Tonight, 21:00 CET: Semi-final 1

The first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is just a few hours away, and so it’s time for us in the escgo! team to predict the ten qualifiers for the grand final on Saturday.

You can see the choices of Martin, Felix and Shi in the table below – followed by a brief explanation of their choices!

Country	Martin	Felix	Shi	TEAM
1. Sweden	Q	Q	Q	100 %
2. Georgia	Q			33.3 %
3. Australia	Q	Q	Q	100 %
4. Albania		Q		33.3 %
5. Belgium		Q	Q	66.6 %
6. Montenegro				0 %
7. Finland	Q	Q	Q	100 %
8. Azerbaijan	Q	Q		66.6 %
9. Portugal	Q	Q	Q	100 %
10. Greece	Q		Q	66.6 %
11. Poland		Q		33.3 %
12. Moldova	Q		Q	66.6 %
13. Iceland				0 %
14. Czech Republic				0 %
15. Cyprus	Q		Q	66.6 %
16. Armenia	Q	Q	Q	100 %
17. Slovenia		Q	Q	66.6 %
18. Latvia				0 %

MartinF:
It’s a hard semi-final to call, with lots of borderliners once you get beyond the obvious qualifiers like Sweden, Portugal or Armenia. There are only a few countries I’d rule out altogether – hi Montenegro, hi Czech Republic – and I’m finding it very difficult to not include Poland with its televoting support or Belgium with its high-quality composition, even if Blanche is doing her best to disguise that fact. Could be a night of surprises – the first Azeri NQ wouldn’t surprise me, for example, even if I’ve included them in my Q list. We’ll see!

FelixK:
I am trying a different approach this year, in order to find my 10 qualifier predictions. I will surely miss some, so let me predict what I will get wrong: Moldova and Greece will probably be in, Albania and Belgium might struggle. There is a tiny little chance that Sweden won’t make it to the final, I would actually not be shocked. Also, I am still scared about Portugal and Finland, because we all know that Eurovision is never 100% fair. So far, I’d call Armenia the safest qualifier, and would be the most surprised about the Czech Republic qualifying.

Shi:
Like Martin, it was the Azerbaijan/Belgium/Poland territory that gave me the most grief. I picked Belgium because I feel her song is the strongest, and while all three acts (and Iceland, which also swims in the same waters) are flawed, a terrified young, innocent girl is a much easier sell than unsympathetic adult women. Calling Azerbaijan a NQ is always brave (and difficult! I love the song), but most of their allies are on the other semi, and the act feels like something that neither juries or televoters would like very much. I suspect we’ll have a single-digit number separating  places 8 and 13.

Will we be right or completely wrong? There’s only a few hours left until we find out – so whatever you’re doing and whomever you’re watching the show with, enjoy the show and may the best songs qualify!