文艺【29】World Cup Predictions: Spain, Brazil, Germany, or Russia

Original littleflute 漂泊者乐园 2021-10-05

ARTS & CULTURE

World Cup Predictions: Spain, Brazil, Germany, or Russia

A State Hermitage employee puts a football shirt on Achilles the cat, one of the State Hermitage Museum mice hunters, after attempting to predict the result of the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia in St.Petersburg,

But this year, several groups have also turned to machine learning and artificial intelligence, or AI, for predictions.

One of the groups is a research team from Germany. Andreas Groll of the Technical University of Dortmund led the group.

The teams of Russia and Saudi Arabia line up prior to their group A march which opens the 2018 soccer World Cup at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Victor Caivano)

The reason Spain has a small lead over Germany is mostly because Germany has a higher chance of not making it to the quarterfinals. But if Germany does make it to the quarterfinals, the German team would actually be favored to beat Spain, the researchers said.

In another recent prediction created through machine learning, the financial company Goldman Sachs chose Brazil as the 2018 World Cup winner. Germany was chosen as the team most likely to lose to Brazil.

Russia's Aleksey Miranchuk, right and Brazil's Casemiro challenge for the ball during an international friendly soccer match between Russia and Brazil at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 23, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

The company said its method was based on 200,000 data models and 1 million simulations of the whole World Cup. Machines examined information on the teams and players’ abilities, as well as past performances. In 2014, Goldman Sachs also predicted Brazil to win the World Cup. But Germany actually ended up winning the 2014 championship.

Many people who are interested in the 2018 World Cup will surely take note of the numbers-based predictions by bookmakers and AI machines.

But others might choose to believe the choices of a cat said to have psychic abilities. The cat, named Achilles, lives in Russia’s Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Achilles the cat, one of the State Hermitage Museum mice hunters, lies on a table after attempting to predict the result of the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia in St.Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 13, 2018. (A

Achilles officially works there as a mouse catcher. But some locals say the animal is also able to predict future happenings. So far, he has only predicted one World Cup match, the opening game between Russia and Saudi Arabia. When offered a choice between two containers of food, Achilles chose the one with a Russian flag.

The choice could be seen as a good luck sign for Russia’s team. Even though Russia is holding the World Cup, its team is rated the lowest of any of the 32 competing.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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