{"id":1124,"date":"2026-06-16T08:10:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T08:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/?p=1124"},"modified":"2026-06-16T08:10:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T08:10:31","slug":"gom-world-cup-diary-6-why-do-we-bother-with-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/gom-world-cup-diary-6-why-do-we-bother-with-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"GOM World Cup Diary #6: Why Do We Bother With Experts?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOM World Cup Diary #6: Why Do We Bother With Experts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday I was told Spain would comfortably beat Cape Verde.<\/p>\n

The experts said so.<\/p>\n

The statistics said so.<\/p>\n

The betting markets said so.<\/p>\n

The computer models said so.<\/p>\n

Then Cape Verde went and drew 0-0.<\/p>\n

Belgium were apparently going to brush Egypt aside.<\/p>\n

The experts said so.<\/p>\n

The statistics said so.<\/p>\n

The betting markets said so.<\/p>\n

The computer models said so.<\/p>\n

Then Egypt went and drew 1-1.<\/p>\n

Which raises an important question.<\/p>\n

If football keeps ignoring experts, why do we have quite so many of them?<\/p>\n

When I was younger, an expert was somebody who’d spent forty years doing something.<\/p>\n

Now an expert is somebody with a touchscreen and a coloured graphic.<\/p>\n

Before every match we’re shown percentages, probabilities, expected goals, predictive algorithms and enough data to launch a space programme.<\/p>\n

Then twenty-two footballers run onto a pitch and completely ignore all of it.<\/p>\n

Which is why I love football.<\/p>\n

If the favourites always won, we’d save ourselves a month and hand the trophy over after the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

Instead, every tournament produces a Cape Verde.<\/p>\n

An Egypt.<\/p>\n

A team that wasn’t supposed to read the script.<\/p>\n

And somewhere this morning there will be a football analyst staring at six computer screens wondering why reality refuses to cooperate.<\/p>\n

Personally, I think that’s wonderful.<\/p>\n

Football is one of the last places where hope still occasionally beats certainty.<\/p>\n

Even if it does make experts look slightly nervous.<\/p>\n

Anyway, what do I know?<\/p>\n

I’m just a grumpy old man.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your take on ail these so-called experts? Drop a comment below \u2014 I read every one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GOM World Cup Diary #6: Why Do We Bother With Experts? Yesterday I was told Spain would comfortably beat Cape Verde. The experts said so. The statistics said so. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,13,53,82,111],"tags":[91,118,117,89,123,119,79,120,98,90,95,122,116,102,106,121],"class_list":["post-1124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-grumpy-old-man","category-humour","category-soccer","category-world-cup-2026","tag-british-humour","tag-cape-verde","tag-egypt","tag-fifa","tag-football-opinions","tag-football-pundits","tag-grumpy-old-man","tag-match-predictions","tag-modern-football","tag-sports-commentary","tag-sports-humour","tag-tournament-surprises","tag-underdogs","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-cup-diary","tag-world-cup-upsets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1126,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions\/1126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davethomasonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}