No troll farms involved AFAIK
by smbrannan
I hope you’ve been able to catch some of the games (between work and driving to/from Washington this weekend, I haven’t).
Nevertheless, the first round of match-fixing is over, and the giant brains at FIFA have come up with a stunning script. According to my calculations, RUS is in first place, followed by BEL and CRO (Croatia!!!). Ignoring the groups, here is the list of teams that didn’t lose, ranked in the same order for group standings (Points, then Goal Difference, then Goals For).
| PT | GD | GF | Rank | |
| RUS | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| BEL | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| CRO | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| SEN | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| FRA | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| ENG | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| JPN | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| URU | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| IRN | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| DEN | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| SRB | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| SWE | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| MEX | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| POR | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| ESP | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| ISL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| ARG | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| BRA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| SUI | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
If you want more analysis, then don’t listen to me; there is all kinds of rationalizing going on out there on the interwebs. Even English hopes are still alive.
The Beautiful Pool 