Paul the Octopus Oracle's Prediction A Fake

Update: The world-renowned psychic octopus, Paul, has now picked Spain to beat Germany during the World Cup semi-finals tomorrow. Watch the video here.



Paul, a 2-year old octopus oracle residing in the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany has become widely popular with his predictions for Germany's WC games. Many believe this is a joke, however, Paul has so far predicted five of Germany's games and all of them are spot on--even Serbia's upset victory over Die Mannschaft.

The psychic octopus makes his prediction by choosing between two containers with food that are lowered into his tank. Both boxes are identical except for the flags -- one is with a German flag, the other, with the flag of the opponent. The box where Paul gets the mussel from is the winner.

On Sunday night, the blogosphere became abuzz when photos of Paul choosing Spain over Germany floated around. This caused quite a frenzy and some people actually thought it was real. Why do people say it's fake? Well, upon closer inspection, the image seems to be photoshopped as it is identical to the prediction image during the Germany versus Serbia pick. Also, unlike the previous picks, there was no video evidence available online to support this pick. Lastly, Paul usually makes his predictions the day before the game. Since Spain and Germany won't be meeting until Wednesday the 7th of July, it's safe to assume that the prediction will be released tomorrow.

Germany vs England Last 16 WC 2010

In what was a classic match against long-time football rivals, Germany and England, Die Mannschaft totally outclassed the Three Lions 4-1. The young German team played a different brand of football with technique that shamed the English. The latter appeared slow, dull and clueless on the pitch while their rivals demonstrated excellent passing, flawless technique and utter patience.

Some claim that Lampard's disallowed equalizer in the first half could've changed the outcome of the game, however, with the way the English were playing, many believe that the Germans would still have won.

Germany are now through to the quarterfinals where they will play the Argentinian powerhouse.

World Cup 2010 Slovakia vs Italy 3-2

Just finished watching the Slovakia vs Italy game and all I can say is "What a heck of an upset"! Who would've thought that a not-so-powerful team like Slovakia will be the reason for the early exit of the reigning champs in this WC? After this heartbreaking defeat, Italy have become only the fourth ever defending world champs to be eliminated in the first round.

Sad sad day for Italians!