The World Cup Final: your predictions

It probably won’t have escaped your attention that there is a World Cup final on this weekend. Everybody has been clamouring to have their say, with perhaps the most sought after opinion bizarrely being that of Paul the octopus. He has gone for Spain, but as we enter the final furlong of the tournament and therefore our prediction competition, what have the players of SportGuru predicted will happen on Sunday?

It won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that they too have gone for a Spanish victory, but not by much. 59.6% of players are backing them to emerge victorious (either during normal time, extra time or on penalties), with support for the Netherlands (40.4%) holding up well against the pre-tournament favourites who have been heavily backed by the community in previous rounds.

The most widely predicted scoreline is 2-1 to Spain, with 28.8% believing that will be the score come the final whistle. However, the second most picked result is a 2-1 victory to the Dutch, as chosen by 22.9% of players. Spain have emerged victorious 1-0 in all their knock out games so far, and 13.1% believe that we can expect an identical outcome in the final game of the competition.

There is also some support for an altogether more thriling denouement, with 3.6% of the community plumping for a 3-2 victory for Vicente del Bosque’s men, whilst 2.1% have chosen the same scoreline in favour of Bert van Marwijk’s side. So what about penalities? 11.8% believe it will go down to spot kicks at Soccer City Stadium, with a 1-1 draw the most backed result which would lead to that eventuality.

There are high expectations that Sunday’s game will provide an a fitting climax to the tournament, and there is little doubt that the Netherlands and Spain deserve their place in the final. The odds and predictions suggest that it is Spain who will be taking the trophy home, but does this competition have one last twist left in it? Enjoy the game wherever you are planning on watching it and good luck with your predictions.

July 9, 2010