Dubai: The animal kingdom is in two minds over Sunday's divisive World Cup final, with Paul the "psychic" octopus gunning for Spain and Mani the parakeet opting for Holland.
Paul, the two-year-old English-born mollusc-medium who lives in Germany, has correctly predicted the outcome of all six Germany games, including their disappointing semi-final defeat and Group D loss to Serbia.
When two boxes were lowered back into his tank, each containing a mussel and the flags of Holland and Spain, he quickly wrapped his tentacles around the Spanish box and ate the titbit on live TV.
Meanwhile, Mani the Singaporean parakeet, crept out of his cage to choose between two white cards — one hiding either finalist's flag — he flipped his card over to reveal a Dutch triumph. Mani's 80-year-old owner claims the bird accurately forecast the World Cup's four quarter-finals and Spain's semi-final win over Germany.
Whoever wins on Sunday, South Africa is already marking the end of its first World Cup with a celebration parade winding through the streets of Soweto yesterday.
"Carnival in Soweto is normally the last day of the year, but because of the World Cup, it's now," said Maphiwe Ndaba as the parade rolled by.
Meanwhile, Fifa has said overall attendance at all World Cup matches has topped three million, only the third tournament to do so, partly because of the enormous stadiums South Africa built for the games.
"Africa can be proud, South Africa even more so, and African football can also be proud," Fifa president Sepp Blatter told a news conference.
