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World Cup Predictions

  • Writer: Fred
    Fred
  • Jun 1
  • 3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Over at CNN, they have a cool prediction machine. If you have a few minutes, and love soccer, you may want to give it a whirl.


Just a quick reminder for this World Cup, the field is expanded out to 48. which means an extra round to the Finals.



Top Half of Bracket
Top Half of Bracket

Bottom Half of Bracket
Bottom Half of Bracket

Predictions

  • Brazil will beat Spain in the Final

  • Argentina will beat Germany in the 3rd Place Game

  • Hosts United States and Canada will be wiped out by the Quarterfinals. Mexico won't get to the Semis.

  • Cinderellas from 2022, Croatia and and Morocco, will be out in the first round.

  • Every team in the Semis will be teams that have won World Cups in the past. There will be no "new winner" this year.

  • Qatar will come in 47th out of 48 teams

  • Haiti will come in 48th out of 48 teams

  • This tournament will be mostly chalk, I don't see many Cinderellas in the middle of this pack. (Unless you count Norway)

  • America's ceiling... is the Semifinals, their floor is a first round exit.

  • If Zinedine Zidane takes over France at the end of the 2026 World Cup, pencil in the French as the winners of the 2030 World Cup in Spain/Portugal/Morocco.


Madonna is the World Cup Final Halftime Show? This is usually where we would post our favorite YouTube video by said artist.


But we don't like Madonna.


Favorite "Madonna" Track Underneath
Favorite "Madonna" Track Underneath

We are hoping to replicate our successful 2025-2026 Premier League Predictions.



Addendum:


And the guy who wrote it, Ryan O'Hanlon, is the same analytics pinhead who I out-predicted in last season's Premier League..


Let's have at it.


First, there's a lot games that, to me, are a coin flip, so if O'Hanlon flips the coin one way, and I flip it the other, I'm not going to dwell on that. We are talking glaring differences.


  • BOS has Qatar 47th and out early. ESPN has Qatar beating Bosnia and being right on the line of third place finishers making the first round. Qatar WILL NOT QUALIFY for the first round and they will beat no one, especially the Bosnians. Bosnia could hang 5 on Qatar.

  • ESPN has Iran not losing a game in the group stage, then upsetting a team like Switzerland in the first round. Iran is a good team, but the spotlight will burn too bright for them. Making it out of the group stage was a very optimistic outcome from BOS. Iran will not have 3 ties, 1 win, and its only loss in the Group of 16.

  • ESPN has Brazil losing to Japan in the first round of the tournament. THAT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT HAPPEN. We have Brazil winning it all, but if they're upset by Norway or England, we would only be mildly surprised. Brazil losing to Japan could cause riots and civil disobedience that would cause the Brazilian Government to collapse. We are not exaggerating.

  • Erling Haaland is a monster and we love him. As soon as the US loses, we'll be rooting for Norway. With that said, we think ESPN having Norway in the semis is wishful thinking. (But we actually hope we're wrong here).

  • ESPN has Egypt not making it out of the first round. The only way New Zealand and Iran are above Egypt in the standings is if Mo Salah is dead. It is that simple.

  • ESPN has Spain and Argentina 1 and 2. BOS has Spain and Argentina 2 and 3. The tops of our brackets are similar. But I think that Brazil will be playing a desperate style of soccer, wanting to break their 20+ year dry spell of winning World Cups. I think Vinícius Júnior will have a break out World Cup, he is in his prime right now.




Ryan O'Hanlon doubled down and said Mo Salah was the 50th best player in World Cup this summer according to analytics. Uh, I know Liverpool had a down year this past season....but 50th? I would be STUNNED if Egypt didn't make the Round of 16.

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