Saturday 19th November 2022

In Across the Leagues today:

• Fill in the wallchart…
• Outright Winner…
• 33/1 Name the Finalists combo…

World Cup: I’ve made my predictions…

The computers have spoken. And you’ll never believe it…

The nations given the highest percentage chance of winning by the Opta super-computer are…

The same as the teams at the top of the betting (!).

Yes, that’s right. Never-mind your robots and artificial intelligence. You could’ve just asked the bookmakers…

(Or as my colleague Nick Pullen pointed out recently, maybe that’s because the bookies are the robots…)

In fact, the top 12 teams in the OPTA prediction model can be matched up with the same dozen teams that occupy the top places in the Outright Winner market.

With the ‘Big Nine’ at the front – Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain, England, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium.

Followed by Denmark, Croatia, and Uruguay as the best of the rest.

Here’s the top of the market at Oddschecker:

The TV pundits have spoken, too…

And the consensus is to go with the favourites (surprise, surprise). The BBC have cobbled together the predictions from their stable of pundits and ex-players. With their selections bunched together like so:

So, there you have it. Brazil for the trophy, by way of the most votes. And the Brazilians are the 7/2 (4.5) favourites in the betting…

I’ve made my predictions…

To be fair, when filling out the official FIFA online ‘wallchart’ (or Predictor Bracket, as they call it). I’ve got Brazil in the final, too. Alongside one of the other Big Nine nations…

Here are my predictions, group by group, and then all the way through the knockout rounds…

• You can enter your own tournament predictions on the official FIFA website here

• And feel free to share yours with me by email at: oliver@acrosstheleagues.co.uk

Group predictions:

Knockouts – top half of draw:

Knockouts – bottom half of draw:

The Final:

That’s me, then…

Belgium beating Brazil in the final. I don’t have a crystal ball. I may jump on another team during the tournament. In fact, I probably will. But alongside my Golden Ball pick and Top Goalscorer outsider Kevin De Bruyne, I do think Belgium could deliver a little more than their price suggests…

The Belgians are a top-price 19/1 with Unibet, 18/1 with a couple of firms, and 16/1 in general. Those odds put De Bruyne & co at the bottom of the pack in terms of the aforementioned ‘Big Nine’ nations. And that makes them a hint of an underdog for me.

Along with those Outright Winner (Each Way) prices. I also like the look of 33/1 for the Name the Finalists combination of Belgium & Brazil, as plotted out by my predictions…

TODAY’S PICKS

World Cup 2022

Outright Winner – Each Way (1/2 odds 1-2 places):

• Belgium @ 19/1 Unibet, 18/1 Bet365, Betfred, 10Bet & LiveScoreBet, 16/1 Skybet, Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook, William Hill, BetVictor, Betway, SpreadEx

Name the Finalists:

• Belgium & Brazil @ 33/1 Bet365, Paddy Power & Betfair Sportsbook, Ladbrokes & Coral, 28/1 William Hill, Betfred, 25/1 Skybet, Boylesports

Note: Bet365 just call this market ‘Finalists.’ Betfair Sportsbook call it ‘Nominate Finalists.’ Oddschecker aren’t showing all the bookies, but I’ve shopped around, and listed the best prices for you here.

See you on Sunday…

Your exclusive DAILY World Cup service starts from Matchday 1 on Sunday, with the email being sent to you 12 noon, for the 4pm kick-off between Qatar and Ecuador.

Bet advice sent so far:

Serge Gnabry – details here >>

Kevin De Bruyne – details here >>

I’ll see you tomorrow…

P.S
Want to get in touch? You can email me direct at:

oliver@acrosstheleagues.co.uk

Enjoy the football…

Best wishes,

Oliver Upstone

Across the Leagues