World Cup Contest: Germany delivers for Beckenbauer 5

Santa Barbara's World Cup Contest

Charles Bryant’s winning bracket, dubbed “Beckenbauer 5”

 

With a name like “Beckenbauer 5“, Germany’s victory over Argentina on Sunday was the obvious preferred outcome for Charles Bryant.

His World Cup bracket, named after the legendary German player Franz Beckenbauer, prevailed over the competition in Presidio Sports’ World Cup bracket contest sponsored by Santa Barbara Brewing Company.

Bryant, a former UCSB soccer player from 1983 to 1986, says his affinity for the German national soccer team is a close second to Team USA. While he correctly chose Germany to defeat Argentina in the final, he also picked the Americans to advance with Germany out of the “Group of Death” that included Ghana and Portugal.

Bryant’s bracket finished in the 98.9 percentile of all ESPN contestants, a pool of over 1.1 million. Bryant beat out Daniel Torres and Meghan Roarty, who finished tied for second place. Ten of the top 12 placers picked Germany to win it all. Complete standings are listed at the bottom of the page.

Had Argentina pulled out the victory on Sunday, contestant “MattatASU” would have come out on top. Instead, MattatASU finished 9th and was the highest player who didn’t select Germany to win it all.

Bryant receives two tickets to a concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Roarty gets a gift package from Spa del Mar at the Fess Parker Resort, and Torres secured a $100 gift card to Santa Barbara Brewing Company.

For the casual American soccer fan, Beckenbauer is arguably the largest persona in German soccer history. He was the captain of the 1974 West Germany team that won the World Cup, and again led the Germans to a World Cup title in 1990 as head coach. He was also one of the top players in the Bundesliga for many years representing Bayern Munich.

 

RANK BRACKET, OWNER GRP SR QF SF F CHAMPION TOTAL PCT
1 18 20 24 32 32 Germany 126 98.9
2* 20 28 24 16 32 Germany 120 96.5
2* 20 12 24 32 32 Germany 120 96.5
4 13 14 20 32 32 Germany 111 93.4
5 22 12 24 16 32 Germany 106 90.9
6 17 20 16 16 32 Germany 101 87.4
7 20 16 16 16 32 Germany 100 86.6
8 14 12 24 16 32 Germany 98 85.2
9 23 16 24 32 0 Argentina 95 83.0
10 18 12 16 16 32 Germany 94 82.2
11 16 20 24 32 0 Argentina 92 80.6
12 15 12 16 16 32 Germany 91 79.9
13 18 16 24 32 0 Argentina 90 79.1
14 23 24 24 16 0 Brazil 87 77.0
15 22 16 16 32 0 Argentina 86 76.3
16 16 12 24 32 0 Argentina 84 75.1
17 18 24 24 16 0 Argentina 82 73.8
18 18 20 24 16 0 Brazil 78 70.1
19* 23 14 24 16 0 Brazil 77 68.9
19* 21 16 24 16 0 Spain 77 68.9
19* 17 20 24 16 0 Brazil 77 68.9
19* 21 16 24 16 0 Argentina 77 68.9
23 16 20 24 16 0 Argentina 76 67.2
24 18 16 24 16 0 Argentina 74 63.9
25 13 20 24 16 0 Brazil 73 62.1
26 16 16 24 16 0 Argentina 72 60.3
27* 15 16 24 16 0 Brazil 71 58.6
27* 15 16 24 16 0 Brazil 71 58.6
27* 19 20 16 16 0 Brazil 71 58.6
30* 18 12 24 16 0 Argentina 70 56.9
30* 14 16 24 16 0 Argentina 70 56.9
32 21 16 16 16 0 United States 69 55.4
33 16 20 16 16 0 Spain 68 53.9
34* 14 12 24 16 0 Spain 66 51.1
34* 16 18 16 16 0 Brazil 66 51.1
36 16 16 16 16 0 Brazil 64 48.3
37* 18 20 24 0 0 Brazil 62 45.2
37* 16 14 16 16 0 Spain 62 45.2
39* 21 16 24 0 0 Brazil 61 43.5
39* 19 10 16 16 0 Brazil 61 43.5
41 19 8 16 16 0 Argentina 59 39.5
42* 18 16 24 0 0 Brazil 58 37.4
42* 18 16 24 0 0 Brazil 58 37.4
42* 18 16 24 0 0 Brazil 58 37.4
45* 15 14 12 16 0 Brazil 57 35.3
45* 13 12 16 16 0 Argentina 57 35.3
45* 17 16 24 0 0 Brazil 57 35.3
48* 16 16 24 0 0 Spain 56 33.1
48* 12 12 16 16 0 Portugal 56 33.1
48* 16 16 24 0 0 Brazil 56 33.1
51 19 20 16 0 0 Brazil 55 31.1
52 14 16 24 0 0 Brazil 54 29.0
53* 20 16 16 0 0 Portugal 52 25.2
53* 12 8 16 16 0 Spain 52 25.2
55 15 20 16 0 0 Portugal 51 23.5
56 18 16 16 0 0 Brazil 50 21.7
57 17 24 8 0 0 Brazil 49 20.1
58 23 16 8 0 0 Uruguay 47 16.9
59* 16 14 16 0 0 Brazil 46 15.4
59* 16 14 16 0 0 Spain 46 15.4
59* 18 20 8 0 0 Brazil 46 15.4
62 20 14 8 0 0 Italy 42 10.1
63 21 12 8 0 0 Brazil 41 9.0
64 18 12 8 0 0 Italy 38 6.4