Week Nineteen

Here we are with Week nineteen of the competition we do not have to wait long now before the season is back to normal. So once again there is no cash prize money to win this weekend. We did have three players that picked up the most number of goals this weekend and they are GEOFF DOCKERILL, TONY GUY (3) and KEAMUS SETNA. All three picked up a total of 5 goals each all from Stockport County. Their teams are Geoff  has Celtic, Stockport, Tottenham. Tony has Arsenal, Manchester City, Stockport. Keamus has Liverpool, Manchester City, Stockport. 

MIDWEEK RESULTS

We had just five of our teams in action during midweek and only one of them managed to pick up some goals. Here are their results.

In League One BRISTOL ROVERS drew 1-1 away to Bolton and they are on a total of 32 goals. CHARLTON picked up their 5th blank of the season after they lost 1-0 at home to Cheltenham. IPSWICH have extended their goal run to eight games as they drew 1-1 at home to Fleetwood Town. PETERBOROUGH lost 2-1 at home to Barnsley and they are on a total of 41 goals. After a goal run of eighteen games, PLYMOUTH picked up their 2nd blank of the season after they lost 2-0 at home to Port Vale. 

100 MIDWEEK GOALS JACKPOT

Only nine of us managed to pick up some midweek goals this week with a single goal each. Just a small change in the leading pack this week we still have NICK HORTON out in front with a total of 39 goals. His teams are Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Norwich. In second place we have HAYLEY ADKINS with a total of 38 goals. In third place we still have RICK WOOD our 2007/08 Champion but he is joined with JAMES BLYTH up from four. Both have a total of 35 goals each. In fourth place we still have and JACQUI RATTLE with a total of 34 goals. In fifth place with a total of 32 goals we still have MARK GREGORY. In sixth place all on 31 goals we still have STEVE AYRES, GEOFF CARTHY, PETER PORTER and TERENCE WARWICK. 

WEEKEND RESULTS

We had twenty of our teams in action this weekend but we had seven teams that failed to score any goals. The highest score that we had was five goals and they came from League Two where STOCKPORT COUNT won 4-0 away to Hartlepool. Stockport with their biggest result of the season are now on a total of 36 goals. 

Stockport County are back in professional football this season, but we have had them in Golden Goals before they were relegated out of the league. They became our 82^nd voted English team when they first appeared with us in the 1992/93 Season. In that season they finished the season with a total of 94 goals, which is their highest score to date. The last time out with us was back in the 2007/08 Season and they finished with a total of 83 goals. This is their 5^th season with us now and over the years they have netted a total of 369 goals. That gives them an average score of 73 goals per season. They have three votes this season. 

CHAMPIONSHIP

We had just one game played in this league where SUNDERLAND won 3-0 at home to Millwall. Sunderland are now on a total of 29 goals. 

LEAGUE ONE

Plymouth are now just 1 point in front after they lost on Friday night. Ipswich are in second place. SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY in third place drew 0-0 away to DERBY.  After a goal run of fifteen games, Wednesday picked up their 3^rd blank of the season. Derby now have had a total of nine. MK DONS drew 1-1 at home to Burton and they are on a total of 31 goals. They have now scored in all of their last six games. LINCOLN CITY picked up their 8^th blank score sheet after they lost 2-0 away to Shrewsbury. FOREST GREEN ROVERS won 2-1 at home to Cambridge Utd. Rovers have taken their goals total to 24. OXFORD UTD drew 1-1 away to Accrington and they are on a total of 34 goals. They have now scored in all of their last eleven games.    

LEAGUE TWO

The highest team that we have here in the table are BRADFORD CITY in 6^th place. They lost 3-0 away to leaders Leyton Orient. That is City’s 7^th blank of the season. AFC WIMBLEDON won 1-0 at home against Grimsby and they are on a total of 29 goals. SALFORD CITY won 3-0 away to GILLINGHAM. Salford have taken their goals tally to 24 goals. Gillingham who are second from bottom picked up their 15^th blank score sheet and now just two goals in their last six games. SUTTON UTD drew 1-1 away to Carlsile to pick up goal number 18. CRAWLEY TOWN won 2-0 at home to SWINDON. Crawley are on a total of 27 goals while Swindon picked up their 8^th blank of the season and now two in a row. MANSFIELD TOWN won 2-1 at home to Clochester to take their goals tally to 32. 

SCOTTISH LEAGUE RESULTS

In League One ALLOA drew 0-0 away to Montrose and they have now had a total of five blank score sheets. KELTY HEARTS after a two games without a goal are now on a total of 20 after they won 3-0 at home to Peterhead.

In League Two STENHOUSEMUIR lost 2-1 away to Elgin and they are now on a total of 40 goals and a goal run of fifteen games. BONNYRIGG ROSE drew 1-1 at home to Dumbarton and that is their 27^th goal of the season. 

Our BEST three teams this week 

CELTIC (58) ABERDEEN (49) IPSWICH TOWN (46) Total of 153 goals      

 Our WORST three teams are 

GILLINGHAM (12) EVERTON (13) WEST HAM (14) Total of 39 goals 

Our best performing team are BURNLEY as they have now scored in all of their last twenty league/cup games played. They have a total of 44 goals. That gives them an average score of 1.9 goals per game. 

Our worst performing team is GILLINGHAM this weekend as they have picked up fifteen blank score sheets out of twenty-six League/Cup games played. 

Our highest goal scorers in our 40^th Season are CELTIC who won 9-0 away to Dundee Utd in the league and LIVERPOOL who won 9-0 at home to Bournemouth in the league both from Week Five. 

Our 2010/11 Champion TONY GUY with his second selection, has remained at number one spot for his 6^th weekend running. Tony failed to pick up any goals this week from Sheffield Wednesday. His other teams are  Arsenal and Celtic. Grant Phillips has remain in second place this weekend. Grant also failed to pick up any goals from Sheffield Wednesday. His other teams are Celtic and Tottenham.

At the other end at 108 we have SANDRA NICHOLLS as all of her teams are out of action. Sandra has now been here for four weeks and now seven over the season. Sandra’s teams are Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Leicester City.

Our top ten is looking like this

        THIS      LAST                                                      M/WEEK       W/END        TOTAL

       WEEK     WEEK         NAME                                 GOALS         GOALS        GOALS 

           1             -             T. GUY (2)                                28                  109                137

             2                 -             GRANT PHILLIPS                 24                  110                134

             3                 -             M. GREGORY                        32                  101                133

             4                 -             J. BLYTH                                35                  98                   133

             5                 6            MANGO                                  27                  104                131

             6                 5            S. DICKINSON                       28                  103                131

             7                 -             J. WISE                                    27                  101                128 

             8                 -             G. DOWSETT (2)                    24                  102                126 

             9                 12          G. DOCKERILL (1994/95)     17                  108                125

            10                9            B. BURROUGHS (1)              16                  107                123

England and France are in Quarter-Finals

FRANCE who was winners of Group D with a total of 19 votes took on the POLAND runners up in Group C. They have just one vote. I thought that this was going to be an easy game for France but boy was I wrong. Poland should have gone a goal up in the first half hour but it was France to score first in the 38^th minute by Giroud. So it was 1-0 to France in the first half. The second half was even better but the game belonged to France as they score again in the 74^th minute from Mbappe and then again before full time. Mbappe have now scored 5 goals for France. We then had a bit of drama when the ref said that there was a hand ball by the French goal. VAR said that he handled the ball and a penalty in the 90+9 minutes, the penalty was taken by Lewandowski and it was saved. It had to be retaken as the French goal keeper came off his line. This time he scored. Final result was 3-1 to France. France have a total of 9 goals. Poland finished their World Cup with a total of 3 goals and become our 9^th nation to leave Qatar. 

In the other game of the day ENGLAND winners of Group B with 15 votes had to play SENEGAL runners up in Group A. They have a total of 4 votes. This game was going to be tough one for England and it showed in the first half hour before they started to settle down. Henderson scored the first goal in the 38^th minute before that man Kane scored another goal just before the whistle blow for half time, his first of the tournament. (2-0 to England) In the second half Senegal made a few attacks but most of the shots went wide. Saka scored England’s third goal in the 57^th minute to make it 3-0. With Substitution’s made by both teams England kept up the pressure but unable to score any more goals. A good game for England and the now play France in the quarter-finals on 10^th December. England are the first team to hit goals in double figures with 12. The African champions, Senegal finish their World Cup with a total of 5 goals and they become our 10^th nation to leave. This is their second World Cup with us as they were in Russia 2018. They then finished with a total of 4 goals and they went out in the first round.

Netherlands and Argentina are in Quarter-Finals

In the First games of the second round or round of 16, the first game was between NETHERLANDS who were winners of Group A and they have a total of 15 votes. They took on the USA runners up in Group B. They have just one vote. It was the Netherlands that scored the first goal in the 10^th minute by Depay his first of the tournament. They scored again by Blind just before half time making it 2-0. In the second half the USA pulled one back in the 76^th minute through Wright his first and last of the tournament, but the Netherlands responded and score their third by Dumfries in the 81^st minute.

The Netherlands go into the quarter-finals winning 3-1. With their biggest result of the tournament, they are now on a total of 8 goals. The USA finished with a total of 3 goals. They become our 11^th nation to leave the World Cup in Qatar. The USA are in their 5^th World Cup with us and their best World Cup was in the Korea/Japan 2002 where they netted a total of 7 goals. They went out in the quarter-finals. 

In the other game of the day ARGENTINA winners of Group C have 20 votes. They had to play Australia runners up in Group D. The game was very evenly matched in the first 35 minutes of the game before that man Messi scored his third goal of the tournament.  At half time Argentina were in the lead 1-0. The second half started as the other half finished and Australia was playing some good football. In the 57^th minute Argentina scored their second goal through Alvarez. Australia kept up their pressure and managed to get a home goal in the 77^th minute a present from Fernandez. The final result was 2-1 to Argentina and they are now on a total of 7 goals.

The first game of the quarter-finals is set between Netherlands v Argentina on the 9^th December. 

Our Top Fifteen After 1st Round

 Here are out top fifteen which has changed after all of the first round games have been played.

                        GAME    GAME                                            GOALS

                       THREE    TWO      NAME                             TOTAL 

                                  1                  -            B. BARNES (2)                   30        

                           2             3             LUCIFER                            26

                           3             9             T. KING                              24

                           4             5             S. REEVE                            24

                           5             8             D. HARRINGTON              23

                           6             23           M. LAVER                          23

                           7             20           A. NEWMAN                      23

                           8             4             AMANDA STUBBS            23

                           9             14           D. WOOD                           23

                           10           6             R. WOOD                           23

                           11           2             D. BARRETT                      22

                           12           17           M. LIDDLE                         22

                           13           31           J. FILTNESS                       21

                           14           18           D. MORBEY                       21

                           15           10           P. REEVE                            21 

So who are our best teams that we have in the 2022 World Cup after the second set of games have been played. Well I can tell you that they are.

SPAIN (9) ENGLAND (9) GERMANY (6) FRANCE (6) total of 30 goals

All but seven of our teams have scored in their third game in the first round, and they have collected a total of 85 goals. In the last Golden Goals World Cup we reached a total of 76 goals from the first round, third game. The seven teams that have not scored are BELGIUM, BRAZIL, CROATIA, DENMARK, FRANCE, POLAND and WALES.

SPAIN holds the current record for the highest score with that 7-0 win over Costa Rica in Group E in their opening game.

BELGIUM, DENMARK, TUNISIA and WALES finished as our worst teams as they have all scored just 1 goal in their three games in the first round.

Canada's Alphonso Davies has scored the fastest goal in Group F against Croatia, when they lost 4-1 in their second game in the first round. It took him just 68 seconds.

Top goal scorers in Qatar 2022. Álvaro Morata from Spain, Kylian Mbappe from France, Marcus Rashford from England, Cody Gakpo from Netherlands and Enner Valencia from Ecuador are the top scorers with 3 goals each. We then have 18 players with 2 goals each.

We had three players that picked up the highest score after the first round third games with a total of 9 goals each. They are John Filtness with Argentina, England, Senegal and Uruguay. Mark Laver with Brazil, England, Germany and Holland. Bob Soper with Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Switzerland.

As you can see from the table above, that Barbara Barnes (2) is still in the lead after the third games of the first round. Barbara’s combination is England, France, Germany and Spain.

 

The Second round games are as follows

NETHERLAND v USA, ARGENTINA v Australia to be played on 3^rd Dec

Japan v CROATIA, BRAZIL v South Korea to be played on 5^th Dec

ENGLAND v SENEGAL, FRANCE v POLAND to be played on 4^th Dec

Morocco v SPAIN, PORTUGAL v SWITZERLAND will be played on 6^th Dec

World Cup Day Thirteen

This tournament is wide open now as we go into the second round or the round of 16. The first round has produced some shock results with some top teams going out.

In Group G CAMEROON beat BRAZIL in their final game in this group 1-0 with a late goal. The surprises win for Cameroon but did not help them to qualify for the next round. Cameroon finished on a total of 4 goals. They are in their 5^th World Cup with us and this is their best World Cup score. They have beaten their record score of 3 goals from the USA 1994 World Cup. SWITZERLAND won their last game 3-2 against Serbia. With their highest score of the tournament, Switzerland are on a total of 4 goals. 

The final group table finished BRAZIL top with 6 points with SWITZERLAND finishing in second place with 6 points. CAMEROON are third with 4 point and Serbia are bottom of the group with 1 point. 

In Group F, PORTUGAL who had won their first two games but they lost 2-1 against South Korea after going a goal up in their third game. Portugal finished top with 6 points and are on a total of 6 goals.  URUGUAY won their first game 2-0 against Ghana, but they are out of the tournament finishing in third place. They have a total of 2 goals. Uruguay are in their 4^th World Cup with us and their best total of goals was in Russia 2018 with 7 goals. In Russia they lost in the quarter-finals. 

PORTUGAL finished top of the group with 6 points. South Korea finished in second place with 4 points. Next we have Uruguay also with 4 points. Ghana finished bottom of the group with 3 points. 

After the third set of games have now all been played in the first round group stage. Seven nations have failed to score in their third game while we have now taken our goals total of 85 to date. At this stage in Russia 2018 we had a total of 76 goals from 18 teams.

World Cup Day Twelve

In Group E SPAIN lost 2-1 in their final game in this group against Japan. Spain finished in second place behind Japan. GERMANY won 4-2 against Costa Rica in their third game but it was not enough to go through to the next round. Germany needed Spain to win their game to progress to the next round. Germany finished on a total of 6 goals. They have won one, drew one and lost one. Germany have been in all of our nine World Cups. Their best World cup as in the Brazil 2014 with 18 goals and won the World Cup. In Russia 2018 they failed to go beyond the first round with just 2 goals which is their lowest total scored. 

The final group table finished Japan top with 6 points with SPAIN finishing in second place with 4 points. GERMANY are third with 4 point and Costa Rica are bottom of the group with 3 points. 

In Group F CROATIA drew 0-0 against BELGIUM in their final game and are through to the second round. They finished in second place with 5 points. Belgium finished in third place and go home with just 1 goal. Belgium are in their 6th World Cup with us and their best at a World Cup was in Russia 2018 where they finished on a total of 16 goals and they made it to the 3rd/4th play-offs. This is the lowest amount of goals scored in a World Cup with just one goal against Canada in their first game. Belgium had a total of 15 votes in Qatar. Canada who was already out of the tournament by being bottom with no points from their first two games, played Morocco in second place and lost 2-1. Morocco have won two of their games and drawn one. 

Morocco finished top of the group with 7 points. CROATIA finished in second place with 5 points. Next we have BELGIUM with 4 points. Canada finished bottom of the group with no points.

World Cup Day Eleven

In Group C POLAND lost their last game 2-0 against ARGENTINA after they had won one game and drew the other. The defeat doses mean that both teams are through to the next round. Argentina are on a total of 5 goals. SAUDI ARABIA lost their last game 2-1 against MEXICO after they had won their first game and lost their next game, Saudi finished bottom of the group with 3 goals. Mexico were unlucky not to go into the next round as if they had won 2-0, they would of gone above Poland due to having less yellow cards. Mexico finished in third place with 2 goals which is the lowest on record. Mexico are in their 7^th Golden Goals World Cup. Their best came in the 2006 and 2014 with 5 goals in each. In Russia 2018 they finished with 3 goals. 

The final group table finished like this. ARGENTINA are top with 6 points with POLAND finishing in second place with 4 points. MEXICO are third with 4 point and SAUDI ARABIA are bottom of the group with 3 points. 

In Group D we had a couple of shock results in this group in their last games. FRANCE had won their first two games but they lost their last group game 1-0 against TUNISIA. France failed to get three out of three but are through to the second round, as Tunisia get their first and only goal of the tournament. DENMARK lost 1-0 against Australia in their last game. Denmark had drawn one and lost two. They are out and scored just 1 goal which is their lowest amount in four Golden Goals World Cups. Denmark’s best total was in France 1998 with 9 goals. 

FRANCE finished top of the group with 6 points. Australia finished in second place also with 6 points. Next we have TUNISIA with 4 points. DENMARK are bottom of the group with 1 point.