NETHERLANDS 1 ENGLAND 2
Into the 91st minute, I’m all set to announce Brendan Keenan as our Predict the Scores champion. Again. And still with the Final to play. But no, Watkins’ winner robbed Brendan of 5 points and handed them to 20 managers. Among them, Karen Hutchison. Brendan’s 6 point lead is now a single point, ahead of Karen in 2nd. Neil Mullen got lucky - his first missed prediction of the tournament came in 2-3 and earned 3 points. It leaves Neil 3 behind Karen, 4 off the top. With the gap to 4th at 4 points, barring big bonus points in the final we have a three-horse race. |
Brendan remains top of the Knockout Stage League too, but there are a host of teams chasing him down. Wyatt Monacelli has enjoyed remarkable good fortune to be sitting 2nd with a Knockout Stage of entirely random predictions. Wyatt moves 2 points closer and is 1 behind. 2 points too for Gary Pearson, he’s a further 1 point back, 2 points from top, as is John Guargena who hit the 5 tonight. Rick (Joy) Juliusson, Richard Richard, Aidan Wilhelm and Neil Mullen all maintain hopes of taking the trophy at the death, with a few more mathematically still in with a chance with bonus points and predictions of those above them going wrong. |
SPAIN 2 FRANCE 1
Most that predicted got points on this one, with twice as many predicting the Spain win as not. 25 got it spot on. Our top four all went for a draw though, so no points there. 5th placed Bjarke Hesbjerg predicted 1-0 so gains 3 points for the correct margin, making up 3 points on all above him to keep Bjarke’s hopes alive. Callum Cooper is the highest placed manager to get the 5 points, Callum is up to 8th and needs a great result on Wednesday night to be in the hunt when the Final comes along on Sunday. Callum is 11 off top spot which may seem a bridge too far, however I have a sneaky feeling Wednesday’s Semi will be very close in our predictions, so a correct score could make significant gains. |
No change in the top three in the Knockout Stage League. It closes up though with Brendan Keenan scoring zero, Wyatt Monacelli 2 and Gary Pearson 3. Four teams then on the climb between 5th and 8th, keeping their trophy hopes very much alive with either 3 or 5 points tonight. |
NETHERLANDS 2 TURKEY 1
For the second time tonight the most popular prediction came in, with 29 getting this one spot on. Among them Toby Fournier, Ed Mueller and Jonathan Andrews who all complete a perfect 12-point day. Brendan Keenan had got the big 7 earlier and 3 more points for his latest 1-0 now sees Brendan a huge 6 points clear. Karen Hutchison stayed with him earlier but got nothing for this one and slips to 3rd, with Gill Lovatt up to 2nd.
With Wyatt Monacelli’s random luck drying up and Gary Pearson misfiring badly this time, Brendan also takes over at the top of the Knockout Stage League and already has a 5 point gap beneath him. Big work for the chasers to do in the last three matches to stop Brendan taking two of our big three titles. |
ENGLAND 1 SWITZERLAND 1 (England win on penalties)
This competition is becoming a little, umm, predictable now. Especially when it comes to England games. Played five, won one and now four draws in a row and yet into the last four. And when the Euros get predictable, so to a degree does Predict the Scores. A very familiar name atop the Overall League in the shape of Brendan Keenan. A maximum 7 points tonight sees Brendan 3 points clear, and 7 clear of 3rd. Karen Hutchison got her first correct score of the Knockout Stage and the full 7 to stay 3 behind. Neil Mullen is up to 3rd.
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2 points are enough to keep Wyatt Monacelli top of the Knockout Stage League - but only ahead of Brendan with more bonus points. Gary Pearson is flying the flag for predicting managers who aren’t high up the Overall League. This was Gary’s fifth correct score of the Knockouts - two more than anyone else - but he didn’t get the 2 extra points for England qualifying that would have taken him back to top spot. Barbara Willingham - like Wyatt - is riding high on randoms in 4th and has 16 points from the last two matches. |
PORTUGAL 0 FRANCE 0 (France win on penalties)
Two managers got this one spot on. Nice work from Gerald Escreet and Gary Pearson. Worth 7 points, both needed it after zero point performances earlier. Gerald got the correct ultimate winners in France to bump it up to 9 points, Gary didn’t. Over the day the best predicting performance came from Brendan Keenan. 7 points plus 4 made 11 and Brendan goes top of the Overall League. 7 for the day takes Bjarke Hesbjerg up a place to 2nd, Karen Hutchison slips from top to 3rd and Gerald is up to 4th.
Wyatt Monacelli had a lucky day with randoms. 11 points see Wyatt open up a 5 point lead at the top of the Knockout Stage League. Gary Pearson stays 2nd after dropping to 7th and bouncing back. Brendan Keenan is up to 3rd. Meanwhile with Karen not having got one right in the Knockouts, Owen Garner today became the first to hit 10 exact scores. |
SPAIN 1 GERMANY 1 (Spain win in extra time)
Oooooh. Our leader Karen went for Spain, 2nd placed Gill for Germany - then 3rd to 6th ALL had 1-1. So the ladies slip. Lots of variation on whether Spain or Germany would ultimately progress and it’s those that had 1-1 and who were then on Spain who pick up 7 points. When all that’s counted, Brendan Keenan hits top spot.
Brendan is up to 2nd in the Knockout Stage League, only behind randomiser Wyatt Monacelli due to Wyatt’s bonus points. |
AUSTRIA 1 TURKEY 2
I'll be honest I was surprised by the predictions for this one. I reckon if it was a Group Stage, first match of the tournament for each, 1-1 would have been the massive favourite. But it's clearly Austria that had caught our collective eye... 74% on Austria, 18% draw, 8% Turkey. The 8% prevail and lots of managers hit with -2. The 1-2 was predicted by three so worth a bonus point (6 in total), three randoms also came in. One of those randoms, Herman Lee, is our manager of the day with 8 points having picked up 2 earlier on. Top predicting manager for Tuesday is Justin Singleton with just 6 points - all for this one. |
All of our top eight, as started the day, scored zero points today. Would you believe it, 9th placed Brendan Keenan missed a prediction for the first time and was given 2-3. Aarrgh, 3 points for Brendan to go with 2 for the Netherlands win, he's up to 4th spot and 4 points from the top. Griffin Wolfe did the same with 5 points for the day and is back in the top 10. Little change elsewhere in the upper echelons, Karen Hutchison stays top. |
| Much, much more movement in the Knockout Stage League. Gary Pearson destroyed his cracking form with a pair of -2s, and slips from a strong 1st to 2nd. We have a randomiser top, Wyatt Monacelli's 4 point day enough to take him ahead of Gary. Robert Metzger hit -2 in the later game but had scored a perfect 7 for Netherlands' 0-3 win, he's up 13 to 3rd with Justin Singleton up 16 to 4th. |
ROMANIA 0 NETHERLANDS 3
Netherlands' third at the death robbed Bjarke Hesbjerg of a return to the top, he was on 0-2. Two managers did get it spot-on, Jeff Norton and Robert Metzger, 2 bonus points means it's worth 7. The latter climbs 12 places to 11th in the Overall League. 2 points for all of the top nine so it's as you were... Gary Pearson plumped for Romania, he stays top of the Knockout Stage League but -2 points sees Robert Metzger just 2 behind. Jeff Norton's 7 points sees him up 27 places to 5th. |
PORTUGAL 0 SLOVENIA 0 (Portugal win on Penalties)
Take a bow Gary Pearson. The only one to predict 0-0, and with 2 extra points for predicting Portugal would ultimately progress, this one is worth a massive 10 points to Gary. Coupled with 5 points for predicting France 1 Belgium 0, a perfect 15-point day takes Gazza's Guesses from 13th to top spot in the Knockout Stage League. It's always nice to see managers who aren't riding high in the Overall League come good for the Knockout Stage League, but for Gary this really is a massive turnaround. That's three exact scores from six, equaling Gary's total from the entire Group Stage, and while he totaled 24 points from 36 matches in the Groups, Gary has already surpassed that with 26 from six since. It's A Knockout, Gary.
Gary's total is matched by Isaac Cofie with a couple of spot-on scores rather kindly thrown his way by the random score generator, rocketing Isaac from 134th to 7th. A Riley (8 points) and Wyatt Monacelli (7) also got relatively lucky on randoms, to take them 2nd and 3rd respectively. Bjarke Hesbjerg is the second highest predicting manager in 4th, 8 points behind Gary, though Bjarke lost 2 points in missing a prediction for France v Belgium. As most, if not all, of the randomisers' good fortune runs out, watch out for Nick Tunstill (7 points today, up to 6th), Theo Fox (7, 8th), Owen Garner (7, 9th) and Darren Fox (6, 10th). |
On to the business at the top of the Overall League. 6 points are enough to take Group Stage Champion Karen Hutchison back to the top. A brave prediction of a draw for Portugal v Slovenia, albeit 1-1 so just a 2-pointer (plus 2 for the correct qualifiers), made the difference. Gill Lovatt had gone top earlier in the day but now sits back in 2nd, with Bjarke Hesbjerg's first random losing him 2 points for France v Belgium hurting, he slips to 3rd. The highest placed manager to score more than Karen on the day, Owen Garner's 7 moves him three places and two points closer to to spot. Owen's up to 5th and 5 away from the summit. |
FRANCE 1 BELGIUM 0
13 predicted this one spot-on, 13 randoms also came in, so 5 points for 26 teams. 36 picked up 3 points for the one-goal France win, 43 more settle for 2 points. Zero for 47, -2 for 25.
The 2 points are enough to take Gill Lovatt top of our Overall League for the first time. Gill becomes our 13th different leader. 2 is also enough to take Karen Hutchison back up to 2nd, with Bjarke Hesbjerg taking his eye off the ball... Bjarke's first random prediction of the competition gave him 1-2 and therefore -2 points. While Ethan Garner stays 4th with no points in this game, the highest placed manager to predict 1-0 was Owen Garner, who moves level on points with Ethan, only behind due to Owen's 1 bonus point. I'm going to guess there's some family rivalry in play there... Owen also equals Karen's record with a ninth exact score. Five minutes before the match ended with the score at 0-0, Matt Woodmansey was heading for an 8-pointer as the only one on 0-0 and heading to top spot. As it is, Matt slips to 8th. |
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Bjarke's misfortune also sees him displaced at the top of the Knockout Stage League, where the top two are now there by virtue of a full set of randoms in the Knockout Stage. Barbara Willingham fully intended to be random'ed right from the off and her luck has come in - so far - since the knockouts began. Today it's a 3-pointer for Barbara that takes her top with 18 points. Wyatt Monacelli, meanwhile, has been randoming since Match 16. His luck was fully in this evening with the maximum 5 points taking Wyatt's Knockout Stage total to 17. With Bjarke 3rd and now having missed one, Gary Pearson is the best placed manager to have predicted all five, with 16 points. Nick Tunstill, Theo Fox and Owen Garner all hit the top 10 with perfect predictions. |
SPAIN 4 GEORGIA 1
Nice work from Robert Metzger, Ed Quick and Theo Fox who got this one spot-on. Those three pick up 6 points each. 25 earned 3 points for predicting 3-0, 96 scored 2 points. Theo is equal top for the day with 10, having picked up 4 points for Slovakia v England. Owen Garner scored a perfect 7 in that one, 3 more here to give him 10 points for the day too. Owen up to 9th overall.
Bjarke Hesbjerg's 5 point day is enough to keep him top, with Gill Lovatt up to 2nd and 2 points behind. Bjarke also stays top of the Knockout Stage League, 3 points ahead of Barbara Willingham who's scored her 15 with randoms, and Robert Metzger. 9 points today for Gerald Escreet sees him climb to 4th in the Knockout Stage and 5th overall. |
ENGLAND 1 SLOVAKIA 1 (2-1 AFTER EXTRA TIME)
14 predicted the 1-1, 14 more came in on randoms, half of the 28 had England to progress so 7 points for 14, 5 points for 14. Nine managers scored 4 points, 105 with 2, 35 with zero. Top three all scored 2 points, Bjarke Hesbjerg holds on to top spot while a perfect 7 for Gill Lovatt sees her up to 2nd. Gerald Escreet moves into the top 5. In the Knockout Stage League, random expert Barbara Willingham moves equal top with Bjarke on 15 points. |
GERMANY 2 DENMARK 0
Well before today's action got under way I said here that it's time to start chasing down Karen Hutchison and squeeze up the top end of the Overall Table. I got my wish. A 10 point difference between 1st and 5th before we started, that's now 6, while 10 points now separate top from 9th. Another 2-0 here, this one the most predicted score after earlier's single prediction of Switzerland's 2-0 win. That came from Bjarke Hesbjerg and he's spot-on again tonight, making for an absolutely perfect 13 point day to start the Knockout Stage. With Karen scoring zero over the day (-2 +2), she is deposed from top spot for the first time since going top after Match 19 on Friday 21st. Bjarke was top for one game at the end of Thursday 20th before Karen knocked him off, having been one of two equal top after Match 1, and spent two more games on top on Sunday 16th after matches 6 and 7. |
Bjarke of course is our first Knockout Stage League leader with 13 points, Robert Metzger has 11 from random scores, three managers are on 8 points also from randoms before we have Darren Fox, Matt Woodmansey, Nick Tunstill, Nick Mullen and Richard Richard who all predicted a Switzerland win for 2 points, and got the Germany win spot-on. They are on 7 alongside Kantoniusz Kanton who did the same with randoms. Kantoniusz was second-worst of all in the Group Stage with -3 points, so is already 10 better off. |
SWITZERLAND 2 ITALY 0
Well what a dream start to the Knockout League for Bjarke Hesbjerg, the only one to predict Switzerland 2 Italy 0. That makes it worth 8 points, with 3 bonus points in there. There were of course a lot more random scores for this one - 85 of the 177 - and seven of those were given the correct score. So Bjarke leads our first Knockout Stage League table, with seven others alongside.
With Karen Hutchison one of 72 to lose 2 points for predicting an Italy win, Bjarke is the nearest in the Overall League to take full advantage - up four places to 2nd. The rest of our top five predicted the same as Karen (1-2), except Craig Watters who left it to random and was given 1-1. Zero points. Craig slips a place but is of course 2 points closer to top spot. |
GROUP STAGE EUROPEAN CHAMPION - CONGRATULATIONS KAREN HUTCHISON
Well she wasn't going to be caught was she? Actually, it came close - and it would have been a sickener for Karen, who started the night 9 points clear, with her only challenger for top spot Gill Lovatt who's been randomising since late Tuesday. Having notched a massive 8 points earlier on Wednesday with Ukraine 0 Belgium 0, Gill would have scored 9 had Georgia left it at just the one goal instead of beating Portugal 2-0. It would have been enough to give Gill the Group Stage Trophy, but it wasn't to be.
And rightly so, I'd say. Karen Hutchison has won the Trophy in some style. More exact scores (9) than anyone else, with only Anne Noble on 8, and no bonus points needed along the way. Gill, meanwhile, has picked up a big 6 bonus points and they all came in her nine random predictions. |
SLOVAKIA 1 ROMANIA 1
UKRAINE 0 BELGIUM 0
The draw was the favoured result for Slovakia v Romania, still that's only 40% in the points. Of course, 1-1 was the most popular score and it's 5 points for 36 entrants. Nobody picked the 0-0 for Ukraine v Belgium, four managers gained 8 points on random scores, 36 picked up 2.
It's a 5-point evening for Karen Hutchison and the Group Stage Trophy is in Karen's clutches now. Ethan Garner's lost his way and has -2 points from the last six. Ethan finally relinquishes 2nd spot, slipping to 3rd. Gill Lovatt got lucky with a random 8 points and is now in 2nd. Craig Watters hit 5 and is 3rd, while Matt Woodmansey is a new name near our table top, 7 points for Matt brings him up 11 to 4th. Those three behind Karen are tied on 55 points, but a masssive 9 behind Karen. |
Tuesday June 23rd - 20:00
ENGLAND 0 SLOVENIA 0
DENMARK 0 SERBIA 0
Go back two or three prediction competitions and you wouldn't find any predictions at all where only one person predicted a goalless draw. That's precisely what happened in both of these two, and they both came in. A tasty 8 points. Well done to Nate Avalos (England - Slovenia) and Theo Fox (Denmark - Serbia) for nailing those. Across the two, five managers were also given 0-0 in random scores. Over the day's four matches, the top performances came from Theo Fox and Caroline Vaughan with 11 points each. Theo's 8 tonight added to 3 in Netherlands v Austria, he's up 73 places to 44th. Caroline smashed it earlier in the evening with 6 for France 1 Poland 1 and 3 for Austria's win, adding 2 more for Denmark-Serbia. Luckiest manager of the day is Fabrice Alessandrin who earned 16 points through randoms. |
GROUP STAGE WINNER IN WAITING?
A pretty miserable 2 points from four predictions - those coming for predicting England and Slovenia would draw - nevertheless constitutes a successful day's work for Karen Hutchison. That 2 point total is 4 more than nearest rival Ethan Garner, the gap at the top now opens from 1 point to 5. Four points further back, Brendan Keenan (3rd) and Craig Watters (4th) stay where they are with zero points today, while a blank is enough to move Anne Noble into the top five. Bjarke Hesbjerg is right back in the running - the last leader of our Overall League before Karen took over on Friday was 27th two nights ago, climbed 10 yesterday and is up another 11 places tonight to 6th. Just four matches to play, though, until we crown our Group Stage Champion and Karen is very much in pole position. |
Tuesday June 25th - 17:00 NETHERLANDS 2 AUSTRIA 3
FRANCE 1 POLAND 1
Well that was unexpected. The vast majority expected Netherlands to win, the even vaster 96% expected France to win. Well done to Alison Giovanetti who correctly selected Netherlands 2 Austria 3. That's 8 points for Alison, zero in the other game. Laura McDonald did even better on randoms with 6 points for France 1 Poland 1 plus 3 points for 1-2. Most impressive of all, Caroline Vaughan had the same but did it herself. Nice work Caroline.
For many of us, it's a -2 point evening. Which makes zero points a relative success for Karen Hutchison, with all the others who started in the top five losing 2. Karen is now 3 clear of Ethan, while zero is enough to see Anne Noble climb to 3rd. Bjarke Hesbjerg - who was top until Karen took over on Friday - had slipped to 27th before last night's games. 7 points yesterday and 3 today so far, Bjarke is right back in it in 4th. |
Monday June 24th - 20:00
ALBANIA 0 SPAIN 1
CROATIA 1 ITALY 1
Every single one of us predicted a Spain win, making it a bad match for the 20 with random predictions. Of 156 who picked up points, though, only 13 had the correct score (5 points), 14 more picked up 3 points for the single goal margin, 129 score 2 points. Meanwhile yet another goal at the death basically sent Croatia out (even if not yet confirmed) and sent Italy through to play Switzerland. Eight managers can feel particularly aggrieved to lose 5 points with the last kick, while 1-1 was of course a very popular score, no less than 38 score 5 points. |
Among those on 1-1 were our top two. Both score 7 for the day and, with Karen Hutchison a point ahead of Ethan Garner, there is then now a 6 point gap behind them. Karen has now been top for 10 matches. When you're looking at 1-1s and 1-0s, Brendan Keenan will always be sniffing around the points, and so it proved tonight - Brendan hit both the nails on the head for a perfect 10, enough to see Notts Co USA climb 11 places from 14th to 3rd.
I see there's another cautious (boring) predictor around this 'season' in Richard Hancy. Apart from three randoms, Richard predicted every match up to Match 21 as a 1-0 or 1-1. After a run of five 2-1s, Richard returned to the 1-0 and 1-1 trick tonight in a masterstroke of timing. Maximum points too for The Muppets, they are up 23 spots to 12th. Three more with a perfect night... Debbie Tunstill, Paul Willingham (yesterday's manager of the day) and James Pierson. |
Sunday June 23rd - 20:00
SCOTLAND 0 HUNGARY 1
SWITZERLAND 1 GERMANY 1
Phew. Injury time goals in both games turned many of our managers' scores on their heads. Our leader Karen Hutchison had Germany to win and a draw, so completes the day with zero points - nevertheless enough to keep Karen top for the seventh time in a row, and actually increase her lead to 1 point. Torstein Hansen, having been level on points, lost 2 today and slips to 3rd. Into the final minutes of injury time, Ethan Garner was also heading for -2 points for the Germany loss. The equaliser there made for zero points, while Hungary's oh-so-late winner gained 3. Ethan climbs to 2nd as a result. Anne Noble gained 7 points at the death... having been set for -2, Anne scored 5 and is up five places to 4th. |
Manager of the Day came in the very unlikely form of Paul Willingham, with Hungary to win (2 points) and a perfect 1-1 for Switzerland v Germany (5), Paul is the only one to score 7 on the day. It's Paul's first correct score and he's up from 156th to 138th with a still-miserable 20 points. |
The combination of 3rd Place qualifiers and use of the 'head-to-head' rule is doing my head in a little bit. In Group E we have the crazy situation where, if the top two both win, no matter what the scores, they will swap places. Similarly, and potentially critical to the chances of other teams hoping to qualify in 3rd place, the same is true if the bottom two both lose. With all four teams on 3 points, the head-to-head record across the four is of course equal, so goal difference counts. Slovakia are 3rd, Ukraine 4th. If they both lose, irrespective of the scores, Ukraine move ahead of Slovakia because they beat them. The ludicrous knock-on effect of which is that it would be great news for, for example, Hungary, who would then have a much better chance of being a 'better' 3rd placed team than Ukraine - as they are likely to have a worse goal difference than Slovakia... Nuts. Could be a weird week... |
Saturday June 22nd - 20:00
BELGIUM 2 ROMANIA 0
A big 43 with the correct score for this one, 5 points each. Fourteen earned 3, another 80 on 2 points. Torstein Hansen got this one right, which means when the day was counted our top two scored 9 points each. Karen Hutchison with 5-2-2, Torstein coming back late with 2-2-5. Those two are now level on points with a 4-point gap below, with Ethan Garner climbing 12 places on the day to 3rd. Ethan's 12 points with two spot-on plus a correct result make him one of four managers who top-score for Saturday. Among them are Eva Willingham whose 12 points today is treble the total (4) she had amassed from the previous 21 fixtures. A 20 place climb from 166 to 146, a very very long way to go... |
Saturday June 22nd - 17:00
TURKEY 0 PORTUGAL 3
137 teams picked up points, but only nine the big 5. Six scored 3 points for the correct margin, 122 pick up 2 points. Garry Simpson was the top manager to correctly predict, after slipping a bit earlier Garry recovers and is now in the top 10. 2 points for our top four, they all stay where they are. |
Saturday June 22nd - 14:00
GEORGIA 1 CZECHIA 1
Karen Hutchison is at it again - a seventh correct score for Karen. Gill Lovatt also got it spot on, and is up to 2nd. It's Gill's sixth correct score, no-one else has managed more than five. Outstanding work ladies. This one has stretched the top of the table a bit - illustrated by the fact that Mark Lyder is a non-mover in 4th despite failing to pick up any points. So the gap from 1st to 4th that was a single point is now 6.
27 got the 5 points, 25 picked up 2, 124 of us leave with nothing. |
Friday June 21st - 20:00
NETHERLANDS 0 FRANCE 0
It’s taken 21 games, we have our first nil-nil. Only one person thought it would be this one, that man is Jon Wandrei. 8 points for Jon, 11 in total for the day, that makes Jon our manager of the day and he’s up from 82 to 14. Karen Hutchison started the day with a perfect 5 for Slovakia 1 Ukraine 2 - Karen the first to hit six correct scores - which took her to top spot, and despite scoring zero in each of the later games, finishes the day in front. Torstein Hansen's 2 points for this one pushed him into 2nd, level on points with Karen but with less correct scores.
So a low-scoring day in general, demonstrated by the fact Brendan Keenan climbs three places to 8th despite scoring just 2 points. The leader at the start of the day, Bjarke Hesbjerg, drops eight places to 9th while he who was 3rd, Carson Stewart, slips seven to 10th, both totaling -2 points over three matches. |
Friday June 21st - 17:00
POLAND v AUSTRIA
Three lowly teams got this one spot on. The top two got zero and stay where they were before the match. Mark Lyder sneaks back into the top three with 2 points. |
Friday June 21st - 14:00
SLOVAKIA 1 UKRAINE 2
Only 30% had the Ukraine win. 16 managers score 2 points, 17 = 3 and 20 pick up the maximum 5 points. Yet again we have a new leader - that's 12 now and the latest is Karen Hutchison. Karen is well deserving of top spot having predicted more exact scores than anyone else. Karen has 6 while only four others have managed 5. Gill Lovatt is one of those, and makes it three spot-on from the last four to climb to 2nd. Torstein Hansen climbs nine to 3rd. Gill and Torstein queuing up for the accolade of table-topper number 13... |
Thursday June 20th - 20:00
SPAIN 1 ITALY 0
Well 77 managers predicted the Spain win but just two expected only the one goal. A massive result for Bjarke Hesbjerg in particular as Bjarke shoots back to the top of the overall league table. The first to top the table four times, Bjarke was last top after match 7. Several randoms kicked in with 1-0 too, most notably Gill Lovatt, whose last predicted score was this afternoon’s 1-1 draw between Slovenia and Serbia - which she got spot on. 5 points. Add to that a random 2 for Denmark v England and tonight’s 7, Gill is top scorer for the day with 14 and up 53 places to 6th. Even bigger shout outs for Anne Noble and Pedro Fernandez who hit 13 points and did predict all theirs. While Pedro puts a rocket up his previously-struggling campaign - up 78 places to 56th and 12 points from the top - Anne crashes the top 10 and is now 3 away from the summit. |
Thursday June 20th - 17:00
DENMARK 1 ENGLAND 1
Lots of zeros out there for the 100+ who went for England. 1-1 earned 16 a 5 point prize, 2 points for any other draw.
We now have our 11th different leader as Mark Lyder takes over with 7 points today so far. I mentioned last night that a gap had started to appear behind the top few - well that’s gone. So far today the top six, as started the day, have scored just 2 points between them. Six managers have a perfect 10.
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Thursday June 20th - 14:00
SLOVENIA 1 SERBIA 1
I'll start with a sympathetic nod to Kenneth Olson who was within seconds of becoming our 10th leader with a 1-0 prediction. Alas it was not to be. Over 5 minutes into a 'minimum of 5 minutes' injury time, Serbia's equaliser broke six hearts in particular that predicted 1-0, while handing 5 points to no less than 41 others... Shame.
Instead of Kenneth, Carson Stewart becomes the 10th to hit top spot, easing past the top 2 with 2 points 0-0... |
Wednesday June 19th - 20:00
SCOTLAND 1 SWITZERLAND 1
A point apiece. Although the favoured result was a Switzerland win, 1-1 was the most popular score. 39 of us picked up the 5 points, 13 scored 2, the rest (122) with zero. As I mentioned in the early evening report, predicting Germany 2 Hungary 0 was just the second time this tournament that Brendan "Cautious" Keenan found a number higher than 1 on his keyboard, but it was back to the binaries for this one... with another perfect score. That keeps Brendan in the top spot that he first gained in the Germany win. Brendan's 10-point day is the best, shared by eight, and all achieved it with zero points for Croatia-Albania followed by two spot-ons. Also with 10 today, Griffin Wolfe is 2nd, equal on points (34) with Brendan. We then have Carson Stewart on 33, Jake Hartman 32 before the first signs of a crack appearing in our upper positions, a 3 point gap from 4th to 5th. |
15 matches played and therefore 15 Overall League tables confirmed and we have now had nine different leaders. So far no-one has managed to top the Table more than 3 times. This afternoon, RangerMike Blaine became the first to complete a run of three consecutive turns at the top, before slipping down to 6th as Brendan Keenan stepped in for his first two appearances at the summit. |
Wednesday June 19th - 17:00
GERMANY 2 HUNGARY 0
The most popular score came in this time. With randoms added, 30 teams pick up 5 points, 30 score 3 and 86 more earn 2. For only the second time this tournament, Brendan "Cautious" Keenan found a number higher than 1 on his keyboard (the first was also for Germany) and our ex-Champion hits top spot on the Overall League for the first time. Brendan is one of three on 29 points and leads the way by virtue of his 3 bonus points, Griffin Wolfe is up to 2nd with RangerMike Blaine slipping to 3rd. |
Wednesday June 19th - 14:00
CROATIA 2 ALBANIA 2
I only had the end of this one on in the background, but what a cracking finish to the match. Croatia piled on the pressure to pull back from 0-1 down to 2-1 up, Albania came back to equalise, either one could have won it at the death. For Predict The Scores the pendulum kept swinging... at 0-1, 23rd placed David Metzger was heading for top spot, at 1-1 it swung to Karen Hutchison, at 2-1 we were back with RangerMike Blaine... and to pull several points clear. As it finished, the top seven as we started all drew a blank and RangerMike stays top, Carson Stewart stays 2nd, with Karen up from 8th to 3rd with 2 points. Only Norie Williamson got it spot-on, and a second successive correct score - this one worth 8 points - rockets Norie to 9th spot. |
Tuesday June 18th - 20:00
PORTUGAL 2 CZECHIA 1
Well this one went very much as expected - but only just. Another injury time winner changed everything - the six on 1-1 who were due to hit 6 points end up with nothing, those with 2-1 pick up 5 points not zero, and most of us collect at least 2 points that we weren't going to get. In all, 143 (85%) had the Portugal win. 97 score 2 points, 14 get 3, 32 earn 5 points. After taking over top spot earlier in the day with a last-kick 3-pointer, 2 points this time is enough to keep RangerMike Blaine top. Mike has 27 points. Carson Stewart who, like Mike, scored 7 points in total on Tuesday is up to 2nd with 26 points. Ominously, former Champion Brendan Keenan is up to 3rd. |
No-one got both Monday's games spot-on, with six managers hitting the top score of the day with 8 points. The highest placed to do so was Jake Hartman, who climbs from 18th to 5th as a result. Well done also to Brendan Horgan, Austin Wilhelm, Alan Christopher Walker, Alison Giovanetti and Nate Avalos. For Alan it's an overdue return to form, having been pushing for top spot on Saturday but since having fallen as far as 88th place. Alan's now 40th. |
Tuesday June 18th - 17:00
TURKEY 3 GEORGIA 1
The very last kick of the match robs 28 managers of the 5 points, they have to make do with 2, and hands the maximum 5 points to seven. Among them, RangerMike Blaine who takes over top spot in the Overall League, to become our eighth different leader in eleven matches. The second highest placed team to score 5 points was way down in 87th (now 37th) and ironically it's Robert Metzger's third team... his two teams that had been equal top slip to 4th and 10th respectively... |
Monday June 17th - 20:00
AUSTRIA 0 FRANCE 1
Well we made it beyond match 10 without mentioning Brendan Keenan, but here he comes. Always successful in the World Cup and Euro competitions, Brendan was the only one to predict France to win 1-0. 3 bonus points means Brendan finished the day with an 8-pointer and, though he had scored -4 in the first two matches of the day, 4 points for the day is the best score from anyone that predicted. Notts Co USA are up to 6th from 34th at the start of the day - they were 50th before this match. The random score generator dished out three 0-1s, among them Roisin Guargena, who climbs to 9th.
Robert Metzger's prediction of 2-3 in both his high-flying teams was worth three points. Robert sits top of our Overall League at the end of day 4 with 22 points, 2 better than Griffin Wolfe, Bjarke Hesbjerg and RangerMike Blaine. Our top scorer of the day just had to be a randomiser - Steven Mccaffery with 2, 0, 8 totaled 10 points and rockets from 157th to 64th. |
Monday June 17th - 17:00
BELGIUM 0 SLOVAKIA 1
Woah, we have our first real big shock result. Belgium were the clearest favourites we have had yet, aside from Italy against Albania, with the predictions in at 135/6/3 (Italy was 139/8/0). Yet Slovakia held on for a 0-1 victory after getting the goal in the seventh minute. All three that predicted a Slovakia win predicted 1-2, so they gain 4 points each (3 points for the correct margin plus a bonus point for being the only three getting the result right. Meanwhile, nearly everyone else loses 2 points... Sadly the random generator did not pick a correct score, which would have been worth 11 points. Two randoms do get 4 points, three get 3. |
Robert Metzger goes top overall, with a second zero-pointer of the day enough to pass Griffin Wolfe and Bjarke Hesbjerg. Not sure if Robert is planning on keeping those two teams identical. Zero today is also enough to see Kenneth Olson, Carson Stewart and RangerMike Blaine up eight places to 5th/6th. Herman Lee's random 3-pointer sees him up 69 places to 15th while today's top scorer so far, also with random predictions, is AndWhyGordon who has climbed from 124th to 28th with 6 points.
Bring on an Austria victory to complete a day of surprises... |
Monday June 17th - 14:00
ROMANIA 3 UKRAINE 0
Well, none of us saw that coming. The only prediction made in which Romania had 3 goals was 3-4. 12 predicted a Romania win for 2 points, while 11 random predictions came in positive but none earned more than 2 points. Although it's only 2 points it's a pretty big 2 points when 80 who predicted a Ukraine win all lose 2 points, while the rest score zero.
One of those to score zero, Griffin Wolfe nevertheless goes back top with Bjarke Hesbjerg scoring -2. Both on 20 points, Griffin is top by virtue of his 1 bonus point earned for Hungary v Switzerland. Kenneth Olson (3rd), Carson Stewart and RangerMike Blaine (equal 4th) all climb 10 places into the top 10. |
ROMANIA v UKRAINE
Since Euro 2024 began with a bang with six goals on opening night, each match has had the same number or less goals than the previous. Our first 0-0 or a single goal victory will maintain that sequence. We are onto match eight and there have been no real shocks yet - aside from England keeping a clean sheet of course. This won't be the next, as there is no outstanding choice when it comes to our predictions. Mixed feelings between Ukraine (72) and a draw (57), with not many fancying Romania (12).
More of us think that there will indeed be less than two goals (41) than any previous prediction, so perhaps the sequence will indeed continue... |
| While the Ukraine win is the favoured result, 1-1 is the standout pick for the score with 37 votes. Next highest is 1-2 with 27. Bonus points available... 3 points for 0-3, 0-4, 3-4. 2 points for 2-0. 1 point for 1-0, 1-3, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2.
Our leader Bjarke Hesbjerg fancies the Ukrainians to win 0-2. Griffin Wolfe has 2-2 which is a 6-pointer. In 3rd place, Robert Metzger also has 2-2 while Mark Wilhelm plumps for 0-1. Yesterday's top-scorer Karen Hutchison will go top if 1-1 comes in. Others that can go top - 13th placed Kenneth Olson (1-0), 14th placed RangerMike Blaine (2-1). |
Sunday June 16th - 20:00
ENGLAND 1 SERBIA 0
141 of us scored points in this one - 100 with 2, 29 with 3 and 12 with 5 points for the getting it spot-on. None of those who had had a perfect 10-point day before this match hit maximum points, but Karen Hutchison and Anne Noble both scored 3 points - the ladies are our co-Managers of the day with an impressive 13. Karen climbs 89 places from 9th to 6th, Anne is up 100 places from 151 to 51. |
Having returned to top spot after the Slovenia v Denmark match, 2 points is enough for Bjarke Hesbjerg to stay there to complete an 8-place climb on the day from 9th to 1st. Similarly, Griffin Wolfe remains 2nd, up 3 places on the day. Caleb Saburi, who started the day top, is now 50th after leaving Saturday's scores to random. Ava Leather - joint leader with Caleb, slips to 12th while Wyatt Monacelli has fallen from 3rd to 32nd. The day started with Rachel Ralph and Ethan Garner taking over top spot after Poland v Netherlands - the two are still holding hands, now equal 10th. |
Sunday June 16th - 17:00
SUN 16/06 SLOVENIA 1 DENMARK 1
Our first draw and this is an absolutely massive result for the 29 managers who picked up maximum points. It's not just the 5 point gain, but the fact that 122 others get zero, with 16 scoring 2 points for predicting the draw but the wrong score.
A big shake-up to the Overall League table as a result. Bjarke Hesbjerg is back on top with 20 points, Griffin Wolfe - who had slipped to 14th before this game - in 2nd with 18. Mark Wilhelm is 3rd with 17, then we have three entries equal 4th with 16 points including two who started the day in 53rd in Darren Glover and Brian Thistle. Those two have had a perfect day so far, as have Bjarke and Karen Hutchison, who has rocketed from 95th to 12th today, Auston Wilhelm (128th to 38th) and Anne Noble (151st to 70th). |
Sunday June 16th - 14:00
SUN 16/06 POLAND 1 NETHERLANDS 2
The first match to finish with our most-predicted score earns 5 points for 52 entries. 23 pick up 3 points for the one-goal win by a different score, 58 more collect 2 points for the correct result. 21 get nothing, 13 lose 2 points.
Ava Leather scored 2 points for 1-3, but it's not enough to keep Ava top. Rachel Ralph and Ethan Garner climb from 6th to 1st with 5-point hauls. Rachel, by the way, entered the competition late so did not get any points for Germany - Scotland. Inspired. Five teams all have 15 points - bonus points are equal for the top three, so it's a higher number of exact scores that keeps Rachel and Ethan ahead of Ava.
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Saturday June 15th - 20:00
ITALY 2 ALBANIA 1
Well, roughly 86% of us had our dreams of maximum points crushed in just 23 seconds as Albania went ahead. However, the current European Champions came back to get the victory that nearly 95% of us expected - only eight going for the draw and absolutely no-one for Albania. Adding in the random predictions, 148 of our 164 entries picked up points. 115 got the 2 points, 17 got the 3 points for the Italy win by the correct margin (but not the right score). That leaves us with 16 managers who correctly predicted (or got a random of) Italy 2 Albania 1 for the 5 points. |
At the top of our Overall League, 3 points each were enough to make it 11 for the day for both Ava Leather and Caleb Saburi. Ava had 3-2, Caleb 2-1. As well as making them our two top scorers for Saturday, it leaves Ava and Caleb joint top of our Overall League. Wyatt Monacelli was one of the 12 to correctly predict Italy's 2-1 win, and after starting the day as one of 131 teams in equal 3rd, Wyatt is now 3rd all on his own with 12 points, one less than the leaders. |
Saturday June 15th - 17:00
SAT 15/06 SPAIN 3 CROATIA 0
106 predicted the Spain win - with a few randoms coming in, 110 are in the points. Only two correctly guessed 3-0, meaning it's worth 2 bonus points for a total of 7. Nice work Alan Christopher Walker and Wyatt Monacelli. They are Alan's first 7 points of the day while Wyatt started with -2, so is now on 5 for today. With Griffin Wolfe opting for a draw, Griffin slips from top to 5th, allowing Ava Leather, Caleb Saburi and Ethan Garner to take over top spot.
Only David Metzger got 3 points for the correct margin, going for 4-1, while a further 107 earn 2 points for the Spain win. 34 blanked with a draw, 20 lost 2 points - including Peter Barrett, Eva Willingham and David Elliston who all now have the worst possible total from three predictions, -6 points. |
Saturday June 15th - 14:00
SAT 15/06 HUNGARY 1 SWITZERLAND 3
Another match where an injury-time goal changed the complexion of things! 22 managers who had predicted 1-2 earn 2 points, instead of 5... Meanwhile five who predicted 1-3 won big. Because it was five, it's worth a bonus point, so 6 points each. Among those were one of yesterday's 3-pointers, Griffin Wolfe, so Griffin is now out on top on his own with 9 points. Three teams are a point behind having collected 2 points last night and got this one spot-on. The last team to earn 6 today hadn't even entered the competition before the Germany win, so Rachel Ralph has a perfect 6...
13 managers earned 3 points for the correct margin, 35 picked up 2 for the Switzerland win, 71 got nothing for the draw and 40 lost 2 points for predicting a Hungary win. |
Friday June 15th - 20:00
FRI 14/06 GERMANY 5 SCOTLAND 1
The pain and the glory of Predict The Scores already in evidence… 92 minutes gone and five managers who predicted 4-1 were heading for 6 points and a very nice early 4 point lead. Germany’s fifth goal, though, means no-one got the score correct. The unfortunate five are Nick Tunstill, Kim Johansen, John Quick, Nigel Morgan and Gary Friar.
Well done to Bjarke Hesbjerg and Griffin Wolfe, our early leaders with 3 points. Both predicted 4-0. Behind them we have no less than 128 teams on 2 points, while 17 have zero, including one late arrival that missed the first match. 12 start with the dreaded -2, but can console themselves with the fact they are only 5 points off top spot. Could have been a lot worse.
Next up, Hungary v Switzerland, 2pm UK time on Saturday. Hajrá Magyarok! |