Taiyo, the otter who predicted the fall of the World Cup in Qatar: the new Octopus Paul?

Four days after its start, the Qatar World Cup 2022 It doesn’t stop adding bumps. Among those results which surprise and defy any analysis of precedent is the unexpected defeat of the Argentina national team in view of Saudi Arabia 2-1 at the Lusail stadium, for the first date of Group C.

To this series of unexpected encounters such as “rompe prodes” which ushered in the there are Albiceleste to add goalless draws between Denmark Y TunisiaY Morocco Y Croatia. In both races the European teams appeared as the favourites, but the result caught more than a surprise.

But, without a doubt, the one that took all the flashes was the victory of Japan for 2-1 against Germanyfour times world champion.

The Teutonic team was the favourites. Flick’s team began to dominate the game, but the Japanese hit the bump late in the game and they overturned the score.

Beyond the football amazement, there was also room for an amusing dynamic that usually takes place in the run-up to the World Cup: predict results. And in this case Japan smiled twice, because days before the match the otter Taiyo anticipated victory of Asians compared to Europeans.

Taiyo, the fortune teller otter

Undoubtedly those who bet in favor of the Japanese team will receive a good reward, because The result that was finally given was hardly anyone’s plan.

The mammal was challenged with three buckets: one with the flag of Japananother with the flag of Germany and another with the word “bind“.

Taiyo had to grab a ball with his paws and place it in the bowl of the one who would win. And the nice little animal was right in choosing the flag with the white rectangle and a red circle in the centre.

The goal Sankei posted the funny sequence a day before the match, but after a few hours Social networks have been flooded with videos of the new World Cup mascot anticipating a result that no one expected.

“Otter Taiyo predicts a victory for Japan. Three buckets with both countries’ national flags and the word ‘draw’ were prepared, and the ball was placed in Japan’s blue bucket,” Japanese media tweeted.

And quickly people wanted to leave their message. “Keep me posted when this sweet otter makes another prediction.“, commented one user. “I will continue to follow this cute otter,” wrote another Internet user.

Taiyo is a male otter who lives at Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa, a public aquarium located inside the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Minato, Tokyo.

However, that wasn’t the only prediction for the match between Japan and Germany. In the Nasu Animal Kingdom, a parrot named Olivia also tried to guess the outcome, but Germany was the winner.

The story of the octopus Paul

The Octopus Paul was a mollusk that became known in European 2008 where it started as an oracle that came to strike at 66% of matches that they were shown.

His performances at the aquarium in the German city of Oberhausen attracted the attention of more than one football fan. At first he only guessed the matches of the German national team, but then he started predicting the winners of other matches.

In the Euro 2008 final, he preferred the German box to the Spanish one, his best-known mistake. However, the cephalopod had an early revenge.

In the World Cup in South Africa 2010 become a world star. Possibly one of the best remembered animals with supposed psychic powers in history, above Shaheen the camel or the cat Seer Achilles.

The Octopus Paul He became famous almost twelve years ago because his successes in that World Cup event were one hundred percent.

He was right in his first six World Cup games and also predicted victories for Spain over Germany (semi-final), Germany over Uruguay (third place) and Spain over the Netherlands (final). Full of hits.

The mollusk died on October 26, 2010 at the Sea Life Aquarium, he was two and a half years old.

dd