Did ‘The Simpsons’ really predict a Mexico vs. Portugal World Cup final?

The Simpsons have garnered a reputation for predicting the future, which has led to people poring over old episodes to find the next ‘thing’ everyone is talking about. Now it’s arrived, and it’s based on the 2018 World Cup final.

The prediction is borne from the opening scene of “The Cartridge Family,” which aired in November 1997. The Simpson family is watching TV when a commercial comes on for a soccer match which will determine “Which nation is the greatest on Earth,” before revealing the game is between Mexico and Portugal.

There have been five World Cups between the episode airing and now, but people still think the episode is specifically referring to Russia 2018 because both Mexico and Portugal are playing some of their best soccer.

This has given way to people believing it will come to pass.

Even clubs are choosing to believe the prediction, just to be on the safe side.

It’s definitely fun, and seems to fit the mood of the 2018 World Cup, but this one seems like a bit of a stretch. The episode never indicates the Simpsons are watching the World Cup instead of a one-off friendly in Springfield. Past predictions have been more directly pointed at an event, giving credence to them being true — but this one seems a little more circumstantial.

That said, The Simpsons nailed Pele selling out to whatever brand is willing to give him money.

Absolutely. Portugal is already through to the knockout round, and if Mexico are able to win Group F outright then the two sides will be on opposite sides of the bracket, leading to a possible meeting in the World Cup final.

Whether The Simpsons really predicted this happening we’ll leave up to you. I’m not buying it ... yet.