Higher or Lower Contest Returns - International Special
5 min readFootball$1.43 pending
Welcome back to another edition of Higher or Lower!
With the international break comes a hiatus in the games that most of us on Sportsblock are interested in so think of this as something to do to pass the time until club football returns.
The rules of the game are pretty simple and you can read the initial blog here for a full break down.
Each round has 5 matches and all you need to do is guess whether the number of goals in the round will be higher or lower than the round before!
To kick things off for round 1, you need to guess if the games below will produce in total higher or lower than 15 goals!
Get it right and you're safely through to the next right, get it wrong and you're out!
Remember
15 goals across 5 games works out at an average of 3 per match. That sounds reasonably achievable, but with some heavyweight European encounters mixed in with a few potentially more one-sided contests, it might not be quite as straightforward as it sounds.
Let's take a closer look at the fixtures involved.
France have made the stronger start to their Nations League campaign, collecting 10 points from their opening 4 matches, compared with Italy's 7. France have scored 7 goals and conceded just twice, while Italy have found the net 8 times but have conceded 5.
France's attacking numbers have been particularly impressive against Belgium, scoring five goals across their two meetings, including a 4-1 victory. Italy have also demonstrated their attacking capabilities, putting 4 past Turkey in September.
Interestingly, their most recent meeting ended in a 1-1 draw, suggesting this could be a much tighter affair than some of the other fixtures on Thursday and you'd imagine neither of these old enemies will want to give the other an easy ride!
Czechia, by contrast, have struggled badly. They've managed just two goals in four matches and have already conceded 10. Their last two outings against England resulted in consecutive defeats without scoring, losing 2-0 and 3-0.
Spain have already beaten Czechia 3-1 in this campaign, and also put 4 past Croatia. With Spain averaging 3 goals per match and Czechia conceding an average of 2.5, this fixture could make a significant contribution to the overall total.
England have scored 14 goals in their first 4 matches, averaging 3.5 per game. They've also kept two clean sheets and scored 7 without reply when they travelled to Croatia in October.
Croatia's defensive record makes for rather less comfortable reading. They've conceded 14 goals in four matches, including those 7 against England and another 4 against Spain.
Croatia have shown they can score themselves, finding the net four times in the competition so far.
England will certainly fancy their chances of another healthy goal tally, but Croatia will surely make themselves far more compact this time around after that humiliating defeat last month!
Minnows San Marino have endured a difficult campaign (not very surprisingly), scoring just once in their opening 4 matches while conceding 16. They've suffered defeats of 7-0 against Finland, 3-0 against Albania and 4-0 against Belarus in the reverse fixture.
Belarus have been considerably more solid. They've scored only once in the 3 games outside of their previous match against San Marino and have conceded just twice with 3 clean sheets in their opening 4 games.
San Marino will almost certainly park the bus so the goal tally in this one will come down to whether Belarus have the attacking skill to get past the low block and/or the Sunday League defending of San Marino holds up over 90mins.
Montenegro have enjoyed a reasonably productive start, scoring seven goals in four matches and conceding four. They've beaten Cyprus twice and also secured a 3-2 victory over Armenia.
Latvia, meanwhile, have struggled in front of goal, managing just two goals in their opening four matches while conceding six.
Montenegro have already beaten Latvia 2-1 in this campaign, and will be confident of repeating that result on home soil.
This one perhaps looks less likely to produce a goalfest than some of the other fixtures, although Montenegro's attacking record suggests they should be capable of finding the net.
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With the international break comes a hiatus in the games that most of us on Sportsblock are interested in so think of this as something to do to pass the time until club football returns.
The rules of the game are pretty simple and you can read the initial blog here for a full break down.
Join here - <a href="https://sportsblock.app/contests/higher-or-lower/cmw7uspx3000007jrxh694vg4">https://sportsblock.app/contests/higher-or-lower/cmw7uspx3000007jrxh694vg4</a>
To recap, there's 6 rounds of fixtures starting with round 1 on Thursday 12 November at 19:45 GMT. Round 2 will be on Friday, Round 3 on Saturday, etc, etc i.e. you'll need to make a prediction for 6 days in a row.Each round has 5 matches and all you need to do is guess whether the number of goals in the round will be higher or lower than the round before!
To kick things off for round 1, you need to guess if the games below will produce in total higher or lower than 15 goals!
Get it right and you're safely through to the next right, get it wrong and you're out!
Remember
- if it's a tie i.e. if round 1 produces exactly 15 goals then everyone is through
- if you're out, you have the option to buy back in for an extra 100 MEDALS
15 goals across 5 games works out at an average of 3 per match. That sounds reasonably achievable, but with some heavyweight European encounters mixed in with a few potentially more one-sided contests, it might not be quite as straightforward as it sounds.
Let's take a closer look at the fixtures involved.
Italy v France
We'll start with a heavyweight encounter between 2 of Europe's most successful international sides.France have made the stronger start to their Nations League campaign, collecting 10 points from their opening 4 matches, compared with Italy's 7. France have scored 7 goals and conceded just twice, while Italy have found the net 8 times but have conceded 5.
France's attacking numbers have been particularly impressive against Belgium, scoring five goals across their two meetings, including a 4-1 victory. Italy have also demonstrated their attacking capabilities, putting 4 past Turkey in September.
Interestingly, their most recent meeting ended in a 1-1 draw, suggesting this could be a much tighter affair than some of the other fixtures on Thursday and you'd imagine neither of these old enemies will want to give the other an easy ride!
Czech Republic v Spain
Spain have been scoring freely, with 12 goals in their opening 4 Nations League matches and they've scored at least twice in every fixture so far.Czechia, by contrast, have struggled badly. They've managed just two goals in four matches and have already conceded 10. Their last two outings against England resulted in consecutive defeats without scoring, losing 2-0 and 3-0.
Spain have already beaten Czechia 3-1 in this campaign, and also put 4 past Croatia. With Spain averaging 3 goals per match and Czechia conceding an average of 2.5, this fixture could make a significant contribution to the overall total.
England v Croatia
If we're looking for goals, this is perhaps the fixture that catches the eye most.England have scored 14 goals in their first 4 matches, averaging 3.5 per game. They've also kept two clean sheets and scored 7 without reply when they travelled to Croatia in October.
Croatia's defensive record makes for rather less comfortable reading. They've conceded 14 goals in four matches, including those 7 against England and another 4 against Spain.
Croatia have shown they can score themselves, finding the net four times in the competition so far.
England will certainly fancy their chances of another healthy goal tally, but Croatia will surely make themselves far more compact this time around after that humiliating defeat last month!
San Marino v Belarus
Now for a fixture that could potentially have a significant bearing on our goal count.Minnows San Marino have endured a difficult campaign (not very surprisingly), scoring just once in their opening 4 matches while conceding 16. They've suffered defeats of 7-0 against Finland, 3-0 against Albania and 4-0 against Belarus in the reverse fixture.
Belarus have been considerably more solid. They've scored only once in the 3 games outside of their previous match against San Marino and have conceded just twice with 3 clean sheets in their opening 4 games.
San Marino will almost certainly park the bus so the goal tally in this one will come down to whether Belarus have the attacking skill to get past the low block and/or the Sunday League defending of San Marino holds up over 90mins.
Montenegro v Latvia
Our final fixture sees Montenegro take on Latvia.Montenegro have enjoyed a reasonably productive start, scoring seven goals in four matches and conceding four. They've beaten Cyprus twice and also secured a 3-2 victory over Armenia.
Latvia, meanwhile, have struggled in front of goal, managing just two goals in their opening four matches while conceding six.
Montenegro have already beaten Latvia 2-1 in this campaign, and will be confident of repeating that result on home soil.
This one perhaps looks less likely to produce a goalfest than some of the other fixtures, although Montenegro's attacking record suggests they should be capable of finding the net.
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