Russia 2018 Predictions Game - Group Stage Update 1

With Senegal's 2-1 win over Poland this afternoon, the first round of Russia 2018 Group Stage matches came to an end, so it's high time to check in on our Russia 2018 Predictions Game. (That is, I'm not counting in this update Russia's 3-1 win over Egypt this evening). It's been an opening week of lots of thrills and spills, great goals and upsets. For example, none of us predicted Germany being out of the top two teams in Group F! Of course, it's early days, so I won't be calling the engraver quite yet. But it's nice to see the Blue Devil on top of the pops this evening, even if I know it won't last.

In terms of scoring, it's two points for each of the top two teams in each group plus an extra point for the correct order. Beyond that, I no one guessed that Yuri Gazinsky would open the scoring in this tournament (or that he'd be level with Ronaldo as the Golden Boot!, as I type!). I did assign one point to The Bee's Knees for his prediction of Artem Dzyuba, as Dzyuba scored the third of five goals for Russia in that slaughter of Saudi Arabia. No one guessed that it would be Carlos Sanchez who would be the first (and sole so far) player sent off at Russia 2018. I'll also award a point for the first player to get his marching orders in the pool. Finally, and most shockingly, none one predicted that Cristiano Ronaldo would be the Golden Boot, but it is Ronaldo who is currently the top scorer after the first round thanks to his splendid hat-trick against Spain.

So, here are the standings:

1. Blue Devil - 29 points
2. The Bee's Knees - 27 pts
-  Man United Rules 27 pts
4. Swansong - 26 pts
5. Red Devil 1FCK - 25 pts
-  Red Dragon - 25 pts
7. The Saint - 24 pts
8. Someone Said - 22 pts
-  United We Stand - 22 pts
10. Gooner71 - 21 pts
11. West Ham Rising - 19 pts