WITH the climax of The Watford Observer's World Cup competition moving ever closer, Mr R Bailey is looking a strong favourite to take home the first prize of a portable colour TV.

Mr Bailey, who has led since the conclusion of the group phase, currently has an 82-point advantage over the rest of the field.

Although there are only four matches to go in Korea and Japan, there is still time for someone to come out of the chasing pack, particularly with a whole host of bonus points still to fight for.

Meanwhile, several entrants have asked for a breakdown of who chose which teams and which players in the competition.

While it would take too long to list every entrant's selections, you can find a percentage breakdown of competition choices below.

Of the last four in the competition, 15.4% chose Brazil as their Pool A selection, but barely 1% selected Germany. Turkey were chosen by 8% as their Pool B selection, and 17% picked South Korea for their Pool C choices.

The following per cent of entrants chose the following countries:

Pool A: France (27%), Italy (26%), Argentina (15%), Portugal (6%), England (5%), Spain (5%), Mexico (0%), USA (0%),

Pool B: Cameroon (24%), Belgium (14%), Croatia (12%), Sweden (11%), Belgium (10%), Ireland (10%), Denmark (6%), Paraguay (5%), Uruguay (2%), Costa Rica (1%),

Pool C: Poland (31%), Japan (21%), Nigeria (17%), Slovenia (6%), South Africa (6%), Ecuador (2%), Senegal (1%), China (0%), Saudi Arabia (0%), Tunisia (0%).

Meanwhile, only the three per cent of entrants who chose Brazilian stars Ronaldo and Rivaldo as their players can still score player points because the nations of all other selections have been knocked out.

The other players chosen were: Thierry Henry - France (19%), Michael Owen - England (19%), Raul - Spain (16%), David Trezeguet - France (7%), Christian Vieri - Italy (6%), Zinedine Zidane - France (6%), Gabriel Batistuta - Argentina (5%), Francesco Totti - Italy (5%), Hernan Crespo - Argentina (4%), Luis Figo - Portugal (2%), Freddie Ljungberg - Sweden (2%), David Beckham - England (1%), El Hadji Diouf - Senegal (1%), Henrik Larsson - Sweden (1%), Pauleta - Portugal (1%), Darius Vassell - England (1%).

June 24, 2002 15:00