Author: Andrew Bonnici

  • Players vs reality

    After 32 games and 97 players — Matchday 1 complete, eight games into Matchday 2.


    The big picture

    Players love a favourite. The feeling isn’t mutual.

    Players backed the fav

    79%

    Fav actually won

    54%

    On average 79% of players backed the favourite each game — but the favourite has won just 54% of the time. A 25-point gap, mostly paid for in draws.


    Scoreline vs reality

    Players’ favourite pick vs the most common result.

    Players’ go-to

    2–1

    BUT

    Most common result

    1–1

    2–1 was picked 405 times across the pool. The most common actual result? A 1–1 draw — seven times in 32 games.


    Players call goals right — just not winners

    Players: Over 2.5

    50%

    Reality: Over 2.5

    47%

    Players read goal totals almost perfectly. It’s overrating the winner that keeps costing them.


    By the numbers

    100%

    backed Spain — and nobody got it

    All 97 players picked Spain to beat Cape Verde. Final score: 0–0. A clean zero on the result for everyone.

    31%

    of games ended in a draw

    Ten of 32 matches. The draw is the tournament’s great leveller — and the biggest killer of chalk picks.

    52%

    of result picks landed

    Just over half of all 1X2 calls were correct. When 79% back the same team every game, a 52% hit rate stings.

    8%

    of picks nailed the exact score

    Across every prediction made, only about 1 in 12 got the exact scoreline right — the hardest part of the game.

    3.0

    goals per game

    96 goals across 32 games. Germany’s 7–1 win over Curaçao has done a lot of the heavy lifting on that average.

    7–1

    Germany · highest scoring game

    8 goals in Germany vs Curaçao — a rare night the brave Over-pickers were very well rewarded.


    Top 5 · the race

    #PlayerPoints
    1Manwel Borg Canalis186.14
    2Mark Camilleri184.78
    3graziella chircop178.28
    4Willi Barbara174.32
    5Karl Vassallo172.58

    Top 5 take the prize. The cut-off sits at 172.58 — and just 1.74 separates 5th from 4th. It’s tight at the top.


    Favourite = the team most of the pool backed to win that match. Standings current after 32 games · prediction stats across all pool picks to date · 97 players.