Match day...
Casinos can't turn away from all of the betting money so they do the next best thing and each sportsbook limits their exposure....High rollers are limited to a maximum $1 million bet..
The Odds are set at Pick "Em (50-50) which is normally easy money for the bookeis...but to compensate they also have offered the public 'Live (in game) wagers as well as other betting markets (total goals scored, half-time score, penalties given, etc.) so anything that happens in the game that significantly shifts the betting money can mean less profits or even losses for some sportsbooks..
Many gamblers were trying to win back some of the money they lost betting on the favorites....USA, France, Germany, etc.. who were so heavily favored in the first knock-out match the money lines were set as high as -40000 (i.e you have to bet $40k to win $100 ! )
The game gets under way ..
Momentum shifts back and forth...no team can establish control..
many opportunities missed by both teams....
surprisingly goalkeepers are however making miraculous saves...
both coaches are close to their breaking point....blood pressures are rising..
They know that each team has been riding lady luck against incredible odds...How else to explain how not just one but both teams won their three knock-out stage matches to reach the Finals..! As the saying goes, "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.."
So....The game is 0-0 after 90 mins and Extra Time...
And now the gambler's nightmare... the game goes to PK's...(penalty kicks)
This would normally favor the Jamaican team because they have a very good goalie...and on top of that the Thai keeper is their 2nd string goalie..(since their starter was still suffering from shell shock after the game against the US)
But.... the Jamaican goalie (Sydney Schneider) accidentally ate some of her teammates CBD infused cookies at half-time..(which is legally ok and not supposed to get you high) but apparently this batch of cookies must have slipped through Quality Control and contained more than the allowed trace amount of 0.3% THC, and her particular body chemistry reacted like fireworks.
New CBD users are supposed to "start low and go slow" so your body doesn't overreact...but Sydney ate the whole box !!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Schneider#/media/File:Sydney_Schneider.jpg{Teammate later found out that her room mate had switched to a different brand..a brand that used full-spectrum hemp extracts (80+ cannabinoids) in all of its food, beverages, and snack products
...because of something known as the “entourage effect,”}
Anyway by the time of the PK shootout...she felt like an octopus and was feeling supremely confident that she would block any & every shot that was heading her way..
Luckily for Syd she guessed correctly in diving to her left on the first shot and her only save .. two of the next Thai players went wide left and wide right....another shot hit the crossbar...and one goal was scored ..
but she couldn't really remember what the overall score was at the time...
Jamaican PK sequence was no less adventurous. Thai goalie also saved the first short...which made the 2nd kicker nervous and she missed her shot. wide left..
The 3rd kicker (Captain) finally scores a goal but then ...the 4th pk bounces off the right post...and so by the time the 5th player reached the penalty spot she was such a jumble of nerves..her legs were shaking...and so she just decided to kick the ball as hard as she could towards the goal...but that resulted in the ball flying way over the top of the crossbar into the stands..
so the PK first round.. ended 1-1...
Sudden Death PK's
Surprisingly the sixth Jamaican player was cool as ice and simply took 3 steps back behind the ball...and when the ref blew the whistle calmly jogged to the ball an placed it in the upper right corner.of the goal..
and then on the Thai 6th shot... Sydney didn't... or couldn't... move her feet when the ball was kicked....she felt like she was wearing heavyweight diving boots similar to what Navy divers wear and the ball was aimed right at her.. she could see it coming like in slow motion...but she was helpless to move...and then before she could finish blinking her eyes or put up her hands..
it struck her right in the middle of her forehead...knocked her back into the net while the ball bounced off her and high into the air like a volley ball return.!
..
..While laying flat on her back inside the goal...she could hear her teammates screaming and yelling her name. running towards her getting closer and closer.. as well as the roar of the crowd ...the noise was deafening..
"I guess we won ", she thought to herself.. the "Reggae Girlz" had won..!
Yes.. we won.!! we won !! Syd, Syd, Syd ..we did it...Oh My God..!....Oh Shit, shit shit.. this is unbelievable ..Ahhhhhhhh! it was the voice of her teammate.whose cookies she had eaten...
She just lay there as the pile of players grew and grew...for some reason should could barely feel their weight...all she could see was the clear blue sky above.... and just wanted more cookies...!
Meanwhile the Thai team were disappointed of course at their loss ...They came very close to winning....BUT they knew that just getting to the Finals was a feat they could never have imagined... and it would probably never happen again... The Bonus money obviously made them very happy!...Not only had they had made history..but done so in such an inconceivable fashion that surely a movie would be made about their fantastic journey...generating even more fame for them back home..
.[Some months later..]
There were rumors spreading on social media, but nothing could be proven...Curiously somehow the coach had his house mortgage paid off and acquired a nice plot of land in the countryside...Everyone knew the coach to be a smart man and very realistic...but could it be true he had bets placed on the Jamaican team...? No one will ever know...
The BLACK SWANS had arrived in force and........apparently taken care of everyone..