BERLIN (AP) -- Octopus oracle Paul on Tuesday hesitated but
ultimately picked Germany to win -- again -- this time over
Argentina in their quarterfinal matchup at the football World
Cup.
Paul, who rose to global fame after correctly predicting all
four of Germany's games in this year's tournament, indicated that
Saturday's game will be a tough battle and that it may even end in
a penalty shootout.
While English-born Paul made a snappy decision to pick Germany
over his native country, this time it took the octopus about an
hour to approach a water glass containing a mussel marked with a
German flag, said Tanja Munzig, a spokeswoman for Sea Life Aquarium
in the western city of Oberhausen.
Paul ignored a similar glass with Argentina's flag, but he also
did not reach inside the German glass with his tentacles to grab
the seafood goodie.
"Paul kept staring at the German glass and only when we wanted
to take out both glasses, he finally jumped inside the German one
and gulped down the mussel" Munzig said. "All of his behavior
indicates that Saturday's game will be very tough and it may even
go into extra time and penalty shootout -- but in the end Germany
will win."
Two-year-old Paul has proven to be a reliable oracle in the past
-- in addition to predicting Germany's win over England, he also
foretold the victories over Australia and Ghana and the country's
loss to Serbia. During the 2008 European Championship, he predicted
80 percent of all German games right, Munzig said.
Despite being a naturalized German, Munzig said, Paul is not a
biased octopus and "he may even have some relatives in Argentina,
who emigrated there many generations ago.
