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It's gnaw joke - mystic guinea pigs have predicted Italy will win by a whisker when they play England in the World Cup opener next week.

The sporting rodents went head-to-head in their very own version of the next Saturday’s crucial soccer clash at Hatton Adventure World, near Solihull.

The 23 goal-hungry guinea pigs - a referee in black and 22 players in tiny England and Italy shirts - fought it out on the specially adapted pitch for 90 seconds, chasing a ball stuffed with tasty grass.





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It was squeaky bum time as the partisan crowd cheered on the home team and England looked set to emerge victorious.

But while a furry “Rooney” had possession for most of this funny old game - taking home the Pig of the Match accolade - Italian number two “de Sciglio” clawed his way to victory at the final whistle by seizing control of the ball.

The little footballers - chosen for their ball skills from among 300 cuddly cavies in Hatton’s guinea pig village - reflected England’s historical inability to beat Italy in a major tournament.

The real England team will be hoping they can overturn the guinea pigs’ prediction when they take on Italy in the tropical Amazonian city of Manaus in Brazil, 1,777 miles from the England team’s chosen base in Rio.





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Hatton Adventure World manager Richard Craddock said he had been hoping the mystic pigs would bring luck to the home team.

“It’s been a lot of fun preparing the guinea pigs for the world’s greatest football tournament,” he said. “We had been training them up but I think nerves got the better of them on the day. They weren’t interested at all at first but they were soon tempted by the smell of their favourite food and got the idea.

“England had the ball for almost the whole game but at the very last second one of the Italians came and got it.

“We are planning to do the same thing for every England game and are looking forward to seeing how accurate our predictions are.”