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2010 Think Tank Cup - Complete Results

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The FIFA World Cup 2010 is barely underway, but the final results are already in from the simulated Think Tank Cup.The champion: The United States, besting England in the Cup final. Japan placed third, defeating Italy in the runners-up match.Those results - highly unlikely on the sporting pitch -- are instead based on the number of think tanks in each of the 32 countries participating in the World Cup. The figures come from Professor James McGann and his UPenn annual Global Go-To Think Tank Rankings.  (Read the TTLA interview with McGann.)The U.S. had a whopping 1815 think tanks in 2009, according to research compiled by McGann and his students.England was third on the academic's list, with 285 tanks. China was second, and India. fourth. Neither of those nations' football teams made it to the World Cup. The same went for Russia (#8) and Canada (#10)In the Think Tank Cup, the same Group tables were used as in the World Cup. So, for example, in the World Cup, the "Group A" table includes the national soccer squads from: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, and France.When McGann's number of think tanks in each nation is plugged into that table, then France (168 tanks) and South Africa (84 tanks) moved on the Think Tank Cup round of 16, while Mexico (55) and Uruguay (15) were sent home.(Will those same results happen in the World Cup? After one game each, it remains possible.)Moving along...In keeping with the official World Cup brackets, in the Think Tank Cup, France, as winner of Group A, next played Nigeria (45 think tanks), the second-place nation in Group B. France won. In the quarterfinals, France was then beaten by the U.S. The Think Tank Cup round of 16 included: France and South Africa (Group A), Argentina and Nigeria (Group B), U.S.A. and England (Group C), Germany and Ghana (Group D), Japan and the Netherlands (Group E), Italy and Paraguay (Group F), Brazil and Portugal (Group G), and Switzerland and Spain (Group H).The Think Tank Cup quarterfinalists were: France, U.S.A., Japan, Spain, England, Argentina, Italy, and Switzerland. The semifinals pitted the U.S. against Japan, and England versus Italy. The Think Tank Cup finals were a rematch, then, of Group C first-round play, with the U.S. defeating England to win the Think Tank Cup.Among the -- many -- differences between the Think Tank Cup results and expected World Cup results: The U.S. championship; Japan reaching the semifinals; Switzerland's march to the quarterfinals; and Brazil, Germany, and the Netherlands all losing in the round of 16. Also, there was only one match that ended in a tie in the Think Tank Cup -- an unheard of figure for the World Cup.There were a handful of similarities between the Think Tank Cup results and expected World Cup results. Italy, England, and Argentina were among the quarterfinalists. And North Korea (2 tanks) lost all three of its first round games. So did Algeria (4 tanks)  and New Zealand (six).The complete results from the Think Tank Cup, based on World Cup tables were:

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Group AFrance: 168South Africa: 84Mexico: 55Uruguay: 15Group BArgentina: 132Nigeria: 45South Korea: 35Greece: 35Group CUSA: 1815England:  285Slovenia: 19Algeria: 4Group DGermany: 190Ghana: 36Australia: 29Serbia: 24Group EJapan: 108Netherlands: 71Denmark: 34Cameroon: 20Group FItaly: 88Paraguay: 28Slovakia: 18New Zealand: 6Group GBrazil: 48Portugal: 19Ivory Coast: 12North Korea: 2Group HSwitzerland: 71Spain: 50Chile: 42Honduras: 7Round Two:France d. NigeriaU.S.A. d. GhanaJapan d. ParaguaySpain d. BrazilEngland d. GermanyArgentina d. South AfricaItaly d. NetherlandsSwitzerland d. PortugalQuarterfinals:U.S.A. d. FranceJapan d. SpainEngland d. ArgentinaItaly d. SwitzerlandSemifinals:U.S.A. d. JapanEngland d. ItalyFinals:U.S.A. d. EnglandThird Place:Japan d. ItalyPhoto Credit: The image (top) accompanying this post was taken by Flickr user Shine 2010 - 2010 World Cup good news. It was used under Creative Commons license

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