Hi,
However hard I tried to catch the meaning of ‘surprise package’ in the context but in vain. None of the dictionaries satisfied me. Maybe it’s sports slang for ‘team’?
Here is the prehistory: Schalke knocked several football giants out of the competition previous to facing off Man Utd. First leg won comfortably, United came on with 9 stand-ins for the second leg.
Then goes the text:
"Brazilian midfielder Anderson underlined United’s domination of Schalke by scoring twice late on as a weakened line-up still proved all too much for the Champions League’s surprise package this season. "
I wouldn’t say that ‘surprise package’ was necessarily confined to sport. It simply means something unexpected usually of a pleasant nature. It could refer to both things and people.
Thank you, Alan.
Here are some more examples of ‘surprise package’ in action: 1)There is a great chance we can be the surprise package of the season.
Home run’s key to Vipers quest; Newcastle hopes high on eve of big … by Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England)
2) It has been the pattern in rugby league since the advent of the ‘Super’ tag for a surprise package to threaten to break the mould only to fade away.
by Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England)
3) KEVIN DOYLE is tipping Wolves to be the surprise package of the Premier League after becoming their pounds 6.
by The Mirror (London, England)
Although the term ‘surprise package’ is context dependent as Alan says, looking at your first message, I would say that the ‘surprise package’ there was definitely the team that were not expected to get so far in the league.
In your second set of examples, I think (1) and (2) still refer to a team.
I think (3) refers to the player, Kevin Doyle. He was not expected to do so well.
I think it all depends on the context. Apparently, in the context of sports the term is ‘surprise packet’ (by your definition) but in many other contexts the term ‘surprise package’ exists as well and is probably the more commonly used one. Would you agree?