Weekend Predictions: Spurs to Lift Carling Cup. Man Utd to Shrug Shoulders

I’ve picked out three juicy games for you this weekend, and – just like last week – challenging you to make your own predictions. If you dare.

This week’s games: The Spurs vs Man Utd Bad Lager Cup Final, Inter vs Roma in Serie Argh and Bremen vs Bayern in the league of Bundes. Read on for predictions…

Spurs vs Man Utd (Carling Cup Final), Sun, March 1st, 15:00
At Wem-Ber-Lee, of course.

Man Utd will field a weakened team. But it might still be a tough game for Spurs. Who could also field a weakened team. For a cup final sponsored by weakened beer. Welcome to the wacky world of the Carling Cup.

Half of me thinks they should just put this trophy out of it’s misery with one final walk in the woods and a shotgun. But a cup final is still a cup final. And whatever the management do, the 22 who start this game will be busting a gut to win the silver pot. Mostly because there’s a lifetime supply of free Carling at stake (for the loser – ba-dum-tsch).

Prediction: Spurs to win 1-0.

Odds: Man Utd 8-11, Draw (after 90 mins) 5-2, Spurs 4-1
On a 1-0 Spurs victory: 11-1
Darren Bent to score first goal: 8-1
Robbie Keane to score first goal: 10millionbillion-1. He’s cup tied.
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: Man Utd players to applaud patronizingly if Spurs win.

Bonus Knowledge: Did you know there’s a Carling iPint app for your iPhone?

You probably did. But did you know that Spanish babies can drink it without getting drunk?

Just like the real thing.

(OK, I’m all out of Carling jokes now.)

Inter vs Roma, Sunday, March 1st, 20:30
Last year, this was one vs two in Serie A. This year it’s one versus six, with Inter sitting pretty at the top. Roma were on a decent run for a while there, but have wobbled a bit lately. Even Arsenal scored against them.

But there’s always the chance Roma will bounce back for a big game like this. Plus if I predict a Roma loss then I’ll get an irate email from a certain Roma blogger. And no one wants that.

Prediction: A 1-1 draw.

Odds: Inter 5-6, Draw 11-5, Roma 3-1
1-1 draw: 5-1
Inter at H/T, draw at F/T: 13-1
Inter at H/T, Roma at F/T: 45-1
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: There will be controversy. And we will be debating it via the medium of YouTube on Monday morning.

Werder Bremen vs Bayern Munich, Sunday, March 1st, 17:00

The league meeting at the Allianz saw Bremen bludgeon Bayern back in September. Since then, Jurgen’s men have got it together, then fallen apart again and then possibly got it back together all over again with by thrashing Sporting 5-0 in Lisbon.

Meanwhile Werder have gone from the most exciting team in Europe to 11th in the Bundesliga, and then back to exciting again with that great comeback vs AC Milan last night.

Prediction: Another high scoring game, but 3-2 to Bayern.

Odds: Bremen 15-8, Draw 23-10, Bayern 13-10
3-2 to Bayern: 18-1
More odds at PaddyPower

Bonus Prediction: A collection of German phrasebooks (2001, 2005, 2009 editions) will soon appear on Craigslist -> L.A. -> Books.

Offshore Oscar recently learned that Thom Yorke is always right. He’s trying to stay in the black by backing West Ham to beat Man City, Hamburg (home of the hamburger) to beat Wolfsburg (home of the wolfburger?) and Milan to beat Sampdoria. Follow his fortunes on Bet Offside.

OK, let’s see how I did with last week’s predictions. And for the first time in, well, ever, it doesn’t pain me to write that sentence.

Here are the three games, predictions in italics, actual results in bold. But doesn’t really matter, because this week the two are identical.

Aston Villa vs Chelsea, 0-1, 0-1
Espanyol vs Barcelona, 2-1, 2-1
Hajduk Split vs Dinamo Zagreb, 2-0, 2-0

Yep. Not sure what happened (bitten by a mutated spider? gamma radiation?) but my predictions are suddenly so powerful, they can even bring down the mighty Barcelona. Even better, one of my bonus predictions from last week (”the police will be busy” in the Croatian derby) came true just three minutes into the game (though odds weren’t exactly long on that.)

Based on our points system from last week (one point for correct result, two for correct scoreline) I get nine points. But my score doesn’t count, because clearly I’ve been given the gift of clairvoyance. Which is basically cheating. (If you’re reading this for the first time and are impressed with my prediction wizardry, please don’t read any of my other predictions. It would definitely spoil the illusion.)

So, based on last week’s predictions, here’s how everyone did. I’ve gone with a medal format, hope everyone likes.

Gold
OhYes: 4 points (Hadjuk correct result & scoreline, plus Chelsea win) (also, sorry for making you angry!)

Silver (shared)
hommeyer: 3 points (for correctly copying my predicting Hajduk to win 2-0.
A. Penley, LLM: 3 points (also copied predicted Hajduk 2-0)

Bronze
Aaron: 2 points (correct on Chelsea and Espanyol wins, but not scorelines)

No medals, but still points
gregorio: 1 point (Hajduk win, but sadly not 5-4)
Helge: 1 point (Chelsea win)
Quique el fanatico: 1 point (Chelsea win)
Nelson: 1 point (Hajduk win)

OK, let’s have your predictions for this week….

Spurs vs Man Utd
Inter vs Roma
Werder vs Bayern

One point for correct result, two more for correct scoreline.

Share your predictions in the comments, and we’ll revisit them next Friday.

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Category: World Football