'Mystic Meerkats' Predict England Will Beat Argentina!

Drusillas Park's famous 'Mystic Meerkats' are backing England to beat Argentina in Wednesday night's World Cup semi-final - following an astonishingly accurate prediction record throughout the tournament.

The football-forecasting mob has been flawless so far, correctly predicting every England result. They even appeared to foresee the twists and turns along the way, suggesting England would recover from an early scare against DR Congo, overcome a difficult test against Mexico, and battle through a gruelling, dramatic quarter-final against Norway before eventually securing victory.

Now the Sussex zoo's furry fortune tellers believe the Three Lions have what it takes to reach the World Cup Final!

As always, the prediction involved placing two buckets in the meerkat habitat, both filled with peas and sweetcorn, one of their favourite treats. Each bucket was decorated with one team's flag, and whichever attracted the biggest gathering would be declared the predicted winner.

This latest forecast, supervised by Zoo Section Leader, Jacinta Dawe, unfolded a little differently from previous rounds. While a couple of curious meerkats briefly peered into the Argentina bucket at the very start, they barely gave it a second glance afterwards. Instead, the mob quickly committed to the England bucket, leaving little doubt where their loyalties lay.

Could this be a sign that England are set to dominate Wednesday night's semi-final?

And the excitement didn't stop there. In a first for this tournament, the meerkats also enjoyed a kickabout of their own, climbing onto a football before enthusiastically kicking it aside, proving they've become just as swept up in football fever as the rest of the nation.

Jacinta Dawe, Zoo Section Leader at Drusillas Park, said:" The Mystic Meerkats prediction record this World Cup has been second to none. They've called every England result correctly so far, and they even seemed to predict that the Norway match would be tense, dramatic and hard work before England finally came through.”

"Today’s forecast was actually one of our most convincing predictions. Apart from a few early peeks, the Argentina bucket was almost completely ignored while the England bucket attracted nearly all of the mob. It couldn't have been much clearer.

"The funniest part was seeing them discover the football. A few of them climbed all over it, before one kicked it away from the buckets. They've definitely caught football fever, just like everyone here at Drusillas!  Hopefully that's another good omen for Wednesday night."

The Mystic Meerkats first rose to fame during the delayed Euros in 2021 before achieving near-legendary status at UEFA Euro 2024, where they correctly predicted every England result right through to the final.

Their football forecasts have since become a tournament tradition at Drusillas, while also serving an important enrichment purpose by encouraging the meerkats to forage, investigate and solve problems in ways that reflect their natural behaviours in the wild.

England take on Argentina in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday at 8pm, with a place in the final at stake. If Drusillas' Mystic Meerkats can maintain their extraordinary prediction streak, England fans could be celebrating by the final whistle. Come on England!