My hot take is that Belgium and Argentina aren't good and will not win the tournament. Open to being convinced I've overrat3d Germany as well, but still have them as a strong contender.

Portugal practicing their draws.
We gonna win the world cup.

even a "****ty" 02 German side got to the final. Betting on Germany to get to the semis every tournament has to be one of the safest bets out there

it probably helped that they didn't play anyone good until the final in 2002.

they've done about as well as they should based on their quality the last couple of decades, but it doesn't actually matter what they did in 1998 or 2002. there isnt some special german character that makes them uniquely good at tournaments. it's just something people make up

before they won in 2014 there was even plenty of talk about whether they had that winning instinct because they had lost so many semifinals and finals in a row. that turned out to be nonsense too. they had just lost to better teams and when they were the best team they ended up winning

this year they don't look particularly good so they're probably not going to do particularly well.

Brazil - Portugal/Argentina in the final

Belgium may surprise many people also

LOL, they've used their entire luckbox in the Euros.

Agree with the gist of it but the team not looking particularly good... That's some really high standards. There's maybe three teams that look better. It's certainly a better squad than 2006 and probably 2010 too.

yeah that's reasonable. only losing bet was with baids and that was only a tenner iirc. got anyone in mind who could escrow?

Cool, booked

mic_check12 would be my preferred, held fantasy funds for years and is holding for 12x etc

I'll PM and ask him.

Who are all the Yanks pulling for since usa#1 isn't in? Tough figuring out who to root for. Leaning towards Iceland.

Good with me

and booked.

Mic_check as the escrow is totally fine by me as well

I didn't say that there was a special german character though. They are a nation that happens to consistently have some of the best trained and best coached players on a consistent basis over the last what, 60+ years. Even when they are weak, they still have a stronger pool of players to choose from and it's not by accident.

and who looks great this year? That would easily make me feel strongly in betting on them to get to the semis

Iceland have a Burnley player in their squad so that rules them out for you.

More Burnley at the World Cup than the land of the free.

Russia looks like the obvious pick for a neutral imo

Opening game will be the best in recent memory as it'll feature the creator and the slayer of ISIS. If the Saudis lose by a lot in extra time I fully expect the Donald to fire a few patriot missiles at some empty bicycle storage unit in Kamtchatka.

Argies for me for messi to goat it up

I quite like jbg, he was probably Burnleys best and most creative player and a large reason they did as well as they did.

Wut, Russia is literally scum.

Yep

Bro you should check Putin's shot chart.

is anyone doing this type of thing for this world cup? it was awesome.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Yes, LO is running a 12x