Canadian rapper Drake has now furthered the next chapter in his famously unlucky streak of sports predictions — having publicly backed Argentina and Lionel Messi’s efforts to win the 2022 Qatar World Cup this Sunday evening.
Known as the ‘Drake curse’, this amusing phenomenon first gained notoriety back in 2016 when Drake supported the Golden State Warriors, a team that had won a record-shattering 73 season games before losing 4-3 in the NBA Finals. This was pretty unprecedented — no NBA team had ever lost a Finals series while being 3-1 up, resulting in several social media posts jokingly blaming Drake’s prediction for the loss.
It was in the world of UFC that people really started to rally behind Drake’s bets — and hedge themselves firmly in the other direction. 2018 saw the rapper support his friend Conor McGregor before a dramatic lightweight bout against the unbeaten Russian, Khabib Nurmagomedov. One of the most-watched matches in the history of MMA, Drake’s belief in the Irishman was shattered as Khabib pulled out a victory in the fourth round — spreading Drake’s curse to the world of MMA as well.
The sport saw another instance of the curse this year as well, when Drake bet on Kamara Usman, a formidable welterweight UFC champion. Usman led the charge for four rounds before succumbing to a knockout in his last. Drake also placed a bet on Charles Leclerc winning the Spanish Grand Prix this year, only for the Ferrari driver to suffer an engine failure during the race.
While he hasn’t been too vocal about football, his predictions for 2022’s El Clasico derby saw Barcelona take a beating at the hands of Real Madrid, who won 3-1.
Reactions to Drake’s new World Cup omen began to pour in, with several Argentina fans in dismay:
Fans of Les Bleus, on the other hand, rejoiced as Drake’s message reached the masses:
https://twitter.com/IFTVofficial/status/1604117904018264064?s=20&t=J54zmZo_zG-Y_GBNY_aTEA
Finally, a handful chose to ignore his words — hurling allegations of match-fixing against FIFA:
https://twitter.com/IFTVofficial/status/1604117904018264064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1604122845843709952%7Ctwgr%5Efb1eff0d51e50af78d9962ca6ade3e3f2da656c4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mansworldindia.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D114441action%3DeditThe 2022 Qatar World Cup Final between France and Argentina will kick off at 8:30 PM this Sunday, and will be broadcast on Sports18 as well as JioCinema.
Lead Image: Denver
