Predictor: Scottish Open
The original FMS game lands
in Caledonia
š Reigning Champions: Whitecaribbean A-Stars
Final Standings
| Predictor Scotland: Season 1 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | Pts | GD | SS | GW3 Points | GW3 GD | GW3 SS | GW2 Points | GW2 GD | GW2 SS | GW1 Points | GW1 GD | GW1 SS | |||
| 1 | whitecaribbean a-stars | 13 | 17 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 6 | |||
| 2 | Rock and Iraola | 12 | 16 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2 | |||
| 3 | fc bomhonk | 10 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 1 | |||
| 4 | absolutely fabregas | 9 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | |||
| 5 | tightly | 9 | 12 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 5 | |||
| 6 | deblassofc | 8 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | |||
| 7 | cheese fc | 7 | 11 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | |||
| 8 | the david r | 6 | 7 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 9 | |||
| 9 | guardiola's giants | 6 | 14 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 8 | |||
After three arduous weeks in Glasgow, the Whitecaribbeans hoist the Scottish Open trophy aloft! They’ve broken the hoodoo of teams not holding onto their leads for the final week. Three points is their worst return of the competition, but enough to head off the opposition as we got to those nervy injury time minutes at Hampden. The A stars didn’t bottle it, and that big, Tennents-stained, Brewdog-sodden trophy is their reward as they party into the Scottish night. Hopefully they treasure it more than Ronnie O’Sullivan might…
But my goodness, they were tested. A single extra point from Rock and Iraola, in a big-scoring week for them, and glory would have been headed their way. Such slim margins – if Wolves hadn’t got a consolation goal, or Liverpool had knocked another one in.. as it is, they’ll have to console themselves with a very fine silver medal in their first full outing, and a resulting rocket right up those rankings (which we’ll update later in the week).
Elsewhere, a real battle in mid-table. Bomhonk’s top scoring antics for the week were enough to sneak 3rd place, with only 3 points separating the bottom six by the end. It’s not been the highest scoring of tournaments – a fair few shocks messing with us, and solitary points, even goals difference, have been enough to determine some final placings and crucial ranking point action.
So a new champion and no end of intrigue as the FMS carnival packs up its banners and fanzones, the bandwagon heading from Scotland all the way to Brazil for our first major of the season! And when I tell you that there is a prize, an actual tangible prize, as well as the glory, ranking points and overall feeling of superiority that I know you crave… well, I’ll bet you’re excited.
More info to follow with our Thursday update, but for now congratulations to the A-Stars and well done, one and all!
Masters Level Tournament (3 weeks long)
As well as the glory of being our Scottish Open champion, you can win up to 30 ranking points for the fight to be world number one and the race to reach our glittering end-of-season Football Masters Series final.
See everyone’s predictions here
You’ll be able to see what people have guessed by clicking here after 1230 on the Saturday of that weekend’s games.
Before then, there’ll be a list of players who have already predicted – but not, crucially, what they’ve gone for…
Tournament Updates
Fitting really, that in the week Smash Mouthās lead singer left us (and the band solemnly paid their respects by gawping at Kim Kardashian), we now have our own all-stars atop the Scottish Open table. Step forward those White Caribbeans, coasting along with a very solid 4 points, enough to vault them over the tightly gang. A two point lead over his AWOL rival as we move into that crucial final week, lovely stuff.
And it would have been even comfier up on the summit, were it not for a Sunday showcase from our āmost improvedā winners, Absolutely Fabregas. A dismal (sorry, itās true) 1 point in GW1, zero points in the three games on Saturday, but then a whopping 6 point maximum from Ireland v Netherlands and Faroe Islands v Moldova. Top scoring in a tight weekend, and zooming into third place, definitely in contention for glory as we get to our final week.
But Iāll be honestā¦ Iām annoyed at some of you ā ok, and myself too. I dropped all the hints last week ā everyone was going to go for England, Italy ā maybe you want to gamble and steal a march on the crowd. And lo ā a shock England draw! A shock Italy draw! How many of us were there to take the baitā¦? None, not one, on either game. Come on people – if a bull can ride shotgun on a motorway, then surely we can imagine Ukraine drawing with England?
And soā¦ now weāre in the final week, the final chance to throw that dice. Happily, the games are a lot tougher, so plenty for our league leaders to chew over. Plenty of ways you might be able to make your move.
Could Brighton shock the Red Devils? Will Everton finally wake up in North London? Can Bournemouth shake an already-wobbly Chelsea? And rounding it off with a table-topping Milan derby, no less ā wooft. Is any of it in Scotland, for the Scottish Open? Not at all? Is it wall-to-wall Box Office? Absolutely.
So leave it all out there in George Square; donāt be regretting those expensive bad calls – youāre not Arsenal. Good luck, one and all!
| Predictor Scotland: Season 1 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | Pts | GD | SS | GW3 Points | GW3 GD | GW3 SS | GW2 Points | GW2 GD | GW2 SS | GW1 Points | GW1 GD | GW1 SS | |||
| 1 | whitecaribbean a-stars | 13 | 17 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 6 | |||
| 2 | Rock and Iraola | 12 | 16 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2 | |||
| 3 | fc bomhonk | 10 | 15 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 1 | |||
| 4 | absolutely fabregas | 9 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | |||
| 5 | tightly | 9 | 12 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 5 | |||
| 6 | deblassofc | 8 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | |||
| 7 | cheese fc | 7 | 11 | 19 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | |||
| 8 | the david r | 6 | 7 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 9 | |||
| 9 | guardiola's giants | 6 | 14 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 8 | |||
“Perhaps fellow newcomers tightly can, ahem, squeeze out a victorious run over the next three weeks”.
A quote from last week’s email and my, how prescient/lucky those words may prove to be.. week one in Scotland, and my goodness it’s been a doozy. Our first and last games of the weekend were the chaotic ones (Sheffield Utd v Everton and Arsenal v Man U, fyi…). Enough to bamboozle almost everyone else, they instead each gave an ‘exacty’ – and a precious 3 points – to our Scottish Open leaders, tightly! Newcomers to the Football Masters Series, but swiftly making their presence felt with a powerful 7 points in what was, frankly, an otherwise fairly low scoring first week.
Their main challengers at the top after week one are our White Caribbean A-Stars – getting two points for those crucial first and last games while everyone else struggled. These two teams sit a comfortable three points away from the crowd below.
It could all have been so different, had Man U not lost their defensive discipline… twice… instead there’s plenty for the chasing crowd to do in that crucial middle weekend, where you suspect the runners will be separated from the Scottish Open riders.
Thankfully we’ve got another fun one to come – international week! With no fantasy football to intrude on your thinking, take a bit longer to agonise over those crucial games. Can Ukraine shock England? Will Italy succumb for a second shocking time to North Macedonia? And is it merely a case of ‘guess the thrashing’ when Hollywood’s Wrexham entertain Doncaster at the *checks notes*… STÅK Cae Ras stadium (pretty sure it was the Racecourse Ground on the documentary…).
We’ll know soon enough. But for now, good luck one and all!