All the Scores: From the Opening Match to the Final in Russia

Xylophone · Jun 13, 2018

Comment: France's lack of a midfield 'maestro' leads to the forwards often being cut off up front. With 8 minutes to go, Suárez sends the French team home, and Uruguay are through to the semi-finals.

Another European team going home is Belgium, after going up against the world-class team Brazil. Players like Hazard and Lukaku have a bad game, while Carrasco's defensive deficiencies get exposed.

The remaining two quater-finals both go beyond 90 minutes. Koulibaly makes numerous decisive tackles throughout the game. Rennes winger Ismaïla Sarr is substituted in, and wins the game for them. He is immediately hailed as one of the best young players of the World Cup. Senegal becomes the first African team to advance to the semi-finals.

Aspas & Higuaín both score as the two footballing giants are understandably nervous about conceding goals. Therefore, it's far from an entertaining match. In the end, Spain's penalty takers are flawless and that's what seals the deal for the Iberians.

Xylophone · Jun 13, 2018

Comment: The South American derby breaks the record for the most amount of VAR-related situations in a WC game. A commentator in some random country jokes about how Uruguay's capital should be changed to Montevideo Assistent Referee. In the end, Brazil make it to the final at Luzhniki Stadium.

In the other game, everyone is surprised over Senegal making it so far, but expect them to lose this one. And that's what happens, as Spain proves too difficult to beat.

Xylophone · Jun 13, 2018

Comment: The third place game becomes historical in two aspects. First, an African country gets a medal for the first time in World Cup history. Second of all, Uruguay-Senegal becomes the first ever third place game to be decided through penalty shoot-outs. I mean, there's a first for everything, right?

Unlike many recent international finals, this one ends up neither as a narrow 1-0 victory nor does it go into extra time. Tite's team has played as a cohesive unit from day one and deserve the gold medal. The heartache of 1-7 will live on in the Brazilian culture for a long time, but this victory helps ease that pain. Brazil are world champions for the sixth time!

Note: I made all of these predictions before the news about Lopetegui.

Iranian Monitor · Jun 16, 2018

Iranian Monitor said: ↑

Russia v Saudi Arabia 2:1 (1:0)
Egypt v Uruguay 1:1 (0:1)
Morocco v Iran 0:1 (0:0)
Portugal v Spain 2:2 (1:1)
Click to expand...

A lot more to play, but while I didn't get the scores right, I got all but one of the results right so far. Specifically, I picked Russia to beat Saudi Arabia (but not 5:0 for sure). I picked Iran to beat Morocco. I had Portugal/Spain end in a draw. I had picked Egypt/Uruguay to end in a draw, but without Salah, the last minute goal by Uruguay ruined what would have turned out to be a good set of predictions on my part for the first 2 days.

Xylophone · Jun 16, 2018

Half of the teams have played so far. Let's look at my predictions:

Russia-Saudi Arabia: I was right about Russia winning the game, and not conceding a goal. They scored a few more goals than I had predicted, though. As I mentioned in the match thread, I was right about Russia scoring the first goal of the World Cup in the 12th minute. But instead of Golovin, it was Gazinski, both starting with the letter "G". Golovin did end up on the scoresheet, but much later.

Egypt-Uruguay: I was only right about who would win the game.

Morocco-Iran: I was a mere minute away from getting the right score, but Bohaddouz's header ruined it for me. At least my prediction of Iran not conceding a goal came true.

Portugal-Spain: I was right about it being a draw, but I had predicted less goals. I was right about Cristiano Ronaldo being the only goal scorer for Portugal. As an aside, my prediction of Iago Aspas being the top scorer at the World Cup looks pretty much dead already...

France-Australia: Got the score wrong, but was right about France scoring two goals, of which the first one would be scored by Griezmann.

Peru-Denmark: Had predicted a draw, so got the result wrong. I was right about Peru getting a penalty (that they missed), and that Yussuf Poulsen would be Denmark's first scorer at this tournament.

Argentina-Iceland: Heh, no comments. Nothing to see here, move along....

Croatia-Nigeria: Was a Modrić penalty goal away from getting the right score, but got the right winner anyway. Had predicted an own goal by Balogun in the 35th minute, but it turned out to be by Etebo in the 32nd minute.

Xylophone · Jun 19, 2018

Costa Rica-Serbia: Got the wrong result, but correctly predicted that Serbia would keep a clean sheet.

Brazil-Switzerland: Got everything wrong here, except the total amount of goals being scored in the game.

Germany-Mexico: I predicted that Germany would do worse than expected in the tournament, but not already in the first group stage game! Got everything wrong, with the exception of the amount of goals Mexico would score.

Sweden-South Korea: Happy to say that I was wrong about this one. However, just as I predicted, there was a penalty goal in this game, albeit for the wrong team.

Belgium-Panama: Got the right result, but wrong score. I was clearly a bit too optimistic about Belgium's goal scoring in this game. I was right about Mertens scoring, as well as Lukaku getting more than one goal. Speaking of Lukaku, I was correct about him scoring in the 69th minute.

Tunisia-England: Right result, but wrong score.

Colombia-Japan: I predicted a 2-1 score, and that the winning team would score in the 6th and 72nd minute respectively. What I got wrong was which team would actually win the game! Ok, technically, it was in the 73rd minute for the second one, but close enough to give myself a pat on the back for the pinpoint accuracy.

Poland-Senegal: Correctly predicted that Senegal would score 2 goals, but expected a draw.

Xylophone · Jun 24, 2018

Groups A-D (2nd round):

Russia-Egypt: I got pretty much everything wrong here.

Uruguay-Saudi Arabia: Correctly predicted that Uruguay would win, and keep a clean sheet. However, they scored a couple of goals less than I had thought.

Portugal-Morocco: Got the right winner, but the wrong score.

Iran-Spain: Same here, except I had predicted a more comfortable win for the Spaniards. Interestingly, I was right about Spain scoring in the 54th minute, but it turned out to be Costa rather than Aspas.

Denmark-Australia: Thank God I finally got the right score. Not only that, I was right about Eriksen scoring Denmark's only goal in the first half.

France-Peru: Got the correct score again. Thanks for that, Mbappé!

Argentina-Croatia: I correctly predicted that the winning team would score 3 goals, but I got the wrong winner. Also, the losing team went goalless. I was also right about one of the players in the winning team scoring in the 53rd minute.

Nigeria-Iceland: Got the right score here out of luck, as Iceland's VAR-approved penalty was ultimately missed towards the end of the game. I correctly predicted that both goals would be scored in the 4Xth & 7Xth minute respectively (a bit far-fetched, I know, lol).

Iranian Monitor · Jun 25, 2018

Below is what I had predicted and how those predictions have panned out. I don't have all the halftime score in my head right now, so I will skip some of those.

My prediction:
Russia v Saudi Arabia 2:1 (1:0)
Actual score:
Russia v Saudi Arabia 5:0
My prediction:
Egypt v Uruguay 1:1 (0:1)
Actual score:
Egypt v Uruguay 0:1 (0:0)
My prediction:
Morocco v Iran 0:1 (0:0)
Actual score:
Morocco v Iran 0:1 (0:0)
My prediction:
Portugal v Spain 2:2 (1:1)
Actual score:
Portugal v Spain 3:3
My prediction:
France v Australia 1:0 (0:0)
Actual score:
France v Australia 2:1 (0:0)
My prediction:
Argentina v Iceland 1:0 (0:0)
Actual score:
Argentina v Iceland 1:1 (1:1)
My prediction:
Peru v Denmark 2:2 (0:1)
Actual score:
Peru v Denmark 0:1
My prediction:
Croatia v Nigeria 0:0
Actual score:
Croatia v Nigeria 2:0 (1:0)
My prediction:
Costa Rica v Serbia 0:1 (0:0)
Actual score:
Costa Rica v Serbia 0:1 (0:0)
My prediction:
Germany v Mexico 3:1 (2:0)
Actual score:
Germany v Mexico 0:1 (0:1)
My prediction:
Brazil v Switzerland 2:0 (1:0)
Actual score:
Brazil v Switzerland 1:1
My Prediction:
Sweden v South Korea 2:0 (1:0)
Actual Score:
Sweden v South Korea 1:0
My prediction:
Belgium v Panama 4:1 (2:0)
Actual score:
Belgium v Panama 3:0
My prediction:
Tunisia v England 1:2 (0:1)
Actual score:
Tunisia v England 1:2
My prediction:
Colombia v Japan 1:1 (0:1)
Actual score:
Colombia v Japan 1:2
My prediction:
Poland v Senegal 0:1 (0:0)
Actual Score:
Poland v Senegal 0:2
--
My prediction:
Russia v Egypt 2:1 (1:1)
Actual score:
Russia v Egypt 3:1
My prediction:
Portugal v Morocco 1:1 (0:0)
Actual score:
Portugal v Morocco 1:0 (1:0)
My prediction:
Uruguay v Saudi Arabia 2:0 (1:0)
Actual score:
Uruguay v Saudi Arabia 1:0 (1:0)
My prediction:
Iran v Spain 1:1 (1:0)
Actual score:
Iran v Spain 0:1 (0:0)
My prediction:
Denmark v Australia 1:1 (1:0)
Actual score:
Denmark v Australia 1:1
My prediction:
France v Peru 3:1 (1:0)
Actual score:
France v Peru 1:0
My prediction:
Argentina v Croatia 2:2 (1:1)
Actual score:
Argentina v Croatia 0:3
My prediction:
Brazil v Costa Rica 3:0 (2:0)
Actual score:
Brazil v Costa Rica 2:0 (0:0)
My prediction:
Nigeria v Iceland 1:0 (0:0)
Actual Score:
Nigeria v Iceland 2:0
My prediction:
Serbia v Switzerland 0:1 (0:0)
Actual Score:
Serbia v Switzerland 1:2
My prediction:
Belgium v Tunisia 1:1 (0:0)
Actual score:
Belgium v Tunisia 5:2
My prediction:
South Korea v Mexico 2:2 (1:1)
Actual score:
South Korea v Mexico 1:2
My prediction:
Germany v Sweden 1:0 (1:0)
Actual score:
Germany v Sweden 2:1
My prediction:
England v Panama 2:0 (1:0)
Actual score:
England v Panama 6:1
My prediction:
Japan v Senegal 1:1 (1:1)
Actual score:
Japan v Senegal 2:2 (1:1)
My prediction:
Poland v Colombia 1:1 (0:1)
Actual Score:
Poland v Colombia 0:3
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Overall, the team I consistently overestimated over the first 2 games was Argentina and the team I consistently underestimated over these 2 games were Mexico and Croatia.

Xylophone · Jun 25, 2018

Groups E-H (2nd round):

Brazil-Costa Rica: I was right about Brazil winning with a two goal margin, but got the wrong score.

Serbia-Switzerland: Got the wrong result here, although Serbia did end up scoring one goal only.

South Korea-Mexico: Correct scoreline, but different players scoring them.

Germany-Sweden: Right result, but thought that Germany would get one more goal. Interesting that my predicted final table of "9p, 3p, 3p & 3p" is still a theoretical possibility, if you swap Germany with Mexico. I knew this group would be open to the very end.

Belgium-Tunisia: Right result, wrong score. Expected more of a struggle for the Belgians.

England-Panama: Right result, wrong score. I was correct about Panama getting their first ever WC goal against England.

Japan-Senegal: Got the wrong score.

Poland-Colombia: Same here.

Xylophone · Jul 2, 2018

Groups A-D (3rd round):

Uruguay-Russia: Was right about Uruguay winning without conceding a goal against the hosts.

Saudi Arabia-Egypt: Was right about Salah scoring Egypt's only goal in the first half, and that Saudi Arabia would get a soft penalty in the 2nd half. Al-Dawsari's late goal ruined my predicted scoreline though.

Iran-Portugal: Was right about Portugal only scoring once vs. Iran. But got the wring result.

Spain-Morocco: Got everything wrong here, except that one player would score in the 81st minute.

Denmark-France: Wrong prediction.

Australia-Peru: Right result, wrong score. Correctly predicted that Guerrero would score a goal in this match.

Nigeria-Argentina: Right result, wrong score. Was right about Argentina scoring a match-winning goal late in the 2nd half.

Iceland-Croatia: Got the exact scoreline correct. Also was right about a penalty being scored in this game (albeit for the wrong team), and that one goal would be scored in the 90th minute.

Soccerhead FC · Jul 4, 2018

Xylophone said: ↑

Groups A-D (3rd round):

Uruguay-Russia: Was right about Uruguay winning without conceding a goal against the hosts.

Saudi Arabia-Egypt: Was right about Salah scoring Egypt's only goal in the first half, and that Saudi Arabia would get a soft penalty in the 2nd half. Al-Dawsari's late goal ruined my predicted scoreline though.

Iran-Portugal: Was right about Portugal only scoring once vs. Iran. But got the wring result.

Spain-Morocco: Got everything wrong here, except that one player would score in the 81st minute.

Denmark-France: Wrong prediction.

Australia-Peru: Right result, wrong score. Correctly predicted that Guerrero would score a goal in this match.

Nigeria-Argentina: Right result, wrong score. Was right about Argentina scoring a match-winning goal late in the 2nd half.

Iceland-Croatia: Got the exact scoreline correct. Also was right about a penalty being scored in this game (albeit for the wrong team), and that one goal would be scored in the 90th minute.
Click to expand...

Soccerhead FC · Jul 4, 2018

This just shows how difficult it is to predict World Cup. I made my prediction before World Cup in a betting site of 41000 "Experts" I am at the moment among the 800 top predictor (my best position has been 78 and worse 2500) but that can change the next few days. For me to climb I need Uruguay to win, Brazil to win, England and Croatia to win, from there Brazil and England in the Final...and ENgland as World champ (No, I am not English and I am not supporting them either but that was my prediction before WC started) I checked your predictions and Xyilophone and Iran Monitor and to compare my 800 place at the moment you would be around place 20.000 - 25.000 place of the 41.000 which is not that bad.

Iranian Monitor · Jul 6, 2018

Nani_17 said: ↑

Is this really a prediction? I view it as more just wishful thinking, or in other words, you wouldn't put money on it as you know in your heart of hearts it's unrealistic.
Click to expand...

The ones that might have appeared wishful thinking, in retrospect, were the ones I was closest to getting right On others I didn't care much, my predictions were often wrong. Lets start with Iran, where I came so close that I am even surprised!

I predicted Morocco v Iran as 0:1 (0:0). In other words, got the result (Iran win), the score (0:1) and, what's more, the sequence/halftime score (0:0) all right! How is that for wishful thinking? Or maybe wishes do sometimes come true

The other one I got perfectly correct is Iran v Portugal! I predicted Iran v Portugal 1:1 (0:1). I got the result (draw), the score (1:1), and even the sequence/halftime score (0:1) all perfectly correct. I think it is pretty neat to get all 3 right

I didn't get the right prediction for Iran v Spain. I predicted 1:1 (1:0). While that game really came close to ending 1:1, I missed that one by a small margin.

Iran didn't advance, which I had predicted it would. The game that truly let me and my predictions down was Portugal v Morocco. I had predicted a 2:2 draw. That game ended 1:0 in favor of Portugal.

As for the other Asian teams, I did alright. Not great, but not poorly in context.

What I got really wrong were some others. I will come to it when the World Cup is over. But the obvious one is Germany, but everyone got that wrong probably. There were a few others. The most significant overall was predicting a good World Cup for CAF, picking Senegal and Nigeria to advance, when they didn't. And expecting better from Tunisia. As it turned out, this wasn't a good tournament for CAF. Senegal and Nigeria were fine sides, and could have advanced. But they didn't. But I at least got one thing right when it came to CAF: their head-to-head record against the AFC. I thought they would end up only slightly better than I had predicted going against the AFC, besides Iran beating Morocco, picking Japan and Senegal to draw (which was the right prediction) but also predicting crappy Saudi Arabia to draw Egypt (they actually beat Egypt).

Xylophone · Jul 15, 2018

Groups E-H (3rd round):

Serbia-Brazil: Got the wrong result. Just realized that I forgot to add a timestamp for Serbia's goal.

Switzerland-Costa Rica: Got everything wrong here.

South Korea-Germany: I knew that Germany would never trash the Koreans, but could never have predicted a 2-0 victory for the Asian team.

Mexico-Sweden: Correct result, wrong score.

England-Belgium: Correct result. However, never crossed my mind that some teams in some groups might not want to go all out to actually win a group...

Panama-Tunisia: Was right about Tunisia winning by scoring 2 goals. Wrong about the conceding 1 goal part.

Japan-Poland: Was right about Japan not scoring vs. Poland, but ultimately got the wrong result.

Senegal-Colombia: Everything wrong, except for two things: Firstly, Colombia did only score one goal in the game. Secondly, James Rodríguez did end up being substituted early on in the game and missing the rest of the tournament. Honestly, feels like I had jinxed him somehow...

Xylophone · Jul 15, 2018

Soccerhead FC said: ↑

This just shows how difficult it is to predict World Cup. I made my prediction before World Cup in a betting site of 41000 "Experts" I am at the moment among the 800 top predictor (my best position has been 78 and worse 2500) but that can change the next few days. For me to climb I need Uruguay to win, Brazil to win, England and Croatia to win, from there Brazil and England in the Final...and ENgland as World champ (No, I am not English and I am not supporting them either but that was my prediction before WC started) I checked your predictions and Xyilophone and Iran Monitor and to compare my 800 place at the moment you would be around place 20.000 - 25.000 place of the 41.000 which is not that bad.
Click to expand...

Not that bad? Place 20 000 - 25 000 is terrible; glad I didn't enter that competition officially.

Xylophone · Jul 15, 2018

A quick look at who got past the group stage (and whether I was right or not):

Group A: Uruguay (correct) & Russia (correct).

Group B: Spain (correct) & Portugal (correct).

Group C: France (correct) & Denmark (correct).

Group D: Croatia (partially correct) & Argentina (partially correct).

Group E: Brazil (correct) & Switzerland (incorrect).

Group F: Sweden (incorrect) & Mexico (incorrect).

Group G: Belgium (correct) & England (correct).

Group H: Colombia (partially correct) & Japan (incorrect).

PS. Partially correct means that I predicted the team to advance from the group stage, but that I got the 1st/2nd place wrong.

Xylophone · Jul 15, 2018

What about knock-out stages? Well, in the Round of 16, I had the finalists France & Croatia facing each other. Will I boast if today's game ends up 3-2? You bet!

I was right about Uruguay playing against Portugal, and that Uruguay would ultimately win. Just thought it would be settled through a penalty shootout and not within 90 minutes.

The less I (or anyone else here) say about my Spain-Russia prediction, the better. At least I got it right that these two would meet in the Ro16. Quite a few had Egypt over Russia, so...

The following four fixtures never happened: Argentina-Denmark, Brazil-South Korea, Belgium-Colombia, Germany-Serbia & Senegal-England.

At least I was right about England having a penalty shootout already in the first knock-out game. And that Kane would score England's only goal through a pen in the 2nd half.

Oh, and that Mbappé would score a brace, and Griezmann with 1 goal, in a game with lots of goals from both sides. I was also one minute away from getting the exact minute Neymar scored (predicted 50th, but was 51st instead). Last but not least, a Croatian player scored in the 4th minute, so that's another correct prediction.

Xylophone · Jul 15, 2018

As for quarterfinalists, I got the first two fixtures right. Both Uruguay-France & Brazil-Belgium happened. Unfortunately, I was wrong about both winners.

Semifinals consisted of 4 teams whom I had not predicted would make it this far. So that ends my prediction evaluation, unless (as I mentioned) the final ends with 3-2 to France, with goals from Mbappé, Griezmann, Corluka & Kalini...errrm, ok never mind that last part, lol.