THEY FINISHED 5TH: RUSSIA

What a start. 5-0 against anyone in your home World Cup campaign is going to get people excited, dreaming big. And that’s what Russia did. Rated as close to hopeless by many before the tournament started, they proved so much to so many and were so close to going one better.

But this will be regarded as a successful performance by the Russian teams. No big names, for sure, but big hearts all over the park, and big support from the stands. The Armchair salutes the home side and looking at his predictions before the tournament can say with confidence ‘I told you so.’

World Cup 2018 Quarter Final predictions

And so to the last eight.

A last eight that The Armchair predicted would look like this:

In what's been a World Cup full of shock early exits and over-performing 'minnows' here's how the Quarter Finals actually look:

FRANCE v URUGUAY
BRAZIL v BELGIUM
SWEDEN v ENGLAND
RUSSIA v CROATIA

So a 50% success rate there, with one tie exactly right. Note too, The Armchair correctly predicted that Argentina would fall and Russia would rise to the occasion. Spain lost on penalties, Peru underpeformed, Germany were shocking, and Senegal denied a path to the knockouts by the dubious yellow cards rule.

The Armchair's tip for title remain in the running, but BELGIUM face their biggest test, BRAZIL tonight. Pass that and the bet is definitely on.

Here's how The Armchair sees the World Cup 2018 Quarter Finals shaping up:

With Belgium beating Brazil on penalties...

THE ROUND OF 16 PREDICTIONS

And so the field is cut in half. Those that flunked the group stage fly home. Those that excelled stay and do battle in the knock out phase.

Here's how The Armchair predicted things would look at the World Cup 2018 Round of 16 stage

before the start of the tournament :

And here's the actual line up of  Round of 16 ties: with predictions

The Armchair predicted 2 TIES DEAD ON (Fra v Arg, Bra v Mex.) And 11 of the 16 teams to get this far.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: GERMANY

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Denmark / Sweden / Japan

The Armchair's two finalists are still IN and can still both play each other in the final: BELGIUM v SPAIN.

They Finished 30th: EGYPT

Uruguay’s win over Saudi Arabia condemned Egypt to a fate they knew was coming.

Losing 2 of 2 is find your passports and pack your bags time. 

Yeah, OK, there’s another game to play against another side that’s on its way home, but all the hassle and joy of qualifying is lost. 

You’re out. 

Your star man played through injury, scored you a penalty, but Salah was never going to be able to do it all himself, even fully fit. 

And certainly not with Russia looking like one of the best teams in the tournament.

The Armchair believes the Egyptians will look back on World Cup 2018 and regard it as a tournament of If Only.

World Cup 2018: Uruguay 1-0 Saudi Arabia

The tricky 4 o’clock UK time kick off rendered this game unwatchable for The Armchair. 

And, from the sounds of it, it was pretty unwatchable for those who saw it in the stadium or on TV. 

Uruguay took the lead and held onto it by all accounts, by all means necessary. 

Boring, boring, boring, 

The Armchair hopes they don’t beat Russia as the hosts deserve to win this group, having played the best football. And because The Armchair tipped them to win Group A at the start of the competition.

The Armchair Predicted:

Uruguay 3-1 Saudi Arabia

12 and 7

They Finished 32nd (LAST): MOROCCO

It’s over for the North Africans, but they will be forgiven for wondering how. 

They played well in both games, narrowly losing them both by a goal, entertaining in both games.

And yet 2 games, 2 defeats is the kind of return that sees you returning home early. 

After the small matter of a game against Spain, which, if they win, could see the Spaniards joining them on the trip west and home.

So, still something to play for, if not glory.

World Cup 2018: Colombia 1-2 Japan

The first red card in the nation of Red Square. And it goes to Sanchez for his rather blatant hand ball which definitely denied a goal. Or, more accurately delayed a Japanese goal, as the penalty was subsequently dispatched.

How many pens have there been in this World Cup? Got to be a record…

It capped a great start to a game in a tight group. Colombia didn’t look like a team of ten men for the rest of the half, and capped a great performance with a grass cutting free kick that slipped under the jumping Japanese wall.

The fact that the free kick should not have been awarded in the first place will not be lost on the Blue Samurai. Falcao blatantly leant into the defender, something VAR ought to have picked up.

In the second half, Japan reclaimed the lead and never surrendered it, wearing down the ten men with an expansive passing game.

Another entertaining game in the best World Cup The Armchair has blogged about. 

The Armchair Predicted:

Colombia 2-2 Japan

8 and 7

World Cup 2018 Germany 0-1 Mexico

'They will still win it.'
The first comment following this, the first bona fide shock of the tournament.
But The Armchair does not believe the Germans are good enough to win the World Cup. They will, however, probably still be good enough to qualify from their group.

But they were not good enough today. A Germany minus Klose lacks finishing power. And today they just weren't at the races.

Big up Mexico, who always do well in the group phase and have pretty much guaranteed they will do that again.

The Armchair Predicted:
Germany 2-0 Mexico

6 and 4

World Cup 2018: Croatia 2-0 Nigeria

Perhaps the first dire game of the tournament. Nigeria looked well off the pace and almost disinterested. Croatia played within themselves but their star-studded line-up proved it can win ugly.
There wasn't much else about this game to recommend it. If there was, 24 hours later, it's been forgotten.

The Armchair Predicted:
Croatia 3-2 Nigeria

6 and 2

World Cup 2018: Peru 0-1 Denmark

Alumni from the Chris Waddle school of penalty taking showed up here and pretty much punctured Peruvian confidence with such a massive miss.

The Armchair had Peru to win this and surely if that pen had been converted, they would have. But such a miss shattered the South Americans and despite the fantastic level of support - they massively outnumbered the Danes despite the latter being so much closer -  I fear Peru will not not make the knockout phase.

The Danes were nothing special, save for the Schmeichel wall in goal.

The Armchair Predicted:

Peru 2-0 Denmark

5 and 2

World Cup 2018: Argentina 1-1 Iceland

England fans must feel a bit better about their Euro2016 exit after this.

Iceland are no pushover, clearly. Clear as ice, in fact.

But Messi continues to misfire in the big tournaments. He will never be regarded as a true international legend unless he can turn things round in the next couple of games.

That missed penalty of his has condemned The Armchair to face his first inaccurate prediction of this World Cup, at the sixth attempt.

There was almost a siege on the Icelandic goal toward the end, but their huge keeper and even mightier spirit kept the South Americans at bay to secure a well-earned, first ever World Cup point.

And a big, loud, welcome to the World Cup to the Viking Thunderclap. So much more interesting than the ageing Mexican Wave (32 years old this World Cup.)

So, The Armchair has been proved wrong, but having predicted Croatia to win the group, there's still room for a little smugness.

The Armchair Predicted:
Argentina 2-1 Iceland

5 and 1

World Cup 2018: France 2-1 Australia

VAR takes a bow, but did Griezmann take a dive? Even with the tech it was difficult to tell.  But 21st Century tech finally meets the World Cup, with goal line technology even needing to be employed here too.

Whatever, this was a slightly annoying game, terrible in comparison with last night's 3-3 thriller.

And what an awful diver, play actor and injury faker Lucas Hernandez is. The cheat fully deserved to be booed every time he touched the ball, for consistently acting like he'd been shot, not shoved, disembowelled not dispossessed. The sort of player who gives footballers a bad name. And Aussies brought up on Aussie Rules and Rugby will have nothing but disdain for his sort.

A case could have been made for the Aussies taking a point from this, which they would have deserved. As it is, France just about did enough to get their World Cup campaign off to a stuttering but 3 point start.

The Armchair Predicted
France 3-1 Australia

5 right, 0 wrong

The Armchair Has Correctly Predicted The First 4 Results In World Cup 2018.

The Armchair fancies himself a handy predictor of World Cup scores and he's certainly made a decent start, having correctly predicted the results (win, lose or draw) of all World Cup 2018 games so far:

In a move that is quite frankly unprecedented and perhaps unnecessary, the Armchair will be revealing his predictions for Saturday's World Cup 2018 games tomorrow AM, so check back to see what the Armchair is thinking...

World Cup 2018: Portugal 3-3 Spain

The Armchair is old enough and worn enough around the edges to remember World Cup 2010, during which there were next to no great games.

Russia 2018 has already served up a cracker. This goal fest draw benefited from an early goal as most games do. Ronaldo scored his first tournament free kick apparently (at the 45th attempt), and went on to secure a hat-trick. Isco was imperious. 

Costa got a couple. Pepe got stuck in. DeGea fluffed on his line. The Portuguese coach looked like he needed a cigarette. And Iran ended the day top of Group B.

A happy day for the World Cup, and for The Armchair…

The Armchair Predicted:

Portugal 2-2 Spain

World Cup 2018: Morocco 0-1 Iran

To the constant hum and chirp of horns and blasters, Group A opened in entertaining style with both teams knowing it was win or bust here, what with Portugal and Spain awaiting.

Morocco went for it from the off and were unlucky not to score, but Iran proved why they qualified so well with super stolid defending and lightning quick counter attacking.

The awkward timing of the kick off meant The Armchair was on his way home from the office during the final 20 minutes, so missed Iran seal the win. A win he was delighted to hear about, given his prediction (below)

The Armchair Predicted: 

Morocco 0-1 Iran

World Cup 2018: Egypt 0-1 Uruguay

There’s a school of thought in tournaments that says if you want to win them, you don’t want to peak too soon.

On that basis, Uruguay could well win this, and Egypt have no chance. Because the latter played above themselves, even without their talisman, while Uruguay must consider themselves fortunate to emerge from this with anything other than a draw.

Salah could well have made all the difference, but the likelihood is he is still too fragile to be risked. And with his team-mates holding many people’s Group A favourites (not mine I hasten to add) the thinking must have been to save him for the last two games and get a point here.

A late winner scuppered that plan and was more than Uruguay deserved. The result is harsh on Egypt. And surely Uruguay can only get better…

The Armchair Predicted: Egypt 1-2 Uruguay

World Cup 2018: Russia 5-0 Saudi Arabia

Anyone who seriously thought Russia’s lowly world ranking would have a bearing on their performance in their World Cup should have been set straight by this emphatic result.

Yes, Saudi Arabia aren’t the world’s best, but they are here on merit, and the Russians demolished them, the fourth the pick of the goals.

The Armchair feels vindicated at having predicted that Russia would win Group A. Uruguay will be the big game, but they’ve done their goal difference no harm here.

The only downside was that the match kicked off at awkward o’clock, preventing live viewing from the armchair, requiring the iPhone to be surreptitiously positioned adjacent to the laptop screen. And even then, I was unable to watch the full game live.

Still, congratulations to the host team and host fans who really generated an awesome atmosphere.

The Armchair Predicted: Russia 2-0 Saudi Arabia

Who Will Win The 2018 World Cup Final?

The Armchair couldn’t predict that Spain would sack their manager hours before the start of the tournament.

But The Armchair hopes the nation rallies behind whoever is given the hot seat and does a Denmark ’92 and makes the final.

SPAIN v BELGIUM

An all-European final with two teams packed with talent from front to back.

Never predict a thrilling goal fest of a World Cup final, because they rarely happen.

It will be tense, tight and other emotive words beginning with t, but The Armchair believes we will see a new name on the trophy.

BELGIUM TO WIN THE World Cup

Compare The Armchair's prediction, to a World Cup 2018 winners prediction based on historical FACT! 

Who Will Reach The 2018 World Cup Final?

It's worth bearing in mind that the Armchair correctly predicted 75% of the World Cup 2014 semi-finalists as evidenced if you click on this sentence.

The Armchair has predicted the following World Cup Semi-Finals and sees them panning out a bit like this:

FRANCE v SPAIN

A match up fit to be a final. Both teams have been in great form throughout the tournament, and pundits are split 50/50 on who will emerge victorious. Griezmann is on for tournament top scorer, Spain have played well as a team. This one’s going to penalties, where the tears will be les bleus. SPAIN TO WIN.

BELGIUM v SENEGAL

Billed as a festival of flair, the game is actually tight, nerves taking hold among two teams who know they are one step away from the biggest game of their lives. It is decided in favour of the team that packs the most international experience and expectation. BELGIUM TO WIN.

World Cup 2018 Predictions: Who Will Win The World Cup 2018 Quarter Finals?

The Armchair has predicted the following quarter finals in World Cup 2018. And without use of tarot cards or crystal balls, sees the following happening…

World Cup 2018 Quarter Final Predictions

RUSSIA v FRANCE

Home nation nerves will be jangling. Expectation as high as a Russian cosmonaut orbiting the world. Cup fever gripping everyone from the Kremlin to the Crimea. For France, they are where they expect to be. Mixing it in the latter stages of a tournament quite a few fancy them to win. And win this game they shall. FRANCE TO WIN

SPAIN v PERU

There are always tales of the unexpected in every tournament (Iceland in Euro 2016, Brazil’s thrashing in 2014) and Peru are shaping up to be 2018’s instalment. Although people in the know know they are good enough to get here. But good enough to beat a still strong Spain? Not quite, for me. SPAIN TO WIN.

BRAZIL v BELGIUM

What a final this would have made. Two teams packed with big names and both getting into the groove in this tournament, winning their groups and their first knockout. But the draw machine has brought them together in this pick of the quarter finals. And, although it will be tighter than neutrals might hope for, it goes to extra time, and once again, Brazilian dreams are shattered by a European team. Narrowly this time.

BELGIUM TO WIN.

GERMANY v SENEGAL

Let’s remember, Germany weren’t in great form coming into the tournament, and they haven’t been brilliant during it. And by now, Senegal have been battling with Peru to become everyone’s second favourite team. There are no neutrals in the stadium. All non-Germans want to see Senegal win this. And although head has an inkling for Germany, I’m going with the heart. SENEGAL TO WIN.