FlamedZeppelin Sporcle quiz – “A Fictional World Cup” – Walkthrough

Group A

 Zimbabwe had two victories

 Nepal’s only non-victory was a tie against Nicaragua

This means Nepal beat Zimbabwe and Finland, which in turn means Zimbabwe beat Nicaragua and
Finland. Given that:
 Finland had one tie

Their only tie was Nicaragua. Which makes the table look like this:

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Nepal 2 0 1 7
2 Zimbabwe 2 1 0 6
3 Nicaragua 0 1 2 2
4 Finland 0 2 1 1

Group B

 The only tie was Dominican Republic vs. Laos

 Tonga didn’t lose a game

This means Tonga won all their games, automatically placing them first. We are also told that:
 Venezuela came in second

We know they lost their game to Tonga and didn’t have any ties. The table looks like this:

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Tonga 3 0 0 9
2 Venezuela 2 1 0 6
3 Dom/Laos 0 2 1 1
4 Dom/Laos 0 2 1 1

But we’re told that Laos’ GD is worse than Dominican Republic’s. Which makes the table look like this:

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Tonga 3 0 0 9
2 Venezuela 2 1 0 6
3 Dom. Rep. 0 2 1 1
4 Laos 0 2 1 1
Group C

 Belarus had 5 points

This means they won 1 game and had 2 ties.

 Every team had at least one tie

 Rwanda is the only team that didn't win a game
 Although Comoros defeated Tajikistan, they didn't make it to the knockout stage

From these 3 combined we can infer that Tajikistan had 1 loss, 1 tie and 1 win. Which makes them have
4 points. We also infer that Comoros had a win and a tie but didn’t make it to the knockout stage, which
means past Tajikistan. Hence, they also have 4 points, but Tajikistan’s GD is better.
And all that’s left is to fill the table: There is still only one loss left, and it is Rwanda’s, which means their
other 2 games were ties.

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Belarus 1 0 2 5
2 Tajikistan 1 1 1 4
3 Comoros 1 1 1 4
4 Rwanda 0 1 2 2

Group D

 Burkina Faso finished with 5 points

 Singapore's victory vs. Montenegro almost became their only tie

Burkina faso had 2 ties and 1 win. We’re told that Singapore didn’t have ties, which means BF tied with
the other teams (Solomon Islands & Montenegro) and defeated Singapore.
Now, the only Singapore game left is vs. Solomon Islands, and they can only win or lose. Which means
either the table looks like this: (if they lose)
Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.
1 Solomon 2 0 1 6
2 Burkina Faso 1 0 2 5
3 Montenegro 1 1 1 4
4 Singapore 1 2 0 3
Or like this: (if they win)
Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.
1 Singapore 2 1 0 6
2 Burkina Faso 1 0 2 5
3 Solomon 1 1 1 4
4 Montenegro 0 2 1 1
But then we’re told that:
  Montenegro got 3 points less than Solomon Islands

Which means option 2 is correct.

Group E

 Barbados only came in first because of goal difference

 Burundi defeated Azerbaijan
 Vanuatu lost each and every one of their games

We can infer from the 3rd clue that each of the others has at least 1 victory. Add to that clue no. 2 and
you know that Burundi have two victories. And from clue no. 1 we can infer that they have the same
amount of points as Barbados, only possible if their game was a tie. So the table looks like this:

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Barbados 2 0 1 7
2 Burundi 2 0 1 7
3 Azerbaijan 1 2 0 3
4 Vanuatu 0 3 0 0

Group F

 None of the games played in this group resulted in a tie

There is a hidden clue (which is not necessary to solve the quiz but is rather a shortcut): we are not told
of GDs. This means no two teams have the same number of points, which in conjunction with the clue
means the points are 9, 6, 3, 0. Add to that:
 Philippines won exactly one game (they have 3 points)
 San Marino had 6 points more than India (they have 6 and India have 0)

Which means Lithuania have 9 points. So the table looks like this:

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Lithuania 3 0 0 9
2 San Marino 2 1 0 6
3 Philippines 1 2 0 3
4 India 0 3 0 0

Group G

 Jordan finished with 6 points

 Madagascar defeated Jordan
This means Madagascar was Jordan’s only loss, the two other games were victories. Obviously, they had
no ties, but:
 Antigua and Barbuda finished with 2 points

Meaning two ties and a loss. Which means Antigua and Barbuda had ties against the other teams
(Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau).

 Guinea-Bissau's win over Madagascar helped them have the group's best GD

This is actually a double clue: We now know thata Madagascar had 1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss, but we also
know that Guinea-Bissau’s GD was better than theirs, which allows us to complete the table:

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Jordan 2 1 0 6
2 G-Bissau 1 1 1 4
3 Madagascar 1 1 1 4
4 Antigua 0 1 2 2

Group H

 Only the teams that proceeded to the knockout stage won games
 Uzbekistan finished with 4 points
 Cabo Verde's game vs. Djibouti resulted in 3-0

This means Uzbekistan had 1 win, 1 loss and 1 tie, which means they proceeded to the knockout stage.
We also know that Cabo Verde proceeded. And because Uzbekistan have a loss, it is mandatory that
Cabo Verde beat them.

 Moldova had 1 point less than Djibouti

This already gives us the ranks, and we can fill the table:
We can infer that Djibouti had a tie where Moldova had a loss, and since both had no wins, that their
game was a tie.

Pos. Team Win Lose Tie Pts.

1 Cabo Verde 3 0 0 9
2 Uzbekistan 1 1 1 4
3 Djibouti 0 1 2 2
4 Moldova 0 2 1 1
The Knockout Stage is a lot simpler: Round of 16

 Every European team passed to the quarter finals

This gives us Lithuania over Venezuela, San Marino over Tonga and Belarus over Guinea-Bissau. (3/8)
And their hints follow:

 If Singapore won, so did Venezuela

Since Venezuela lost, so did Singapore, so Uzbekistan over Singapore (4/8)

 No American teams won in this round

This gives us Zimbabwe over Barbados (5/8)

 Three of the four countries starting with B won

Since Barbados didn’t win and Belarus did, there’s two left – from which we get Burundi over Nepal and
Burkina Faso over Cabo Verde (7/8) and are also told that:
 Tajikistan lost their game (to Jordan – 8/8).

In the Quarter Finals we are told that Uzbekistan won their match, which gives us the following clue:
 Two African teams, one Asian team and one European team passed to the Semi-finals. Burundi
lost.
This gives us San Marino over Burundi, Zimbabwe over Lithuania and Burkina Faso over Jordan (4/4).

In the Semi Finals we are given country codes for the countries:

San Marino [674] vs. Uzbekistan [860]

And Zimbabwe [716] vs. Burkina Faso [854]

 The sum of the winners' codes is a multiple of 4, and is higher than 1550
The first part of the sentence gives two possibilities: 674 and 854, or 860 and 716. The sums are 1528
and 1576. This gives us the finalists: Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.

Our only clue in the Final Games is that the winner always has the higher number of the two.
This gives us 3rd place winner Burkina Faso and champion Uzbekistan.