Spain have reached the World Cup final for the second time, sending France out with a commanding display in Dallas. Luis de la Fuente’s side sealed their place by beating France 2-0 in the first semifinal on Tuesday night. Who the Spanish armada will face in the final is a question the football world must wait only a few more hours to answer.
The two arch-rivals England and Argentina meet in the second semifinal in Atlanta at 1 a.m. on Thursday, and the winner will face Spain in the final in New York on Sunday. Before a ball is kicked, the world-renowned data-analytics firm Opta’s supercomputer has crunched the numbers on who is really ahead in the race to join Spain. Its forecast had made France favourites in the first semifinal, but that prediction was proved wrong on the pitch, with Spain sending France out and reaching the final.
Having shaken off the French bogey, Opta’s supercomputer has now made its forecast for the Argentina-England match. According to the mathematical calculations from Opta’s 25,000 pre-match simulations, Thomas Tuchel’s England are ahead of defending champions Argentina — if only narrowly — in the race to the final. England’s chance of reaching the final is put at 52.53%, against Argentina’s 47.47%.
The statistics suggest that England’s combative football and tactical strength could pose a big obstacle tonight to Lionel Messi’s side’s dream of reaching a second straight final.
Having become the first team into the final, Spain have also moved up in the race for the trophy. According to the supercomputer’s latest algorithm, whether it is the Three Lions or the Albiceleste who reach the final, Spain are now the biggest favourites to win the title, with a 56.15% chance of becoming world champions for the second time.
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