World Cup Results: ESPN vs. Beacon of Speech

Fred
3 days ago
4 min read

We made our World Cup Predictions on June1.

On June 5th, ESPN's Ryan O'Hanlon Predicted Every Game of the World Cup

Below is the end of our Beacon of Speech article: World Cup Predictions. Winners in Red:

First, there's a lot of 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. Winner: Beacon of Speech - Qatar did not qualify and they beat no one. Bosnia lost to the United States in the first round.
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. Winner: Beacon of Speech - Iran did not qualify for the first round.
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. Winner: Beacon of Speech - Japan did indeed lose to Brazil.
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).Winner: ESPN - Haaland made it to the quarterfinals, had a great tournament.
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. Winner: Beacon of Speech - Egypt made it to the Round of 16.
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. Winner: ESPN - They picked the final perfectly.
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. Winner: Beacon of Speech - Mo Salah, according to Fox, was the 39th best player in the tournament and Egypt made the Round of 16.

But who had the right winners?

ESPN had the Top 4 as: Spain, Argentina, France, Norway.

Beacon of Speech had the Top 4 as: Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Germany.

Winner: ESPN

More predictions from Beacon of Speech

Hosts United States and Canada will be wiped out by the Quarterfinals. Mexico won't get to the Semis. Winner: Beacon of Speech - US, Canada, and Mexico were all out in the Round of 16, ESPN had the United States and Canada in the Quarterfinals
Cinderellas from 2022, Croatia and and Morocco, will be out in the first round. Winner: Tie - Croatia went out in the first round, we were right, but Morocco made it to the quarterfinals. ESPN had Morocco out in the first round, but Croatia out in the Round of 16.
Every team in the Semis will be teams that have won World Cups in the past. There will be no "new winner" this year. Winner: Tie - There was no "new winner" this year, neither site had a "new winner" in the finals.
This tournament will be mostly chalk, I don't see many Cinderellas in the middle of this pack. (Unless you count Norway). Winner: ESPN - Beacon of Speech HOPED Norway would advance, ESPN PREDICTED Norway would advance.
America's ceiling... is the Semifinals, their floor is a first round exit. Winner: Tie - We hedged and HINTED a Round of 16 exit. ESPN clearly stated the USMNT with quarterfinal exit.