Brazil placed second with 37 votes – teeing up an interesting final after they experienced a humiliating 7-1 semi-final loss in their home country in 2014.<\/p>\n
France, Argentina and Spain were all also in for a chance to win the trophy, however hosts Russia were given almost no chance of winning the competition.<\/p>\n
A March survey by JP Morgan, conducted with 100 clients at a Paris conference, also placed Germany as champions, while investment bankers UBS sees a 24% probability current title-holder Germany wins the July 15 final, with Brazil and Spain the next most likely teams to succeed.<\/p>\n
The analysts also believe that Argentinian striker Lionel Messi, who has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country, is expected to win the Golden Boot – an award for top goalscorer of the competition.<\/p>\n
According to Reuters, the majority of bookmakers agree with the analysts, and the\u00a0tightest odds were 9\/2 on both Germany and Brazil to be crowned champions, and Messi was favourite to win the Boot.<\/p>\n
It also noted that some economists relied on their standard econometric modelling skills to predict the World Cup\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n
“I guess the point is that in a rational world in which the form book rules, one of Brazil or Germany should win,” said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank, who ran 10,000 stochastic simulations.<\/p>\n
“But somewhere amongst the simulations there may well be a universe in which Saudi Arabia beats Panama in the final. The very fact there is a random element is one of the reasons why we may well be wrong, and why sports like football hold such a deep fascination.”<\/p>\n
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