 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Pig Funtik
Paul the Octopus shot to fame for correctly predicting each of Germany's eight matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa two years back. Since his death later that year, football fans across the world are trying to find a worthy successor to Paul but haven't succeeded thus far.
- Paul the Octopus gets a memorial
A few creatures have been tried to predict results of the Euro 2012 matches, being played in Ukraine and Poland, but the results haven't been up to the mark.
Indeed, it's going to be tough to emulate Paul, who not only predicted correctly for all of Germany's matches, but also that Spain would be beat Holland in the final.
A look at some of animals used by sports fans across the world to predict match results:
Pig Funtik
Pig Funtik is set to take over where Paul the Octopus left off at the 2010 World Cup by predicting the results of matches. Thus far, though, he hasn't lived up to the hype.
He predicts the result of a Euro 2012 soccer matches by choosing the food plate with the flag of the countries that are supposed to play each other.
Funtik tipped Poland to win the tournament opener against Greece, but it ended in a 1-1 draw!
However, his next two predictions were bang on target, as Russia crushed the Czech Republic 4-1, while Denmark shocked the Netherlands 1-0.
Octopus Manolo
An octopus named Manolo also let down football fans in Spain.
He predicted Spain would beat Italy in their opening Euro 2012 match by choosing a sardine from a plastic canister decorated with the Spanish flag instead of the plastic canister with the Italian flag, at the Sealife Benalmadena aquarium in the southern Spanish city of Benalmadena, near Malaga southern Spain.
However, World champions Spain were held to a 1-1 draw, coming back from a goal down.
Otter Maya
An otter named Maya also started off the wrong note as his prediction for the Spain-Italy match went wrong.
He also predicted victory for Spain, by choosing a piece of meat from a canister decorated with Spain's flag at the Sealife Benalmadena aquarium.
Oracle cow Yvonne
German football fans were delighted that Yvonne the cow's decision to tip Portugal to beat Germany turned out to be wrong.
Oracle cow Yvonne shot to fame in Germany last year after she escaped from a farm where she was due to be slaughtered and roamed free around Bavaria for three months, eluding the farmer, hunters, animal activists, Ernst the bull and even her best friend.
Paul, the mystical mollusc correctly predicted the outcome of all matches involving the German team in the 2010 World Cup, including defeat to Spain in the semi-finals by choosing to eat from one of two containers placed before him. One container carried the German flag and the other the flag of the opposing national side.
The bolting bovine was offered a choice of troughs decked out with national flags on Friday and ate from the Portuguese one, Germany's radio Bayern 3 reported. However, she also swiftly moved on to the German trough.
Germany won the match 1-0.
Octopuses Paulus
Octopuses Paulus, born in Germany, swims over boxes with the flags of Germany and Portugal to predict the winner between the two teams', in Porto's city Sea Life Aquarium.
He is tipped as the replacement for Paul, but so far he has not done anything of worth to be compared in the same league.
Ferret Fred
Ferret Fred is another of the creatures to be used to predict match results at Euro 2012.
He started with a bang -- correctly predicting for three out of the four matches at the start of the tournament.
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.