• Australia's largest state hits record-high COVID-19 cases despite weeks of strict lockdown. 'It's a tinderbox ready to explode,' one official said.
• eToro says crypto made up 73% of trading commissions in the last quarter, as retail customers dived in
• A flight attendant says she was too exhausted to report a passenger who shoved her when a flight was overbooked: report
• US jobless claims climb for first time in 5 weeks, to 353,000

AS IT DOES every time there’s a big international sporting event, Goldman Sachs has produced a huge report, available to the public, analysing the World Cup, both from a perspective of the actual games and from an economic perspective.

Without wasting anyone’s time, here’s the firm’s odds for each time winning it all. As you can see, Brazil is a massive favourite, with nearly 50% chance of being champions:

Goldman also points out that it’s giving Brazil much higher odds of victory than the bookies, implying that you should probably bet on them.

Goldman gives four reasons why Brazil is such a strong favorite:

• Brazil is the highest rated team in its index of raw team skill.
• Brazil has an excellent history in World Cup tournaments.
• Home advantage is a big predictor of success in the sport, and of course the World Cup is in Brazil.
• Home continent advantage is a big thing for Latin American teams, and no European team has ever won a World Cup in the Americas.

This chart breaks down why Goldman says Brazil has nearly a 50% shot.

Germany’s World Cup preparations shook as two players involved in car crash