When Cape Verde followed up their draw with Spain by holding Uruguay to another stalemate, most BBC Sport users had not seen it coming. 99.65% of those playing the BBC's predictor game backed them to lose against Spain, and 'only' 83% thought they would be beaten by Uruguay too.
The users have got some predictions right, however, and overall they are doing better than BBC Sport predictions expert Chris Sutton and AI. Chris got 14 results correct in the second round of 24 group games, compared to 12 from the first set of fixtures. AI also did better this time, up from 13 to 15/24, but the users made an even bigger improvement, with a score of 18/24 compared to 13 last time.
“Cape Verde's draws against Spain and Uruguay saw BBC predictor users outperform AI and expert Chris Sutton.”
Sutton is now predicting the outcome of all 104 games at the World Cup, including the final set of group matches. In Group B, Mexico are through to the last 32 as group winners whatever happens in their game against the Czech Republic. 'So they will probably make a lot of changes,' Sutton said. 'That could give an opportunity to the Czech Republic, who need a win to have a chance of making it through. But Mexico are on their home territory, back at Estadio Azteca where I watched them thump South Africa.' As his 5 live commentary partner Alistair Bruce-Ball noted, they will want to do their country proud, and the altitude won't help the Czech Republic either.
Meanwhile, at the same stadium where Mexico prepared to face the Czech Republic, the Guardian's live blog noted that Merlín the duck was not even in the building — a minor curiosity on a night of bigger surprises.