Macca

And now Di Maria scores one of the goals of the tournament to draw Argentina level with France at half time - here it is ...

The pace from Mbappe to draw that penalty was searing - one of the plays of the tournament. Messi is getting plenty of attention and if Lionel can work his way into the box he could easily draw a penalty himself. Mbappe is causing all sorts of problems for the Argentine defence - what a talent!

I reckon it's a terrific appointment and I'm chuffed that we've got someone as good as Pert as our CEO. I honestly don't understand the angst & unease. So what if there was fall-out at Collingwood - what do people expect with the massive ego's involved? To me, that conflict just stands to reason and what's wrong with a bit of conflict anyway? It's often how things get done. Pert oversaw a highly successful period at the Pies over a long period of time and now he's ours. We should be so lucky. Ignore the noise.

There's 3 of us so far that have put up our tips up so we just need another couple/few more to join in to make it more interesting. If not, we can just play it out and see what we end up with (points wise) People can come in late if they wish - missed games are just that. Those who get in early get more opportunities as a matter of course. Like your summations JD ... very close to the mark. The knockout games are where the tournament starts (Germany aside) There are some cracking match-ups - beginning tonight.

It seems that we're taking it in turns to find that 1 winner Wadda ... although, to be honest, it's not the best time of year in terms of trying to find a winner. It will be a different story in the Spring when all the good horses are running around. Ideal outcome DZ - enjoy! Ended up breaking even on the day (why does that feel like a win? ?) Had a few collects but nothing of any real significance ... my new strategy of boxing 5 in a trifecta feels like a more assured way of betting though. Only issue is the low percentage of not so large dividends! But I've loaded up a bit on the Irish Derby as my feature betting event for the day ... will be a late night what with the World cup on overnight as well The Curragh - Irish Derby 2400m Group 1 3yo SW $2.4Million (2.15am Sunday) And there's a decent sprint race on at Sha Tin tomorrow if you're looking to have a bet The Hong Kong Reunification - Race 7 1200m C2 $320k Oh, and here's Material Man vs Pounamu again (raced today) ... Belmont - Strickland Stakes 2000m WFA Group 3

And The Bostonian salutes ... looked the winner a fair way from home too. We got 1 winner at least. Well done @Dee Zephyr

Staying races are not my go - even more so in the winter. Sayed ran last - is that a first? Another lesson learnt! Anyway, my go today is in the Caloundra Cup, Glasshouse Hcp, Strickland Stakes & the Irish Derby ... and a very good class 2 race at Sha Tin tomorrow (race 7) 3 more staying races in amongst that lot so here's hoping ?

Don't know Wadda ... you are better off betting at Sportsbet or Ladbrokes where the odds shown are for after extra time or for the actual result regardless of extra time or penalties. The TAB do it for other sports as well and they shouldn't do so - a lot of punters get caught out.

You'd reckon that sooner or later we'd get the 3 up Wadda ... and today is as good a time as any! I got on last night @ 55-1 (boosted) Just as well too as Sayed has come right in due to the scratchings in that race. I also llike 'I'm a Rippa' as my each-way chance in the Glasshouse Hcp (Sunshine Coast Race 9) ... currently showing $6.50 & $2.30

I posted up the following link on the podcasts thread but seeing this particular podcast is about the World game, I may as well post it here ... Game of our Lives Well worth a listen and comes highly recommended.

There you go ... different sports of course but not that dissimilar in terms of the scoring and scoring opportunities. As for the fatigue element, I've always viewed sport as a bit of a war of attrition anyway. The gladiatorial element has high appeal. Ironically, not very long after both concepts (golden goal & silver goal) were scrapped we had a World cup final decided by penalties - 1994 Brazil/Italy. We remember that World cup final for that reason alone. And Roberto Baggio.

I reckon that was it after that tournament ... the wash-up was that teams became too defensive rather than more attacking. The law of unintended consequences kicked in DZ. But reducing the players on the pitch might create more goal scoring chances and thus, any given game can (in theory) be decided by the sport being played out to a finish. But I may as well be howling at the moon as the penalty shoot-out is here to stay - most people are rusted on to the concept.

Maybe the player reduction was just an idea put forward but never implemented? Memory is a bit vague on that one DJ. Golden goal was about in the 2000 Olympics but was scrapped not long after. Anyway, I remember liking the idea immediately (player reduction) and thought it made perfect sense to my way of thinking - 7 on 7 or even 5 on 5 should, in theory, create exciting finishes. I'd rather the games be decided by playing the actual sport. They have penalty shoot-outs in ice-hockey (NHL) except for the playoffs where they continue playing until a goal is scored. Sometimes 3 extra periods! Makes for high-drama. But people are so used to penalty shoot-outs and they don't like change. I understand all the drama attached but I don't like them and probably never will. It's akin to a bowl-off in cricket or 5 set shots each in footy (to decide a Grand Final?) Having said all that I have to accept the reality of what it is but deciding a World cup final on penalties seems quite ridiculous to me - and it has happened of course. I also like the idea of VAR but even if it was implemented correctly I'm not sure it is good for the game ... it's certainly worth persevering with to see where it all ends up.

Came across 3 podcasts lately, all of which hit upon different themes - The Mafia, Covert Operations & The World Game. Worth a look ... Mafia Covert Game of our Lives

It's a pity there aren't any games on tonight what with not having to work tomorrow but those are the breaks. 1 day off and I've already got withdrawal symptoms! And seeing we're on a new page here's the round of 16 schedule again - France vs Argentina kicks things off tomorrow night and it could be a beauty ..

If we get enough having a go we could have a mini comp 1pt for every round of 16 winner, 2 pts for every QF winner, 3 points for each SF winner & 5 points for predicting the winner of the final. One batch at a time. What do you reckon DZ?

So who's up for some tips? As previously stated, I thought I'd miss on 5 countries making it through to the knockout stages and that's how it panned out - missed on 5. ha ha. One miss was out of true patriotism and one of the others was Germany. Who would have thought? I reckon about 3 of these round of 16 games will go to penalties but I'd prefer it if they were to utilise the golden goal method in extra time whilst taking a player off every 5 minutes. For some reason, that short-lived way of deciding a game was abandoned not long after it was adopted. At least the players were playing the actual sport to decide the game under the golden goal method. I've always viewed the penalties shoot-out as a bad gimmick that caught on. Anyway, here goes - winners in dark italics ... France vs Argentina Uruguay vs Portugal Spain vs Russia Croatia vs Denmark Brazil vs Mexico Belgium vs Japan Sweden vs Switzerland Colombia vs England Here's how the brackets look ...

Best Bet ... Rosehill Race 6 No.2 Sayed ($3.40) ... all the Sky racing team like the horses chances as well. The horse has a very good strike rate on a wet track and the 2400m suits perfectly as well ... a small field and the horse is well drawn to get some good cover up front behind Harper's Choice and/or Plymouth Road.

And just imagine what it's going to be like with 48 teams at the 2026 World cup ... more poor teams like Saudi Arabia & Germany.

While we're having a break I'll continue to post up some links to some interesting betting races ... The Caloundra Cup sees 'Tradesman' meet up with his more recent rivals from the O'Shea Stakes, Ipswich Cup & the Tattersalls Cup whilst over in the west 'Material Man & Pounamu meet up again and should fight out the finish in the Strickland Stakes. And it's Irish Derby time with Aiden O'Brien dominating the race again with 6 runners including 3 of the top 5 fancies ... 'Saxon Warrior' & 'Dee Ex Bee' appear to be the obvious 2 standouts but 'Kew Gardens' looms as a bit of a danger. There's a bit of talk that a couple/few from this race (the Irish Derby) might head to Melbourne in the Spring for the cups ... something about a weights advantage under handicap conditions for well-performed Northern Hemisphere 3 year old's. Sunshine Coast Caloundra Cup 2400m Listed Hcp $175k Belmont Strickland Stakes 2000m Group 3 WFA $150k The Curragh Irish Derby 2400m Group 1 3yo SW $2.4Million (2.15am Sunday)

Not disappointed mainly because I thought we did very well just to make the World cup (this time around) So the expectations were low but even so, we played quite well in the tournanent anyway ... unless one was to measure things on points gained. We obviously need strikers but without them, it is hard to score and therefore hard to win against good teams. We battled well against the odds.

The following link will take you to a replay of the Group 1 Tatts Tiara from Saturday And the video below features Hugh Bowman riding in the big Group 1 over 2200m from Japan run on Sunday. They certainly like their fast tracks over there - bit tough on the horses though.

Do they have a mercy rule in soccer? England 5 Panama 0 ... not yet half time.

Been a good match ... 2nd ever penalty try in Origin history but it was definitely there.