World Cup 2010: The Psychic Octopus

With the Dutch national team playing the World Cup Finals tomorrow, the small country is turning orange. There is one question occupying over 16 million people: will we finally bring that World Cup home? No need to wait another day, because Paul the Octopus knows exactly who is going to win. Yes, that’s right. An octopus.

In an effort to predict the outcomes of the games, the octopus has become a big internet hit. But, who is going to win that World Cup, Paul?

The UK born -but German raised- 2 year old octopus gained fame as he predicted the outcomes all of Germans games, including their loss in the semi finals. Out of the two boxes, one with a Spanish and one with a German flag on it, psychic Paul climbed on the Spanish box and therewith telling the world that the Germans would not make it to the 2010 World Cup finals.

The psychic octopus or pulpo Paul is now nearly as famous as the World Cup itself. The octopus has got a Facebook page. In a just a short period of time, Paul managed to get over 85,000 Facebook friends, and counting. That’s something most brands can only dream of… The octopus even is a world wide trending topic on Twitter. Twice.

And here’s another first: the octopus got death treats. British newspaper the Independent created a list of “10 things you did not know about Paul”, so Paul even made it into quality press. Did you know that Paul has a 100% accuracy rate in predicting this World Cup.

All very interesting, of course, but; who is going to win that final? According to Paul, Spain will beat the Dutch. Obviously, I am still wearing my orange outfit tomorrow: convinced we will prove Paul wrong!

Source: International Soccer