Skip to main content

EA Sports Predicts Spain to Win the World Cup

Image used with permission by copyright holder

It was a tense final, with five time World Cup champions Brazil looking for their sixth star, against the European champions, Spain. The action was fierce on both sides, and Brazil took an early lead on a goal from Felipe Marko. The Spaniards equalized with a shot from David Villa (his sixth of the tournament) to end the first. Then the second half belonged to Spain as their teamwork and stifling defense managed to frustrate the Brazilians. Villa scored his second in the 61st minute, while Andres Iniesta put in Spain’s 3rd,to lead the number two ranked team in the world overd the top ranked Brazilians in a memorable 3-1 final! Or at least according to the game 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

EA ran a simulation of the entire tournament, from the group stages through the finals, and Spain came out victorious. Each year, EA does a similar event for the Super Bowl, playing out the game and announcing the champion with eerily accurate results. In the seven years that the Madden franchise has run the simulation, it has predicted six correct champions, including this year’s New Orleans Saints, who were the Vegas underdogs going in.

The US begins its World Cup run this Saturday versus England, a game that EA predicts will favor England 2-1, although both teams are predicted to advance to the knock out stage where the US will lose to Germany in a shoot out. The semi-finals will see Brazil take out the English in a penalty shootout, while Spain knocks off Argentina. England then goes on to win third place with a 2-1 victory over rival Argentina.

The game also predicted that Spain’s David Villa would win the Golden Boot with 7 goals, and Brazil’s Kaka would be the Golden Ball winner.

It should be noted that in 2006, EA predicted the Czech Republic to win the Cup in a 2-1 victory over Brazil. Unfortunately, the Czech Republic failed to make it out of the first round.

Editors' Recommendations

Ryan Fleming
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
Is Manor Lords on console?
A snowy settlement in Manor Lords.

It's kind of hard to believe that a substantial game like Manor Lords could be developed by only one person, but that hasn't stopped it from being an absolutely massive success since its April 26 release date. Rising rapidly to become the top-selling game on Steam and hitting a staggering number of concurrent players, this Early Access strategy title is certainly making a name for itself right out of the gate. However, despite being such a popular game on Steam and PC Game Pass, some players may be wondering if and when they can get their hands on it for consoles. It's currently a tricky question to answer, but here's what we know so far about whether Manor Lords will come to consoles.
Is Manor Lords on console?
Manor Lords is not currently available on any consoles. That doesn't mean we won't see this successful game make its way over to additional platforms, though. In early May 2024, developer Greg Styczeń confirmed on Twitter that he's working with publisher Hooded Horse to bring Manor Lords to Xbox "as soon as possible." While we don't know how soon that will actually be, it seems that Microsoft's console will at least receive the game at some point in the (hopefully) near future.

When asked about a possible PlayStation 5 version of Manor Lords in the same Twitter thread, Styczeń stated: "We're still talking about it." This may mean a potential PS5 release could be much further out than the Xbox version. And given Styczeń's silence about a Nintendo Switch release, it's not looking particularly likely that it will receive a version of Manor Lords at all — though only time will tell.

Read more
Best PS5 SSD for 2024: Add more storage to your PlayStation 5
The Samsung 990 Pro SSD being installed in a PC.

Your PlayStation 5 has a lot of internal storage to play with, but it’s not an infinite supply of bytes. If you’ve noticed your available space is running low, it might be time to invest in a standalone SSD, otherwise known as a solid-state drive. There are more options in this consumer tech category than ever, which can actually make the research process a little daunting. We’re here to make things easier though.

We have a lot of experience when it comes to vetting and testing external storage mediums, so we’ve created this roundup of the five best PS5 SSDs to share our expertise.

Read more
A Sonic game that plays like Fall Guys is coming to mobile
A cinematic shot of Sonic in Sonic Rumble's announcement trailer.

Sega unveiled a new Sonic the Hedgehog game today, and it's a multiplayer game for mobile devices that's reminiscent of battle royale platformers like Fall Guys.

Titled Sonic Rumble, this battle royale game sees 32 players compete as they dash and jump their way through levels. Mediatonic's Fall Guys is the most immediate comparison to draw based on the gameplay briefly shown off in its reveal trailer, but Sonic Rumble does stand out with levels that feel uniquely tailored to the series' iconography and 2D platformer sections that call back to Sonic's roots. A lot of Sonic the Hedgehog characters appear to be playable and can be further customized with in-game items.

Read more