His name is Billy Heartnose. Before each match, his owners place the flags of the two competing nations in front of him, and whichever one he touches is his pick. According to his owner Linka Lin, he is running at roughly an 80% success rate — down, she notes, from his early form, but still a number most professional analysts would take.

Lin is admirably clear-eyed about the methodology. Billy, she has said, does things that benefit Billy. He wants the treat. Somewhere in that sentence is the entire discipline of sports punditry.

Billy, who turns two in August, has apparently internalised the schedule. In the afternoons he now comes to his owner and starts meowing insistently — his version of reminding the crew it’s time to film.

He is not working this beat alone. Bug, a Brussels Griffon in the UK with over 55,000 followers, makes his picks by tapping one of two mini soccer balls while wearing an England shirt. And a duck named Merlin has somehow become a face of Team Mexico. Collectively they have become a small parallel media industry running alongside the actual tournament, with results that vary considerably.

Billy’s owners say the warmest part has been the reaction when he goes cold: rather than piling on, commenters show up to encourage a cat through a losing streak. He is, it should be stressed, entirely unaware that any of this is happening.