Scientific World Cup Prediction

Did they finally invent a way to predict who will win the World Cup? Every punter wants to know…

Is the World Cup Rigged?

Well, there’s no doubt World Cup Soccer matches have been fixed in the past. In 2008, Der Spiegel reported on a match between Ghana and Brazil where Brazil was supposed to win by at least two goals. The match ended with Brazil winning 3-0.

So how do you do it? One way is to get a referee in your pocket. In one case, referee Robert Hoyzer was found guilty of trying to fix matches for money. He admitted to trying to influence the results of German Cup matches and was convicted of fraud. You can read about him here. But there are other ways…

Sports Arbitrage and the World Cup

There’s an old cliche that says, “That’s a good problem to have.” I’ve got one of those problems now. The World Cup is a feeding frenzy for sports arbitrage. There are so many people in so many countries betting that the opportunities to play odds against each other are tremendous. So what’s the problem? Well, as far as I can tell, I’m completely invested.

The Train to New Dehli

I’m getting to know the trains of the world. I’ve been in 6 countries so far and I’ve used trains to get around everywhere but Canada. Indian trains are the most unusual by far.

Keeping an Eye on the World Cup

Every four years it rolls around like the Olympics. But, unlike the Olympics, it isn’t ruled by the US and a few other countries. I checked, as of today, there are only ten countries with ten or more medals in the Winter Olympics. In the World Cup, you have 32 countries who will make it to the finals. That’s huge.

Alice Springs

Halfway to Darwin! Alice Springs is a little (about 30,000 people) town/city near the middle of the continent. As small as it is compared to what we in the US would call a city, it’s a refreshing change from the reddish desert. They have grass. It’s a weird place, as far as I can tell the population is half tourists or ‘blow throughs’, half settled Aussies (and aboriginals) and half international. They have a significant number of Asians in the mix.