Monthly winners reflect on opening rounds

The FIFA.com Club launched a new FIFA Predictor game back in August this year. Since then, Club members have been swept up in the excitement and drama of playing the daily match prediction game and trying to build up the best prediction streak. We spoke to our first handful of monthly winners to get their thoughts on the game. “Well, you do need to have some sort of strategy when you play this game, but I think the key is not going from one extreme to the other,” says August winner fjordgazer, “predicting all the time is not good, but neither is only making predictions every two days.” The Nicaraguan won the opening monthly round of FIFA Predictor by virtue of a tiebreaker. “Hannafp was very close to beating me, but a miraculous result in Argentina [An 87th minute goal gave Colon Santa Fe a 2-1 victory at Estudiantes] broke her streak here and suddenly we were tied.” He said. “With only 5 days left, the race was between just the two of us and I won because I played more matches and hit more results.” Brazilian wins on final day October winner Luciana26 from Brazil had an equally dramatic finish to her winning season. She correctly predicted three games on the final day of the round to beat the closest challenger by just two predictions! “That last day! My desire to win saw me spend almost the whole day in front of the computer, searching for upcoming games, following my rivals closely and making predictions. But the greatest sense of anticipation and fun was during these final matches. I tried to watch all of them live." She said. Canadian holds the lead Canada’s JrBecks007 currently holds the longest streak for the season. If the Canadian's  November score (31 matches) can hold until the final day of the year, he could be flying to Brazil with a friend in 2014 to watch a match at the 2014 FIFA World Cup!  “I am lucky to have only one more month of holding my breath to see if my streak holds,” he said. “There’s a lot of good competition, but I’m trying to remain optimistic. I think my odds of winning the grand prize are good but there is still a chance for an upset.” “I really enjoy the current style of Predictor,” said JrBecks007. “I love knowing when my opponents have a match in play so I can really keep on eye on the competition as the month goes on.” The Canadian relies on the mobile version of FIFA Predictor to play constantly. “Typically, I use my mobile phone to make my predictions. This gives me the option to predict anytime from anywhere. Even if I don't predict daily, I will always check the matches and predict as often as I find a match that I want to select.” Predictors share tips So what does it take to win a round of FIFA Predictor? Our winners had some advice to newcomers to FIFA Predictor. “Don’t force your luck,” said fjordgazer. “Don’t just pick a lot of matches from the same league or think that you can win by just sticking to the teams you know best. Also, have patience. The best streaks have come from players that combine patience with some risk. The ones who just pick and pick are usually anxious to start a streak no matter what. On the other hand, the ones that wait a lot of time between one match and the other do go at first, but then they crash when less expected. No extreme is good." “Be very persistent and have a good amount of free time!” Are Luciana26’s concise words of advice to newcomers. “We all have our favourite clubs,” says JrBecks007, “and predicting their games can be even harder as in our heart we always want them to come out victorious. This can be dangerous as it blurs our judgment with personal bias. Passion is great but try to keep your judgment clear. Furthermore, stay optimistic. Never did I think that I would be the overall winner for a month of predictor. You never know, it could be you next!” The maiden season of the new FIFA Predictor started in August and ends on 31 December. Only the monthly winner with the longest round streak by the end of the year will win the Grand Prize – a trip to the 2014 FIFA World Cup! Follow the Club on Twitter to be the first to hear the winner’s announcement! From : Fifa