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It takes a brave creature to disagree with Paul, Germany's soothsaying octopus, who has an impeccable track record on World Cup predictions to date.
But step (or swim) forward Sayco, the dolphin from the Argentine port city of Mar del Plata.
Sayco's keepers at the city aquarium decided on Thursday to see if the friendly creature preferred to play with a ball in German red-black-gold or Argentine sky blue and white.
Leaping four metres out of the water, Sayco unhesitatingly went for the Argentine ball placed on a platform above his pool.
Locals immediately saw a positive omen, with Argentina set to face Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals in Cape Town on Sunday.
Even so, Sayco does not have the track record of Paul, an eight-legged oracle in the Germany city of Oberhausen, who has shot to stardom for his spot-on predictions and who has forecast a German win.
Paul needed just eight seconds to make up his mind about the Germans' chances against England -- even though he was born in England -- and earlier in the tournament he correctly tipped wins over Ghana and Australia.
Not only that, he proved he is not just attracted by Germany's flag by correctly predicting a loss to Serbia in the group phase.
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)
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(Agencies)
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德國的神算章魚“保羅”對本屆世界杯的賽果預測至今未出差錯，看來誰要想向它發起挑戰還需要點勇氣。
但來自阿根廷海港城市馬德普拉塔的一只名叫“薩克”的海豚就自告奮勇地站了出來。
本周四，馬德普拉塔市水族館的飼養員們準備了兩個球，一個球上貼著德國的紅黑金三色國旗，另一只球貼著阿根廷的藍白相間國旗，然后看性情友好的薩克更喜歡玩哪個球。
當時，薩克跳出水面四米，然后毫不猶豫地頂起了置于水池上方平臺上的貼有阿根廷國旗的球。
薩克的這一舉動讓當地的人們看到了好兆頭。阿根廷隊將于本周日在開普敦舉行的世界杯四分之一決賽中迎戰德國隊。
但即便如此，薩克并沒有“保羅”那樣的“輝煌”戰績。家在德國奧伯豪森市的“八爪神魚”保羅因準確預測世界杯比賽賽果而一舉成名。據“保羅”預測，德國將在四分之一決賽中擊敗阿根廷。
雖然出生于英國，但在預測英格蘭對陣德國的那場比賽時，保羅僅用8秒鐘就做出了德國將取勝的預測。在之前的比賽中，它還準確預測出德國會戰勝加納和澳大利亞隊。
但不要以為保羅屢次預測德國取勝是因為它喜歡德國國旗，它曾準確預測出德國在小組賽中會輸給塞爾維亞。
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（中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯蔡姍姍）
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