Before the World Cup started, we polled many of the top soccer commentators, writers and broadcasters to get their predictions. Now that the tournament is over, it’s time to consider NBC Sports commentator Peter Drury as a genius. He got more of the predictions correct than any of the experts.
Here’s what Peter Drury predicted:
World Cup winner: Argentina
Golden Boot winner: Kylian Mbappé
Group A teams advance: Netherlands, Senegal
Group B teams advance: England, USA
Group C teams advance: Argentina, Mexico
Group D teams advance: France, Denmark
Group E teams advance: Spain, Germany
Group F teams advance: Belgium, Croatia
Group G teams advance: Brazil, Cameroon
Group H teams advance: Portugal, South Korea
It’s safe to say that NBC’s lead commentator knows what he’s talking about. He successfully predicted 11 of the 16 teams to reach the knockout stage. Bundesliga commentator Phil Bonney and ESPN commentator Mark Donaldson, who each got 12 correct, were the only two people to do better than Drury’s 11.
However, Peter Drury successfully names the correct World Cup winner and the golden boot winner. He selected Argentina, one of just three people to make that selection. Moreover, he foresaw Kylian Mbappé winning the award for Golden Boot. Only Drury and CBS’s Matteo Bonetti picked the PSG talisman to score the most goals at the 2022 World Cup.
Granted, the commentator did select Canada to be a dark horse team. The Canadians failed to pick up a point. To be fair, that group did feature a pair of World Cup semifinalists in Morocco and Croatia in addition to Belgium.
However, Peter Drury had the most correct decisions based on his predictions for the 2022 World Cup. He barely nicked the result over ESPN’s Mark Donaldson.
Peter Drury calls World Cup 2022
He was the voice for millions watching on the international feed at the World Cup. He witnessed Messi lift the World Cup, along with a number of pivotal games for Argentina along the way.
For example, he called Messi’s sumptuous goal against Mexico to give Argentina life. Then, he was on the microphone for that dramatic Final that will go down in history as one of the best of all time.
According to his predictions, Peter Drury guessed that was coming.
PHOTO: IMAGO / Alexander Limbach
