BuzzerBeater Forums

Why is no one else "+1" you? ahah
Honestly I got tired of writing in the Italian forum since not many people interact.. hence I'll moved here to bring some life to yours instead

Jokes aside, the situation in Group B is very interesting
It’s as if the second phase started yesterday, since four teams are clearly the favourites to qualify (Belgium, Serbia, Israel and Hong Kong) and these three weeks are full of direct matches between one another
No predictions from you for this group?

Key matches next round:
- Serbia vs Hong Kong.. HK should be favoured, both for roster and because Serbia used higher effort this week
- Belgium vs Israel.. probably close to a 50–50. Tactics and effort will decide it.

Key match in the final round:
- Israel vs Serbia.. on paper Israel is favoured, but Serbia might save enthusiasm vs HK (preferring to go all-in with gdp? maybe...) Israel instead might use enthusiasm against Belgium. In that case Serbia could be slightly ahead.. but of course, forms, tactics and effort choices can flip everything
- Belgium and HK should win comfortably respectively against Philippines and Uruguay

Now.... Group A:
- I actually think Spain, despite their dominant position isn’t as “safe” as it looks
They now face two teams with their backs against the wall.. first USA and then Lithuania.. which won't be 2 easy games.
- France is 99% qualified
- Italy despite being 5th right now, should qualify as long as we don’t do anything stupid vs Morocco or Chile
- USA and Lithuania might need to win both games if they want to advance:

USA faces first Spain then France
Lithuania instead has China next week and Spain on the last day

China basically needs a 2–0 (Lithuania + Chile) and must hope USA and Lithuania don’t go better than 1–1... plus they need to make up some PD

Any betting people here?
Odds for qualification in Group A

France — 1.05
Spain — 1.25
Italy — 1.50
USA — 4.00
Lithuania — 6.00
China — 9.00

Thoughts? Where's your money going?

Seeing analysis here is the motivation for my weekly coaching :)

In China, not many players pay attention to the results of the national team's games, no matter win or lose...

Mmh.. i don't know.. he got lucky and scammed a European Title in s67 and a B3 in s66
Plus he wears a weird mafia like hat (at least from his profile picture)

Not sure it's recommended to stay in contact with such a person

Yeah that's unfortunate
And i believe Discord is banned in China.. correct? So you'd have some trouble connecting with other managers... tho i assume there's alternatives

A few seasons back they added a red exclamation mark next to "NT Election" and for a couple of seasons a lot more people voted..
Maybe they could add the same red exclamation point but like on Mondays or Tuesdays and place it next to "NT Matches"

And for what is worth... i was paying attention to your game on Monday

Your reasoning makes sense and honestly I also understand the full gdp... Maybe it was a bit risky but if you felt you were going to play at a lower enthusiasm and still wanted to try to steal a win, it’s a perfectly valid move. And in the past it worked for you, so that understandable

About Hong Kong.. you’re right, I hadn’t paid enough attention to your game against them (and even Estonia almost winning is "concerning") plus they lost the Asian Championship last season so yeah.. they look more vulnerable this year.
That said I still think HK should be favoured against Serbia, especially because of the enthusiasm situation

I agree 100% with you that Israel–Serbia will be a close game... As i said, on paper Israel is slightly favoured imo, but Serbia definitely has real chances to win.

Regarding Belgium vs Israel... maybe it’s not a 50–50 like I said earlier, but I think last season’s +17 is a bit misleading:
- the game potentially should have been slightly tighter
- the week before you had spent enthusiasm (unlike Israel)
- and both NTs use GDPs
- game shape is always a question mark

So maybe not exactly a coinflip, but both teams have solid chances

About Group A

I don’t really understand why you give Lithuania no chance against China. To me it’s at least a possibility..
As for Spain, the problem is that potentially they might have to play both matches with lower effort (I think it's unlikely they lose both anyways... but it's a possibility) since that’s always uncomfortable at this level
Of course it also depends on Lithuania... if they use a CT vs China, then yes... I would give them almost a 0% chance the following week against Spain