We’ve talked a lot about the World Cup. It’s the biggest sporting event on the planet, and this time around it’s bigger than ever. There are 48 countries competing, the largest number we’ve ever seen. That means more matches than ever before, 104, and a bigger stage to play in. There are three host countries – USA, Canada, and Mexico. The best players in the World will (mostly) all be there to perform. The hype for the World Cup is understandably massive, but the true thrill of any live sport is the unpredictability. For those of you just looking forward to watching on the telly, or playing along with a World Cup predictor tournament, will the World Cup live up to expectations?
World Cup Predictor – how to analyse the top contenders
If you are playing a World Cup predictor game with your friends or colleagues this summer, you’ll want to know who the World Cup favourites are. You can’t know for sure who will win the World Cup, but you can analyse the different squads, the star players, any players missing through injury, and the route to the final that each of the favourites has. Recent international form must always play a part in your thinking, but then it might be that home advantage plays a positive part in helping the USA, Canada, and Mexico get out of the groups and go far. For some, choosing the favourites to win every game is key, looking at Argentina as champions, France as perennial challengers, and Spain and England as recent powerhouses in international tournaments.
Dark horses and potential World Cup Upsets
Every tournament, we see smaller nations beating big favourites in World Cup upsets (Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia at the last World Cup) or surprise packages going far (Turkey in 2002 and Morocco in 2022). No World Cup tournament can live up to the hype and expectations without a few massive shocks. With such a large World Cup, long travel times, the hot climate, and other factors, it is more likely that upsets can happen. Look out for potential upsets in matches like Brazil v Morocco (we’ll let you decide what constitutes an upset there!), Egypt v Belgium, and Uzbekistan v Colombia. For dark horses for the entire tournament, can Ronaldo roll back the years and help Portugal to a World Cup trophy after winning at the Euros and Nations League in the last decade. Other dark horses could be Croatia (who always perform well), Mexico as one of the host nations and great support, and Morocco, looking to capitalise on great form in the last World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.
How to forecast results like a pro
How can you make sense of all the madness in such a massive World Cup, especially when you want to predict World Cup results for a prediction league. For some players in a World Cup predictor game, it’s all about chance. They might not even have enough knowledge to make a guess on most matches, so it’s all guesswork, which can sometimes be successful. If you want to treat it seriously and make a fully informed decision for each match, there are a few ways you can do so. Popular World Cup predictor platforms will provide you with stats and information for each team, including squad details, xG, recent form, head-to-head records, injury lists, as well as the weather in each host city and venue. All of this information can be analysed and used to come up with an effective prediction plan.