A couple of weeks ago, we shared final four predictions from some of the Coleman Had A Dream team and four stars of the beautiful game. As the group stage closes, it seems a good time to revisit the predictions and see who has egg on their face; and who’s a bit smug. Ruth (@colemans_dream) gives an update, but suffice to say things have been a little mixed!
As you can see in the table below, most of us have taken a hit. Only BBC football correspondent Rob Phillips‘ predictions are all still involved. There’s a special nod to S4C pundit and commentator Gwennan Harris who picked five teams for the final four and still finds Belgium and Denmark heading home. And I, Ruth, have to hold my hands up too, and say my predictions of Uruguay and Belgium now look way off.
| Winners | Runners-Up | Semi-Finalists | |
| Stephen (CHAD) | Brazil | Argentina, France | |
| Rob Phillips | Argentina | Spain | Brazil, France |
| Dai (CHAD) | Brazil | Netherlands, Portugal | |
| Helen Ward | Brazil | Argentina, France | |
| Ruth (CHAD) | Argentina | Brazil, | |
| Laura McAllister | Brazil | France / | Argentina, France / |
| Gwennan Harries | Brazil / Portugal | Argentina, |
Cymru’s all-time leading goalscorer Helen Ward and former internationals Laura McAllister, like Dai and Stephen from Coleman Had A Dream, are running around with one black-eye right now.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s been a World Cup with many a changing of the guard, and the teams that have made the last 16 reflect the truly world-wide nature of the sport.
It’ll be interesting to see how many of the countries that are bringing a fresh verve to the tournament win through to the quarter finals. Or will the same faces be there again?
Saturday: Netherlands v USA and Argentina v Australia
Sunday: France v Poland and England v Senegal
Monday: Japan v Croatia and Brazil v Korea Republic
Tuesday: Morocco v Spain and Portugal v Switzerland
