Given the shameful beating (4-0) Germany gave rivals Argentina in the quarter final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it seemed there was no stopping Germany from clinching the coveted title of World Champions of arguably the most popular sport in the world. However, the team that had so far portrayed a formidable offence and an impenetrable defense during this exciting tournament struggled to keep up – and then eventually succumbed – to a 1-0 loss against the Spaniards in the semi final. German fans were in shock over this loss and now some of them want to kill Paul Oktopus, who they consider responsible for their country’s startling defeat.
According to his occupation listed on Wikipedia, Paul the Octopus is an oracle; renowned for predicting Germany’s wins or losses in football. It predicted that Germany would lose against Serbia during this FIFA World Cup, as outlandish it may have initially seemed given the difference in calibre of players of both teams, but lose they did. Paul’s track record this time has been immaculate, as he predicted correctly the outcomes of all six of Germany’s matches. Paul is only 2-years old and it seems that he has learned from his experiences and has the predictions down to a pat now. In the Euro2008 football tournament, Paul’s predictions were only 80% correct. He predicted that Germany would win the Euro2008 final against Spain, which unfortunately for both the German fans and Paul, did not happen as Spain crushed Germany (coincidentally 1-0 as well). One could say that patriotism might have blurred Paul’s predictive powers then – but not this time.
Paul’s rise to fame is surely astonishing. In the future, bookies are probably going to be basing their bets on which jar of mussels/oysters Paul goes for. Paul operates in mysterious ways – I doubt even he knows what compels him to go for the German flagged-jar or the other. Fans and spectators alike await Paul’s verdict on the match for third place. Germany or Uruguay? Either way, Paul’s keeper vows to protect him against hungry Germans’ death (read eat-Paul-for-dinner) threats.
