Sutton Picks France, Spain, England, Argentina for World Cup Semis
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- Chris Sutton predicted all four World Cup quarter-final results: France 2-1 Morocco, Spain 3-0 Belgium, England 3-2 Norway and Argentina 2-1 Switzerland, having gone 7/8 in the last 16 (his only miss being Switzerland's penalty shootout win over Colombia).
- Microsoft Copilot Chat matched Sutton on three ties (both called France 2-1, both backed England to win) but predicted Spain 2-0 rather than 3-0 and Argentina 2-0 rather than 2-1; AI had been wrong about Brazil losing to Norway and the USA going out to Belgium.
- BBC predictor game users lead both Sutton and AI overall with 68 correct picks (71%) versus 61 each (64%) after 96 of 104 matches, despite also only managing 6/8 in the last 16.
- Sutton said Morocco were "really poor in the first half against Canada" and that key forward Ismael Saibari's injury means France are unlikely to be upset, having backed Les Bleus to win the tournament from the start.
- Sutton highlighted Erling Haaland's movement against Brazil as "unbelievable" and said the striker "will have a big say" against England, while noting Norway's Orjan Nyland also made great saves against Brazil.
- Sutton declared that apart from holders Argentina, South American teams have been "a massive disappointment" at this World Cup, with only Messi and Co still flying the flag.
- Sutton admitted he is "going with my heart" on Argentina beating Switzerland because he wants an Argentina-England semi-final, though he expects Messi to "have another moment" to send his team through.
Why it matters: Sutton has backed France to win the tournament from the outset, making Thursday's tie against Morocco effectively a litmus test for that conviction; meanwhile BBC readers at 71% accuracy are outperforming both a paid pundit and Microsoft Copilot, with 71% versus 64% — meaning crowd-sourced prediction is genuinely outpicking professional and algorithmic analysis at this World Cup.
