My Hivebuzz World Cup Prediction: How I Conducted The Analysis For My Predictions

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The FIFA women's world cup lived up to some crazy expectations, and thanks to @hivebuzz world cup contest for creating an avenue and the exposure to the hive universe of this Grand footballing Competition. I had already participated in the men's competition sometimes back, it lived up to its expectations, and I enjoyed my participation and this was why I decided to give the women's competition a shot as well.

Women's football can be challenging to put a finger on and I can categorically say that a lot of people do not see female football because they believe that the competition, the money, and the excitement lie with the men's football. I could say that @hivebuzz choosing to incentivize this competition to the Hive universe with the help of its sponsors wasn't the reason why I started watching women's football.

I started watching football because of the success of the Nigerian female national team on the African stage, then this interest extended to the Chelsea women's football club since I was a fan of Chelsea football club.

Going into this world cup, I was eager to see one of the most dangerous strikers in women's football, Sam Kerr, and also to see one of the most successful female footballers Alexis Putellas. Women's football is not as predictable as Men's football.

For example, A country's Men's National team might be successful on the world stage, while this isn't the same with the Women's team and vice versa. The United States is the world champion in the world cup, but their Men's National team isn't as equally successful. So going into this world cup it was easy to deem them favorite on paper to win this world cup again.

However, stats don't play football. I started my world cup prediction by checking stats and following top predictions on notable websites and these predictions never worked and I fell behind in the pecking order.

So I decided to start watching the games rather than making blind predictions as the only way to make correct assessments which might lead to better predictions. This went on to show that the competition will not be textbook as usual.

For example, I watched the United States team and they weren't as deadly as I expected them to be, I knew I couldn't be certain they'll win against some of the dominant teams in the world cup, and this was why I predicted that they'll be beaten by Sweden. The reason was that the Swedish were deadly and they showed this in the group stages.

They had a very good goalkeeper and almost everyone could score. Although this prediction paid off against many people who predicted that the US was going to win. As for my country Nigeria, I predicted almost all their matches rightly because I know their pattern of play.

They're not potent when it comes to scoring and they'll mostly choose to draw. However, the biggest disappointment in the world cup for me was France. They have a successful manager, and one of the strongest attacks, going forward. Kadidiatou Diani was one of the finest strikers in the competition, and because of this, I felt they'll dispatch the Australian National team.

The Australian National team wasn't a walkover. In their defense, I probably underestimated them. Apart from Sam Kerr, I didn't know any establish Australian player, playing abroad.

_{Sam Kerr}

However, I had the opportunity to watch them, and I must say, they represented well as the host nation and they're one of the most tactically sound teams. They defeated the French, and that particular prediction against them proved very costly for me. Apart from Linda Caicedo from Ecuador. The Australian has the best youngest best player in the world, an 18-year-old **Mary Fowler.

** She reminds me of prime Messi. With the ball at her feet, she's untouchable. To me, she's the MVP and the most technically gifted player in this world cup. However, Australia finished fourth in this competition, and, sadly, she's going unrecognized. I feel Australia needs a better manager.

_{Mary Fowler}

The surprise package of this competition was the English National team. They're technically sound and have one of the best teams in the world. If they had played Sweden, they might have lost out on a shot in the final, but Sweden was unfortunate to play against the eventual champions, Spain. To be very honest, Spain is a good team, but having never won the world cup, I didn't give them a chance. The Swedish were world number 2 in the FIFA ranking and I thought they had a shot at winning this.

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_{enjoy some pictures story}

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The Spanish team could unlock any defense. They had potent goal scores and one of the finest goal scorers in 19-year-old Salma Paralluelo. The entire forward line are full of deadly players, and it just goes on to remind you that football is made in Spain.

I watched these ladies against the Swedes, and the Swedes had no answer to their type of attacking football. This is when I knew that England had no chance. It was another opportunity to showcase my football analytic skills and it was a beautiful Competition. _{Thank you @hivebuzz for the opportunity. I finished second in the contest}

All images belongs to me

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