The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

Russia was buzzing with excitement as the day of the 2018 World Cup final had arrived. Supporters boarded coaches in their thousands to travel to the stadium and witness the historic event about to take place. However, as The World Cup final began and the teams ran out onto the pitch, not a single fan was in the stadium to cheer them on…

Somehow, every coach driver had been given the same set of incorrect directions to the stadium and football fans from around the world were travelling in circles – lost in the Russian wilderness!

As Detective Chief Inspector on the case, you know that the incorrect directions were given to coach drivers by a football player – but which one? You have taken down the names and descriptions of 20 disgruntled players who didn’t manage to qualify for The World Cup final. There are also five important clues that have been discovered aboard the lost coaches.

To crack the case, you will need to solve each clue and check the information with the list of names. Will you be able to solve the mystery and get the fans to the game before the second half?

Good luck!

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The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

Player NameFootball Boot Size

Hair Colour

Kit ColourNational

Flag ColourFavourite

Drink

Ahmed Marquez 8 brown red red cola

Alton Hamilton 9 blonde blue white water

Atila Demir 7 brown yellow green cola

Aydan Wiley 8 black blue red coffee

Emmanuel O’Neal 11 brown red white fruit juice

Florin Lakatos 13 blonde blue green fruit juice

Harun Ali 12 brown yellow red water

Keziah Pike 9 black red green fruit juice

Marcel Sanford 11 ginger blue white coffee

Marcus O’Brien 10 blonde yellow green coffee

Matthew Kirkwood 9 brown red white fruit juice

Muzafar Roman 12 brown blue green coffee

Naim Shah 10 brown red red water

Semih Lynch 11 black yellow white water

Simon Zuniga 9 ginger red red fruit juice

Syed Murray 8 brown yellow green coffee

Uktu Fletcher 10 brown red white cola

Vasile Mays 13 ginger blue green fruit juice

Wayne Conrad 9 ginger yellow red water

Winston Ryan 7 blonde red white cola

The culprit who confused the coach drivers must be .

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The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

Clue 1 A Cut Above the Rest

Whilst examining the first coat, you find an important piece of evidence. Trapped inside the coach driver’s map is a long strand of hair belonging to the culprit. Draw a line to match the

word to the correct vowel sound. Make sure that you spell the words correctly. The vowel sound with the most matching words will show the colour of the culprit’s hair.

oaginger hair

orblonde hair

oughbrown hair

owblack hair

tomorr sc ch n t thr t

d f ce mead

appr ch br t

The vowel sound with the most matching words is so the culprit’s hair must be .

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Clue 2 A Shred of Evidence

On the floor, trapped beneath the driver’s seat on Coach 2, is a scrap of material. It must have been torn from the culprit’s football kit as they quickly fled the scene. Read the

sentences below. Decide which spelling pattern is needed to correctly complete the words. The spelling pattern that is used the most will show you the colour of the culprit’s kit.

The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

Sentence -able -ible -ence

No doubt the culprit will try to claim their innoc .

They have caused consider disruption to the event.

The directions they have given are barely leg .

This kind of behaviour is intoler .

I have confid that the local police will catch this criminal.

The culprit is respons for delaying The World Cup final!

Wasn’t their disappearance from the stadium notice ?

Surely their abs from training would have been noticed?

The highest level of punishment should be applic in this case.

What has happened today has been absolutely terr .

If -able is used the most, the kit is red.

If -ible is used the most, the kit is yellow.

If -ence is used the most, the kit is blue.

The spelling pattern which is used most is so the culprit’s kit must be .

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Clue 3 Flagging It Up

The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

Whilst examining Coach 3, you find another torn piece of material but this one belongs to a national flag. Look at the words below. Decide which spelling pattern is needed

to correctly spell the word. Add the correct spelling pattern and write the new word in the correct box. The spelling pattern which is used most often will show you the main

colour of the culprit’s national flag.

The spelling pattern used most often is so the main colour of the culprit's national flag must be .

ie ei This word has a different spelling pattern

If ‘ie’ is used the most, the flag is mostly red.

If ‘ei’ is used the most, the flag is mostly white.

If a different spelling pattern is used the most, the flag is

mostly green.

ach ve c ling squ ze

br the ch f dec ve

sh ld rec pt conc t

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Clue 4 A Sticky Predicament

The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

An empty cup was found on the driver’s seat of Coach 4 when the coach driver arrived at work that morning. To find out what kind of drink it is, you must solve this puzzle. Each of these sentences has one piece of punctuation missing. Add the missing punctuation from the

options below. The most common piece of missing punctuation will tell you what type of drink the culprit left behind.

The tired looking detective needs to solve this case.

Samir (the coach driver was totally unimpressed by the event.

The directions were incorrect they must have been swapped.

They would have had to reenter the coach depot during the night.

What time did the culprit commit the crime

I checked them last night I don’t know how this could have happened.

They must have been local they knew where the coaches were kept.

It must have been earlier than that the gates are locked at 8 p.m.

Last week Wednesday) I saw something suspicious at the stadium.

The crime could have been committed by a well liked football player.

If a bracket is missing most, the

culprit loves water.

If a question mark is missing most, the culprit loves coffee.

If a hyphen is missing most, the culprit loves cola.

If a semi-colon is missing most, the

culprit loves fruit juice.

The most common piece of missing punctuation is a so the culprit’s favourite drink must be .

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Clue 5 Putting Their Foot In It

The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters

Just as you were about to give up your search of Coach 5, you find a handwritten set of instructions written by the culprit, explaining their entire cunning plan! Circle the words

which are missing a silent letter and write the correct spellings below. The total number of words with missing silent letters is the same as the culprit’s football boot size.

Plan to confuse coach drivers and delay The World Cup final:

1. Arrive at the coach yard and hide behind the security hut.

2. Wait for one our and lisen for the security gard taking his break.

3. Gess the code for the gate – don’t get it rong! 4. Use your copied thum print to gain entry. 5. Don’t dout yourself – swap the directions quickly! 6. Act solem and onest when you are questioned later.

There were words with silent letters missing so that must be the culprit’s boot size.

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The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters - Answer Sheet

Clue 1 - A Cut Above the Rest

oathroat

approach

orscorchforce

oughnoughtdough

brought

ow tomorrowmeadow

The vowel sound with the most matching words is ‘ough’ so the culprit’s hair must be brown.

Clue 2 - A Shred of EvidenceSentence -able -ible -ence

No doubt the culprit will try to claim their innocence.

They have caused considerable disruption to the event.

The directions they have given are barely legible.

This kind of behaviour is intolerable.

I have confidence that the local police will catch this criminal.

The culprit is responsible for delaying the World Cup final!

Wasn’t their disappearance from the stadium noticeable?

Surely their absence from training would have been noticed?

The highest level of punishment should be applicable in this case.

What has happened today has been absolutely terrible.

The spelling pattern which is used most is -able so the culprit’s kit must be red.

ie ei This word has a different spelling pattern

achievechiefshield

ceilingdeceivereceiptconceit

squeezebreathe

Clue 3 - Flagging It Up

The spelling pattern used most often is ‘ei’ so the main colour of the culprit’s national flag must be white.

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The Curious Case of the Lost Supporters - Answer Sheet

Sentence Missing PunctuationThe tired-looking detective needs to solve this case. hyphen

Samir (the coach driver) was totally unimpressed by the event. bracket

The directions were incorrect; they must have been swapped. semi-colon

They would have had to re-enter the coach depot during the night. hyphen

What time did the culprit commit the crime? question mark

I checked them last night; I don’t know how this could have happened.

semi-colon

They must have been local; they knew where the coaches were kept. semi-colon

It must have been earlier than that; the gates are locked at 8 p.m. semi-colon

Last week (Wednesday) I saw something suspicious at the stadium. bracket

The crime could have been committed by a well-liked football player. hyphen

Clue 4 - A Sticky Predicament

The most common piece of missing punctuation is a semi-colon so the culprit’s favourite drink must be fruit juice.

Clue 5 - Putting Their Foot In ItThe correct answer should read:Plan to confuse coach drivers and delay The World Cup final:

1. Arrive at the coach yard and hide behind the security hut.

2. Wait for one hour and listen for the security guard taking his break.

3. Guess the code for the gate – don’t get it wrong!

4. Use your copied thumb print to gain entry.

5. Don’t doubt yourself – swap the directions quickly!

6. Act solemn and honest when you are questioned later.

There were 9 words with silent letters missing so that must be the culprit’s boot size.

The culprit who confused the coach drivers must be Matthew Kirkwood.

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