2010 FIFA World Cup Predictions Challenge: Italy Stutter, Bookies Take the Lead

The Half Volley World Cup Predictions Challenge is pitting four different forecasters against each other in a bid to see who is the best at predicting the results of the 2010 World Cup.

An expert, a bookies, the public and a computer game are all casting their eye over the group stage, with the results logged on Half Volley.

For more on the challenge, go to our main World Cup Predictions Challenge page .

Another day, another set of unpredictable results in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

With Japan sticking one past Cameroon, who inexplicably decided to put Samuel Eto’o out wide, and defending champions Italy failing to beat the 31st best team in the world, it was never going to be a classic day for our predictors.

No one saw Cameroon beating Japan, and no one could forecast a two goal margin for Holland against Denmark. Betfair, though, did manage to predict a 1-1 draw for Italy—a result that seems much more obvious having seen their strike force in action.

With that, the bookies have overhauled our expert at the top and are standing proud at the summit on 12 points, three clear of Sarah Shephard.

Here’s the results from Day 4 of competition:

At this stage in the competition, though, an interesting trend has emerged. It is proving incredibly difficult for any of our predictors to forecast results with consistency.

Of the 44 predictions made, only 20 have been the correct result and just seven the right scoreline. Only one fixture, today’s win for Holland over Denmark, saw all four competitors guess the right result.

Will the scores be easier to predict as teams get used to the now-notorious Jabulani ball ? Keep checking Half Volley to find out…

For the full tables and list of prediction results, go to our main World Cup Predictions Challenge page.