UPDATE ON 11 DECEMBER; NEXT MATCHES 14/15DECEMBER
QATAR. Two players tied for the lead and just five points covering the first ten players. That’s the tantalising scenario as The Moodie Davitt Report’s thrilling readers’ competition dedicated to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, brought to you in association with Qatar Duty Free, reaches the final stages.
Our latest leaderboard follows tourament heroes’ Morocco’s 1-0 win over Portugal and France’s dramatic 2-1 victory over England after (Harry) Kane was not Abel, we mean able, to convert a late penalty opportunity.
Alan Mathew from UAE-based travel retail distributor V Group picked up a modest two points for two correct (match but not score) quarter-final results to remain in front on 55 points. But Alan is now tied in the lead again by Ground Control owner Kevin Zajax, our long-time front-runner, who scored three points for correctly picking the France-England score. Alan has picked France to win the tournament, leaving him in the running for crucial extra points, as is Kevin who opted for Argentina. Might both teams still be in the running after the semi-finals? What a showdown on both levels that would be.
Marcel DeBellis from Beler Holdings in Canada is just one correct score prediction behind (also picking Argentina as tournament winners), trailing our leaders by three points on 52. Marcel is one point ahead of John Chapman, CEO of Airport Retail Enterprises in Brisbane, Charles Roullet from Campari. There is just another point back to Peter Zehnder, head of the newly named Lindt & Sprüngli GTR (Global Travel Retail not Goals to Relish); the fast-moving Gerald Gruber of daa International; ASUTIL Secretary General José Luis Donagaray, Behna Dehghani and Peyman Naderi, all within Lionel Messi striking distance.
Note: Prizes are open only to those involved in the aviation and travel retail sectors.
A cluster of four player sit on 49 points, just six off our leaders, including Declan Moodie who is leading The Moodie Davitt Report’s own intensely fought internal competition by one point from Mark Lane. Declan is tied with Hannes Koch of Travel Retail Cooperation, Frédérick Besson, CEO of the acclaimed Perfumist Perfume Advisor (currently the subject of a crowdfunding campaign) and Clarisse Daniels of Whyte & Mackay, now our leading woman, two points ahead of Caroline South of Caroline South Associates and three in front of The Moodie Davitt Report’s Sinead Moodie.
Here is our current leaderboard from first to 60th. Click on any part of the table to expand.
All participants should now submit their predictions ahead of the semi-finals.
The two matches are:
Croatia vs. Argentina (14 December)
Morocco vs. France (15 December)
Those matches will be followed by the third-place play-off (17 December) and final (18 December).
*Important note: Penalty Shootouts
Now that the tournament has reached the knockout stage, extra time and penalties come into play.
Predictions are counted for the full match whether that’s 90 minutes or 120 minutes for a match that goes to extra time. When a penalty shootout occurs, the result of the shootout will count toward the correct result (so a prediction of Team A to win the match will award a point if they win via a penalty shootout). However, if a draw was predicted then the player will receive either 1 point for predicting a draw but the wrong score, or 3 points for predicting a draw and the right score, irrespective of whichever team proceeds to win on penalties.
As reported, Qatar Duty Free is providing great prizes as excitement builds both for the competition and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 itself, which has already thrown up plenty of thrills and upset results.
Also as reported, Qatar Duty Free (QDF) has been named as Official Retail Store for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The agreement includes a licence to exclusively sell all related merchandise in the fan zones and at all eight stadiums.
QDF also just opened a FIFA store at Hamad International Airport’s magnificent new expansion, inaugurated on 10 November.
Additionally The Moodie Davitt Report is providing charity-based prizes for first, second and third individual contestants with cash donations of US$500, US$300 and US$200 paid to a charity of their choice.
The competition, open to anyone involved in the aviation and travel retail sectors (mandatory), is based on match predictions for the 32 teams in a group stage and knockout format. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 concludes on 18 December with the World Cup Final at the Lusail Iconic Stadium.
The rules are simple. Qualified readers make a score prediction in each of the matches, and are awarded points based on the accuracy of their predictions. You receive 3 points for an exact score prediction and 1 point if you predict the right result (win or draw) without getting the score correct.
Predicting is simple – scroll down to select a score for each match throughout the group, knockout and final phases. Predictions will automatically save the moment you make them, while you will be able to enter or modify your scores up to ten- minutes before each match kick-off.
