If it’s a matter of choice, the truth is that we are more #TeamCuteAnimals than #TeamAlgorithms. Let’s not lie to ourselves, we have to be sensible. We preferred to see Paul the octopus or Achilles the cat predict who would advance to later rounds in the various Cups in which they participated, in this case, South Africa 2010 and Russia 2018, respectively. Well, Paul, the octopus won the hearts of the whole world, and particularly of Spaniards, for predicting that their national team would be the champion in South Africa, and he was right. No one will ever forget that goal by Andrés Iniesta… Iniesta our love!
Well, now. The thing is that for this Cup to be held in the coming weeks in Qatar, a mathematical model was developed whose algorithm predicts who will be the world champion in this competition. Will it be the US? Who knows, maybe we have good news for you.
For Qatar 2022, instead of having an octopus or a cat, an algorithm was developed, owned by the London-based broker Liberum Capital, which, according to specialized media, already has a track record with good predictions, as it predicted the titles of the last two world champions: Germany and France.
What this mathematical algorithm does is measure everything that can be controlled: from statistics by teams, by players, to a database that includes how the weather can affect the performance not of one player, but an entire national team.
Who will be the world champion?
Bookmakers are not so wrong and, at the time of writing this article, the complete squads that will attend the World Cup in Qatar representing each of the participating teams in this atypical Cup to be played between November and December have not yet been announced. According to this algorithm, the final will be played by Argentina and England, two teams with a historical feud.
For this Cup, it would be Argentina and Lionel Messi -perhaps playing his last World Cup- the ones in charge of winning the title as monarchs of the universe, a commitment that the current PSG player has pending with the Argentinian fans. What do you think? Should we trust the algorithm or should we wait and see how the Cup develops?
Story originally published in Spanish in Cultura Colectiva News
