They say no one can predict the future, but that may be a lie.
After Italy beat England 1-1 (3-2 on Pens) in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final in London, a 2013 tweet that accurately predicted England’s miserable result went viral. The prediction was tweeted from a Blackberry.
“England just lost the euro 2020 final against Italy on a penalty shoot out, nothing has changed then!” a Twitter user named Cameron with the handle @lawseyitfc wrote on Feb. 22, 2013.
He was exactly right. After Leonard Bonucci’s equalizing goal in the second half, the game was goalless through extra time. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka all missed their shots during the penalty shootout, which led to Italy lifting the trophy.
Since being rediscovered on Sunday, the tweet has reached 153,000 retweets and quote tweets, and 246,000 likes. The fan made the prediction eight months after Italy defeated England on penalty kicks, 4-2, in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Euros.
After the match in 2012, the user was pessimistic about the future of English soccer. But when someone asked him who would win the World Cup next year, the user kept his faith in his country. He predicted England and Italy to meet in the finals once again, but this time he predicted England to secure the win in penalties.
However, the fan also went back on his original prediction and changed it — with some help of photoshop — to England winning the match before the start of the final. But that was just to show support for his country.