[tomelders]

While I agree that it's somewhat silly to try and predict a word cup winner like this (and I suspect it was just a bit of fun anyway), there is one other reason that could explain why all these attempts got it so wrong.

Cheating.

Before people start booing, let's not forget where this tournament is being held, and all the other nefarious things that country has been up to recently.

[teamk]

FIFA has been corrupt for decades. Although supposedly its been cleaned up since Blatter was removed, it is doubtful the institutional corruption has been eliminated completely. The only question is how pervasive it is.