Now I'm counting the chickens going to hatched

Silverobama

Key Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
I bought a lottery ticket and it's about soccer game. I chose four of my favorite options. Usually every day there are 20-30 options. Options mean two teams play against each other.

Three of the options I chose had already finished playing games with their opponent team and I bet correctly on the results. If I can win the last game (which took place tonight, the Asian cup), I can win around 1100 yuan. And the last game is Iran vs Syria, I bet Iran is going to win. Today, looking at my ticket, I said "Now I'm counting the chickens going to hatched". The intended meaning is "I'm going to win the money since Iran will surely beat Syria in tomorrow's Asian Cup.

Is my italic sentence natural? If not, could you please suggest an idiomatic alternative?
 
No. It's neither natural nor properly constructed.
The expression you've used is based on: "count(ing) one's chickens before they hatch".
That has a different meaning. See below:

If you want an expression for the above context, try:
"It's a dead cert" or "it's a sure bet".
 
If I was going to say that I would say I'm counting my chickens before they've been hatched. Of course, the favorite usually wins, but sometimes there's an upset.

(In British English they say "football match".)
 

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