Cornish Steve

Scores for the current round are so close that one perfect can change the picture instantly - as just happened with the France-Nigeria game. Overall, verreauxi's lead has been cut to 14. He can still be caught!

Personally, I'd be happy with Cleverley. Until his recent bouts with injury, he was a very good player with a lot of potential. He's taken a lot of stick recently but not reacted negatively. Martinez knows him from the past and will be able to get the best out of him. He could turn out to be a real bargain.

FIFA may take retroactive action. Do you think there's any possibility that Robben will be barred from playing against CR?

Wow. Four people managed to receive a perfect score for the Netherlands-Mexico game: Congraulations to Matt, doc_bump, Alguna Vez Tonelada, and MikeO. For the first knockout round, the jazz bassist has a one-point lead. Verreauxi leads overall.

Final four will be no surprise: Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina, Germany.

There were quite a few perfect scores today. Congratulations to Rubecula, TonkaRoost, and verreauxi for winning five points in the Brazil-Chile match and to Matt for getting a perfect score for the Colombia-Uruguay game. Overally, verreauxi now enjoys a 20-point lead. Please note that, consistent with the rule I posted earlier, I recorded the final score of the Brazil-Chile game to be 2-1.

I interpreted your predicted scores, before kick-off, to be 1-0 (half-time) and 2-1 (full-time). Hope this works.

Based on your commentary, I'd interpreted your prediction as 3-2 anyway.

When I was in primary school, there was a Beano annual (I believe) with a cartoon story about "Wing Wizard". Playing inside left for the school team, I used to call myself "Tackling Wizard" - but no one else did! The most fun thing at that age was playing away games against Calstock school. If you kicked the ball hard enough, it would be in the Tamar.

Full-time score means full-time score, even if it's after extra time.

You may want to come up with different scores for Colombia-Uruguay, because you currently have Uruguay losing a goal in the second half.

The final score means the score at the end of the game, not after 90 minites. If a team wins on penalties, I'll add one goal to that team's score. This means there can be no draws. Do you want to give a new final score for Costa Rica - Greece?

Here's my wish for this first knockout round. Mexico beat Netherlands with a controversial goal in stoppage time. Louis van Gaal loses it, wrestles the referee to the ground, and is banned from managing any team (including United) for five years.

One of his sponsors. An online gambling company, has canceled his contract with immediate effect. I wonder whether the British Dental Association will step into the breach.

Sorry to be coming into this discussion late; I was flying most of the day. For me, the definition of a team's most valuable player is not the one who contributes most to games but the one whose absence is felt most by the team. I'd therefore agree that McCarthy was Everton's most valuable player last season, by a significant margin. He's the engine that ensures all the other parts function.

Brazil (1)2 Chile (0)1 Colombia (1)3 Uruguay (0)1 Netherlands (0)1 Mexico (0)0 Costa Rica (1)2 Greece (0)0 France (0)2 Nigeria (0)0 Germany (2)3 Algeria (0)2 Argentina (1)2 Switzerland (0)0 Belgium (0)0 USA (0)1

Here's the template for the first knockout round. Brazil (x)x Chile (x)x Colombia (x)x Uruguay (x)x Netherlands (x)x Mexico (x)x Costa Rica (x)x Greece (x)x France (x)x Nigeria (x)x Germany (x)x Algeria (x)x Argentina (x)x Switzerland (x)x Belgium (x)x USA (x)x Note: one extra goal will be added to the score of any team that wins on penalties. For example, if the Belgium-USA game is tied 0-0 and goes to penalty kicks, the winning team would be judged to have won by a score of 1-0. So, in that light, don't predict any draws!

From Washington DC (where, tonight, I missed a flight connection)! We have a winner for the third round: Geth. Indeed, if you'd played in the first round, Geth, chances are you'd be in second place overall. Congratulations for your perfect score with the South Korea-Belgium game. Well done, too, to TonkaRoost, who obtained a perfect score for the Algeria-Russia game. verreauxi retains a strong lead going into the knockout rounds.

Three days into round 3, and MikeO retains his lead. Congratulations also to NyarkosLeftToe for obtaining a perfect score in the Bosnia-Iran game and to Nikica for a perfect score in the Honduras-Switzerland game. Of course, extending his lead overall is verreauxi.

And hot off the presses in Denver, MikeO takes over as leader for the current round, having achieved a perfect score for the Italy-Uruguay game.

Excellent. Should mean Costa Rica make it to the last eight.

No gloating over Miguel about Italy being knocked out. No reason to gloat. Reminder to self: no gloating. Did Italy lose? Not gonna say. No glo......

Pity the Suarez incident drew all the attention. From what I hear, Italy players fell over every few seconds to ensure there was no action. That's pathetic. Frankly they deserve to be knocked out.

I've added your scores to the list. I shall be flying a good part of the day and then in Denver (a later timezone). Apologies again for posting scores a little late.