World Cup Group L Round Three - My Picks
1% Croatia not to win against Ghana at 48c (good to 54c)
1% Panana +2.5 against England at 55c (good to 60c)
0.5% Panama vs England under 3.5 goals at 53c (good to 57c)
0.5% Panama vs England no on both teams to score at 59c (good to 65c)
Tonight has the last of the group stage games and this will give us final confirmation on the knockout brackets. This post will cover Group L, which starts first. I may add picks over the course of the night so I'm going to do separate posts per group. If you're taking these picks make sure to check my posts before kickoff for any last minute changes as the last games of each group can have very late tactical shifts.
Croatia vs Ghana - I will be cheering for Croatia to get a result tonight but from a betting point of view I do believe that there is some value on Ghana to avoid defeat. Managed by Carlos Queiroz, they play a very tight defensive unit that is good at not giving up easy goals. They drew 0-0 with...
World Cup Group K - My Pick
1% Colombia not to lose vs Portugal at 50c (good to 55c)
Once again I might add extra picks depending on late breaking news so keep an eye on this before kickoff.
Colombia vs Portugal - Colombia go into this game on top of group K with 6 points while Portugal are in second on 4 points, having drawn their first game against DR Congo. Colombia would top the group with a draw while Portugal would need the win to do so. There is a certain amount of diving into the unknown with this match, since Colombia have an aggressive, high energy press, an unusual style in international football due to the amount of training and coordination it needs while Portugal are one of the best if not the best transitional team in the world. An elite transition team can bypass a press and go straight on the counterattack while an elite pressing side can disrupt a transition side and create chances on their doorstep. Portugal haven't really encountered teams like Colombia much so ...
First, four factors dictate whether there is major turnover in the Senate in a midterm election independent of the favorability of the Senate map (due to only one-third of seats being up in any given midterm). Often, as was the case in both 2018 and 2022, is that incumbents are not destined to lose seats, outside of realigning elections in unfavorable maps. This cycle's map favors the GOP, which is why the prediction markets and most forecasters expect a GOP majority in the 2027 Senate. The four factors that prove dangerous to the incumbent party are: first, a recession or cost of living crisis; second, a war; third, a major scandal; and fourth, a sense of betrayal in the voter group that backed the incumbent amongst some portion of their prior electoral coalition. Five midterms feature some combingation of those factors in some significant degree: 1930, 1946, 1958, 1974 and 2006.
Without those factors present in multiple forms, the incumbent party can expect to hold on to seats in states it previously won outside the national margin. When those factors are present, the landscape shifts dramatically. Examining those White House incumbent seats that showed a state-wide election decided by single digits in the prior decade produces the following probabilities: the incumbent White House party lost at least 67% of its incumbent held seats, as much as 85% of its incumbent held seats, and an average of 75% of its incumbent hold seats, rarely upsetting the opposition party in any seat and often losing a surprise or two in seats considered completely safe.