Hello, here's something fun that I put together over the last couple of days. It's an alternate version of the 2018 World Cup if England had been successful in its bid to host the tournament. All of the results have been simulated, not pre-determined by me, usually by taking each participant's FIFA scores as well as their records against both the teams they are facing and teams with similar scores. Once I'd put together the odds of one result or another, I put it through a random selection app to find a winner for each match. Or, where possible, I didn't do any of this and instead simulated the results using FIFA 18.
The timing of every goal was put through a random number generator set to between 1 and 120, and the groups were arranged according to the FIFA policy at the time of having four pots of eight teams arranged according to their FIFA scores. Each group contains one team from each pot, with the one rule being that no two teams can be from the same league. FIFA's one exception to this rule was UEFA, so there is often more than one European team in a group. To organise the groups I put each pot, one by one, through a random list generator and arranged them according to its first result.
The groups aren't composited entirely as they were in our time; butterflies lead to different teams qualifying for the World Cup, and that is represented here.
Anyway, here it is. I hope you find it neat, and do say which matches particularly interested you!
Seeding
Pot 1
12. England (hosts)
1. Germany
2. Brazil
3. Portugal
4. Argentina
5. Belgium
6. Poland
7. France
Pot 2
8. Spain
13. Colombia
14. Wales
15. Italy
16. Mexico
17. Uruguay
21. Iceland
23. Northern Ireland
Pot 3
26. Republic of Ireland
27. USA
28. Tunisia
29. Scotland
31. Egypt
34. Iran
43. Australia
44. Japan
Pot 4
49. Panama
57. China PR
61. Ivory Coast
64. Cape Verde
65. Russia
77. Syria
78. Zambia
122. New Zealand
Group A
England: 9
Wales: 4
Ivory Coast: 2
Japan: 1
England vs Wales: 2-1
(Kane 45+1’, Rashford 70’ & Ramsey 5’)
Ivory Coast vs Japan: 3-3
(Gradel 2’, 38’, Kodjia 94’ & Kagawa 14’, 31’, Honda 91’)
England vs Japan: 3-1
(Lingard 22’, 62’, Stones 56’ & Kagawa 93’)
Wales vs Ivory Coast: 1-1
(Bale 19’ & Gradel 44’)
England vs Ivory Coast: 5-0
(Stones 9’, Lingard 22’, 41’, 86’, Maguire 72’)
Wales vs Japan: 3-2
(Bale 24’, 26’, 73’ & Honda 54’, 90’)
Group B
Northern Ireland: 6
Brazil: 6
Republic of Ireland: 3
Syria: 3
Brazil vs Northern Ireland: 4-1
(Neymar 11’, 49’, 69’, Miranda 92’ & Ward 84’)
Republic of Ireland vs Syria: 2-0
(McClean 31’, O’Brien 66’)
Brazil vs Republic of Ireland: 4-2
(Firmino 25’, Marcelo 30’, Neymar 80’, 85’ & McClean 15’, 34’)
Northern Ireland vs Syria: 5-0
(McAuley 50’, Davis 54’, 66’, Lafferty 80’, 90’)
Syria vs Brazil: 2-1
(Al Khatib 58’, 87’ & Neymar 52’)
Northern Ireland vs Republic of Ireland: 2-1
(Lafferty 47’, 55’ & O’Brien 46’)
Group C
France: 7
Russia: 7
Iran: 3
Panama: 0
France vs Panama: 8-0
(Mbappe 7’, Giroud 12’, 28’, 29’, 73’, 76’, 82’, Griezmann 45+1’)
Russia vs Iran: 4-0
(Cheryshev 4’, 11’, Smolov 37’, 82’)
France vs Iran: 3-1
(Mbappe 3’, 17’, Giroud 56’ & Azmoun 8’)
Russia vs Panama: 6-1
(Cheryshev 18’, 31’, 81’, Ignashevich 27’, Smolov 45+1, 91’ & Quintero 74’)
France vs Russia: 3-3
(Smolov 57’, 84’, Cheryshev 90’ & Griezmann 64’, Mbappe 65’, 82’)
Iran vs Panama: 3-0
(Azmoun 59’, 93’, Torabi 64’)
Group D
Argentina: 9
Australia: 6
Mexico: 3
Zambia: 0
Argentina vs Mexico: 2-0
(Messi 14’, 81’)
Australia vs Zambia: 2-0
(Cahill 33’, Jedinak 34’)
Argentina vs Australia: 3-1
(Di María 18’, Messi 23’, 28’ & Cahill 92’)
Mexico vs Zambia: 2-1
(Vela 32’, Márquez 69’ & Daka 73’)
Argentina vs Zambia: 5-0
(Di María 48’, 52’, Messi 71’, 74’, 76)
Australia vs Mexico: 2-0
(Cahill 17’, 87’)
Group E
Spain: 7
United States: 6
Germany: 4
Cape Verde: 0
Spain vs Germany: 2-2
(Ramos 15’, Isco 53’ & Özil 26’, 69’)
United States vs Cape Verde: 1-0
(Pulisic 74’)
United States vs Germany: 2-1
(Pulisic 13’, 70’ & Müller 32’)
Spain vs Cape Verde: 5-2
(Silva 3’, 79’, Ramos 18’, 74’, Costa 40’ & Kuca 73’, 88’)
Germany vs Cape Verde: 4-0
(Özil 8’, 53’, 55’, 66’)
Spain vs United States: 4-0
(Ramos 8’, Silva 38’, 66’, 78’)
Group F
Poland: 9
Iceland: 4
Tunisia: 4
New Zealand: 0
Poland vs Iceland: 5-2
(Lewandowski 52’, 54’, 60’, 78’, 85’ & Sigurðsson 34’, 62’)
Tunisia vs New Zealand: 1-0
(Sliti 86’)
Poland vs Tunisia: 3-0
(Lewandowski 32’, 54’, Błaszczykowski 80’)
Iceland vs New Zealand: 4-0
(Gunnarsson 13’, Sigurðsson 30’, 74’, Finnbogason 44’)
Poland vs New Zealand: 2-0
(Błaszczykowski 25’, Milik 66’)
Iceland vs Tunisia: 2-2
(Khazri 46’, 63’ & Sigurðsson 51’, 86’)
Group G
Portugal: 7
Italy: 6
Egypt: 4
Colombia: 0
Portugal vs Colombia: 3-0
(Ronaldo 5’, 64’, 81’)
Italy vs Egypt: 2-1
(Kean 41’, Verratti 74’ & Salah 34’)
Egypt vs Portugal: 2-2
(Salah 61’, 71’ & André Silva 89’, Ronaldo 91’)
Italy vs Colombia: 1-0
(Kean 84’)
Portugal vs Italy 6-3
(Moutinho 7’, André Silva 24’, 53’, Ronaldo 35’, 59’, 69’ & Bernardeschi 22’, Kean 42’, 71’)
Egypt vs Colombia: 1-0
(Salah 79’)
Group H
Belgium: 7
Uruguay: 7
Scotland: 3
China PR: 0
Belgium vs Uruguay: 0-0
Scotland vs China PR: 2-0
(Ritchie 92’, Forrest 94’)
Belgium vs Scotland: 4-1
(Lukaku 19’, 47’, Hazard 35’, 50’ & Forrest 5’)
Uruguay vs China PR: 5-0
(Stuani 2’, Suárez 10’, 50’, 84’, Rodríguez 56’)
Belgium vs China PR: 2-0
(Lukaku 64’, 87’)
Uruguay vs Scotland: 3-0
(Suárez 22’, 64’, Rodríguez 45+1’)
Group of 16
England vs Brazil: 2-2 (4-3 on penalties)
(Sterling 103’, Kane 108’ & Neymar 98’, 101’)
Wales vs Northern Ireland: 3-1
(Bale 11’, 49’, 62’ & Ward 24’)
France vs Australia: 3-0
(Mbappe 20’, 71’, Giroud 83’)
Russia vs Argentina: 2-0
(Cheryshev 50’, 57’)
Spain vs Iceland: 4-0
(Iniesta 11’, Silva 52’, 62’, 87’)
Poland vs United States: 3-0
(Lewandowski 18’, 22’, 53’)
Portugal vs Uruguay: 2-2 (4-3 on penalties)
(Ronaldo 66’, 77’ & Suárez 28’, 53’)
Belgium vs Italy: 2-0
(Lukaku 7’, 51’)
Quarter Finals
England vs Wales: 3-0
(Kane 60’, 64’, Young 90’)
France vs Russia: 4-1
(Varane 14’, Giroud 18’, Mbappe 47’, 52’ & Cheryshev 6')
Spain vs Poland: 2-0
(Silva 17’, 24’)
Portugal vs Belgium: 3-2
(Ronaldo 2’, 53’, 102’ & Lukaku 7’, Kompany 89’)
Semi Finals
England vs France: 3-2
(Kane 30’, 53’, Alli 110’ & Mbappe 1’, 16’)
Portugal vs Spain: 1-0
(Ronaldo 110’)
Final
England vs Portugal: 2-1
(Trippier 8’, Kane 93’ & Ronaldo 85’)
Thoughts?