It’s OK to want your country to lose under these circumstances, right? Right?
You’ll often hear of punters betting against their own team to soften the pain of defeat if things go wrong and that tactic could pay off in spectacular fashion for one English fan later today.
English fans tend to be an optimistic bunch in the build-up to a major tournament, but Scott Jardine took the opposite approach, betting on the Three Lions to lose all three group games at odds of 600/1, apparently the only punter in the country to place that particular bet with Ladbrokes.
Scott is probably wishing he had a little more faith in his conviction that Roy Hodgson’s men would fail miserably in Brazil, having only waged £5 on three consecutive defeats, even if the £3,000 he tends to win if Costa Rica can triumph over England today is not a sum to be sniffed at.
Commenting on the rationale behind his decision, Scott said: “I didn’t fancy England at all and I thought Costa Rica were the team who would be best suited by the conditions.
“I looked at their qualification results and they didn’t concede many goals and I thought the players would all be hungry to perform at the World Cup.”
As it turns out, Scott’s prediction was bang on the money as Costa Rica have been arguably the surprise package of the tournament so far, beating Uruguay 3-1 in their opening game before upsetting Italy to secure their qualification to the last 16.
Die-hard English fans might have a bone to pick with Scott over his lack of patriotism, but he’s not as fervent a follower of Ingerland as some of the fans that made their way to Brazil.
“I’m an England fan but I’m half Scottish,” Scott said.
“I had no expectation for England at all and I think they produced their best at this World Cup.”
“I’m absolutely amazed that no one else had the same opinion as me,” he added. “I feel chuffed and quite clever.”
He’ll feel even more chuffed and clever if Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz and the lads can do the business in Belo Horizonte this evening; it’s tradition for the winner of a big bet to get the drinks in, so maybe this punter won’t exactly get off Scott-free if results go his way a little later on.
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