Whilst the whole of the country were flinging pints in the air after Jude Bellingham’s incredible equaliser in England’s Euro 2024 game against Slovakia, Joanne Gordon from Coventry was realising that the stoppage time goal was making her £250,000 richer.
Joanne made her choices on ITV Picks, a free-to-play competition in which you have to correctly predict seven questions about a European Championship match. She chose a number of things that correctly happened including the minute of the first goal, who would receive the first booking and the precise number of corners in the game.
The first half was looking good for the 50-year-old who had already correctly predicted Marc Guehi would receive the first booking and Ivan Schranz for Slovakia would give his side a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute. With England failing to respond immediately, another selection was ticked off when the teams went in at half-time 1-0.
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Whilst the clock was ticking and England were looking for a miracle to stay in the competition, there had been no penalties and the corner count was on nine. Joanne just needed an England goal. Step forward Jude Bellingham deep into stopping time to not only keep England fans dreaming, but to make Joanne’s dreams come true.
Joanne expressed that sometimes, all you need is a bit of luck…
“My husband plays it as well,” she said. “He’s the avid football watcher in my house with my son. He’s quite scientific about it, making notes about how they’re performing, and then says: ‘Alright Jo, what are you picking?’ and I say, “oh whatever, the 25th minute will do’.”
Recounting how events unfolded, Joanne added: “We’d been out for a family party for my daughter’s birthday and when we got home the match was still playing. I was in the background and my husband was watching it and looking at my ITV Picks selections. He was screaming at the TV about the corners, because at that point the first goal time, the half time score and other bits and pieces had all matched up.
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“And then it just went into a real kind of surreal, other-worldly kind of thing, we realised how important the Jude Bellingham goal was.”
The picks in full:
Half time score – England 0-1 Slovakia
Full time score – England 1-1 Slovakia
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First goalscorer - Ivan Schranz
First booking – Marc Guehi
Number of corners - 9
Penalty Yes/No? – No
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Minute of first goal – 25th
You could win up to £100,000 by guessing seven predictions right in the England vs Switzerland match. Click here to enter for free.
There will be a jackpot for every one of the Euro 2024 Quarter-Final games. The jackpots are as follows:
Spain v Germany: £100k
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Portugal v France: £50k
England v Switzerland: £100k
Other QF: £100k
Tom Green