The Athletic Picks 4 World Cup Matchday 4 Games as Germany, Sweden Draw Heavy Backing
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 14
The Athletic Picks 4 World Cup Matchday 4 Games as Germany, Sweden Draw Heavy Backing
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 14
Summary
Four World Cup matchday 4 games headline The Athletic’s latest predictions, with Germany over Curacao and Sweden over Tunisia drawing near-unanimous support from its expert, subscriber, algorithm and guest pickers.
Netherlands vs Japan is framed as the day’s marquee toss-up, carrying a 5/5 risk rating as the expert predicts a draw, the algorithm backs the Dutch and three human guest pickers choose Japan.
Ivory Coast vs Ecuador also looks finely balanced, with both teams praised for strong defensive records and limited attacking certainty; the expert calls a draw while other pickers split between Ecuador and Ivory Coast.
The forecast follows a volatile matchday 3 that featured Qatar’s 94th-minute equalizer against Switzerland and Australia’s 2-0 upset of Turkey, results that reinforced the tournament’s early unpredictability.
Reader picks lead The Athletic’s running prediction table at 63% with 5 correct calls, ahead of Stanley the dog and the algorithm at 50%.