Animal magic deals World Cup blow to pundits

Franz Beckenbauer, Pele and Jurgen Klinsmann have some serious rivals when it comes to World Cup punditry.

Step forward – or swim or fly – Paul and Pauline the octopus oracles and Mani the Singapore parakeet who have all been given credit for correctly predicting a series of World Cup results.

Paul, born in Weymouth in the south west of England, has led the way with a perfect record of guessing six out of six winners from his aquarium home in western Germany.

Indeed he has shown there is no room for nostaglia or sentiment as twice he correctly predicted that his adopted country Germany would lose and twice they did.

He also correctly foretold that the English would not prevail over the Germans.

Now expectation will be on tentacle hooks to see whether the eight-legged oracle is proven correct with his plumping for Spain over the Dutch in Sunday’s final – and such is his celebrity the drama of his selection was carried live on national German television.

The two-year-old mollusc medium has also said that Germany will defeat Uruguay in the third-place play-off game on Saturday.

In the now familiar routine, two boxes were lowered into his tank, each containing a mussel and the flags of the two opposing teams.

The tentacled tipster went straight to the Spanish box, wrenched open the lid and gobbled the tasty morsel.

But the art of football prediction has become a dangerous job for the English-born clairvoyant cephalopod with some bitter German fans threatening to turn him into sushi after he predicted a semi-final defeat for the Mannschaft.

According to aquarium spokesman Daniel Fey, Paul has received death-threat emails demanding “we want Paul for the pan.”

There have been no such death threats for Mani in Singapore who predicted all four winners of the quarter-finals correctly and has pecked for the Dutch.

The bird has rapidly gained cult status among gambling-mad soccer fans who have been flocking to its astrologer owner’s shop in the hope of winning big.

Local media reports said Mani – dubbed “magical bird” and “homegrown psychic parakeet” – used its beak to pick a card bearing the flag of the Netherlands over one with Spain’s national colours.

Pauline may also have plumped for the Dutch but given that she is in captivity in the Netherlands she may have opted for the safety first option by choosing the ‘Oranje’.