EA Sports has always been on everyone’s list when it comes to playing both online and offline sports games. Its FIFA series in particular, is enjoyed by all football fans across the globe and was an accurate predictor to forecast the eventual winner for the FIFA World Cup for three consecutive editions prior to the first winter tournament in the oil-rich Qatar. Just days before the start of the quadrennial competition in the Middle-East State, EA Sports made another prediction via its simulation mode and its prediction once again came true, with Argentina came out on top of the world, winning its third overall world title as a result.
Beating Oranje and Les Bleus in the Knockout Stage
La Albiceleste’s journey to the final in EA Sports’ simulation was beating Denmark in the Round of 16, Netherlands in the quarterfinal, France in the semifinal and Brazil in the final. The reality did not sway too much from the virtual prediction as Argentina did beat both Louis van Gaal’s men and Didier Deschamps’ squad en route to winning its third World Cup trophy. Nonetheless, score lines for these matches in the real world did not follow closely to that of EA Sports’ timeline, as Argentina had gone through a couple of penalty shoot-outs as compared to the four one-goal margin victories in the simulation.
Messi the Man in Both EA Sports and Reality
Apart from making a fourth consecutive right prediction about the eventual winner, after doing so for Spain in 2010 at South Africa, Germany in 2014 at Brazil and France in 2018 at Russia, the celebrated gaming provider also foresaw the Golden Ball (An honour given to the best player of the tournament) winner and came close on the top scorer.
Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi was by far its best player in the competition. The 35-year-old seven-time Ballon d’Or was also awarded the Golden Ball award, as predicted by EA Sports, with statistics namely seven goals, three assists and five Man of the Match accolades in seven matches of the World Cup. In EA Sports’ simulation, on the other hand, Messi was the top scorer with eight goals while also contributing a single assist in seven matches.
Fifth Perfect Prediction for 2026?
The competition in Qatar has been dubbed the best World Cup ever in the history of football, and 2026 is set to create more histories as it will be the first time that three different nations are hosting the quadrennial tournament. Which team do you think will fare the best among all football nations next time around?
(Photo Credits: Steam)
