The @blocktrades World Cup | My selections

The World Cup comes around 1 every 4 years, which means, as an England fan, I only get to suffer twice a decade.

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Luckily, @blocktrades, @acidyo, and @anomadsoul have teamed up to make this years competition a little more exciting for us England fans. More on that below, but first, a brief look back into England World Cup misery history by @abh12345.

Mexico 1986

Was the first tournament I remember anything of. John Barnes and Gary Lineker were in their prime but unfortunately, so was this guy:

_{How was this not seen by the officials?!}

In the same game, Diego Maradona scored with his hand, and then went on to score one of the best goals in World Cup history. Tears at bedtime in my house as England were knocked out in the quarter finals.

Both goals here at normal speed with commentary:

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Italia 90

Germany's World Cup, and who would bet against them this year?

I have the complete sticker album from Italia 90, but it will never make up for the loss in the semi-finals to Germany, on penalties. And were it not for Paul Parker's arse, and the most ridiculous of deflected free-kicks, they'd be no penalties to miss.

England defeated again, more tears at bedtime - I wasn't the only one this time though.

_{But muuuum, you said it was pie n mash for dinner..}

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USA 94

_{Excuse me? When does the concert start?}

USA 94.... I don't remember much about that one... Ah yes, England didn't even qualify.

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France 1998

We had a good team, Michael Owen was as fast as lightening, and Argentina were on the ropes until...

One stupid kick by David Beckham after being floored by Diego Simone was all it took to end this years hopes. England lost on penalties, again.

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South Korea and Japan 2002

England again reached the quarter finals, and this time against Brazil - the eventual winners.

The game was tied, until this unbelievable 40 yard free-kick:

Did he mean to do that? I think so!

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Germany 2006

Hosted by Germany, but won by Italy (who didn't make it this year), England went out on Penalties again, and lost Wayne Rooney to red card, in which a young looking Cristiano Ronaldo was involved.

Boot in the bollocks, yeah I think he deserved a red card there.

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South Africa 2010

And England are 2-1 down to Germany in the 2nd round. Two quick goals from the Germans made me leave the TV, swearing as i walked outside to swear a bit more. Then I heard a huge cheer from next door, and ran back inside to see this:

The most obvious goal that never was, ruining the game completely! Goal-line technology was a popular talking point prior to this World Cup, and the FIFA president ruled against using it. He knew!

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Brazil 2014

England fail to make it out of their group and finish bottom with 1 point:

Germany win the World Cup in Brazil, and I think they'll do it again this year.

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It has been a painful experience supporting England all this time, but what about Russia 2018?

England are currently 12/1 to win the tournament, and just in case you aren't sure about how betting odds work:

If you put $10 on England to win the World Cup at 12/1, you will lose $10 :)

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My selections

Using the table template that can be found here: https://steemit.com/blocktradesworldcup/@mexico-trail/the-blocktrades-world-cup-or-my-selections

Here are my selections:

Score	Team		Team	Score
W	Russia	vs	Saudi Arabia	L
T	Egypt	vs	Uruguay	T
T	Morocco	vs	Iran	T
L	Portugal	vs	Spain	W
W	France	vs	Australia	L
W	Argentina	vs	Iceland	L
T	Peru	vs	Denmark	T
T	Croatia	vs	Nigeria	T
L	Costa Rica	vs	Serbia	W
W	Germany	vs	Mexico	L
W	Brazil	vs	Switzerland	L
T	Sweden	vs	South Korea	T
W	Belgium	vs	Panama	L
L	Tunisia	vs	England	W
W	Poland	vs	Senegal	L
W	Colombia	vs	Japan	L
T	Russia	vs	Egypt	T
W	Portugal	vs	Morocco	L
W	Uruguay	vs	Saudi Arabia	L
L	Iran	vs	Spain	W
W	France	vs	Peru	L
W	Denmark	vs	Australia	L
W	Argentina	vs	Croatia	L
W	Brazil	vs	Costa Rica	L
L	Nigeria	vs	Iceland	W
W	Serbia	vs	Switzerland	L
W	Belgium	vs	Tunisia	L
W	Germany	vs	Sweden	L
L	South Korea	vs	Mexico	W
W	England	vs	Panama	L
T	Japan	vs	Senegal	T
W	Poland	vs	Colombia	L
W	Uruguay	vs	Russia	L
L	Saudi Arabia	vs	Egypt	W
W	Spain	vs	Morocco	L
L	Iran	vs	Portugal	W
L	Denmark	vs	France	W
L	Australia	vs	Peru	W
L	Nigeria	vs	Argentina	W
T	Iceland	vs	Croatia	T
L	South Korea	vs	Germany	W
T	Mexico	vs	Sweden	T
L	Serbia	vs	Brazil	W
W	Switzerland	vs	Costa Rica	L
L	Japan	vs	Poland	W
T	Senegal	vs	Colombia	T
L	England	vs	Belgium	W
T	Panama	vs	Tunisia	T

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Rules

See the full list of rules at the link below.

• Link this post in your entry: https://steemit.com/blocktradesworldcup/@worldcup-russia/join-the-blocktrades-world-cup-or-2-000-sbd-in-prizes

• Resteem the post at the link above

• Use the tags #blocktradesworldcup and #mypicks

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Good luck everyone entering the contest, and for your team in the World Cup, whoever you are supporting. For England, I'm just seeing how long it will be before this moment:

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Cheers!

Asher