Friday, June 12
Opening Day | Football will always belong to the people
Football was invented by the people, for the people. It will forever belong to the people. Despite best efforts by certain individuals and institutions to pervert the beautiful game, the players and the fans stand as undefeatable keepers of the flame.
Match 1 — 🇲🇽 Mexico vs 🇿🇦 South Africa (2-0)
Match synthesis:
World Cup 2026 officially got underway with Mexico opening affairs with a 2-0 win over a hapless and unlucky South Africa. Sadly, the star of this match was Wilton Sampaio, the Brazilian referee who dished out three red cards. At least two of those red cards made no sense, but here we are.
Predictions:
67 of 72 poolsters called the Mexico win, and 35 had the score exactly right.
Kudos to (🔥 = hot pick): Adam Lyn, Adrian C, Ajani Banton 🔥, Alexandre Mayor 🔥, Andrew Burke, Andrew R, Brad Murray 🔥, Catherine H 🔥, Cheryl Andros, Colin S 🔥, David R 🔥, Edward Sharp 🔥, Franklin Leonard 🔥, Gerald H 🔥, Greg Lawrence 🔥, Ian M, Jakub K 🔥, Jamel Banton 🔥, Jon Steitz, Kiran Dhupa 🔥, Kyle Kellier, Matthew C 🔥, Matthew Z, Maxwell D 🔥, Mike H 🔥, Moises R 🔥, Nico B 🔥, Sarit Dhupa 🔥, Sheldon L 🔥, Stephen P 🔥, Telroy M 🔥, Tom Hulme 🔥, Umang Desai, Yoav Itzik 🔥, Yuval S 🔥
Match 2 — 🇰🇷 Korea Republic vs 🇨🇿 Czechia (2-1)
Match synthesis:
In the night cap, Korea (not the one led by Kim Jong Un) took on Czechia, the country formerly known as the Czech Republic, and formerly 50% of Czechoslovakia. Fun fact, Czechoslovakia has been to two World Cup Finals (1934 and 1962). In 1934, they lost to Italy 2-1 in extra time and in 1962, they lost to Brazil 3-1 despite taking an early lead. I wonder which of Czechia and Slovakia would have claimed the World Cup had they won? Or would it have been both? Anyway, that's a lot of digression. The game sparked to life in the second half by which time it was watching me. From the highlights, it seemed quite eventful with Czechia taking the lead, Korea equalizing with a quite nifty solo run and finish and won it late to leave Czechia bemoaning VAR.
Predictions:
27 of 72 poolsters called the Korea Republic win, and 8 had the score exactly right.
Kudos to (🔥 = hot pick): Andre Puong, Daniel H, Eric W, Jaiden Banton, Matthew Z, Mike H, Nico B, Shayne S
Standings — Top 15 and ties
Leaderboard after 2 of 72 group stage matches · full standings →
| # | Name | Correct | Exact | 🔥 | Total pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike H | 2 | 2 | 1 | 21 |
| 1 | Nico B | 2 | 2 | 1 | 21 |
| 3 | Ajani Banton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Alex G | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Brad Murray | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Catherine H | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Colin S | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Franklin Leonard | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Jakub K | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Jamel Banton | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Kiran Dhupa | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Moises R | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 3 | Sheldon L | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 14 | Eric W | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| 14 | Ian M | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 |