As the World Cup knockout stage begins, 16 teams face elimination while the remaining 16 fight for a place at the Met Life Stadium final on July 19. BBC Sport's Chris Sutton has made his predictions for the last-32 ties, but early results suggest the former striker might be chasing his own audience.

Ecuador delivered the tournament's biggest shock by defeating Germany, catching nearly everyone off guard. Of over 56,000 users who predicted that match, just 597 correctly backed the South American side. Sutton and the AI model both missed the result, continuing a pattern where fans have outperformed the experts.

In prediction accuracy, users lead with 48 correct calls from 72 matches (67%), compared to Sutton's 41 (57%) and the Microsoft Copilot AI's 43 (60%). Both Sutton and AI managed 15 out of 24 predictions right in the latest round, while users improved to 17 correct. Before kickoff, Sutton correctly predicted seven group winners but only nailed complete standings in three of twelve groups.

The BBC's predictor game lets readers choose winners from each knockout tie, creating a direct competition between pundit and public. Early evidence suggests the wisdom of crowds might trump individual expertise when it comes to forecasting football's unpredictable nature.