Belgium will beat France, and England will best Croatia, leaving Belgium and England to contest the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
These confident predictions come courtesy of a southern pig-tailed macaque and a goat used in a tourism promotion activity held Monday at Bueng Boraphet, the largest freshwater swamp and lake in the central province of Nakhon Sawan.
In the prediction for the result of the semi-final match between Belgium and France, Khunnai Cham, the 4-year-old female macaque picked up a Belgian national flag that was placed next to the French national flag.
Khunnai Cham is a star at Uncle Prakit Monkey Show, the country’s best-known troupe of performing monkeys. She handed the Belgian flag to the host of Monday’s show and when asked: “Are you sure?”, the monkey nodded several times, prompting laughter from the audience.
As for the prediction of the result of the semi-final match between England and Croatia, Karaket -- a two-month-old goat named after the leading female character in Buppesannivas (Love Destiny), a highly popular 2018 Thai romance, comedy and historical drama -- chose to suck milk from a bottle attached to a British national flag that was placed next to another milk bottle attached to a Croatian flag.
Lest anyone take the predictions too seriously -- or even use them as the basis for some illegal betting -- the organiser of Monday’s event said the activity was simply "for fun" and to entertain visitors to this tourist attraction.
“The results of the two semi-final matches will of course depend on the four teams’ performances and strategies,” said an unnamed organiser of the event. He encouraged football fans to enjoy finding out the real result by watching the games.
Karaket, a two-month-old goat, picks England as the winner in the other semi-final match.