World Cup oracle Achilles the Cat picks Russia to win opening match

St Petersburg (dpa) - What's a football spectacle without an animal oracle? The first such four-legged seer of the 2018 World Cup, Achilles the Cat, has predicted that host Russia would beat Saudi Arabia in the opener, the Russian news agency TASS said Wednesday.
Achilles - the official oracle of the 2017 Confederations Cup - made the prediction by choosing between two bowls of cat food, TASS said. The snow-white tomcat picked the bowl with the Russian flag on it, though not without hesitation according to TASS.
Achilles, a resident of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, last year chose the correct outcomes of three out of four Confederation Cup matches played in St Petersburg, including the opener and final. TASS reported that the museum staff chose Achilles for his ability to choose and analyse, as well as for his unusual behaviour.