Claiming that “The Simpsons predicted this” is one of the internet’s favourite things at the moment
Most famously, the show ‘predicted’ that Donald Trump would become president of the United States of America.
But then there was the closure of Toys R Us. And the Winter Olympics. And even celebrity deaths.
It’s almost as if, that if a show runs as long as The Simpsons has, there will be so much content there that you can tenuously point to a lot of stuff and twist it to claim Matt Groening is some time travelling Nostradamus or something. If you make 639 episodes of anything, you are bound to have a few spooky coincidences. It’s an ‘infinite monkeys at infinite typewriters situation’.
But the latest prediction – well, that goes much further. People think it has predicted something that hasn’t even happened yet. Sigh. Yeah. We know.
Apparently, The Simpsons predicted what will be the eventual World Cup final: Mexico vs Portugal.
The scene is from the 1997 episode ‘The Cartridge Family’, the one where Homer buys a gun. That one famously opens with the writer’s very American take on football, and the notorious scene where all the players just stand still and pass the ball between each other.
The residents of Springfield are told to “Open wide for some soccer”, and go see the match to decide “Which nation is the greatest on earth: Mexico or Portugal”.
And yes, the way the knockouts line up, Portugal and Mexico could still face off in the final.
It was first spotted by Portuguese newspaper Eco, who got quite excited by it.
And then everyone else started to run with it.
Mexico and Portugal fans are wondering if they're destined to reach this year's World Cup final – because of a Simpsons episode from 1997.
Here's why: https://t.co/BlsyuMRLED #bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/BVpYNHZlNl
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 26, 2018
The Simpsons in the season 9 (1997) predicted a football final between Portugal and México!! Wow.. I frankly can't stop myself from believing in this 'cause the cartoon had such an impressive history of valid predictions and connotations. pic.twitter.com/lMyqVVUN7C
— nes (@saturnnes) June 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/ItzRegBro/status/1011693513912676352
The simpsons predicted that Mexico would make it to the World Cup final. I trust this outcome.
— Jules ✨ (@bibidibobidyboo) June 26, 2018
It makes sense though – Cristano Ronaldo only missed that penalty against Iran to fulfil the prophecy.
😂😂😂 So C.Ronaldo missed the penalty intentionally so as to follow the prediction of Simpsons
— Kerry (@KityanChan) June 27, 2018
Look, at this point, we can use The Simpsons to predict literally anything. For instance, in ‘Treehouse of Horror III’, the sentient Krusty doll says the words “Coming home”.
That’s the show predicting England winning the World Cup, right?
