Final

So, who won?

The last-minute goal by Germany moved things around: Manfred ended up first, John Anderson 2nd, and Seppel 3rd.*

Cabeça de Macaco, occupied with random thoughts

Also, and this is probably the biggest piece of news of the day, it is the second time in a row that Cabeça de Macaco does not finish last in the Bolão. Congratulations to all!

___
* Provisional results. As usual, our Excelmaster Paulo will cross-check all computations.
UPDATE: He has checked. Results are final.

Almost there

We are just one day away from end of the Bolão (and the World Cup). Today, Brazil played another horrible game and Netherlands managed to finish third. Admittedly, this time, the referee was partially to blame.

Robben adds another item to his collection of techniques to obtain penalties: now he is able to get penalty calls also when outside of the penalty area.

More important affairs lie ahead. The question we all are asking is "Who will win this year's Bolão?" We'll find out tomorrow. In the meantime, the updated standings are here.

Second finalist

After one of the most boring games in the World Cup, Argentina defeats Netherlands in the penalty shootout and advances to the final. For the third time in World Cup history, the final game is Argentina vs. Germany (they faced each other in 1986 and 1990, winning one each).

Yep, it doesn't always work as against Costa Rica

The Bolão ranking is more or less the same. Take a look at the updated standings.

First finalist

Germany advances into the final.

Klose scored his 16th goal in a World Cup

In the Bolão, Seppel is 1st, and Serginho 2nd. Manfred, who predicted the win by Germany, is 3rd, and just one point behind Serginho. The complete standings are here.

A matter of four

The semi-finals have arrived. Just four teams remain in the competition: two from Europe and two from South America. Therefore, as it has always been, the World cup final will be played by teams from either Europe or South America.

Who will it be?

This year the Bolão also seems to be a matter of four. According to extensive simulations performed by our Excelmaster, this year's Bolão da Copa champion will be one of the four participants who are currently in the top three:  Seppel, Serginho Matos, Manfred, or Sandy.

Also, like four years ago, Cabeça de Macaco might not finish last.

On to the semi-finals

My cable and internet connections are working again! This means that I could watch today's matches unencumbered and that FIFA's evil plans were thwarted.

In the first game, Argentina won against apathetic Belgium because Belgian players couldn't decide on whether they wanted to score a goal or not. Indecisiveness seems to be their national trait.

The second game was much more engaging. Recall that Netherlands was tricked by Mexico into having to play against mighty Costa Rica. However, Netherlands ended up winning in the penalty shootout after Louis van Gaal substituted the goalkeeper by one who is an expert in stopping penalty shots. For some inexplicable reason, journalists around the world are calling van Gaal a genius for making such an obvious decision.

A revolutionary concept: in the penalty shootout use a goalkeeper who is good at it.

What about the Bolão? Seppel is 1st, Serginho Matos 2nd, and Manfred and Sandy are tied at the 3rd place. Cabeça de Macaco is up one position again. The complete standings are here.

Quarter-finals

Both my cable and internet connection were taken out by lightning, so I couldn't watch the games at home today. No doubt, this is part of an evil ploy by FIFA to keep me from my commitment to truthful reporting. From what I heard, both Germany and Brazil advanced. They'll face each other in the semi-finals.

What? Germany is next?

In the Bolão, Seppel is 1st, Serginho Matos 2nd, and Sandy is now 3rd. Cabeça de Macaco has dropped to the bottom of the table again. The standings are here.

The Round of 16 is over

In the first game, Argentina required supernatural assistance to win against Switzerland. Just when it looked like penalty shots were inevitable, an Angel miraculously scored a goal for Argentina.

Pope Francis declined to comment on whether he was involved.

The Belgium - USA match was also resolved in overtime. It was much more animated though: three goals were scored during the last 30 min. Belgium ended up advancing.

And now, on to the Bolão: Seppel is still 1st. He has increased his lead by 10 additional points. However, Serginho, Julián, Ale, and sandy are not far behind. Meanwhile, Cabeça de Macaco has gained one position. The current standings are here.

Something happened today

Two European teams played against two African teams today. The Europeans, France and Germany, ended up advancing, but it wasn't as easy as they expected.

After scoring for France, Pogba insults his teammates. He was mad at them because they failed to praise his hairdo enough.

But more important than all this is that there are big changes in the Bolão: Seppel is now first. Serginho is only one point behind. Take a look at the updated standings if you don't believe me.

At the other extreme, Cabeça de Macaco has dropped to the last position. Is there any hope left for our beloved monkey?

Ticotazo

Both games today had a CONCACAF team playing a European team.

The first game was Netherlands - Mexico. Mexico started out winning, but they changed their mind near the end and allowed the Netherlands to score two goals. Smart move, the prospects of facing the winner of Costa Rica vs Greece are scary. The Dutch didn't want to face them either, so they did everything in their power to avoid scoring any goals. In the end, they were tricked into scoring by the referee, Pedro Proenca, who called an inexistent penalty on Robben.

Mexican players drop to the ground and try to force the Dutch to finally score a goal

In the second game, mighty Costa Rica advanced after a penalty shoot-out. The Dutch are trembling in fear.

By the way, two smart Bolão participants predicted that Costa Rica would advance today. The updated standings are here.

The 2nd stage begins

Four South American teams played today. Out of those, only two passed to the next stage: Brazil (barely) and Colombia. Guess what, Serginho Matos got both right. He is still first in the Bolão.

How did you do? The official standings are here.

The first stage is over

Ghana tried to make things easy for Portugal. Right before the game, they suspended their two top players for indiscipline. During the match, Ghana scored the first goal for Portugal. Then, the goalkeeper gave Cristiano Ronaldo the ball so that he could also score. CR7 scored 1 goal in the tournament and has reached Reza Ghoochannejhad's mark. Good job!

Portugal won 2-1 but was eliminated anyway. Germany and USA advanced into the second round.

Cristiano Ronaldo expresses satisfaction because he reached the level of Reza Ghoochannejhad

In the other group, Belgium and Algeria advanced.

The final standings of the first stage are here. Right now, Serginho Matos is 1st, Julián 2nd, and Seppel 3rd. Our dear Cabeça de Macaco is currently 133th.