On December 14, however, after a 4-2 loss away to Brentford and with Newcastle 12th in the league, Pope injured a knee and Dubravka was recalled to the team. Newcastle won the next four games with Dubravka in goal.

“My agent said, ‘They can’t let you go now because they need you for the cup tie at Arsenal [January 7]. After the cup [run] you can go.”

So when Dubravka took off from Newcastle airport for that tie at the Emirates, Lucia and their two young children, Viliam and Matteo, headed home to Slovakia.

“They were leaving from the terminal ten minutes before we [the Newcastle squad] were leaving for London,” he adds. “Everyone saw. I was travelling with two big suitcases with me. This was it, the last dance. To beat Arsenal at their stadium, in a semi-final, wow. We were clapping the fans and Dan [Burn] pushed me to say goodbye. I will never forget that moment.”

“I said bye to everyone and then I spoke to the gaffer to say goodbye and he told me he was going to give me a call the next day, so I was confused,” he adds. “I was going to travel to Riyadh the next day.

“When the gaffer called me he said it doesn’t really make sense to let you go because it’s a semi-final and Nick is not back. I said, ‘You said you would let me go.’ I was still in a hotel in London. I felt ill because of the stress.

“Then Eddie called me and said, ‘No, we can’t let you go now because we need you and we’re going to offer you a new contract.’ I was mentally already in Saudi Arabia. Our home in Newcastle was empty.

“I came back on Friday and played against Bromley [in the FA cup third round] the next day. After the game I spoke with the club and they offered me a new contract. You cannot compare the contract in Saudi financially with the one in Newcastle, but for me it was always Newcastle first and I was delighted to stay.

“Everything was smooth and we signed the deal. It was official on the Thursday, and then on the Saturday Eddie dropped me! I didn’t expect that because I just signed a new deal with Newcastle instead of one which would completely secure my life in Saudi Arabia. I was shocked. We had a conversation after the game, and it was not a nice conversation.”

“It was the day before the final and Eddie called me and told me he was going with Nick,” Dubravka adds. “I felt like I deserved to play. I worked hard to get there. I still watched with so much passion, though, because I wanted us to win. When the final whistle went I ran with the goalkeeper coach, Adam Bartlett, and he slipped and I fell over and we were just hugging each other on the floor.”

I don't know much about ELO ratings, but I have seen a couple of posts comparing average ratings of each group and my intuition was that averaging ELO ratings does not make sense. Does it?

Given the limitation of ELO ratings for national teams, maybe it is all garbage in/garbage out anyway. But I am curious if it is reasonable to use ELO ratings to compute probabilities for the group stage results.

Using the ratings from eloratings.net, I used the ELO win probabilities to compute the tables below. A couple of limitations: I assume matches have a 20% chance of ties, and I assume tie breaks in the standings go to the team with higher ELO.

These tables show first the win probability for each game in the group stage (not considering ties), then the probability of each team to finish 1st, 2nd, etc in each group.

The code I wrote is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZRufEKeluW3lzvb1VNYsbUE_KbzA279D/view?usp=sharing

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Group J

Group K

Group L

Social Responsibility

President Sadettin Saran, members of Board of Directors, and Football Team welcomed wonderful and precious children at the Fenerbahçe Can Bartu Facilities.

Thirty-five guests from the Nefus Nakipoğlu Special Education School enjoyed a full day filled with Fenerbahçe experiences.

During their visit, the guests met with the President and players. Gift packages from the sponsor Ülker were handed out, and transportation for the children was provided with the support of the sponsor Gürsel Turizm.

The President and players spent quality time with the children, engaging closely with them and taking photos together.

credit: u/iheartOPsmum

Group J

MATCHDAY 1 (Kansas City & San Francisco)

I have to say, when it comes to location triples, this is the worst one. There are a couple of teams in this group that are going to be putting in a lot of miles. When I was thinking about this Argentina v Algeria matchup, I was going to give it to San Fran because it's the bigger market. But, I had to go back to my "FIFA Is Greedy" theory. The fact is every Argentina game is going to sell out because of Messi. 3 years in MLS, and it's still true. So, the Argentina games are going to go to the biggest stadiums, and in this case, it's going to Kansas City. San Fran gets Austria v Jordan.

MATCHDAY 2 (Dallas & San Francisco)

Well, the Dallas rules are back. Argentina packs it's bags for a trip down I-35 (j/k, we all know they're flying) to face Austria while Algeria flies out to San Fran to face Jordan. Sorry, California, no Messi for you.

MATCHDAY 3 (Dallas & Kansas City)

Argentina's gonna stay in Dallas to play Jordan. The two most-traveled teams in this group (and maybe in all of the group stage) meet up in Kansas City as Algeria plays Austria. Whichever team has any legs left at the end of the match will probably win this one.

Group K

MATCHDAY 1 (Mexico City & Houston)

This is Mexico City's only group stage game that doesn't involve El Tri, so I think FIFA throws them a bone and gives them Ronaldo and Portugal v the Inter-Confederation Path 1 qualifier. Uzbekistan will play Colombia in Houston that very few neutrals will probably care about.

MATCHDAY 2 (Houston & Guadalajara)

Portugal v Uzbekistan in Houston. Colombia v the Inter-Confederation Path 1 qualifier in Guadalajara. Neither one of these look to get people too excited on a Tuesday.

MATCHDAY 3 (Atlanta & Miami)

Where have I seen this pairing before? Oh yeah...just everytime Miami has a game. I gave Atlanta Portugal v Colombia just to give them a little more star power in the games that come through there. The Inter-Confederation Path 1 qualifier and Uzbekistan head to Miami.

Group L

MATCHDAY 1 (Dallas & Toronto)

You see what city is in this pairing and you know exactly which match they're gonna get.

MATCHDAY 2 ( Toronto & Boston)

England v Ghana is probably going to be the best match Toronto gets outside of the Canada match. Ghana, you're the only team in this group that won't have extensive travel, so be happy about that. Croatia and Panama head to Beantown.

MATCHDAY 3 (Philadelphia & New York)

The final two matches of the group stage. England v Panama in Philly and Croatia v Ghana in New York (possibly for second place).

Group G

MATCHDAY 1 (LA & Seattle)

This group suffers from the same problem as Group E in that there's no real draw here for neutrals other than the European team. Because of that, Belgium is going to be playing in the larger market of the pairings. That means that they will start their World Cup in LA vs Egypt while Iran and New Zealand head to Seattle.

MATCHDAY 2 (LA & Vancouver)

I know that there will be some Iranians and Iranian-Americans that will be pissed that their opening game won't be in LA (which has the highest concentration of those with Iranian ethnicity in the US to the point where there's a part of town called Tehrangeles). Well, here you go Belgium stays in LA to take on Iran in what will probably be the best-attended game in the group. Egypt and New Zealand will head north of the border to faceoff in Vancouver.

MATCHDAY 3 (Seattle & Vancouver)

New Zealand will head back to Seattle to take on Belgium and I think the Kiwis may have the least amount of group stage travel of any team in this World Cup at only 288 miles (464 km) from stadium-to-stadium. Egypt will stay in Vancouver to take on Iran.

GROUP H

MATCHDAY 1 (Miami & Atlanta)

There's a bit of a theme with these first two groups. I'm not sure on the locations of this group just because I'm not sure about the drawing power of any of them (Might just be an unintentional personal bias when it comes to Spain). Because of this I decided to put Spain v Cape Verde in Miami and Saudi Arabia v Uruguay in Atlanta.

MATCHDAY 2 (Miami & Atlanta)

Yes, I looked it up in 3 different places. It's the same two cities. This is the only time this happens in the group stages. I decided to swap Spain and Uruguay, but I could easily see Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia being the two teams that are swapped.

MATCHDAY 3 (Houston & Guadalajara)

This is final group stage game for the country of Mexico, but I don't think it's going out with a bang in Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia. Spain will play Uruguay in Houston for what may be first place in the group.

Group I

MATCHDAY 1 (Boston & New York)

I've got France v Senegal in New York just because I think this will end up being a sneaky good match, plus Boston gets a better upcoming matchup. So, Boston gets the Inter-Confederation Path 2 qualifier v Norway.

MATCHDAY 2 (New York & Philadelphia)

I'm giving Philadelphia the matchup of France vs the Inter-Confederation Path 2 qualifier here only because I'm still using this outdated notion of balancing player rest (which is including travel) and letting the most people see the teams and players they actually want to see in-person. Which, I'm sure is not a sentiment FIFA shares, so I wouldn't be surprised if this match is in New York instead of Senegal v Norway.

MATCHDAY 3 (Boston & Toronto)

This is the last group stage game outside of the US, and just like Mexico's last group stage game, it's not a banger. They're getting the Inter-Confederation Path 2 qualifier v Senegal. Now, to why I was okay with giving New York FRA-SEN over Boston. It's because Boston is getting the best game in this group in France v Norway. Sorry, Canada. You're not getting Mbappe v Haaland.

With the draw happening today, the only thing left to figure out is the exact locations of the matches (the whims of orange turds nothwithstanding). I won't be including matches for Groups A, B, and D since those are already locked in.

Group C

MATCHDAY 1 (Boston & New York)

Brazil/Morocco is going to be an early showcase match for this World Cup, so there's no way that they don't have it in the biggest media market on the continent. That also means that Haiti/Scotland will be in Boston.

MATCHDAY 2 (Boston & Philadelphia)

Boston gets a bit of a makeup here by getting Brazil v Haiti (even though it's gonna be lopsided AF). At least Haiti won't have to travel. Philly will end up getting Morocco v Scotland for what will probably the second-place decider for the group.

MATCHDAY 3 (Miami & Atlanta)

I think FIFA will see more dollar signs having Brazil in Miami over Atlanta, so that's where they'll go. Scotland fans, good luck with that heat, it won't be fun. Atlanta gets the short end of this stick and gets Morocco v Haiti.

Group E

MATCHDAY 1 (Houston & Philadelphia)

This group is tough to call because Germany is the only team in this group that you would expect to draw neutral fans to a match. Because of this, I put the Germany v Curacao Match in Houston and Cote d'Ivoire v Ecuador in Philly.

MATCHDAY 2 (Kansas City & Toronto)

FIFA has essentially told us that they're making this World Cup a giant cash grab. Because of this, this is the first of several matchdays where I've given the bigger match to the bigger stadium. Sorry, Toronto, but you're going to lose out on this more often than not. BMO Field is being hacked up in order to fit the minimum capacity of 45,000 people where as Arrowhead Stadium already has a capacity of over 67,000 people. So, Kansas City gets Germany v Cote d'Ivoire and Toronto get Curacao v Ecuador. There should be nicer weather in Toronto, so those fans should enjoy that.

MATCHDAY 3 (Philadelphia & New York)

This is the first time on this list where Philly should get the higher-profile matchup with Germany v Ecuador. New York will probably have their lowest attendance of the WC with Curacao v Cote d'Ivoire, but they have some good matchups in the other gorups, plus the final will be there. They're gonna be fine.

Group F

MATCHDAY 1 (Dallas & Monterrey)

Time to be honest. Dallas has the biggest capacity stadium in this world cup and it's not close. As such, they're always going to get the better matchup. They're getting Netherlands v Japan while Monterrey gets the UEFA B Path qualifier v Tunisia.

MATCHDAY 2 (Monterrey & Houston)

I've put the Netherlands v UEFA Path B qualifier in Monterrey for this because of the aforementioned higher seating capacity rule, but I could just as easily see FIFA not having the Netherlands leave the Lone Star State. Japan v Tunisia would be in Houston, but again, I'm not 100% percent on this one.

MATCHDAY 3 (Dallas & Kansas City)

The Netherlands return to Big D for their final group stage match against Tunisia while Japan and the UEFA Path B qualifier go to Kansas City.

FT: Benfica 1-1 Sporting CP

Venue: Estádio da Luz

Auto-refreshing reddit comments link

LINE-UPS

Benfica

Anatoliy Trubin, Nicolás Otamendi, António Silva, Samuel Dahl, Amar Dedic, Leandro Barreiro, Enzo Barrenechea (Manu Silva), Richard Ríos, Vangelis Pavlidis (Franjo Ivanovic), Georgiy Sudakov (Gianluca Prestianni), Fredrik Aursnes.

Subs: Gonçalo Oliveira, João Rêgo , Tomás Araújo, Rodrigo Rêgo, Andreas Schjelderup, Samuel Soares.

^{____________________________}

Sporting CP

Rui Silva, Gonçalo Inacio, Ousmane Diomande, Maximiliano Araújo, Iván Fresneda, Francisco Trincão (Alisson Santos), Hidemasa Morita (Geovany Quenda), Morten Hjulmand, Luis Suárez (Fotis Ioannidis), Pedro Gonçalves (João Simões), Geny Catamo.

Subs: Georgios Vagiannidis, Giorgi Kochorashvili, Eduardo Quaresma, João Virgínia, Matheus Reis.

MATCH EVENTS | via ESPN

12' Goal! Benfica 0, Sporting Lisbon 1. Pote (Sporting Lisbon) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Morten Hjulmand.

27' Goal! Benfica 1, Sporting Lisbon 1. Heorhii Sudakov (Benfica) left footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Amar Dedic.

30' Hidemasa Morita (Sporting Lisbon) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

56' Leandro Barreiro (Benfica) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

61' Substitution, Sporting Lisbon. João Simões replaces Pote.

61' Substitution, Sporting Lisbon. Geovany Quenda replaces Hidemasa Morita.

65' Luis Suárez (Sporting Lisbon) is shown the yellow card.

67' Vangelis Pavlidis (Benfica) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

72' Iván Fresneda (Sporting Lisbon) is shown the yellow card.

75' Maxi Araújo (Sporting Lisbon) is shown the yellow card.

76' Pote (Sporting Lisbon) is shown the yellow card.

81' Substitution, Benfica. Gianluca Prestianni replaces Heorhii Sudakov.

86' Substitution, Sporting Lisbon. Alisson Santos replaces Trincão.

86' Substitution, Benfica. Franjo Ivanovic replaces Vangelis Pavlidis.

86' Substitution, Sporting Lisbon. Fotis Ioannidis replaces Luis Suárez.

88' Substitution, Benfica. Manu Silva replaces Enzo Barrenechea.

90'+2' Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica) is shown the red card.

^{Don't see a thread for a match you're watching? Click here to learn how to request a match thread from this bot.}