm

WC58: FRI 2/7 Uruguay vs Ghana at 2.30am(3/7)

WC59: SAT 3/7 Argentina vs Germany at 10.00pm

WC60: SAT 3/7 Paraguay vs Spain at 02.30am (4/7)

Note: Time is Singapore Time Zone (GMT +8)

GAME ON!

Scoring System

3-Points for a correct outcome (Win, Lose or Draw)

1-point each for correct score on each side.





Double Entry

Later submission shall override earlier submission.

Penalty

Submissions after kick-off will not be admissible. (Disqualification)

Blogger/Blogspot Blackout

This Prediction League will be played here but if in the event Blogger/Blogspot servers go down, we will automatically carry on the league over to the personal blog of Voxeros at http://jaywalk.blog-city.com/. Please bookmark this or at the very least stay in touch with one of us as we will also be helping all stay in the loop via the various channels like MSN, Skype, email as well as SPUG Off-Topic Chat.