England carry Henry into the last four; Pete runs out of teams

Henry’s England beat Pete’s Norway 2-1 to reach the semi-finals, a +20 that lifts Henry to 83 and third and books him a place among the last four. It also completes a rather neat picture at the top: the semi-finals are becoming a four-owner affair, one strong team apiece.

For Pete it’s the end of the road. Both his quarter-finalists - Belgium on Thursday, Norway last night - have now fallen, and he’s left with no teams on the pitch, marooned on 76. He sits fourth for the moment, but don’t get too attached: with Nichola’s France still alive in the semis, the projection expects her to climb past his frozen total into fourth, leaving Pete fifth. A gallant campaign undone by two quarter-finals that didn’t quite go his way.

So the shape of the finish is almost set. The four players still with a team in the tournament - Richard, Ella, Nichola, Henry - fill the top four; the four who’ve run out - Pete, Emily, Sophie, Tega - fill the bottom. Emily, Sophie and Tega are already fixed at 6th, 7th and 8th.

And now the last four is complete - and glamorous. Ella’s Spain, Nichola’s France and Henry’s England are joined by Richard’s Argentina, through by way of the strangest fixture of the tournament: Argentina beat Switzerland 3-1, Richard’s two teams meeting with a semi-final place the prize. He couldn’t lose it and couldn’t win it - either way he banked his guaranteed semi-finalist, and stretched his lead doing it. Four teams, four owners, nobody with more than one.

The table: Richard 121, Ella 87, Henry 83, Pete 76, Nichola 72, Emily 55, Sophie 53, Tega 49 - Richard now thirty-four clear. Next up: the semi-finals, and the draw that decides who meets whom.

Odds watch

The quarter-finals done, Ella stays favourite at ~3.09 (32.4%), with Nichola ~3.72 (26.9%) and Richard ~3.98 (25.1%) now closing right behind - Argentina reaching the last four was the day’s big move, shortening Richard by +4.0pp and pulling him to within a whisker of the top two. Henry ~6.43 (15.6%) completes a genuine four-way title market between the four semi-finalists’ owners: Spain 32%, France 27%, Argentina 25%, England 16%. The familiar divergence holds but narrows sharply: Richard leads the table by thirty-four and the projected finish, and is now third favourite and closing - with Argentina finally in the semis, his price has moved much closer to his lead. The next lurch waits on the semi-final draw.