The first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 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 Shi, Martin and Felix in the table below – followed by a brief summary of their views!

Country	Martin	Felix	Shi	TEAM
1. Cyprus	Q	Q	Q	100 %
2. Montenegro				0 %
3. Finland				0 %
4. Poland	Q	Q	Q	100 %
5. Slovenia	Q			33.3 %
6. Czech Republic	Q	Q	Q	100 %
7. Hungary	Q	Q	Q	100 %
8. Belarus				0 %
9. Serbia	Q	Q	Q	100 %
10. Belgium				0 %
11. Georgia		Q	Q	66.7 %
12. Australia	Q	Q	Q	100 %
13. Iceland	Q	Q	Q	100 %
14. Estonia	Q	Q	Q	100 %
15. Portugal				0 %
16. Greece	Q	Q	Q	100 %
17. San Marino				0 %

As you can see, there’s a lot of agreement within the team – so let’s find out why they feel the way they do.

Shi:
I am the least certain about Estonia and Georgia: Victor isn’t a great singer and the song is painfully generic, but his charisma and the song’s sanity come in the right place and time in the draw. Georgia is my wishful thinking entry and my test case of how far can a great staging of a difficult song can take you. And all in all, it might be considered the weaker semi, but it is shaping us to at least bring a diverse selection of songs into the final. I can live with that.

Martin:
Wackiest semi-final ever? Well, the first one in 2012 gives it a run for its money – Valentina Monetta, Trackshittaz, Rambo Amadeus and the Babushki, anyone? – but the back-to-back combo of “Zero Gravity” and “Hatrið mun sigra”, even separated by a break, should be one of the more memorable sections we’ve had in an ESC show. As for qualification, I’m in that annoying position of having more qualifiers in the first half. We know that’s not impossible now, but it still seems highly improbable. And within that, I’m not especially confident about Poland or Slovenia (I’ve even bet against the latter to qualify, albeit it’s money I’d be delighted to lose). Still, I feel like it’s a strong year for Central Europe, so I’m sticking with my gut instinct.

Felix:
I thought this prediction was quite easy. It doesn’t really match my personal preferences, but I think this is what the wider audience and the juries will go for. I was a bit hesitating about Poland, and nearly would have picked Belgium instead, but the staging of the latter looks so wrong that it’s ruining the slightest chance for qualification. Australia is a sure qualifier for anything other than the song, Serbia knows how to sell dullness, and the Czech Republic is the first captivating song in the running order. These three feel like the safest predictions, the last place will probably go to Belarus.

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 evening and may the best songs qualify!