Last year was a great year for sports betting fans, especially toward the end, when the best national football teams in the world met in Qatar for the World Cup. At the same time, it was one of the most disappointing ones as well, mostly because the results at the World Cup went against all of their expectations. Droves of punters certainly tore their betting slips to pieces seeing the results of some of the matches.
Today, we’d like to take a look at some of those that were the most surprising for us last year.
Saudi Arabia – Argentina, 2-1 (World Cup 2022)
In the world of online betting, it’s not unusual for punters to bet on matches from some of the more distant nations’ local football leagues. Well, Saudi Arabia’s First Division League is somewhat of an exception. The Saudis’ national team consisted of players active mostly in their local league, so they were the big question mark of the competition. That was until they met Argentina on the turf.
The Argentine team, strengthened by football legend Messi, lost 2-1 to the Green Falcons in one of the most surprising – and probably disappointing – matches in 2022.
Brentford – Chelsea, 4-1 (Premier League)
When Danish player Christian Eriksen suffered heart failure in 2021, many thought it was the end of his career. It was certainly the end of his career with Inter – the team terminated his contract in December 2021. But he was back on the turf just a few months later, signing with EPL team Brentford last January – and helping them deliver a shocking beating to Chelsea.
When Chelsea hosted Brentford in April 2022, the Blues were third in the Premier League. Brentford has, in turn, defeated Chelsea in a shameful way, with Eriksen – who was, less than a year before, carried off the turf on a stretcher – scoring in the match. A surprise, and a big disappointment for the crowd at Stamford Bridge.
Germany – Japan, 1-2 (World Cup 2022)
Germany is one of the world’s football powerhouses. Japan, with all its valor, is not. When the two national teams stood up facing each other at the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar, nobody in the world had doubts about which team will be victorious. And nobody expected the Japanese team to not only defeat the Germans but also drop them out of the competition later.
Japan defeated Germany 2-1, but this wasn’t the end for Die Mannschaft – it came later when Japan also beat Spain in the Group Stage. Still, the Germans losing to Japan was one of the biggest surprises, and biggest disappointments, of football in 2022.
In conclusion
In general, it is considered a good idea to bet on the favorite. This is especially true when there’s a major imbalance between them and the underdog. This was the case with all the matches above, with punters (rightly so) betting on the stronger team.
As the example of the matches listed above has shown us, there are many exceptions to this rule. If there’s one lesson that we had to learn last year, it’s that we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the underdog.
