FIFA World Cup Oracle Cat to Predict Winner of Match Between Russia, Egypt

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) - Achilles the cat, who lives at St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum and serves as the animal oracle for the FIFA World Cup, will predict the winner of the match between Russia and Egypt later on Tuesday. The prediction will be made in the Hermitage.

Achilles, a congenitally deaf snow-white cat, who also predicted the match winners during the 2017 Confederations Cup, has already made two predictions, and both proved true. He has predicted Russia's victory over Saudi Arabia and Iran's victory over Morocco.

Earlier it was reported that Achilles had been chosen the World Cup animal oracle for being the most stress-resistant and human-oriented of about 50 cats living at the Hermitage. Achilles has been given the Russia football kit in the form of white and red overalls. His number is nine, which refers to the number of a cat's lives.

Russia will take on Egypt at the 64,000-seat St. Petersburg Stadium at 9:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT).

The World Cup Finals will continue through July 15, with a total of 64 matches set to be played at 12 stadiums across 11 Russian cities.