World Cup's underwater oracles

[SINGAPORE] For a fish that originates from Brazil, this arowana doesn't seem to have enough faith that its countrymen have what it takes to beat Croatia in the opening match of the Fifa World Cup tonight (Friday 4am, Singapore time).

Big Huat, one of Qian Hu Fish Farm's two oracles for soccer's biggest event of the year, swam around in its fancy tank at the farm for about five minutes, circling around three containers labelled "Brazil", "Draw" and "Croatia", each of which had a piece of fish food inside it.

The Singapore-born albino silver arowana, worth about $2,000, then closed in on his pick, presaging that the game will end in a stalemate; he chomped down on the tiny lever on the "Draw" container and greedily gobbled up the snack when it fell out.

In another tank nearby, another of Qian Hu's prized freshwater fish, a smaller golden crossback arowana, was more confident about the outcome of the game.

Small Huat needed only two minutes to decide that it would plump for Croatia to pull off a major upset against the host country.