Cape Verde have continued to defy expectations at World Cup 2026, first drawing with Spain and then holding Uruguay. In the BBC’s new predictor game, 99.65% of participants backed a loss to Spain, while 83% expected defeat by Uruguay. The tiny minority who backed Cape Verde proved the game can still surprise. Their resilience forces bigger nations to reassess tactics significantly.

Across the second round of 24 group fixtures, users nailed 18 results, eclipsing Chris Sutton’s 14 correct picks and the AI’s 15. Sutton improved from 12 correct in the opening round, but the gap widened as fans outperformed both experts. The AI’s forecasts were generated with Microsoft Copilot Chat, which was prompted to ‘predict the results of the second round of World Cup group games’.

The next set of fixtures pits Scotland against Brazil and England versus Panama, rounding out the 104 matches Sutton plans to forecast. His group-order picks add another layer of speculation for fans tracking the tournament’s knockout path. With users already topping expert scores, the predictor game highlights how crowd wisdom can rival professional analysis.