Confound the Kremlin

If I were a beat writer, I’d be on a plane to Moscow. The World Cup starts in less than a week! So, this is your last weekend to get your bracket together. I’ll be accepting entries up until the first game kicks off next Thursday. World Cup previews are hitting the internet left and right, so I figured a Kremlin Cup preview might be in order. 64 world class World Cup matches are on the horizon, and I am very excited!

So, 10 things to know about the Cup and the Contest:

1. Group Stages

Let’s start from the ground up. The World Cup has eight groups of teams, four teams each. Each team plays three games: one against each of the other teams in their group. A team gets three points for a win, one point for a draw (tie), and nothing for a loss. The top two teams by points advance into the knockout stage.

In the contest, you pick every game of the group stages by whether the favorite will win (team on the left) or if the underdog will win or tie (“draw”). Then, for each group, you select the two teams who will advance out of the group into the bracket. You can earn a maximum of 74 points in this contest in the group stages.

2. June Madness (Bracket Stage)

The remaining 110 points in the contest are earned in the knockout round. The amount of points for each stage in the bracket escalates (4, 8, 12), culminating in a 16 point champion pick. No ties in this stage—if the teams are tied after 90 minutes, they go to a 30 minute overtime period, and then a penalty kick shootout, if necessary.

Once the group stage is over, you’ll get a quick chance to replace any picks you got completely wrong in your bracket. You get half points if any of your replacement picks are correct.

3. Pick a Darling?

So, the US didn’t qualify. Trust me when I say it hurts me deeply. We’ll have Qatar in four years, right?

In lieu of the US, unless you’re rocking some solid Soccer heritage, you probably need to pick a new favorite. Luckily for you, Nate Silver’s website FiveThirtyEight (“538”) rigged up a nice 7 question quiz to find you a new homeland. You don’t need to pick ‘em to win it all, but it might be fun to pick your Cinderella to the quarterfinals? Which brings me to my next point.

4. Know The Odds

There’s really only a handful of teams with a chance to actually *win* the World Cup. Grant Wahl does a good job of breaking down these teams by tier in his World Cup preview for Sports Illustrated. A quick look at the odds doesn’t necessarily line up with his thinking, but the gist is this: only eight countries have ever won the World Cup, and there have only been two first time winners in the last 40 years. So, I’m not saying to go with the favorite unequivocally, but maybe go with *one* of the top favorites?

5. Know Who Will Be There

You’ve got your Cristiano Ronaldo’s of the World, fresh off a third straight UEFA Champions League Title with Real Madrid, trying to lead Portugal to the same result they got 2 years ago at the European Finals. You’ve got Neymar, ready to avenge his injury that led to a thrashing by Germany on Brazilian turf in the 2014 World Cup. You’ve got Antoine Griezmann (pictured above), ready to lead an enigmatic French squad, with transfer rumors swirling for which club he might play for next year.

You’ve also got Paolo Guerrero, the Peruvian captain and all-time leading goal scorer, cleared from his doping ban, ready to play. This guy named Messi will be there for Argentina. He’s favored to win the Golden Boot at 9/1. And don’t forget his Barcelona teammate, the biter! Luis Suarez will be in Russia, ready to play for Uruguay at full health.

And Miroslav Klose will be there too! The all-time leading World Cup goal scorer will be on Germany's side line. Who knows, maybe Joachim Low will substitute in one of his 39-year-old assistant coaches. He's already been chosen as the Golden Boot in someone’s Kremlin Cup entry...

6. Know Who Won’t

The US isn’t the only mainstay of the World Cup that failed to qualify for Russia in 2018. The Chileans, winners of the Copa two years ago, failed to qualify. The Italians failed to qualify for the first time since 1958, and the Dutch did too. In African news, there’s no Ghana or Ivory Coast, and no Cameroon.

Sweden knocked the Italians out in qualifying, and they did so without LA Galaxy starlet Zlatan Ibrahimović, who, to my great disappointment, has decided not to rejoin the national team. Another star, Gareth Bale, hero of the Champions League final this year for Real Madrid, will also not be in attendance. His Red Dragons from Wales, a darling of the Euro Cup from two years ago, failed to qualify as well.

7. Who Might

Speaking of the Champions League final, there’s an Egyptian man by the name of Mo Salah who got hurt in that match. He’s been on one hell of a goal scoring run for Liverpool this year, but hurt his shoulder in the final. He’s traveling with the team, and while he will likely miss Egypt’s first two games, he could return for the group stage finale versus Saudi Arabia on June 25^th.

Another darling of the Euro Cup from two years ago, Iceland (!!), is dealing with a few knee injuries to key players. Iceland’s captain, Aron Gunnarsson, had a knee injury in April, and Gylfi Sigurdsson, affectionately known as “Siggy”, has had a knee injury since March. Both are on the rosters, both hope to play.

8. the Tiebreakers

The Golden Boot is the person who scores the most goals over the course of the World Cup. Usually this person is on a squad that makes a deep run into the tournament. There’s a pretty good chance that I’ve mentioned this person already in this article. But go wild!

As for the other one, four former Trump campaign associates – Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates and George Papadopoulos – have been charged, though none of the charges are directly related to any misconduct by the president's campaign. No further comment at this time.

9. the Buckley Family

My sister Sami won the Brazilian World Cup contest four years ago (“the turkey leg”). I won the Euro/Centenario contest 2 years ago (colloquially known as “Pangea”… I donated it all to the Anchor House, a charity I’ll be doing a 500 mile bicycle ride for in a month—more on that later). Earlier this year, my cousin Joe won the NFL Capsule contest I ran for the 2017-18 NFL Season. (Did you know the Eagles won the Super Bowl?

So, what I’m saying is… the sporting blood runs thick. It’s going to take a bold entry to knock the family off our perch. #BeBold

10. Follow Your Heart

Hell, maybe you pick your whole entry based upon who has the best looking uniforms. Let me know where you land on that one.

PS. Remember the Alamo

Did I mention the US didn’t qualify? If you’re looking for a story on why, the Ringer’s got you covered. Or, if you’d rather dive deep on older US Men’s National Team failures, there’s a great podcast out called “American Fiasco”, a collaboration between WNYC and Men in Blazers that I would highly suggest. Find it on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Happy Picking!