DJHazey

Curling is my favorite event to watch honestly. There's so much strategy and every throw of the stone has so much riding on it. The drama.

I'll take Netherlands please.

Friday 6th February Leeds United 0-2 Nottingham Forest (20:00) Saturday 7th February Manchester United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (12:30) AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Aston Villa Arsenal 4-1 Sunderland Burnley 2-4 West Ham United Fulham 2-0 Everton Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-3 Chelsea Newcastle United 4-2 Brentford (17:30) Sunday 8th February Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 Crystal Palace (20:00) Liverpool 0-2 Manchester City (16:30)

Saturday 31st January Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Everton Leeds United 1-3 Arsenal Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 AFC Bournemouth Chelsea 1-1 West Ham United (17:30) Liverpool 1-2 Newcastle United (20:00) Sunday 1st February Aston Villa 4-2 Brentford (14:00) Manchester United 1-1 Fulham (14:00) Nottingham Forest 2-1 Crystal Palace (14:00) Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Manchester City (16:30) Monday 2nd February Sunderland 2-2 Burnley (20:00)

That final was absolute cinema. Much more thrilling than the 1-0 result had me thinking before I clicked the YouTube highlight package. Here's how each of the World Cup nations' FIFA Rankings changed pre to post tournament. This was going to be considered one of the best ways to check the status of the African teams going into the World Cup: Congo DR | 56 >> 48 | +8 Senegal | 19 >> 12 | +7 Algeria | 34 >> 28 | +6 Ivory Coast | 42 >> 37 | +5 Egypt | 35 >> 31 | +4 Morocco | 11 >> 8 | +3 South Africa | 61 >> 60 | +1 Tunisia | 41 >> 47 | -6 Cape Verde (67) and Ghana (72) were absent and their ranking was unchanged. The two biggest countries that failed to qualify had huge tournament performances and also had the best FIFA rank change. Nigeria | 38 >> 26 | +12 Cameroon | 57 >> 45 | +12

Saturday 24th January West Ham United 2-1 Sunderland (12:30) Burnley 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur Fulham 2-4 Brighton & Hove Albion Manchester City 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers AFC Bournemouth 1-4 Liverpool (17:30) Sunday 25th January Brentford 1-1 Nottingham Forest (14:00) Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea (14:00) Newcastle United 3-2 Aston Villa (14:00) Arsenal 5-3 Manchester United (16:30) Monday 26th January Everton 0-0 Leeds United (20:00)

Nice actually add some colour to the Red Bull car.

Oh that Cadillac team is interesting. It's like 'Team Castoffs' or something, both having a lot to prove, after playing second-fiddle at their last big seat.

Saturday 17th January Manchester United 2-2 Manchester City (12:30) Chelsea 0-0 Brentford Leeds United 2-1 Fulham Liverpool 2-1 Burnley Sunderland 0-0 Crystal Palace Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 West Ham United Nottingham Forest 1-2 Arsenal (17:30) Sunday 18th January Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Newcastle United (14:00) Aston Villa 4-1 Everton (16:30) Monday 19th January Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 AFC Bournemouth (20:00)

Definitely feels like an elite quarterfinals, with hopefully some great games. The 2023 quarterfinals had Angola, Guinea, Cape Verde, and Congo DR instead of Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal, and Morocco. So that's quite the swap-in of traditional powerhouses. Burkina Faso have been decent in the last decade+, with a 2nd place finish in the 2013 edition, 3rd in the 2017 edition, and 4th in 2021 tournament. They just can't seem to translate that into World Cup qualifying. They've been at the same level as like Gabon and Cape Verde for a bit now, with those two showing up bigger for the 2026 WC qualifying campaign.

I don't know, the qualifying for this was a while ago now for Cape Verde and Ghana. They are different teams now and I think they'd be competitive had they made this tournament. Nigeria indeed has done well, as well as Cameroon. No shame in South Africa losing in one of the more competitive matchups in the Round of 16. Egypt nearly fumbled that away there.

Sunday 4th January Leeds United 0-1 Manchester United (12:30) Everton 1-2 Brentford Fulham 1-1 Liverpool Newcastle United 3-1 Crystal Palace Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Sunderland Manchester City 2-0 Chelsea (17:30) Tuesday 6th January West Ham United 2-2 Nottingham Forest (20:00) Wednesday 7th January AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (19:30) Brentford 1-0 Sunderland (19:30) Crystal Palace 0-3 Aston Villa (19:30) Everton 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (19:30) Fulham 1-0 Chelsea (19:30) Manchester City 1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (19:30) Burnley 1-4 Manchester United (20:15) Newcastle United 3-2 Leeds United (20:15) Thursday 8th January Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool (20:00)

Friday 26th December Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle United (20:00) Saturday 27th December Nottingham Forest 1-3 Manchester City (12:30) Arsenal 1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion Brentford 2-3 AFC Bournemouth Burnley 2-4 Everton Liverpool 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers West Ham United 3-2 Fulham Chelsea 2-4 Aston Villa (17:30) Sunday 28th December Sunderland 2-2 Leeds United (14:00) Crystal Palace 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (16:30) Tuesday 30th December Burnley 1-1 Newcastle United (19:30) Chelsea 2-0 AFC Bournemouth (19:30) Nottingham Forest 3-1 Everton (19:30) West Ham United 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (19:30) Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa (20:15) Manchester United 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (20:15) Thursday 1st January Crystal Palace 1-0 Fulham (17:30) Liverpool 3-1 Leeds United (17:30) Brentford 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (20:00) Sunderland 0-2 Manchester City (20:00)

Saturday 20th December Newcastle United 3-2 Chelsea (12:30) AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Burnley Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 Sunderland Manchester City 3-0 West Ham United Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Brentford Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool (17:30) Everton 1-1 Arsenal (20:00) Leeds United 2-3 Crystal Palace (20:00) Sunday 21st December Aston Villa 2-0 Manchester United (16:30) Monday 22nd December Fulham 1-1 Nottingham Forest (20:00)

The drink breaks I am 100% behind, it's the TV commercials that will apparently come with it this time that I have issue with. Not like they're aren't getting enough money from ticket prices that I am seeing. Ads should never be in the middle of a world cup match.

Maybe, but we didn't have hydration breaks in 94 and haven't had actual commercials during them the last few World Cups that had the breaks. So I wasn't sure they'd actually stoop that low.

FIFA announced hydration breaks will be a thing and now are shopping the spots to companies for advertisements during them. shakes head Can it get any worse?

Saturday 13th December Chelsea 1-1 Everton Liverpool 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Burnley 2-4 Fulham (17:30) Arsenal 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (20:00) Sunday 14th December Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City (12:00) Nottingham Forest 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (14:00) Sunderland 0-1 Newcastle United (14:00) West Ham United 0-1 Aston Villa (14:00) Brentford 0-0 Leeds United (16:30) Monday 15th December Manchester United 1-0 AFC Bournemouth (20:00)

Rankings the groups by entertainment value. Factors: quality of play, competitive matches/advancement. Cinema Group I - Closest to a group of death that there is. I wouldn't even be shocked if France were 3rd. Great Group A - Any of the four teams could win the group. Mexico is on home soil and at altitude but are very beatable these days especially by any of South Africa, South Korea, or Denmark? Group J - Argentina should win this comfortably, but the battle for 2nd will be a three-horse race. Yes, I said three-horse. Don't sleep on Jordan. The matches between the bottom 3 could be explosive and there will be goals scored, especially from Jordan and Algeria. Group C - Up here because of Brazil vs. Morocco mainly. Poor Scotland having a very tough group and Haiti, especially as they add call-ups to their squad, won't be a pushover for Scotland. Group K - This group could be chaotic, don't just assume this will go to the Portuguese. Don't sleep on Uzbekistan and potentially Congo DR as teams that could upset the apple cart. I'd actually favor Colombia to win this group outright. Group D - This will be a full-on battle between any of the four teams, especially if Turkey make it here. Australia and Paraguay are capable, but their play-style isn't exciting which puts it a bit down the list. Turkey will make up for that if they qualify. Good Group F - Has potential but I'll put it here for now. Depends on if Tunisia is really improved since their last World Cup was abysmal. Watch the Arab Cup and more-so the African Nations Cup results this month to see how they look. That goes for all the African nations as well. Otherwise, this will be just Netherlands and Japan running the show. If we get Poland it might add something, otherwise I don't even expect much out of any of the potential European sides. Group B - It will be a very interesting showdown between Canada, Switzerland, and potentially Italy for sure. Not sure how exciting the matches will actually be though. Qatar might be the worst team in the tournament though, which drags it down. Meh Group L - Sure, England vs. Croatia re-match gets all the headlines, but other than that this group won't provide much excitement. Might be the easiest to predict a Top 2. This isn't the same Ghana. Group E - Should be all Germany, with one-sided affairs against Curaçao and Ecuador/Ivory Coast don't provide much attacking football these days though they should be a close battle for second. Group H - Spain winning ugly matches, even something like 2-0 over Uruguay if you think that will be exciting, I don't think it will be. The only thing entertaining will be seeing if Cape Verde can provide some shocks. Zzz - What's on streaming instead? Group G - Worst group by a margin. Belgum is the front-runner but how exciting are they these days? Egypt, Iran and New Zealand all play slow, methodically at the moment so expect at least a couple 0-0 matches.

Group A Mexico (15) South Africa (61) South Korea (22) Denmark (21)/North Macedonia (65) vs. Czech Republic (44)/Republic of Ireland (59) Group B Canada (27) Wales (32)/Bosnia-Herzegovina (71) vs. Italy (12)/Northern Ireland (69) Qatar (51) Switzerland (17) Group C Brazil (5) Morocco (11) Haiti (84) Scotland (36) Group D United States (14) Paraguay (39) Australia (26) Slovakia (45)/Kosovo (80) vs. Turkey (25)/Romania (47) Group E Germany (9) Curaçao (82) Ivory Coast (42) Ecuador (23) Group F Netherlands (7) Japan (18) Ukraine (28)/Sweden (43) vs. Poland (31)/Albania (63) Tunisia (40) Group G Belgium (8) Egypt (34) Iran (20) New Zealand (86) Group H Spain (1) Cape Verde (68) Saudi Arabia (60) Uruguay (16) Group I France (3) Senegal (19) Iraq (58) vs. Bolivia (76)/Suriname (123) Norway (29) Group J Argentina (2) Algeria (35) Austria (24) Jordan (66) Group K Portugal (6) Congo DR (56) vs. Jamaica (70)/New Caledonia (149) Uzbekistan (50) Colombia (13) Group L England (4) Croatia (10) Ghana (72) Panama (30)

The Boston one has the chance to be the worst. My neck of the woods. Could be 80s with a good chance it humidity on top of that. However, in the Northeast it hardly ever quite the dew point levels of the Southeast.

Also, I hate to say it but if Europe had finished their qualifying earlier maybe blame the Nations League for example, then I think the full draw could've been done today.

I am happy with the USA group (waited till I got home to watch it unspoiled) -- will give more detailed analysis next week.

Going into the draw on Friday, here is how I would Tier the participants as well as prospective playoff winners: TIER Range Countries (* = playoffs) FAVORITES Floor: QF Peak: Champ Spain Argentina France Portugal England CONTENDERS Floor: R16 Peak: SF/Final Netherlands Brazil Germany Croatia Morocco DARK HORSES Floor: R32 Peak: QF Colombia Japan Senegal Norway USA Denmark* Ecuador Switzerland Austria Belgium DANGEROUS Floor: Groups Peak: R16 Uruguay Canada Mexico Italy* Turkey* Algeria Ivory Coast Poland* Ghana* Scotland South Africa Paraguay DON'T UNDERESTIMATE Floor: Groups Peak: R32 South Korea Australia Iran Uzbekistan Ukraine* Congo DR* Iraq* Cape Verde Kosovo* Slovakia* Ireland* THERE FOR THE CHICK FIL-A & JERSEY MIKES Floor: Groups Peak: R32 Tunisia Egypt Panama Czech Republic* Saudi Arabia Jordan Wales* Sweden* Qatar New Zealand Haiti Jamaica* Albania* Romania* Suriname* Northern Ireland* Bosnia-Herzegovina* Curaçao North Macedonia* Bolivia* New Caledonia*

You know McLaren will, which will be such a cheesy way to win the title.