You might have heard about a minor upset in the footballing world last night, but it seems that for one lucky player, it was anything but upsetting.
This World Cup really has thrown up some interesting bets. Despite Germany’s Teutonic 7-1 demolition of footballing giants Brazil in their semi-final match in Belo Horizonte, you’d think that, as unlikely as that was, nobody would actually predict a result like that, and even if someone did, they wouldn’t actually place a bet.
Well, you’d be wrong.
We’re not usually overly excited by sports betting, but this is amazing. One yet-to-be-identified individual placed an unlikely single bet of US$20 on Germany to win 7-1 and for Sami Khedira to score at any stage in the match, at odds of 2319.00. And the rest, as they say, is history.
After the dust had settled and Brazil’s reputation was left in tatters, the player realized he had bagged the princely sum of US$46,380, all off a simple US$20 bet.
That someone would take and win this bet is, of course, as unlikely as… well, as unlikely as Brazil losing to Germany 7-1 in the FIFA World Cup semi-finals with an overwhelming home advantage. But it takes all sorts.
And even if the bet does turn out to be a hoax, or resembles a Paddy Power campaign, it just goes to show how unlikely this result really was. It’s one thing losing your star player to injury in the quarterfinals, but this is Brazil we’re talking about, where football is a religion. And this was Brazil’s biggest ever loss, the previous largest being a 6-0 drubbing by Brazil’s perennial South American rivals Uruguay in 1920, nearly a century ago!
So the home team, pre-tournament favorites are out, and it remains to be seen who will meet Germany in the finals. Whatever the outcome of this evening’s match, though, one thing remains: it’s been an interesting World Cup, and this author, for one, is glad he saw the clinical Germans demolish the world’s greatest footballing nation.
Congratulations, Germany!