Tag: World Cup

UEFA Champions League

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Soccer

Personally, soccer is the greatest sport on the planet. It’s also currently the most played sport in the world with over 300 million people playing it for a team. And many many more are also playing for fun. Think about this, the record for the most watched super bowl is 144.4 million people watching. That’s a lot. Now, we have the world cup final. Over 3.5 billion people were either watching listening or playing. (Russia 2018 world cup final France vs Croatia)

But the world cup happens every 4 years and that is countries. There is another competition that is called the Champions League. 32 of the best teams across Europe compete in one tournament. This year though, it was something else. Records were set here and there.

One of those records were set by a team named ‘AJAX’ from the Netherlands. No one thought they would have got to the Champions League semi-final but they did! They beat a team where one of the other team’s players was worth of all of AJAX’s team including the bench. The record that AJAX set was the first time ever a team has made it to the semi-finals after making it through 3 qualifying rounds. (Qualifying rounds are for teams outside of England, France, Germany and Spain)

The other really important record set this year is related to resilience. This year, there have been 7 comebacks. In Champions League you play two games and you play one home and away. It’s pretty complicated but to explain it easily, if you get more goals you go through and if it’s a tie then the team with more away goals goes through. (Away goals are goals you scored when you play away from home in the other game)

I think that this year’s Champions League can teach us all about resilience and how to believe. Believe you can do the impossible or believe in yourself and the people around you.

Image result for champions league

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World Cup Predictions

by Cole Pontefract, posted in Soccer, Sports

On June 14, the 2018 Russia world cup starts! The last world cup was in Brazil and Germany won. They beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time. The tournament starts out with 8 groups with 4 nationalities in each group and there are 32 teams in total. In this post, I will be predicting the 2018 World Cup.

Groups

Group A: Russia, Uruguay, Egypt and Saudia Rabia|Group B: Iran, Spain, Portugal and Morocco| Group C: France, Peru, Denmark and Australia| Group D: Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria and Iceland| Group E: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland and Costa Rica|Group F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden and South Korea|Group G: England, Belgium, Panama and Tunsia| Group H: Colombia, Japan, Poland and Senegal

 My Predictions

In group A, I predict that Uruguay and Egypt are going through. In group B, Spain and Portugal. Group C, France and Denmark. Group D, Argentina and Iceland. Group E, Brazil and Costa Rica. Group F, Germany and Sweden. Group G, Belgium and England. And last but not least, Group H, Colombia and Poland.

Now, in the tournament tree, on the left-hand side for the round of sixteen, Uruguay lost to Portugal 2-1, France beat Iceland 3-1, Brazil beat Sweden 4-1 and Belgium beat Poland 2-0. On the right-hand side of the tournament tree, Spain beat Egypt 3-1, Argentina beat Denmark 4-1, Germany beat Costa Rica 4-0 and Colombia lost to England 2-1.

In the quarterfinals on the left-hand side, France beat Portugal 4-2 on PK’S after being a 1-1 draw and Brazil beat Belgium 3-1. On the right-hand side, Spain beat Argentina 2-0 and Germany beat England 3-1.

In the semi-finals on the left-hand side, France beat Brazil 3-2 and on the right-hand side, Germany beat Spain 1-0.

In the third place game, Spain beat Brazil 1-0. And, in the 2018 World Cup Final, I predict that Germany will beat France 2-1.

What You Have To Know

This is a prediction and this is not who I want to win. Yes, I am cheering for England, Germany, France and Iceland but mainly for Germany and England. I would also like to see Iceland do well since it is there the first time in the world cup. I think Iceland will do well because of how well they played in the 2016 Euros. (Portugal won)

Russia World Cup 2018 Tournament Tree 2