A football-mad Brit has been using bangers and mash to predict World Cup results – and his latest forecast has England beating Croatia.
With Thomas Tuchel’s side kicking off their tournament today (17 June), one superfan believes the answer to football’s biggest questions can be found in a bowl of mashed potato.
Luke Symons has turned Britain’s favourite comfort food into a bizarre prediction machine, using sausages to forecast match results before a ball has even been kicked.
READ MORE: American mum living in UK says family is splitting loyalties between FOUR World Cup teams
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And remarkably, the unusual method has achieved a 45% success rate across the first 20 matches of the tournament.
The 35-year-old places two national flags on either side of a bowl of mash before dropping a sausage into the middle.
Whichever team the banger points towards is tipped to win.
“Many take it as solid gambling advice – I don’t recommend,” Luke, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, told Whats The Jam.
“France are strong favourites but I must side with England and if the sausages align.
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“We should be in for a good chance.”
For England’s opening clash against Croatia at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the sausage landed pointing directly at the St George’s Cross.
The prediction was shared on Luke’s social media page, aptly named The Mash Man.
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Luke said: “If I look at the shape and angle of the sausage, it looks like a close game with England edging it.
“I’d say a 2-1 win.
“Goals from Kane and Rashford.”
The unusual idea began as a joke among friends.
Luke, who works in tech support, is known in his friendship group as “The Mash Man” because of his love for bangers and mash.
He said: “It started as an inside joke between friends.
“We were randomly talking about what we used to have for lunch at school and I said I favoured Mash.
“In typical lad fashion, they didn’t drop it and started calling me Mash boy/man and that I should start my own TikTok account of me making mash.
“I didn’t back down.
“I started an account which got 0 views but then the Euro 2024 came around and the idea came to me.
“The videos did well so I said I’ll do it for the World Cup 2026.
“And here we are.”
Despite sounding completely bonkers, Luke’s sausage-powered forecasting system has correctly predicted around 45% of matches so far.
Among its successes was correctly backing Saudi Arabia to claim a surprise draw against Uruguay.
