Word that means support (in the sense of thinking they will win)


What is a word that means support, in a sense of not actually doing any
cheering or rooting for, but thinking that they are the best and will
therefore win?

For context, I'm translating a WEBTOON (about a fighting tournament), and one
of the characters declares that another character, in terms of strength, is a
league above the competition. However, that character gets knocked out in a
single blow from the main character. The text that I'm translating is
basically a side note kind of thing explaining that that character is
embarrassed that the one they were supporting got knocked out in a single
punch.

My first thought was 応援, but that's more along the line of cheering/rooting
for, and is a bit different. The other is 支持, but that's used more for support
for a person's idea/claim. I was also thinking 推薦, but that's more along the
lines of nominate, and the character didn't explicitly nominate the other
character for anything position, just declared the characters strength is
above the rest, and is therefore a strong candidate for victor.

Are there any words that would make sense in this scenario? It's not necessary
that it be one word, but ideally, due to space constraints , I'm trying to
have the translation be something along the lines of "第三話で----していた[character
name]がワンパンされたことを恥じらっている, where ____ is the word I'm looking for.




I doubt there is a single Japanese verb that means "to think they will win",
but you can say 勝つと思っていた側, 勝つはずだった方, etc. Or you can perhaps rephrase the
sentence and say something like "あいつが勝つと思ってたんだが、まさかワンパンで破れるとは".

