05/07/20182 mins

Many a slip ‘twixt (World) cup and lip

This year’s World Cup has delivered some big surprises.

Before a ball was even kicked in Russia, the draw was missing 4-time winners Italy, their lacklustre campaign meaning that they missed out on qualification for the first time in 60 years, much to the disappointment of the loyal ‘tifosi’.

Scotland’s mysterious exclusion from the draw was rumoured to be the result of a political stand by the team against the repression of President Putin’s opponents, or perhaps it was down to an insufficient scoresheet… hard to call.

Seriously, who would have predicted Germany’s failure to get past the group stages, or that Argentina, Portugal and Spain would fall at the first knockout hurdle.

More incredibly, England failed to miss more penalties than their Columbian opponents, taking them deeper into the competition than might have been dreamed of by all but the most ardent. In the ‘soft’ half of the draw, the dream continues, only 3 more games. They think it’s all over, it’s coming home…

All this footballing frivolity reinforces our investment philosophy by the way. While ‘favourites’ can, and do, become winners (remember the Brazilian squad are still in there somewhere) they can also become victims of their own popularity, prone to disappointing their global fan base if they only do quite well and fail to dazzle. The corollary is that unfancied, ‘ugly ducklings’, can surprise on the upside, even if they don’t ‘lift the trophy’; and, even if they go out in the first round, the expectation and hence the downside is limited. A few mixed metaphors in there, but you get the point.

As everybody knows, there can only be one winner of the World Cup and we won’t know whether it’ll be Captain Kane lifting the trophy until the final whistle on July the 15th. They would, of course, need to make it to the final for this to be a possibility…

Regardless of all the histrionics on the field of play, the result is really a foregone conclusion.  Despite Scotland’s boycott, Vladimir Putin wins with no contest, a great tournament and a PR coup. He wins a prize beyond measure, a tête-à-tête with Donald Trump.

 

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