Day 7 - Preview and Contest

Apologize for the delayed posting of the Day 4/5 as have had some other items to attend to. The Day 5 post will follow while Day 6 was an off Day.

As we enter Day 7, Group A remains competitive with Italy pretty much a lock for first place and 8 other teams fighting for the final 3 playoff positions.

Romania, South Africa and Ireland have their work cut out for them as they are currently 10 VPs out with many teams in the mix. Romania and Ireland are also both due for their BYE round today which reduces their daily maximum in VPs by 7 to 68 further adding to their challenge.

Estonia presently in second is coming off of a punishing loss to Brazil and has yet to face Denmark and South Africa from the top of the table. Denmark needs to face Canada and Estonia from the top of the table. France faces Italy and Ireland from the top of the table.

Meanwhile Brazil (South Africa), Canada (Denmark) face only one other team that is in contention improving their chances and given their current positioning (4/5 by 1 VP, 6th by 4.5VP for Brazil) are my favourites to capture the final playoff positions. All teams in the event are dangerous so the simpler schedule should not be taken lightly.

Expect that France will come through from Estonia, Denmark and France although these predictions are biased on my desire to see Canada go through and what that implies for our match with Denmark and their ability to go through. If Denmark and Estonia return to their previous form they will make life challenging for those chasing them and could easily go through... Also any one of the other chasers (Ireland, South Africa, Romania) could have a big day and move into a playoff spot, while a large loss for any of the other top teams will turn them into chasers with time running out.

Key matches of the day:
Round 15 - Italy v France, Canada v Finland, Estonia v Denmark
Round 16 - Canada v Denmark, Brazil v South Africa, France v Ireland,
Round 17 - Canada v Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa v Estonia, all?

Now for the contest:
Kamel Fergani is calling for 292.50 to qualify today (17 average) while I am speculating that as much as 299.50 (19 average) may be required given the competitiveness of the group... File your guess in the comments section...

That is however getting ahead of ourselves. Canada controls its own destiny today... One match at a time today with Canada to face Finland, Denmark and Trinidad and Tobago. Lebi/Jacob and Fergani/L'Ecuyer will start.

Live scores should now be available from the WBF site and can be watched with the BBO vugraph to see all of the action at all of the tables.