Even though England has only clinched the World Cup title once, which was more than half a century back, Goldman Sachs still sees a bright future for the team during the ongoing tournament in Russia.
In fact, a model by the investment bank’s economists is forecasting that the young but talented England team would reach the World Cup final for a faceoff with Brazil, which is amongst the most formidable football squads in the world.
The hopes of the English fans were raised by England’s recent wins including a 2-1 victory over Tunisia and a 6-1 victory over Panama on Sunday.
These victories mean that England has already made it from its group stage to reach the final 16 teams, especially when the reputable football competition takes a knockout format.
Goldman Sachs used its machine learning technology to simulate one million variations in a bid to ultimately recognize the team that would finally bring home the World Cup trophy from Russia. Before the competition started, the computer estimated that the final derby would be between Brazil and Germany.
Nonetheless, a recalculation was done after England won two games. The results predicted a match between Brazil and England in the finals.
Despite the prediction for England to make it to the finals against Brazil, the team is expected to lose against the South American team to hand it its sixth World Cup title. The investment bank forecasted that the England team would come in second place to Belgium in their group.
To make it to the finals, England will have to defeat both Mexico and Columbia in the round of the final 16 teams and quarter-final.
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According to Goldman Sachs’ machine learning predictions, the wins are expected before the English team goes ahead to claim an impressive victory against the 2010 World Cup winners, Spain, in the semifinals.
According to Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs’ chief economist, the investment bank’s recently updated model predictions present a beacon of hope for England fans who may find themselves daring to dream. He added that the model predicts that Belgium would go on to lead Group G ahead of the English team while utilizing the unrounded goal variance as the tie-breaker.
What’s more, Jan said that after the forecasted win over Columbia in the Round of 16, the economists at Goldman Sachs anticipate that England will go head to head with Mexico, particularly in the quarters instead of competing against Germany.
Competition against Mexico, favors the England team, as they are expected to take the victory before proceeding to face Spain in the semis. Consequently, a win by England would propel the team to the finals against Brazil on July 15, 2018.
However, Jan Hatzius insisted that fans who are maybe expecting England to carry the day and take the trophy home should just look away as Brazil would emerge as winners.
Despite Goldman Sachs’ predictions, many people are still in doubt, mainly due to England’s poor record in the World Cup. The team won the title only in 1966 and reached the semifinals in 1990. However, only time will tell if England will make it to the finals.
