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And then there were two. Yes, not only is it the World Cup final, but it is also the climax of our predictions game.
ESPN FC's Paul Mariner booked his place by getting the correct scoreline in Belgium vs. France, but after no one went for a Croatia win in the second semifinal we had to go to tournament averages to find out who would qualify. And Ricardo Puig, who has been consistently excellent throughout, came out on top.
Will it be former England international Paul who brings "it home" or ESPN Mexico's ace pundit -- and apparently predictor -- Ricardo?
There's actually still two games to go so it would seem a shame not to predict both. So first up it's the effectively meaningless third/fourth place playoff between Belgium and England.
Nothing to split our two pundits here as both think Belgium will take the bronze medal, and both say 2-1.
UPDATE: Both of our pundits grab the 10 points due to Belgium's win in the third-place game over England. The 2-0 final means neither get the bonus, setting us up for a winner take all final between France and Croatia.
Both experts have France in the final so it might come down to predicting the correct score to separate our final two pundits.
That's enough of the warm-up, let's get to the main event. The big one. The final. France vs. Croatia. Will France win it for a second time, or is it Croatia to rule the world for the very first time?
Both experts believe Les Bleus will walk away with the famous trophy, but this time they go for different scorelines. Ricardo says 2-1 to France, while Paul believes it will just be 1-0 to them. Will we get an outright winner? Or will the crown be decided on tournament average? It will be like having our very own penalty shootout!
UPDATE: Our pundits were correct that France would win, but neither expected so many goals and a 4-2 victory. So the final score is 20-20, and we have to go on tournament average to find our champion.
*drumroll*
Ricardo has had the best average throughout, and you have to say that with 10.77 -- showing superb consistency -- he deserves the title. Paul just comes in behind on 8.08 -- a fine challenge!
Pundits got 10 points for a correct result and a bonus 20 if they got the scoreline too.
THE FINAL PREDICTIONSBEL-ENGFRA-CROPTS Paul Mariner (ESPN FC)2-11-010 Ricardo Puig (ESPN Mexico)2-12-110
See how all of our pundits got on in the semifinals. Plus, it's not too late to join the pundits' league in Match Predictor.
Source: espn.co.uk