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Post by paulgilb on Jun 27, 2019 22:43:50 GMT 1
This is the 5th summer in a row in which a home nation has reached the semi-finals of a major football tournament (male or female). If the semi-final on Tuesday goes the same way as the previous 4, then England's final 4 matches in this tournament will all have come exactly 52 weeks to the day since matches played by England's men's team in last year's World Cup (against Panama, Belgium, Colombia and Sweden).
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Post by paulgilb on Jun 19, 2019 23:46:20 GMT 1
This is the first time that England have won a Women's World Cup match by more than 1 goal since their win over Japan in the group stage of the 2011 tournament (the tournament that Japan went on to win), which was also a 2-0 win with the first goal being scored by Ellen White at around the quarter-hour mark. Argentina can still qualify, but only if both Cameroon vs New Zealand and Thailand vs Chile finish as draws. If this happens, then England will play China in the Round of 16. If one of the 3rd-place teams in Groups E and F gets through, then they will play England in the Round of 16. If both get through, it will be the Group F team whom England will face. And Scotland have kept alive their record of never reaching the knockout stage of a Football World Cup (either men's or women's).
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Post by paulgilb on Jun 17, 2019 22:38:41 GMT 1
Possible opponents for England in the round of 16:
China New Zealand Cameroon Chile Thailand Netherlands Canada
(first 5 are possible if England finish top of Group D, last 2 are possible if England finish 2nd)
Possible opponents for Scotland in the round of 16, should they reach it:
France Germany
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Post by paulgilb on Jun 16, 2019 23:09:53 GMT 1
This weekend's results mean that 4 points will be enough to get through to the last 16 (3rd place in Groups E and F will only manage at most 3 points), which means that Japan are definitely through to the last 16. It also means that a draw between Spain and China tomorrow will guarantee both teams going through...
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Post by paulgilb on Jun 13, 2019 23:36:42 GMT 1
Tonight's results mean that Germany and France are definitely through to the last 16 - Germany will definitely finish in the top 2 of their group, and in the unlikely event that France do not finish in the top 2 of their group, they will be one of the 4 best 3rd-place teams.
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Post by paulgilb on Jun 11, 2019 22:59:49 GMT 1
Interestingly, when Argentina and Japan were in the same group in 2007 (England were also in that group), Japan needed an injury-time goal to beat Argentina, who lost their other games 11-0 (to Germany) and 6-1 (to England).
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Post by paulgilb on May 25, 2019 0:00:36 GMT 1
I'll have number 5 please.
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 3, 2019 22:57:36 GMT 1
13 and 24 please
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Post by paulgilb on Nov 29, 2018 23:31:38 GMT 1
It was hosted in the West Indies, not Sri Lanka.
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Post by paulgilb on Nov 6, 2018 0:00:47 GMT 1
Both Wikipedia (which has a picture of the single cover) and Polyhex say that it is Robin Gibb, not Barry Gibb, who features on the song.
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Post by paulgilb on Oct 21, 2018 13:11:07 GMT 1
According to Wikipedia, his time was 8:01:09. 7:56:41 was the time for 2nd place.
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 17, 2018 0:03:57 GMT 1
Best performing team per tournament (based on total Elo points gained):
1930 - USA (+87) 1934 - Italy (+73) 1938 - Italy (+71) 1950 - Uruguay (+135) 1954 - West Germany (+154) 1958 - Brazil (+165) 1962 - Brazil (+92) 1966 - Portugal (+193) 1970 - Brazil (+161) 1974 - Netherlands (+217) 1978 - Argentina (+114) 1982 - Italy (+176) 1986 - Argentina (+167) 1990 - Cameroon (+81) 1994 - Brazil (+100) 1998 - Croatia (+134) 2002 - Brazil (+204) 2006 - Italy (+135) 2010 - Germany (+103) 2014 - Netherlands (+168) 2018 - France (+140)
Worst performing team per tournament:
1930 - Mexico (-118) 1934 - Brazil (-76) 1938 - Germany (-75) 1950 - Mexico (-102) 1954 - Scotland (-91) 1958 - Argentina (-124) 1962 - Switzerland (-76) 1966 - Brazil (-93) 1970 - Czechoslovakia (-102) 1974 - Zaire (-88) 1978 - Hungary (-106) 1982 - West Germany (-75) 1986 - Northern Ireland (-77) 1990 - Sweden (-122) 1994 - Greece (-97) 1998 - Japan (-72) 2002 - France (-134) 2006 - Czech Republic (-91) 2010 - Italy (-87) 2014 - Brazil (-158) 2018 - Germany (-113)
Matches with most points transferred per tournament:
1930 - France 4-1 Mexico (66) 1934 - Sweden 3-2 Argentina (52) 1938 - Switzerland 4-2 Germany (62) 1950 - Chile 5-2 United States (59) 1954 - Turkey 7-0 South Korea (80) 1958 - Czechoslovakia 6-1 Argentina (84) 1962 - Mexico 3-1 Czechoslovakia (72) 1966 - Hungary 3-1 Brazil (62) 1970 - Brazil 4-1 Czechoslovakia (45) 1974 - Netherlands 2-0 Brazil (59) 1978 - Peru 3-1 Scotland (67) 1982 - Algeria 2-1 W Germany (56) 1986 - Spain 5-1 Denmark (71) 1990 - Argentina 2-0 Soviet Union (62) 1994 - Bulgaria 2-0 Argentina (68) 1998 - Croatia 3-0 Germany (77) 2002 - Poland 3-1 United States (66) 2006 - Ghana 2-0 Czech Republic (82) 2010 - Germany 4-0 Argentina (58) 2014 - Germany 7-1 Brazil (81) 2018 - South Korea 2-0 Germany (80)
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 16, 2018 23:55:09 GMT 1
England's 5 best World Cup matches by Elo points transferred:
1. 3-1 v Argentina in 1962 2. 3-0 v Denmark in 2002 3. 2-0 v Sweden in 2018 4. 1-0 v Argentina in 2002 5. 3-0 v Poland in 1986
England's 5 worst World Cup matches by Elo points transferred:
1. 0-1 v USA in 1950 2. 1-4 v Germany in 2010 3. 2-4 v Uruguay in 1954 4. 0-1 v Portugal in 1986 5. 0-1 v Spain in 1950
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 16, 2018 23:50:46 GMT 1
England's World Cup performances ranked from best to worst based on Elo points gained and lost throughout the tournament:
1. 1966 (88) 2. 1982 (64) 3. 2002 (41) 4. 1990 (34) 5. 2006 (27) 6. 1998 (-4) 7. 1962 (-15) 8. 1986 (-27) 9. 2018 (-34) 10. 1970 (-38) 11. 1954 (-47) 12. 1958 (-61) 13. 2014 (-72) 14. 2010 (-86) 15. 1950 (-91)
Based on average points change per game played:
1. 1966 (14.67) 2. 1982 (12.8) 3. 2002 (8.2) 4. 2006 (5.4) 5. 1990 (4.86) 6. 1998 (-1) 7. 1962 (-3.75) 8. 2018 (-4.86) 9. 1986 (-5.4) 10. 1970 (-9.5) 11. 1958 (-15.25) 12. 1954 (-15.67) 13. 2010 (-21.5) 14. 2014 (-24) 15. 1950 (-30.33)
The following should be noted (a + sign before the year indicating that the point mentioned has a positive effect on England's score for that tournament, a - sign indicates a negative effect):
1. Each match results in a transfer of points from the losing team to the winning team. In the event of a draw, points are transferred from the higher-ranked team to the lower-ranked team. It is possible for no points to be transferred if the result is a draw between two fairly evenly-matched teams, or a win for a team ranked much higher than their opponents.
2. The number of points transferred depends on the ranking difference between the two sides (-1950) and the margin of victory (+1986).
3. Home advantage is taken into account (-1966).
4. Penalty shoot-outs are ignored, with the result being considered as a draw (+1990, +1998, +2006, -2018). This has a side effect that it may be 'better' for a team to lose on penalties than to win then subsequently lose e.g. England would have a better points change if they had lost to Colombia on penalties (although they wouldn't have then beaten Sweden, they would have been spared their defeats to Croatia and Belgium).
5. All matches within a tournament are given equal weighting, including 3rd-place playoffs (-1990, -2018). If 3rd-place playoffs are ignored, then 1990 and 2018 would be 3rd and 6th respectively on the first list, and both 1990 and 2018 would be 2 places higher on the 2nd list.
6. The method does not take into account the importance of goal difference i.e. it may be crucial in the group stage, but in the knockout stage all that actually matters is who wins the match (+2002, -2010).
7. The points gained or lost throughout the tournament is affected by the ranking before the tournament, and can thus be seen as a measure of performance relative to expectations.
8. The system does not take into account whether or not a game went into extra time (-1970, +1990, -2018).
9. The situation within the group is not taken into account e.g. whether or not a team has already qualified for the knock-out stage, or only needs a draw to go through/top the group (-2002, -2006, -2018).
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 15, 2018 19:37:09 GMT 1
This is the first time that France have finished a World Cup Final with 11 players on the pitch.
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 12, 2018 23:00:21 GMT 1
Slight feeling of deja vu here: a home nation manage 2 wins and 1 defeat in the group stage to get through to the 'easier' half of the knockout stage, manage a narrow win in the Round of 16, then a more convincing win in the QF (with 100% of the team's goals in that match being scored by players born in England), before losing a winnable SF and thus missing out on a chance to play France in the final the day after Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber contest the Wimbledon final.
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 11, 2018 23:43:51 GMT 1
England's defeat means that their 7 matches will have been played in 7 different stadiums.
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 3, 2018 23:19:23 GMT 1
Random stat that may annoy a few England fans: England keep alive their 100% record of winning penalty shootouts that I have watched them in live on the TV.
Predicted SFs using Elo rankings:
Brazil v France England v Croatia
Predicted final:
Brazil v Croatia (Brazil to win; France to finish 3rd)
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 1, 2018 18:21:18 GMT 1
Random fact of the day: out of the 7 teams left in England's half of the draw, it is England who have reached a World Cup final most recently (in 1966). The only other former finalists in that half of the draw are 1958 finalists Sweden.
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Post by paulgilb on Jun 29, 2018 23:04:12 GMT 1
The 32 teams ranked from best to worst according to change in Elo points over the group stage:
1 - Croatia - 103 2 - Sweden - 77 3 - Belgium - 62 4 - Uruguay - 60 5 - South Korea - 43 6 - Denmark - 34 7 - Iran - 27 8 - Japan - 24 9 - Switzerland - 23 10 - Nigeria - 21 11 - France - 20 12 - Russia - 14 13 - Senegal - 13 14 - Colombia - 11 15 - Tunisia - 5 16 - Portugal - 2 17 - Brazil - 0 18 - Saudi Arabia - -3 19 - England - -4 20 - Serbia - -5 21 - Mexico - -7 22 - Morocco - -13 23 - Spain - -16 24 - Costa Rica - -18 25 - Peru - -25 26 - Australia - -29 27 - Poland - -48 28 - Iceland - -56 29 - Panama - -63 30 - Argentina - -68 31 - Egypt - -71 32 - Germany - -113
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