Soccer is a favorite sport of mine so I
wanted to run some type of pool, a la the NCAA Tournament pool. However,
nothing really existed out there. So I started devising a pool where
everyone would have to enter their picks before the World Cup started. One
obvious problem was how to handle the Round of 16 bracket. There are no
rest days between the last Round Robin match and the first Round of 16 match.
So I allowed the people to choose all the Round Robin games and their own
bracket, which adds difficulty to the picking but creates more fun (or
frustration). Since that first pool in 1998, the fundamentals of the rules
and point system has not changed.
What freebies do you get for
running the pool?
Like our
HWCI NCAA pool, we get no special privileges. No free entries.
No administrative fees. Just the fun of losing. All monies go toward
prizes (likely 1st through 4th place prizes).
In picking my Round of 16 bracket, I have
1A-Mexico meeting 2B-Greece and 1B-Argentina facing 2A-France. And I have
Mexico and Argentina winning those matches. But what if Argentina finishes
2nd instead of 1st? Then they'll face Mexico in the Round of 16!
Exactly. The good news is you are
guaranteed to get one team into the Quarterfinals (Mexico or Argentina).
The bad news is can't get both teams in. I never said this was going to be
easy. That's why I finished 21st of 23 people in 2002.
The USA is ranked #14 (in FIFA's Team
Ranking)! What does this mean?
Take the FIFA rankings
for what it is - a strength of schedule measure (like the RPI in college
basketball). This ranking system is much improved than in 2006 and is a
decent indicator (unlike the old method in 2006 when the USA was #5). Win against weak teams, your ranking falls; lose against
strong teams, your raking rises. Don't play for two months (for whatever
reason) and see your ranking fall. Play a lot of games and see your
ranking rise. This should be one of several sources of data for
determining how good teams are.
Are there other World Cup pools?
Well, in 1998, when we first started, we
couldn't find any that incorporated both the Round Robin and Round of 16 matches
as one entry, which is why we started ours. Even today, most pools require
you to enter your Round of 16 bracket after the Round Robin is completed or
require you to predict the scores. But yes, there are a lot more sites now
that offer an office pool-style, which is great.
Why is the pool structured as it is and
why can't I edit my picks after the World Cup has started?
We've tried to make the pool friendly to both
soccer fanatics and novices (like the NCAA pool). Like the NCAA pool, it's
"pick & pray". There are no second chances! Also, you don't have to
predict scores or ties. Just pick the winners. And you don't have to
know any tiebreaker procedures to pick the two teams that will advance out of
the group. Just pick the two teams from each group. You can pick the
USA to win all 3 matches (worth one point each) but not pick them to advance to
the Round of 16 (worth 3 pts). How you pick the Round Robin matches is
completely independent on how you pick your Round of 16 bracket.
2010 HWCI World Cup
Pool FAQ