Chris Penza
I wanted to answer this simple question, “Which group in the school has the best world cup knowledge?” I set out to find the answer. First I needed a set of knowledgeable people regarding the topic of soccer. Soccer players Devil Niles and Chanhee Son were selected to represent the Juniors. Players Gus Radner and Max Millette were chosen to represent the Freshmen. And the soccer referee and connoisseur Mr. Blinder and Mr. DiDonna were each allowed to form their own predictions to make it two student brackets and two teachers. Who’s the best? Who’s the worst? Who did overall better, teachers or students? Let’s find out. Here were each group’s predictions for the Round of 16. The team they thought would win is placed first and capitalized. If a team has a correct prediction, the box is bolded.
Round of 16
| Gus and Max | Chanhee and Devin | Mr. DiDonna | Mr. Blinder |
| USANetherlands | NETHERLANDSUSA | USANetherlands | NETHERLANDSUSA |
| ARGENTINAAustralia | ARGENTINAAustralia | ARGENTINAAustralia | ARGENTINAAustralia |
| JAPANCroatia | JAPANCroatia | CROATIAJapan | JAPANCroatia |
| BRAZILSouth Korea | BRAZILSouth Korea | SOUTH KOREABrazil | BRAZILSouth Korea |
| FRANCEPoland | FRANCEPoland | FRANCEPoland | FRANCEPoland |
| ENGLANDSenegal | ENGLANDSenegal | ENGLANDSenegal | ENGLANDSenegal |
| MOROCCOSpain | SPAINMorocco | SPAINMorocco | SPAINMorocco |
| PORTUGALSwitzerland | PORTUGALSwitzerland | SWITZERLANDPortugal | SWITZERLANDPortugal |
| Total Pts Earned: 6 | Total Pts Earned: 6 | Total Pts Earned: 4 | Total Pts Earned: 5 |
What’s notable? Gus and Max were the only ones who successfully predicted Spain losing to Morocco. Also, Mr. DiDonna was the only one that didn’t have Brazil winning but also the only one who predicted Croatia vs Japan game correctly.
Quarter-finals, Points Doubled
| Gus and Max | Chanhee and Devin | Mr. DiDonna | Mr. Blinder |
| ARGENTINAUSA | ARGENTINANetherlands | ARGENTINAUSA | ARGENTINANetherlands |
| BRAZILJapan | BRAZILJapan | SOUTH KOREACroatia | BRAZILJapan |
| FRANCEEngland | FRANCEEngland | FRANCEEngland | FRANCEEngland |
| MoroccoPortugal | PORTUGALSpain | SPAINSwitzerland | SPAINSwitzerland |
| Total Pts Earned: 12 | Total Pts Earned: 10 | Total Pts Earned: 8 | Total Pts Earned: 9 |
What’s notable? Nobody predicted the Brazil upset, and Gus and Max were the only teams that correctly put Portugal through, and predicted one of the biggest upsets in the tournament, their losing to Morocco.
Semi-finals, Points Doubled
| Gus and Max | Chanhee and Devin | Mr. DiDonna | Mr. Blinder |
| BRAZILArgentina | BRAZILArgentina | ARGENTINASouth Korea | BRAZILArgentina |
| FRANCEMorocco | FRANCEPortugal | FRANCESpain | FRANCESpain |
| Total Pts Earned: 16 | Total Pts Earned: 14 | Total Pts Earned: 16 | Total Pts Earned: 13 |
What’s notable? Only Mr. DiDonna correctly predicted both semi finals winners, and there were three different matchups for the France game, and all three had France winning. At this point Gus and Max have perfectly predicted one half of the bracket, while DiDonna most successfully predicted the other side, correctly sending Argentina to the finals.
Finals, Points Doubled
| Gus and Max | Chanhee and Devin | Mr. DiDonna | Mr. Blinder |
| BRAZILFrance | BRAZILFrance | FRANCEArgentina | BRAZILFrance |
| Total Pts Earned: 16 | Total Pts Earned: 14 | Total Pts Earned: 16 | Total Pts Earned: 13 |
What’s notable? Not only is there a tie, but ¾ of the teams put Brazil as winning. Also, everyone put France in the finals and Mr. DiDonna, the only one who put Argentina, didn’t predict them as winning. So we have to do a tiebreaker. Normally in a bracket, everyone put their scores ahead of time, but that didn’t happen, so I realized the problem before the finals if France won Mr. DiDonna would win by 8 points, but if Argentina won it would end in a tie. Before the finals game, I asked both Gus and Max, and Mr. DiDonna to give me a score for a game in which Argentina won. Max and Gus said 2-1 Argentina, and Mr. DiDonna said 3-1. What actually happened was 3-3 Argentina winning in penalties, so how do you calculate who was closer? You see who more closely predicted goals scored by the winning team, and because Argentina won with three goals, and Mr. DiDonna was the only one who said 3, he is the winner of the Frontier World Cup 2022 bracket predictions.
Who overall did the best at each stage?
Round of 16: Gus and Max, Chanhee and Devin
Quarter-finals: Gus and Max
Semi-finals: Mr. DiDonna
Finals: Mr. DiDonna
Who did better, teachers or students?
Teacher Total Pts: 29
Student Total Pts: 30
Who is the overall Winner?
Mr. DiDonna