NEW YORK, June 13 (Xinhua) -- With the 2018 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, Goldman Sachs said its artificial intelligence believes Brazil would likely come out the winner.

The world's leading investment bank incorrectly predicted the winners of the 2014 World Cup: it forecasted the Brazilians to lift the cup but they were blocked from reaching the final in a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Germans, the final winners.

But perhaps Brazil deserves a second chance. In a report issued on Monday, Goldman Sachs once again pins its hope on Brazil, predicting a defeat of the defending champions Germany in the final on July 15.

"We capture the stochastic nature of the tournament carefully using state-of-the-art statistical methods and we consider a lot of information in doing so," the bank said in the report.

It also boasts of the AI technologies used in the prediction process, saying machine learning models can "produce more accurate forecasts than conventional alternatives."

Other key predictions include Germany defeating England and Argentina losing to Portugal in the quarter finals.

Predicting the outcomes of the world's most watched football games can be a risky and thankless job because it is full of surprises and uncontrollable variables. Many of the best minds in prediction have come up short.

Perhaps the last "great oracle" of the football world is an octopus name Paul, who held an impeccable 100 percent record in its eight predictions of the 2010 World Cup.