Such a dramatic week! Multiple upsets occurred during the second week of World Cup 2022. Japan’s comeback victory over Spain in the qualification stage not only managed to secure their position in the top 16 teams but also kicked Germany out of the bracket. Now that we already have the top 8 teams, can we predict who will be in the top 4?
Insights for the second week:
- Another upset victory from Samurai Blue, now against Spain! The final goal in this match generated a massive surge of conversations; the controversy if the ball was out of the line before Kaoru Mitoma made the last assist to Ao Tanaka’s goal. Although the referee initially nullified the goal, the VAR result showed that the goal was valid and allowed the goal to stand. Both countries were ultimately defeated on their first match in the round of 16, through a 120 minutes game that led to penalty kicks.
- Based on the conversations around the previous matches, we designed a model to predict the top 4 teams that will play in the semi-final match. We predict that Argentina, Brazil, France, and Portugal will win their next match. Will this prediction come true, or will another upset victory happen?
- The match between USA and Iran is met with multiple jokes and memes, remembering the geopolitical situation and tension between the countries. As one of the netizens said on Twitter, this is not just a World Cup. It is a World War.
Download the infographic here.
