For Frank Meulewaeter, the World Cup is as unpredictable as doing business in Ethiopia

For a moment, it looked as though Egypt was on course for an upset against Argentina. The African side took a 2-0 lead in the World Cup Round of 16, but ultimately saw Argentina come back to win 3-2 in dramatic fashion. Little changed at the top of the rankings, as everyone in yesterday’s top 10 had backed Argentina to win. In the other match, Switzerland v Colombia, the game ended in a draw, and Switzerland progressed to the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out. This led to further changes at the top of the standings.

Fresh produce lawyer Hans Borsboom remains in first place as the quarter-finals get underway. The new number two is Canadian Slim Kooli of fresh produce wholesaler Courchesne Larose, which completed the takeover of the Star Group this week. Slim is 94 points behind Hans.

The pair are followed by Belgian Frank Meulewaeter, who works for Beti Ornamental Plants in Ethiopia and has told the editorial team he is thoroughly enjoying himself. “The beauty of it is the unpredictability of the game. Sometimes it’s a let-down, like when Morocco scored their third goal in the 98th minute, meaning my predicted result went out of the window, but sometimes things go my way too, take Belgium v Senegal, for example. I’ve been working in Ethiopia for about fifteen years now, but just like in this pool, it’s a country where doing business is completely unpredictable.”

Vijay Dijkstra of Holland Floricultural Services moves up to fourth place, while Born van Ryckeghem of Deprez Construct also secures a top-five position thanks to his predicted draw. Jose Juan Garcia Teruel of the Spanish haulage company JCarrion climbs to sixth, while seventh place goes to newcomer Hüseyin Eralp from Zurich, who had already predicted that his home country, Switzerland, would reach the quarter-finals.

Marcos Miedema of Agrofair moves up to eighth place, Norwegian chief economist Christian Anton Smedshaug of Landkreditt is the new number nine, and the top 10 is completed by Claude Toupin of C Y Grower Supplies from Canada. There are no World Cup matches today. On Thursday, France will face Morocco in the first quarter-final.