We’re off!
Mexico won the World Cup opener, and a very respectable 82% of the participants in the ITC Vintage Football Pool predicted this outcome in advance. Despite the incredibly large number of participants in this World Cup, the number of participants in the ITC Vintage Football Pool is even greater: a whopping 68. Now that the real experts have spoken, it’s also clear which country has the best chance of being crowned the world’s best on July 19:
Team to win the World Cup | The cream of the crop @ ITC | The so-called experts @ OPTA analyst |
France | 37% | 13% |
Spain | 29% | 16% |
Brazil | 9% | 7% |
Netherlands | 7% | 4% |
Germany | 6% | 6% |
Portugal | 4% | 7% |
Argentina | 3% | 10% |
England | 3% | 11% |
Colombia | 1% | 0% |
Other | 0% | 26% |
100% | 100% |
If we compare our predictions with those of the OPTA analyst, Les Bleus and La Furia Roja have the most reason to be optimistic. The Three Lions and La Albiceleste, however, are seeing their chances dwindle dramatically. The following countries, however, have real cause for concern: none of us expect them to reach the Round of 16:
Haiti |
Tunisia |
Iraq |
Jordan |
Uzbekistan |
Panama |
Even the neutral soccer fan has reason to be slightly concerned. If we eliminate the extreme outliers (such as 0 and 2026!), we expect an average of 228 goals to be scored. That’s 2.2 per match, whereas at the previous World Cup, 2.7 goals were scored per match.
Keep an eye on this website during the tournament. An update will be posted here after every matchday.
