Where to watch World Cup now sits alongside matchday 13’s predictions slate, because The Athletic published its daily World Cup Predictions with England vs Ghana and Portugal vs Uzbekistan in focus. The feature mixed two Athletic writers, a subscriber, Algo, Stanley and Wilfred into one daily read.
Joao from Portugal was the guest subscriber for the day. He supports Portugal and Sporting CP, which gave the slate a sharper edge on the Portugal side of the card.
Andy Jones and Elias Burke
Andy Jones and Elias Burke were the two Athletic writers in the feature, with the daily setup built around a recurring pool of picks rather than a one-off call. That structure is simple: human voices, a subscriber, and Algo all feed the same prediction page, so readers can compare instincts instead of getting one fixed answer.
Wilfred and Stanley were part of that same mix. Stanley may have taken being the underdog too literally as he has ground to make up, but his tactical tweak of picking favourites is making sure the gap isn’t growing any further to the top.
Algo and the 48 countries
The prediction sheet also leaned on experts from 48 countries, which gives the daily feature a wider spread than a standard writer-only preview. Algo sits inside that format as the algorithmic pick, while the human side of the page comes from the writers and the subscriber slot.
Earlier in the tournament, the same competition context had already produced a few markers worth tracking. Argentina beat Austria 2-0, France beat Iraq after a rainstorm delayed the start of the second half by two hours, and Norway edged Senegal 3-2 with Erling Haaland scoring two goals and Marcus Holmgren Pedersen adding another. Lionel Messi became the tournament’s record goalscorer with his 17th and 18th goals, while Kylian Mbappe moved to 15 goals after scoring against Iraq.
Wilfred, Stanley and Joao
That wider tournament backdrop is why matchday 13 matters even without a final results table in the prediction feature itself. The article’s edge comes from the split between named human entrants and Algo, and from the fact that it focused on England vs Ghana and Portugal vs Uzbekistan on the same day Joao joined as the guest subscriber.
Jordan had taken the lead before Algeria came back to deny them their first World Cup point, another reminder that the tournament has kept feeding surprises into the prediction series. For readers following the daily slate, the practical takeaway is straightforward: the day’s picks centered on England vs Ghana and Portugal vs Uzbekistan, with Joao in the mix and Stanley still working to close the gap.
