Paul the Octopus a hard act to follow; Maradona being Maradona; Ronaldo congratulates Klose

It's a sorry field following in Paul the Octopus' footsteps, as animals around the world flop at picking World Cup games - including a pair of camels tabbed by The National.

Emirati Matar Al Jabri is photographed with his camel Shaheen after it chooses Portugal as a winner at his camel farm in Al Marmoum in Dubai on June 8, 2014. Sarah Dea / The National

Flopping animal picks

Paul the Octopus is sadly missed. The National’s pair of World Cup-predicting camels are just two members of the animal kingdom having a rough time forecasting Brazil 2014. The camels were right on only one of four “predictions”, choosing the treat that indicated the Netherlands would defeat Spain, but missing on Croatia over Brazil, Portugal over Germany and England drawing with Uruguay. Other erring animals include Flopsy the Kangaroo in Australia, Mani the parakeet in Singapore, Madame Shiva the guinea pig in Switzerland, Pele the piranha in Britain and Big Head the turtle from Brazil. In 2010, Paul the German octopus had a series of accurate picks, including Spain over the Netherlands in the final, but the cephalopod died a few weeks after the tournament ended.

Messi Twitter explosion

Lionel Messi’s injury-time goal against Iran set off a social-media eruption. The Argentine striker’s curling shot inspired 256,024 Twitter comments per minute, one of the highest figures of the World Cup, the social network said. The high of 261,026 tweets per minute was set after Portugal’s defender Pepe was sent off for butting German striker Thomas Muller.

Maradona gesture

Diego Maradona made an obscene gesture on live TV yesterday aimed at Julio Grondona, the Argentine federation president. Grondona had suggested Argentina scored against Iran because “jinx” Maradona had left the stadium by then. While appearing on a Venezuela station, Maradona said: “Poor, stupid man. This is Messi’s merit, not because I left.”

Belgian camping mishap

Hundreds of Belgian fans were looking forward to a “luxury camping” trip to the World Cup, but they ended up in a muddy mess far from five-star treatment. About 500 people paid €150 (Dh750) a night, per person, for the privilege of sleeping in tents that lack electricity and the promised internet connection. The tourists at the “Belgian Village” at Recreio dos Bandeirantes, a coastal resort 40 kilometres west of Rio de Janeiro, also have contended with dirty showers and toilets, and have forwarded their complaints to a Dutch company operating the site.

Nigeria ends drought

Millions of Nigerians, including the president, Goodluck Jonathan, stayed up late on Saturday to celebrate after the African champions beat Bosnia to boost their chances of reaching the World Cup knockout rounds. Spontaneous victory parties broke out across the country after Nigeria ended a 16-year wait for a match win at a World Cup finals. Jonathan popped champagne with aides at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja after the historic win.

Klose company

The former Brazil striker Ronaldo congratulated Miroslav Klose after the German equalled his record of 15 World Cup goals on Saturday. Klose, 36, came on in the second half against Ghana and scored the equaliser in a 2-2 draw. “Welcome to the club,” Ronaldo tweeted. “I can only imagine your happiness!!! What a great World Cup!!!” Ronaldo scored his goals in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 tournaments.

Fifa payments

Fifa has declined to comment on claims that annual payments were doubled for executive committee members after their bonuses were stopped. The Sunday Times of Britain reported that the 25 board members now get a US$200,000 (Dh735,000) stipend for their part-time duties. A Fifa spokeswoman yesterday said executive payments are decided by a panel created as part of Fifa reforms in 2011 after a series of financial and election scandals.

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