Mystic Meerkats predict England Women's World Cup final run - ESPN

When England were pegged back to 1-1 by Australia striker Sam Kerr's wonder-goal midway through the second half of their Women's World Cup semifinal Wednesday, it felt as though the match could have gone either way before the Lionesses stormed back to win 3-1 in Sydney.

But while coach Sarina Wiegman and her unstoppable squad deserve all the credit for reaching their first-ever World Cup final, where they will face Spain on Sunday, it would appear that their victory was already confirmed before a ball had even been kicked at Stadium Australia.

Indeed, England's progression to the final has been foretold every step of the way by a clan (and yes, that is the correct collective noun) of meerkats who have successfully predicted the Lionesses' results through the knockout phase.

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The clairvoyant critters in question reside at Drusillas Park, a zoo located in the southeast of England, and they are now 3-for-3 when it comes to forecasting the outcome of the national team's World Cup knockout games.

The meerkats have been selecting their winner before every England game via a system comprising of two food buckets, one marked with the England flag and the other with the colours of their opposition. The animals, which are native to southern Africa, are then distracted and led away to the other side of their enclosure before being allowed to return to the buckets. Whichever of the receptacles then proves most popular with the mini-mongooses is deemed to be their winning pick.

The bucket system was used to correctly back England to beat Nigeria in the round of 16, then to eliminate Colombia in the quarterfinals before