World Cup McPredicto | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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1:04Visit Michael's in-store or shop online now. Hi, this is Kim and Penn Holderness from the Laugh Lines podcast. This episode is sponsored by Oli, your wellness partner for back-to-school and beyond. Back to school season is here. Packed backpacks, packed lunches and packed schedules are officially back. Ollie Kids Sleep helps little dreamers wind down with a gentle blend of melatonin, L-theanine and botanicals for restful sleep. Translation, an easy way to put those school night negotiations to bed. And for the grownups, Ollie Sleep helps you fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

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3:42And plain water isn't always the most efficient way to restore the balance. That's where Liquid IV comes in. Its science-backed formula is clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone. Whether you're exercising, playing outside, or simply surviving a summer heat wave, it's an easy way to stay hydrated. Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV, hydration that goes wherever life takes you. Hi, Peter from the Football Ramble. This one's a stinker. We obviously recorded the show before we heard the sad news of Kevin Keegan's passing. And obviously we knew that this day was going to come sooner rather than later because obviously he was diagnosed with cancer last year.

4:28But with characters like Keggy, how large he was in Football Ramble lore, obviously. It obviously never seemed real. One of the greatest English footballs of all time. Double Ballon d 'Or winner in consecutive seasons at Hamburg. 300 odd appearances for Liverpool. You'll get all of that in every tribute in the newspapers and on the telly and stuff. But for us here at the Football Ramble, I think we've done shows for 20 years. And I don't think we've got a single week where we haven't mentioned Kevin Keegan because we loved him. The crockery, the helicopter on the pitch, fighting Billy Bremner, telling David Ginola off for smoking on the team bus, living with Peter Beardsley at Fulham, you know, in the most men behaving badly seen possible.

5:13And personally, as a Newcastle United supporter who grew up in the North East in the 90s, as soon as you hear his name, you see the pitch invasion when he gets him out of the second division. And then he walks and him on the steps of the Gallagher in a chenille roll neck, remonstrating with the fans, saying that, you know, we may have sold Andy Cole, but I promise there are better days to come and there was because Kevin King was a man of his word and nobody would have had the pedigree or the profile to put that Newcastle United side together to attract those players to the side and you talk to any of them and they would all sort of say, you know, they would run through brick walls for him because he made them feel 10 feet tall and they were just an incredible side and whatever team he was managing after his playing career ended, obviously, he was a man of great integrity.

6:00He was to his great credit. He wouldn't stick around if he felt he wasn't needed. He would be out the door because he knew what football meant to people and he knew how important the relationship was between him and the supporters. He was a proper pin-up. He was a rock star. He was brilliant. He was ambitious. He was optimistic. He was romantic and he was fallible and he was human. And the human part is the most alluring thing of all. And he obviously didn't get to say goodbye to Newcastle United in particular, as Bobby Robson obviously had with his testimonial. But I dare say, sooner rather than later, there'll be a great big statue outside St.

6:39James's Park. And it's almost fitting that in the last few days, England, a team he obviously managed, put six past France and let in four. So a kind of fitting end, really. But what a player, what a manager, what a man. Rest in peace, King Kev. Just be careful on the stairs, alright?

7:29Mossad. Yeah, why not? Why not? You've got World Cup McPredicto at the end of the table. Yeah, World Cup McPredicto here. Are you starstruck by seeing such a predictor? Yes, I am.

7:38Luke Moore: World Cup McPredicto appears to be just eating a slice of ginger as well. Is that right? He always does that in his mouth. It makes me feel better. Yeah. It's healthy. Yeah. Is it healthy? It's good for the, ironically, good for the GERD diet. You feel me with the GERD diet? Why is it ironic? It means you can eat fuck all. Right. Except ginger. Right. So you think the ginger makes up for all the other horrific things you do? I can't wind back the clock Luke we've got to get through this I'm a cut and short at this point Can I have one question? Marcus! It's going to be a short show anyway Let's lengthen it with some chat He just said the worst things you've done And I'm trying to say No it's not that I just wanted to ask one question if I may No Pete wants you to unpack this If you had a massive plate Two days ago Leftover Chinese for breakfast If you had a little slice of ginger after Would that make it alright?

8:21Yeah it's like a little Like a little alka-sala An important A worthy introduction

8:26Luke Moore: If you'd have committed an armed robbery the next morning, you thought, I probably shouldn't have done that. Slice of ginger. Can't get me copper. I'm gingered up. Pop a slice of ginger in the copper's mouth. In the judge's mouth. That's for you, judge. Thank you, judge. I'll take a caution. I'll take a suspended sentence. Get out of here, Donaldson. Get out of here, McPredicto. McPredicto is my new superhero name. What chances have me, Jim, David, or Vish got, or yourself, Marcus, when we're up against World Cup McPredicto? I think we're struggling. I think we're struggling. It's not a fair fight.

8:58Luke Moore: It isn't a fair fight. Well, at the start of the World Cup, we all submitted our predictions for the following eight categories. World Cup winner, surprise package, underachievers, where England's tournament will end, World Cup top scorer, most famous non-football celebrity spotted at a match, Gianni Infantino will say... and the much-celebrated category, notable mad shit. Which could also be what Gianni Infantino would say. Well, indeed. We've also secretly predicted the total number of goals and total number of cards given in the tournament. I'm particularly interested in that one because obviously we had more matches at the World Cup, 104 of the bastards than we've had before.

9:35Luke Moore: But without further ado, everybody, let us get underway. So, Peter, you have Jim's predictions. I do. Jim, you have mine. Luke, you have Pete's. I do. And I have Luke and the absent Vish and David's predictions. So we'll react to everyone's picks for each category in that order with Pete going first. So, Peter, if I may ask, we're going to start with a World Cup winner okay what did Jim go for Jim went for Spain oh it's a good start it's a good start for Jim Campbell vamos yes my thinking if we want to get into that was as we sort of discussed yesterday that they're equipped to win a lot of different types of matches they've got the consistency under Dele Fuentes and do you feel you've been vindicated I do feel like I've been vindicated because what I said would happen did happen so we can move on from that well done Jim Bob Jim what did I have?

10:31Luke Moore: you as we all I think remember went for England yeah this is what I said I thought to myself that in my head my head is not coming up with anything oh here we go right okay here we go come on come on Ease Ease Ease Ease Ease Ease Ease I promise you're easy in retrospect. Each easy. Like a dagger to my heart. We're going to win! Yes! England! Did you go England? Come on! You're bad. We need you. Yeah, would you apologise for your jinx though? No. No, I think if anybody is annoyed with me, I would say... Show some fucking respect. Because all of you cowards never went for England. No. No. Anyway, I was wrong, obviously, sadly.

11:23Luke Moore: Luke what did Pete go for well here we go do you remember Peter I do remember this year Pete's off to sunny Spain oh a beaver Espania Jim said point for Pete ding ding ding ding ding aye aye that's a payback arena not an Ali G aye yeah he was at Wimbledon yeah he was yeah weird nothing to do with this show so yeah he went for Spain as well I can tell you that Luke Aaron Moore went for France. Yeah. Not even on the podium. You're not going to regret that. Not on the podium. No, not on the podium. They gave us some great moments. They gave us some great moments, yeah, particularly when they lost to England.

12:02Luke Moore: Vish went for Spain as well. Yeah. Points of Visho. Yeah. David Cartlidge for Portugal. Ooh. That surprised me at the time. In fact, he couldn't even remember doing that prediction. Yeah. He distanced himself from his own prediction. He's got a newborn baby. Yeah, true. Understandable. Understandable. so points on the board for Pete, Jim and Vish for that one surprise package how would you quantify a surprise package Marcus? I think we say the answers and we all decide in the court of public opinion so Peter Jim went for Ecuador nice they did get through the group stage but I'm not sure that they really meet that threshold though.

12:53I think they might just sit under the line for my money. It was a Commodore Garden defeat to Mexico in the first knockout game, wasn't it? So yeah, I think we expected more of them actually. So I don't think you can get the point for that.

13:04Luke Moore: I think some acceptable answers would be... Paraguay? Yeah. Egypt? Yeah, Paraguay beat Germany though. Yeah. I wasn't pushing back on that, but I think Paraguay, Egypt, I think you could maybe even say... What are you thinking? Haiti? Cape Verde. Cape Verde surprise they surprise remember it's not overachieving it's about the expectation on them isn't it yeah I would have Cape Verde isn't there yeah okay but I don't think we have Ecuador in there no I don't think we can to be fair Jim who did I put you went for Austria yeah another I think that's a good answer no yeah no they what did they went out in the round of 32 to Spain they did who went on to win it so you can't really expect them to win that game Peter went for Japan because of course he did they were narrowly beaten by Brazil in the first knockout game in a game I think they probably will have some regrets about yeah but I don't think they don't meet the standards I don't think let's remind ourselves what Luke Moore said surprise package then Luke Moore kick us off with I'll fuck this up massively this is going to be a nightmare I don't even want to reveal it come on I don't know why I said it I know everyone on social media is going to hammer me you're going to say Scotland no I'm not going to say Scotland but again this is about timing I kind of convinced myself I don't know why I did this but I can't I've just predicted England to win it I've predicted England to win it for some reason there will be egg all over my face at the end of this tournament you'll be fine I went for hating oh my goodness why have you done that?

14:34Luke Moore: would you like to answer Jim's question? yeah because I saw them I happened to see them give New Zealand a good hiding in a pre-seat tournament friendly they've been 4-0 and obviously I thought the stage could be set for them to embarrass Scotland in the opening game of the tournament for Scotland. And I thought it might go from there because I was thinking, well, three points might well be enough. And so, but to be honest, as you can hear from that clip, you make the prediction and then like a day later or whatever, you do the show. Even by the time we were recording the show, I knew it was an absolute bust.

15:05Luke Moore: In that clip, I was already regretting putting England as total of the winners. So I just, the short answer to everyone listening and watching will be, guys, I just got the fever. You can't blame a guy for getting the fever. You can't. The Haitian fever. No, no, no. And thank you for not spreading it. Vish went for Japan. Yeah. And David went for Uzbekistan. I don't think anyone gets a point. No, I don't think they do. I don't think in good conscience we can give anyone a point for that. No, I don't think anyone's going to point. A reminder of how Uzbekistan got on. They were out in the first round.

15:35Luke Moore: Lost every game. But I like the fact that he went for Uzbekistan. Yeah. Because had they have got through to the last 32, which they didn't. You would have seen more Cannavaro. But we can say that about Haiti. You can say that about anyone. Yeah, you can. We had a moment with the way the schedule went was Portugal's games were being played before England's games, weren't they? So when we were in the World Cup watch party, we were watching Portugal first with all the Ramble listeners who would come along. And DR Congo getting a point off Portugal was a great moment for us before the Croatia game.

16:05But Uzbekistan got turned over five zip by Portugal and it was kind of disappointing. Annoyingly so. And it kind of killed the atmosphere a wee bit before the England game because you've got Cristiano Ronaldo doing all right. Two's going on all over the shop. Yeah, Christian Mano is scoring two goals. It's like, what's going on? So Uzbekistan cannot be forgiven for that, I'm afraid.

16:24Luke Moore: All right, well, we move on then to underachievers. I think there might be some discussion to be had here. Absolutely. Underachievers. Pete Donaldson, what did Jim go for here? Jim went for Germany. The very definition, I'm afraid to say. I think that's good. I think it's a correct one. That's a solid point. Another point to Jim. You should get a ding for a point. All right, okay. Give him a ding. Thank you It's nice to have a ding Give him a ding for his point earlier as well There you go Jim Yeah there we go Vish getting Spain And Pete getting Spain There we go Flying Jim Well done mate Thanks mate One for me predicting England One for Luke predicting Haiti I should show some fucking respect for the Haiti Where are we?

17:06Luke Moore: Jim what did I go for? You went for France I mean a lot of people had them down as favourites And they didn't win it And they finished fourth I knew you were going to say that Do you know what? You stay away from that ding Oh, Luke's got something to say here. I agree with Jim. No, no. What I was going to say was, it is always contextual. And I think you could definitely, if you were in the pub tomorrow, having a pint to the World Cup, or someone said, oh, France were underachievers, weren't they? I think you'd probably agree. Right. I would be, listen, you two get a vote as well, but my vote is, Marcus gets a point for that.

17:34I think these kind of shores are willy wavers for me. But we've already got a little stub. What a willy is over there. We've already got a stub that we're sort of wafting around

17:44Luke Moore: little micro penis little mini Mars bar little mini Mars bar struggling to be caught in the wind you can't have France as underachievers you can't have France don't be silly I'll try mate they scored four goals in a World Cup third place match they were beat Marcus they were beaten by England yeah yeah yeah so Luke and I think they were you two so can I turn up get Vich on the phone no I don't I think they were one of the seeded teams they reached the semi-final which kind of par so sadly i have to i have to say that is not a point to me um do you know what i nearly put spain down for underachievers because i was trying to will something into existence and i thought no i can't put them down yeah uh wrong wrong wrong um who's next and luke what did people uh pete put and you're gonna hate this marcus not to break this to you very gently and i'm pleased you're up the other end of the table from him in this situation you dick but he put our brave three lines well that's it it's an incorrect answer yeah because they were one of the seeded teams.

18:41Luke Moore: If you seed a team, you've got four seeds, you get to the semi-final, that's par. Marcus, also. It is, isn't it, right? Is that not logic? Best performance for England since 1966, Peter. You enjoyed that, did you? Best performance in 60 years. You enjoyed the semi, did you, lads? It's not about whether you enjoy it or not. Let me get this short. No, but let me, if you have four seeded teams, they all made the semi-final, therefore that's par for the course, right? Yeah, I think it's fair. Pete, just move on. Pete's having a fucking mare. Did we enjoy it? That's not what the category is. Right, so there's a bit of, I think there's chat here to be had.

19:19I think there's chat here to be had that we're doing a prediction show and one of our hosts doesn't seem to know what predictions are. I think that's, to me, the very fabric of the show is the problem here.

19:29Luke Moore: This is McPredicto here. He's operating on a plane that we can't understand. McPredicto is underachieving right now. Hang on, hang on. He should have a Scottish accent, by the way. Oh, I've underachieved again. Oh, no. World Cup Mook Fredicto for a reason. Right. Luke went for the Netherlands here. Ooh. What do we think? Yeah. Thank you, Peter. Where did they go out? Where did they go out? Last 32 to Morocco. Yeah, that's great. That's underachieved. They lost to Biff de Darwin. You've got to give me a point for that. But they lost to a team who are ranked higher than them. It's a good point. I think I think Netherlands will think they underachieved.

20:05And I think you have to give me a point for that. Never Netherlands getting around You shouldn't have made that That second point That makes me But I don't think Underachieving is just Where you go out And you know Who you lose to I think it's just General vibes Throughout the tournament And that's why I think England counts And that's why I think Netherlands counts

20:20Luke Moore: I mean surely I mean the The category is Underachievers isn't it I was hoping it was Underachiever They're fine They came to the tournament With the mission Of legalising cannabis And they failed They underachieved That naked German guru As well said We assume he's naked Because he's German he fared them down as tournament winners didn't he yeah he did Jim what do you think your heart of hearts I think there's one underachiever and I think it's Germany is that self-serving yes is that the end of my points yes I think the only point I think Japan are also underachievers personally well nobody put them down you did say it was a willy-waving contest I didn't think Jim was going to get involved in that he just has Peter do you think Netherlands were underachieving yes I think they were I yeah I think so yes thanks for hating that's for fucking hating Vish also put Netherlands David put Brazil Yeah he gets it I think he does I think he does I think he absolutely does I think he went poo That's a few right answers I said which team's going to be poo Never mind underachievers Okay right Well here's another throwaway category for me Where did England's tournament end Where will England's tournament end Sorry of course it's a prediction Jim Sorry Pete What did Jim put Jim put Oh Semifinals Well done Jim Well done Jim Good stuff I tell you what Yeah, Jim's on for this.

21:39Luke Moore: Jim, what did I... Well, I... Knob off. No, no. Where England's tournament will end is on the podium. So... Is that through the podium? Is that through the back door? It is, onto the podium. If we're going to be pedantic about it, which I think we should, you've put THE podium. I would argue they ended up on A podium. So will we... I think you get a point. But he's also predicted that there's winners, right? It's a separate category. But it clarifies what podium means. On the podium means semi-finals and finals and winning it. Look at that. It means everything. I can't get a point for that. All right.

22:19Luke Moore: But thank you again, Luke. I appreciate that. To me, a podium means gold, silver or bronze and they won the bronze. It's quite literally a podium. three chances there, aren't you? Oh, you're having two chances. No, no, no. It's two rounds of football. No, but it's not the Olympics. The silver, they don't get on a podium, do they? All right. They have to sort of get off the podium. I'm going to write through the group stages next time. Oh, dear. As much as I want to give myself a point, I don't think I can. Luke, what did Pete have down? He put quarterfinals. No, it's incorrect. Luke put semifinals.

22:47Luke Moore: Oh, the Luke. Luke with a late dash for this one. Vish and David put quarterfinals. Presumably they thought maybe Brazil in the Miami Heat wasn't going to be too kind for England, but there we are. Right, we move on to top goal scorer, which is of course Kylian Mbappe with 10 goals. What? That's such an easy prediction, this one. Oh dear. Messi got eight, Bellingham seven, Erling Haaland, Dembele, Hurricane got six. Pete Donaldson, what did Jim go for? Jim went for the much-minded Michael Alise. He didn't get a goal, did he? He didn't get a single goal. He got loads of assists, tons of assists.

23:24Luke Moore: And I scrubbed Kylian Mbappe out thinking I was going to be clever. and I deserve what I got which is nothing. You are sitting pretty at the top of the predictions table at the moment, Jim. Could be prettier. But Michael Alise, it felt like he was trying to do that to piss you off in that third place playoff. How he wasn't scoring in that game. But you get nil poif, I'm afraid. Jim, what did I put? You put... I remember what you put. Oya Tharble, wasn't it? I did, yeah. You did. Stuck in my mind. Yeah, Mikel Oya Tharble. He's got a decent number. Not enough. Well, you see, I thought he might Oleg Salenko it and he was taken off at half time against Saudi Arabia that's sort of what I thought with Alisa I thought he might have one game where he gets stuff also they drew a blank against Cape Verde as well yeah I know there was chances I know I saw it I was there Luke what did Pete T-Baby put Pete actually managed to quite interestingly and impressively select a player who didn't score a single goal like Jim like Jim but did he go for Vazinha yeah he went for the Cape Verde went for Cobby Mayno did 40 euro take down the goal Pete went for Rafinha but I saw the logic at the time no I did as well yeah I was nearly obviously I didn't get anywhere near it but I nearly went for Luis Diaz there was something about it that I thought you know Luis Diaz had a great moment in his tournament I don't think we've spoken about on the show where he had a goal disallowed and as he realised it was being disallowed he started a forward roll so by the end of the forward roll he just looked really pissed off it's not something you see very often first man to do it Luke Moore had Harry Kane.

24:56I mean, do we get a point for whoever's closest? Come on.

24:59Luke Moore: Well, no, we get... At the moment, I'm closest. The only people who will get a point are Vish and David. All right. Because they both went for Kylian Mbappe. Well done. Very good. Yes, good boys. Tell you what, so Vish has joined Jim on three points then. How about that? Marcus, are you yet to get off the mark? I'm done. You're not going to get a single point? I'm done. This is outrageous for you. Absolutely. Absolutely.

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27:33Luke Moore: now then the most famous non-football celebrity spotted at a match and if you're if your chosen celebrity was spotted at a match that's not good enough we need to decide who's the most famous out of them. Right. Peter. Who did Jim go for? I'm a little bit annoyed about this. I don't know why I didn't have a problem when we announced these because he for me isn't a non-football celebrity. He went for Timothy Chalamet who was a course at the World Cup. An actor who likes football. Yeah. I told you, Pete. He's too football. Jim, Jim, that's naughty of you. That's naughty of you. He's always gone about Ligue 1 and stuff.

28:07We can all say that, Yeah, he supports Saint-Etienne because he's part French. Yeah, World Cup. Listen, World Cup predict I was having a mare. It's too obvious I just don't think

28:16Luke Moore: You can go for that I didn't say I didn't say Mick Jagger Because I knew He would be there Watching England play Rod Stewart There we go I win Ding ding ding ding You don't Another win For what I could predict No but what Jim's done What Jim done is there With old Chalamet He's picked A very very famous man Who's likely to be there Who's likely to be there But But Is that the game It's not fun No is it It's not out there is it No but Peter I know I take what you're saying It's a kind of For me in terms of excitement it's a solid kind of choice it's killing Mbappe but will he win it is Timothee Chalamet going to be more famous than some of the other people that were spotted that's the real Pete went from Dave from accounts yeah you're not going to win with that Jim who did I go for you went for Dwayne O 'Rourke Johnson yeah and despite AI's best efforts he wasn't at the at the tournament no yeah so because I would because Dwayne O 'Rourke Johnson to me is more famous than Timothee Chalamet that's why I went for him but he wasn't there so I'm out of the runnings yet again in one of these categories.

29:15Luke, who did Pete go for? Pete went for Sydney Sweeney, if you remember, because you didn't know who she was.

29:19Luke Moore: I do now. Yeah. Is Sweeney there? I don't think she was there. I don't think so. We don't have any confirmed spotting of her. I went for the MAGA angle. You did. You did. And you always do. You always do. Luke Moore went for Tom Cruise. Yeah. Vish went for Tom Cruise, and David went for JZ and Beyonce. Oh, okay. Who were both there. So let's be honest, Jim, I think you have to say that Tom Cruise and Jay-Z and Beyonce are more famous than Timon. Absolutely. The annoying thing for me is I went for Tom Cruise for the Club World Cup when we did this. Do you remember? So I was like, I can't really repeat that because it's boring.

29:54Luke Moore: I've fallen into the McPredicto trap. So I've mugged myself up there. Yeah, McPredicto got in your head. Yeah, I think I went for Dwayne Johnson in the Club World Cup when he didn't show up. And I thought, surely he'll show up this time. I've got to drop him with this. Yeah, Tom Cruise is absolutely the most famous person there. Although, if you combine Jay-Z and Beyonce, they're probably more famous. But can you pick two people? I think Tom Cruise is the biggest individual famous person there. I think going for two people is a bit of a piss take. I think Luke and Vish have got it with Cruise.

30:27Luke Moore: Yes. I'll tell you what, me and Vish are flying. I'll tell you what, this is getting very, very interesting. All right, okay. There's one. Dilly ding, dilly ding. One for Vish. Producer Tom doesn't put it on the thing unless he gets a ding. No, true enough. Vish has now got four. and me and Jim have got three. It's a great race, this. But I tell you what, it was a star-studded World Cup in terms of fans going. I mean, we saw Big Mick Jagger was there, DJ Khaled, even Noel Gallagher. Matt Damon. Matt Damon was there. We didn't also say yesterday on the show that Guy Mowbray, who's broadly as a commentator, is fine.

31:03He certainly isn't more than fine, but he's fine. He pointed out, there was a cut to the crowd shot of someone famous and he went I believe that's AKA Rocky right AKA Rocky and one he's called ASAP Rocky and two it was actually Pharrell Williams that was a bit awkward quite problematic that's the World Cup final but he's obviously been given a list of people who were there and he's tried to put two and two together I don't think he can be blamed just have anybody else in your ear you've got an earpiece for crying out loud and also they had the chance FIFA specifically went Farrell not Farrell Yeah, Farrell.

31:38No, no, but they had... Farrell. Colin Farrell. No, who's the comedian who was the second? Will Farrell. Will Farrell, sorry. You woke up, but predictor, you tell me. Farrell, and then they had Farrell in the same little block of celebrity spot. And that really helps the commentators to have a little bit of a giggle, but he just stacked it. He didn't do it, he missed it.

31:56Luke Moore: He missed the chance. He did not do it. So, as we go into the last few rounds, it is hotting up, this prediction race. Now, we get to a category. which is an interesting one. What Gianni Infantino will say. So he told people to chill and relax about the visa problems happening at the start of the tournament. He also received a call from Donald Trump asking him to review following Balogun's red card, of course. He flew nearly 60 ,000 miles to attend 44 matches. That's enough miles to circle the planet two and a half times, by the way. But he's not actually said much, has he? Yeah, he's been quite quiet, to be honest with you.

32:35Luke Moore: So let's get into it then. Pete, what did Jim say? I mean, I could have seen this happening very easily. Gianni Infantino will say, the World Cup has made America great again. Yeah, that was a great answer. He may yet say it in the aftermath, but it's too late. He's not said it. Jim, what did I say? You said that Gianni Infantino will say, I didn't want England to win. They've ruined everything. I put all my chips in there. You really went all in on this. I went all in. Oh, bloody went all in. Yeah. He definitely thinks that. Yeah. And he doesn't want England to win, but unfortunately there was no cause for him to say it.

33:13Luke Moore: Got his wish, the white trainer tosser. Yeah. Luke, what did Pete say? Well, this is interesting. Here we go. Because this is, I've just read something in The Independent this morning covering this and how much of a scandal it may come to be. So I think it could happen, but it hasn't happened yet. Pete suggested that Gianni and Fantino will try to justify a three-mile private jet flight a la Taylor Swift. I mean, it is being reported, but he's not been asked to justify it yet, so I guess we can't really give you a point, but it is a good answer. He's hit the bar there. Maybe we need to sort of, maybe to help welcome McPredictor next time, we need to sort of have a special Gianni Infantino mid-season special because he'll be on the press tours talking about how successful and how lucrative the whole thing has been before we do Gianni watch.

34:03But yeah, we can't give Peter a point I think it's a very respectable answer I would say good answer

34:07Luke Moore: but yeah for McPredicto Luke you said we have achieved world peace through football yeah he definitely thinks that as well he definitely thinks that Vish said it's a party in the USA it's a Miley Cyrus gag isn't it yeah yeah I didn't say that either and then David said he will paraphrase MLK's I have a dream speech yeah I can see that happening too I feel like spiritually everybody should get a point apart from me

34:41Luke Moore: so I don't think anybody gets a point there Infantini he wasn't on I mean he was I mean he's a dictionary definition of the word Pratt of course but he didn't come out with some of the absolute toss that he came out with in Qatar I think he's for all his many many faults it does feel a bit to me like he has had his fingers burnt and he's trying not to say as much I mean we did that press conference that was the first time we'd answered questions from the press in like three years or something and there must be a reason for that it must be because he got so much stick in Qatar it must be also he was on Donald Trump's patch as well so maybe he had something he had something else in his mouth did you mean Donald Trump's penis I might have done do you mean Donald Trump's micro penis orange micro penis he's the greatest penis it's so big it's so big notable mad shit come on this is where this is where you earn your rubber hits the road here we go right so Petey baby what did Jim put for this Jim put Jake Paul will turn up at US men's national team training and demand to take part to my knowledge that did not happen thank goodness it didn't happen they even start like Puerto Rico don't they right oh do they I get the rationale I get it Jim what did I put I think you want to warm up your dinging finger here I think I do because you've put Thomas Tuchel gets into a war of words with Donald Trump and that has happened there was yeah there's a soup song yeah he's on the podium he's on the podium he can see the podium he's under the podium the podium is hollow and he's inside it he's under a podium he's under a podium he's underneath the podium no one knows he's there and he's touching himself exactly again you're very crass although I did just suggest Gianni if I was sucking Donald Trump up.

36:34Luke Moore: Yeah, we're all in this together, aren't we? Yeah, I think I'd just about get a point. It would be a hard heart not giving you a point. Put that thing in your mouth. Do it! Luke, what did Pete poo? Who? What did Petey poo? Who? Petey Donaldson. Who? You mean World Cup McPredictor? Sorry. World Cup McPredictor, please. Do it again. Put some respect on my goddamn name. Show some fucking respect. Okay. Show some fucking respect. I know, Will. Show some fucking respect. What did World Cup McPredicto say? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Give him a bit of respect. It's been a long five weeks.

37:11He put Mexico putting down a marker and destroying everyone at altitude and Alabrije's soccer dog gets on the pitch. Yeah. That's a very beefy prediction. I'm on two then. It was beefy. There was a duck. I think we should be allowed two little man predictions personally. Say that before we do them. There was a kind of element that Mexico were pretty good at altitude, but obviously they lost to England and there was a soccer dog at some point but it wasn't the specific soccer dog you wanted. The worst amount of dogs I've ever seen at a World Cup but not the one I wanted. But there was a duck and the duck was Mexican so there's a sort of mixture of your two predictions did come true.

37:45I think it's a spiritual point for McPredicto. Yeah, but not enough for the button. No, but spiritually a point.

37:52Luke Moore: He won the argument. Yeah. He's absolutely Corbyn'd it. Absolutely. I love the prediction, Peter. It is not a ding though, quite sadly. Right. What did Luke Moore put here? A game will be abandoned due to a protest or riot. Had you ever said weather, it would have been a piss poor prediction. It's even worse. Totally wrong. From start to finish. Nobody simply cared enough. Arguably France did protest getting knocked out in the semis for a half against England. But it wasn't really a riot. No, I don't think you can get anything wrong. No Yeah Half-hearted effort Yeah It is an incorrect answer It's a good World Cup Wasn't it Argentina protested After a game Does that count No Why are you trying To give him a point Vish said JD Vance is going to Take a penalty And split his trousers I would have loved that Would have loved that But unfortunately That didn't happen That's what Not a moment Shits for It's for having a bit of fun David said Game delay Due to a team boycotting Over fans being blocked From entering stadiums Due to ice checks So similar kind of answer to you quite specific but again that is incorrect answer the reason why the final was delayed was because it was this special designated sporting event because Donald Trump was there he did it it was the basketball quite recently and messed everyone up people couldn't get in in time and stuff and he did the same for the World Cup six minutes late that's the thing if kickoff was 15 minutes put it back 20 minutes six minutes they've just buggered it up that's exactly what happened okay so we go into the final couple of categories which is total goals and total cards.

39:31Luke Moore: And the scores right now are myself and Petey. Who? Myself and World Cup predictor are on one. Jim and Luke are on, sorry, David's on two. Jim and Luke are on three. Vish is on four. So Vish leads the pack as we go into the final round. So total goals and cards. Well, total goals was 308. A lot of goals scored at this tournament because of more games, but it was a quite high score. Even though, even with the extra games, I think it was, in terms of percentage-wise, it was quite high. England, in the third place playoff, it was about a fifth of them. It's nearest damage to three goals a game, which is pretty good going, I think.

40:08Luke Moore: Ten goals in that third place playoff has genuinely affected that. It's a third of a goal higher than 2022. Yeah, I mean, there you go. So David Cartlidge was quite conservative with 214. And then Vish suggested 241. I said 257. Jim, you said 264. Luke said 280. but the closest with 291 was Pete Donaldson. Who? Otherwise known as World Cup McPredicto. On the shared document, I've just done a fine and replace, so respect the shared document, please. Right, okay. Ding him. Oh, sorry. Ding me. For God's sake. Ding me. You are overwhelmed with Advenir, but you've got to stop forgetting the dings. Ding WCMP, please.

40:46You don't want McPredicto to turn nasty. No, I don't.

40:49Luke Moore: You're making an excellent point there. McDicko. So, I mean, can Jim or Luke Poole level with Vish? they need this. So total cards there was a lot of the bastards 292 a lot of us overcooked this quite a bit Jim you went for 372 Yeah I did have some sort of logic Argentina To be fair if it was if it officiated properly you'd have probably been closer If Will Cook-Up Projector had said this you would have all been taken the absolute mick. This is an astonishing number to choose. There might be some retrospective cards for Argentina so let's wait until the full count has come in. I think what I went...

41:28Luke Moore: Stop the count. I think what I did was I looked at the average amount of cards per game in the last tournament and adjusted for the new rounds and then did a really bad job of that. Yeah, you look at previous World Cups and you try and do it. Yeah, so you went for 372. Crazy. I went for 341. World Cup predict I went for 335. it's your fault this Luke and then David Cartlidge was close with 275 Luke 240 Vish very low with 204 so David Cartlidge gets the point which means the scores are I finished with one World Cup McPredicto with two Jim Luke and David all locked on three but Vitushin he wins everything he's done it again Good to have you brought the turn up Not even one of the main ones Vish didn't even watch any of this World Cup He's been watching the cricket He's unaware of what's happened He didn't even know until yesterday Spain had won We informed him In the absence of his attendance on the show today Is it fair to cross to a World Cup predict over a comment?

42:44I think so A closing comment? I like trophies with little bits of ashes in them

42:51I'm Vish yeah

42:53Luke Moore: it's like he's in the room pleased to meet you well there we are any final thoughts Jim you were close Luke you were close fair show listen I feared the worst when Haiti was involved but I've actually clawed back some respectability yeah unfortunately my heart screws me over there yeah I'm kicking myself for the Michael Alise substitution for killing Mbappe at the last minute I even changed my prediction over email when I'd already submitted them and that's just on me That's a dangerous game. They sometimes don't update him. But the good thing about that is that we didn't really plan for how we would deal with it if you had tie-braked with Vish and Vish isn't here.

43:31For fair.

43:31Luke Moore: So well done. We have to do some sort of game that Vish would win. We know exactly what we'd do. I think you're right with the cards. I did think that there was going to be a lot more cards because people are just tired after a long, old campaign. But turns out we can play more matches and we should. Well, indeed. And I think if we had VAR with our predictions, then I think some of my answers would have been overturned and I would have won. But we don't. and Vish is the winner. Thank you for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Egg Arse Created Network. Christ, tell us. England had a stinker.

43:58Marcus, bottom of the table

44:00Luke Moore: under World Cup McPredictor. Terrible. What a loader. Tell us how your predictions went, everybody. Yes, please do. Tag us on Instagram at Football Ramble. Wave your willy at us. Don't do that for crying out loud. Marcus Speller on Instagram. Get his DMs. It's actually Marcus1Speller if you do want to get your... No, no, no. Marcus Wandspeller. No, it's Marcus Wandspeller. You changed it? No, no. To get more willies? Well, fine. One of them... You took the willy out the middle of it. To tell him he didn't have enough willies. It's not even a willy-themed account anymore. I know. It used to be just willies.

44:35Wall-to-wall willies. No, it's just Thomas Tuchel. A wall-to-wall willy watch.

44:38Luke Moore: Yeah, well, I've moved on. I've moved on because if you remember... Wall-to-wall willy watch. Have you got a true social? Is that where you've gone? No, you... Right. ...created that website. What was it? Big... BigBangers.cuddy.k Which went forward to my Instagram. Sure as you will, you don't cut it, you care. That's what I'm going to predict to do to you. I'm going to register sure as you will, you don't cut it, you care. Oh, dear. Why do I put ideas in his head? In his dirty little grubby head. There we are. Thank you, PT. Thank you. Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you. Thank you, Lukey. Thank you.

45:10Luke Moore: And thank you, the World Cup. We're back tomorrow.

45:23The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creative Network.

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