India - Expectations were low for sure, but one leg won and averages of 72 and 70 didn't even clear the lowest of low bars. OK
Mongolia - I had a bit more hope than India given how much the country has improved over the last couple of years, and an OK group, but they were almost as bad. Ugly
Portugal - Didn't think they'd do much, but a weak showing in their winnable game puts the projection pretty much on point. Good
New Zealand - Tough draw for sure, but even though I didn't think they'd get much change out of it, I'd have thought at least getting an 80 average was likely, but they couldn't even manage that. OK
Thailand - Had the lowest of low expectations, and while they did get three legs, the averages were just not there so I'm calling this one a win. Good
Finland - Prediction said there's a fair chance of a bad result, but getting boatraced by Hungary and finishing bottom makes them exceed that by quite a bit. OK
China - Gave them half a chance of getting a positive result here. France gave them an open lane but they missed the lay up. Bad
Australia - Oh boy, we said the group was a minefield, and they stepped on every one, losing the decider against the US then going completely to pieces against Canada. Ugly
Gibraltar - OK so these were a late call up, did a little bit better than what I would have guessed if I knew that, but meh, no prediction no rating. Uganda is void
Croatia - We thought this had fairly good equity to not get out of the group, or even finish bottom, which they did, two 3-4 losses is maybe harsh but it's well within the realms of what we thought. Good
Trinidad and Tobago - Prediction looked perfect after game one where they got two legs but barely averaged 60. Then they beat a team that was sitting on a double to reach the semi finals earlier. Nice work but makes the prediction fail. Ugly
Slovenia - Averaged 79 in both games, splitting them one a piece. Not sure how to rate that, it's not good but they got points, so I guess it's slightly better than I thought. OK
Japan - We recognised this was a tough group, and they got the win over the weak seed but lost to the strong non seed. We somewhat hedged our bets, and it wasn't too bad a call. OK
Singapore - Pretty much bang on. Ireland were too strong, but they averaged well, then played worse but beat the last minute call ups from Gib, who were probably a tougher opponent. Good
Lithuania - Repeat everything we just said. Lost the match they should, won the match they should, played better at least in terms of averages in the former (but, as we know, that's what happens with averages). Good
Philippines - Had real high expectations, but woefully underperformed against the hosts. Even if they turned up they probably still wouldn't have won, and they recovered really well, but the damage was done. Bad
Hong Kong - You did the hard part! You beat the seed, and got into a match where you only needed three legs to get into a playoff, or all four to advance outright. And you shat the bed and won two. Bad
Denmark - Wow, they were not good. Thankfully they had India playing awfully so got a win, but that was substandard. I'm only giving partial credit to myself here but that's more due to being wrong about India than these. OK
Italy - Had some optimism here, but losing to Latvia straight out of the gates basically killed it. Did the job against T&T but given the shocking last game they fell just short when this could have been more. Bad
Canada - Pretty middle of the road stuff really. If you had said they would get one win I wouldn't have picked the one they did, but after they did beat Australia they couldn't convert. Bad
South Africa - Pretty much what I thought. Sweden were too strong, despite SA averaging five points more, but then fell apart scoring wise in the second game, but as they were playing Mongolia they won anyway. Good
Switzerland - This pick was alright I think. Poland were predictably strong, but it was these who got the win, mainly because Portugal were maybe a bit worse than expected. I'll call it OK, but much like Denmark, it's not down to the Swiss really. OK
Austria - Probably an overestimate. They smashed China as you would think, and actually looked good, but par here was getting out of the group and they ought to have beaten France, but didn't. They played better than I thought, but got worse results, so this stinks both ways. Bad
Hungary - I think I can call this a win. Best possible result you can get when finishing second in a group is outperforming expectations, shame they couldn't get that last leg against Norway. Good
Norway - Speaking of which, we hit the KO stages and these lost 8-0 to Scotland. The group was read as somewhat even and I did give them a chance of doing this, so while calling it C isn't great, I don't think it's a total loss. OK
Spain - Thought they would perform pretty well, and as thought, they got out of the group. Given the draw they did get, they really couldn't get past the top 16, but I can't mark myself down for that. Good
USA - This was good stuff. I thought everyone had some equity in the group, but I think the US actually sweeping it, and then pushing Wales fairly decently in the last sixteen might be a fair bit more solid than I gave them credit for. OK
Poland - These on the other hand ought to have done better. The group went as expected, and the game against Ireland was perfectly winnable, but not a gimmie, they just weren't at the races. Not calling it ugly as it wasn't an easy draw, but it wasn't the win I thought it'd be. Bad
Sweden - Fairly bang on. Won the group as expected. Would have needed a really favourable draw to have much chance of going further. Netherlands wasn't it although they at least kept it close. Good
Czechia - This is kind of similar, win group then get awkward draw and lose, but I can't give it the same result as Germany was a much easier draw than the Netherlands, and I had more optimism out of the gate. OK
Belgium - This was so nearly a very good prediction, but then they contrived to escape the group thanks to Hong Kong fucking it up. It's still an underperformance and they certainly didn't play well, but I can't give myself the complete win here. OK
France - This is a weird one. Thought meh, and they definitely performed meh in the groups, but as neither opponent could really get it done, they did much better in terms of results than I thought, and were a leg away from the quarters despite not even averaging 80 in that game. Bad
Germany - One of three 5-8 seeds to lose where they should. I thought they'd do worse, mainly because the Philippines were a real potential banana skin, but that game was over in a flash, then they got an alright draw in Czechia and held their nerve. Netherlands were too strong, but by that point they'd already done much better than I thought. Ugly
Ireland - I'm not sure what to make of this. I thought they might do better than the seeding suggested, and they matched it, but their scoring was very solid and they come through Poland who were seemingly everyone's dark horse, so I'm not sure I can call it bad. OK
Wales - Calling this one good I think is fair. Made no mistakes in the group (although one average was a bit smelly), steadily got to the last eight with a favourable draw, then got the worst possible quarter, but got to a decider somehow before making an absolute meal out of 84 for the match and not getting a dart even at the bull. Or even leaving yourself on a double if you did come back. Good
Latvia - Always got to be one team that hugely outperforms, and it's Razma and Melderis this time. Getting out of the group was weird as hell given how things played out, but they did, which puts them at below par for the course in some sense, then they get the god draw, almost fuck it up, but somehow scrape home and get down to 24 in a deciding leg. Only for NI to kill 144. Bad
Northern Ireland - Scrape through two games 8-7, both against teams they should comfortably beat, then run into a genuinely good team and get completely shoed. I said par for the course, 3 seed going out in the semis feels that way, it doesn't feel right to say good but I think I have to. Good
Scotland - Play team you're massively better than - average 99, win 8-0. Play team you're better than, but not hugely better than - average 99 again, win 8-5. Play team you're worse than, average drops 11 points and you win three legs. I said par for the course, I said they're not beating England, this is exactly what happened. Good
Netherlands - Did pretty much what they were supposed to. Had a tricky first game, but got progressively better in the second and third, until England turned on the afterburners in the final. I put par for the course as I really wasn't confident in them reaching the final, so didn't want to say S tier. They did get there, so while I can say my prediction was right, I don't want to get super credit for having what turned out to be excessive pessimism. OK
England - Team Luke wins. As you would expect. Spain gave them a battle as you would expect, and Wales kept things closer than you might have thought, but neither the semi nor the final were particularly close. I said should reach the final, they did, they weren't that impressive until they got there, but that still seems to be a win. Good
And that completes the tier list recap. We have Pro Tour events Tuesday/Wednesday, and then a Euro Tour on the Friday. IRL stuff means that anything I do get our for the latter might be either on really short notice or right after the draw, but I'll try to get something done.
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