Quote from: Daniel91 on Today at 09:43:56 AM

Quote from: Sithara007 on Today at 03:45:13 AM

Quote from: Lucius on May 17, 2023, 04:44:52 PM

I can only say that all these bookmakers can only continue to underestimate Croatia, because they have always done so regardless of the results that football team achieved. 2018 second in the world, 2022 third in the world, and in a month they will play the semi-finals of the Nations League - the only problem is that there are a lot of people for whom such results do not fit into their "plans".

It is very simple actually. A lot of people have difficulty in admitting that Croatia is in the same league as France and England. These same people would rate declining teams such as Germany, Danmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden at the same level as France, but somehow they tend to underestimate smaller nations. Anyway, I hope that Euro 2024 will give a good level of clarity on the quality of teams within the UEFA confederation. If Germany is unable to perform, despite being the hosts, then a lot of questions will be raised.

I can agree with this.
Many people do not really follow football too much and do not know much about the players and the strength of individual teams, so they simply play it safe without too much analysis and concrete facts and choose only big and well-known nations as favorites before the upcoming world competitions.
If something is repeated a hundred times, it will not become true just because of the constant repetition of the same thing.
Personally, I found it funny when I read sports predictions before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, when most of the forum members predicted that the current world vice-champion Croatia would not even make it to the knockout stage of the competition and that Croatia will be last in its group. Germany and Belgium were the favorites to win the world championship title in their opinion. So much for those baseless sports predictions Cheesy

In the world of sports, it is typical for people to make forecasts based on general consensus or without doing much analysis. These forecasts are occasionally affected by the standing or track record of particular teams or players. But as you pointed out, just saying something repeatedly doesn't make it real!!
with the specific example you gave with the World Cup predictions in Qatar, it's important to note that sports forecasts are hypothetical and frequently dependent on individual judgment or analysis. Sports are exciting and unpredictable since the real results can sometimes differ from the expected ones!!!!It's always exciting to observe how things develop and to experience the shocks and upsets that take place in sports. Therefore, even if they can be fun to make and offer fodder for conversation, forecasts shouldn't be taken as gospel. Instead, they should be treated with caution.