UPDATE ON 15 DECEMBER; NEXT MATCHES 17 AND 18 DECEMBER
QATAR. Things just got even more interesting in 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.
Our joint leaders, Alan Mathew from UAE-based travel retail distributor V Group and Ground Control owner Kevin Zajax, again both picked up a single point for correctly choosing France to beat Morocco in the second semi-final. But in terms of picking the correct 2-0 scoreline, it was a case of close but no cigar for both with Kevin opting for 3-0 to the Mbappé-inspired French. Alan went for 3-1 to France. Both are on 57 points.
There were big moves right behind them though. Marcel DeBellis of Beler Holdings in Canada, who has been near the top of the leaderboard throughout, correctly plumped for a 2-0 scoreline and now sits just two behind our leaders on 55. That’s an even more meritorious position given that he failed to register a prediction for the first semi-final (mind you Kevin Zajax also missed two games in the Round of 16 through a technical hitch). Marcel is actually a former professional footballer, having played for a range of teams in Italy and Canada. Can he hit the back of the net in the final two matches?
Our next three contenders, Gerald Gruber of daa International in Riyadh, ASUTIL Secretary General José Luis Donagaray (both on 54 points) and our very own Declan Moodie (53) all predicted the precise result, moving them within Messi or Mbappé striking distance of our leaders.
While our top three and Campari’s Charles Roullet (seventh equal) have been jostling for the lead from early on in the competition, Gruber, Donagaray (both 19th equal on 2 December) and Moodie (a distant 65th) have all made impressive moves since the pool stages.
Our three leading women all picked France as the winner but not the correct score, leaving Clarisse Daniels of Whyte & Mackay in front on 50, one point ahead of Caroline South of Caroline South Associates on 49 and The Moodie Davitt Report’s Sinead Moodie on 48.
Tie-breaker
Now this is where the contest gets particularly intriguing. There are six points to play for from the two remaining games but also a tie-breaker mechanism (our form of a penalty shoot-out) in place as follows:
If two or more players are tied on points, the differentiators will be as per the following (in order):
- Number of Correct Scores
- Number of Correct Results
- Competition Winning Team Prediction (made before the tournament began)
And our top seven contenders have all chosen either Argentina or France. Here are their selections and their current number of correct scores and correct results, findings that reveal the critical value of a precise score-prediction. Marcel DeBellis leads by that indicator with 12 correct scores. Might he strike late with one or even two more correct predictions and race past our leaders? Like the Argentina v France final, all remains to play for.
Kevin Zajax: Argentina; 11 correct scores; 35 correct results
Alan Mathew: France; 9 correct scores; 39 correct results
Marcel DeBellis: Argentina; 12 correct scores; 31 correct results
Gerard Gruber: France; 9 correct scores; 36 correct results
José Luis Donagaray: Argentina (of course); 9 correct scores; 36 correct results
Declan Moodie: Argentina; 9 correct scores; 35 correct results
Charles Roullet: France; 10 correct scores; 32 correct results
Please submit your predictions in time for the remaining two games.
- Third place play-off: Morocco v Croatia (17 December)
- Final: Argentina v France (18 December)
Note: Prizes are open only to those involved in the aviation and travel retail sectors.
Leaderboard latest
Here is our current leaderboard. Click on the table to expand.
*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.
