BYE-BYE, ORACLE: Famous Anteater Taio Predicts a Draw Between Germany and Curaçao in the World Cup – But the 4-Time Champions DESTROY First-Time Participants by 7×1

Taio predicted a tie – but powerhouse Germany took no notice of that

Sorry, Taio – better luck next time.

The World Cup mobilizes billions of fans all over the world and, for some time now, ‘animal oracles’ are used to try to predict the outcome of the football (soccer) matches.

And sometimes, their success rate can be astonishing, as was the case of octopus Paul from Oberhausen, who, at the 2010 World Cup, ‘correctly predicted all of Germany’s matches as well as the final, giving him a 100 percent success rate (8 out of 8 predictions)’.

This year, the selected world cup oracle was the anteater Taio, whose prediction would not please German fans.

🚨: The Octopus That Predicted The World Cup 🐙⚽

Paul the Octopus became a global sensation during the 2010 FIFA World Cup after correctly predicting the outcome of every match he was asked to forecast.

Living in a German aquarium, Paul was presented with two boxes marked with… pic.twitter.com/qgVUE8w4XX

— CurioSphere (@CurioSphereX) June 11, 2026

Euronews reported:

“Before the German national team even play their first World Cup match against Curaçao on Sunday, a small spectacle has already taken place thousands of kilometers away from the host nation, the United States: this year’s World Cup oracle, anteater Taio, made his first prediction on Friday.

He provided plenty of suspense, as the animal at Münster’s Allwetterzoo took its time over the decision. Then came the surprise: Taio is predicting a draw.

The bottles representing the possible results were filled with food. Bad news for Germany: the mealworms in the bottle standing for a draw evidently smelled particularly tempting to the anteater.”

what an incredible goal from Curaçao

🇩🇪 1-1 🇨🇼

they just might win this match pic.twitter.com/ZjBOcUNLQO

— Ripper (@ripper0x) June 14, 2026

But it does seem that Taio’s career as a World Cup oracle will be a short one, because the four-time champions German absolutely obliterated the Curaçao side by 7×1 – in the strongest victory in the Cup so far.

For a moment, there, it seemed like Taio had something going, since Curaçao did score an equalizer – its first-ever World Cup goal – but it did not last.

BBC reported:

“Four-time winners Germany overcame a brief scare from World Cup debutants Curacao before turning on the style to win their Group E opener in Houston.

Die Mannschaft went ahead in the sixth minute with the tournament’s earliest goal so far coming from a powerful curling effort from one-time England youth international Felix Nmecha.

But they were stunned by a leveller from the smallest nation ever, by size and population, to take part in a World Cup. Zurich midfielder Livano Comenencia wrote his name in Blue Wave folklore on 21 minutes with a left-footed drive from the edge of the box which deflected past Germany keeper Manuel Neuer, who was appearing in a fifth tournament at the age of 40.”

🚨 GERMANY JUST DESTROYED CURAÇAO 7-1 IN THE WORLD CUP! 🇩🇪💥

Watch these insane highlights — Musiala, Havertz double, and absolute domination!

Curaçao scored their first-ever World Cup goal but Germany showed why they’re four-time champions 🔥

Who else is impressed by Die… https://t.co/NunoXL1IAo pic.twitter.com/hpyGmOCHSi

— OlusileCrypto 💎🌊 (@OlusileCrypto) June 14, 2026

But soon, the Germans imposed their much better rhythm and smashed the Curaçao side with goals from Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz, Pen, Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav.

So much for animal oracles, it seems.

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