Portugal vs Switzerland round-of-16 predictions: World Cup 2022

Al Jazeera’s AI robot Kashef has crunched the numbers and has some predictions for today’s game.

The last round-of-16 match at the World Cup 2022 will pit ninth-ranked Portugal against 15th-ranked Switzerland.

Kashef, our artificial intelligence (AI) robot, has analysed more than 200 metrics, including the number of wins, goals scored and FIFA rankings, from matches played over the past century to see who is most likely to win today.

Here is Kashef’s prediction:

Who: Portugal vs Switzerland

Where: Lusail Stadium

When: December 6, 10pm (19:00 GMT)

Prediction: Portugal and Switzerland are fairly evenly matched. The two European teams have already faced each other twice this year in the Nations League, winning one game apiece.

Portugal topped their group, scoring six goals across three matches. Switzerland finished second in their group after winning their final game 3-2 against Serbia in dramatic fashion.

Kashef has dutifully crunched all the numbers but doesn’t have a clear frontrunner. Still, at 58 percent, Kashef reckons that Portugal will win this game and then take on 2010 World Cup champions Spain in the quarter-finals on December 10.

Who is going to win the World Cup?

After 54 matches this World Cup, Kashef has a 69 percent accuracy level. After every match, Kashef reruns the model to predict the outcome of the next game all the way through to the final.

Predicting match results is no easy task – external factors like team morale or player fitness make a big difference in how the game goes.

See if you can outsmart Kashef and predict today’s winners by playing our AI game here.