Almost the World Cup Final

Well, I managed to predict one half of the world cup semi-finals correctly - Spain beat Germany. However, the other half took me by surprise as I never imagined that the Netherlands would beat Brazil and Uruguay were not even on my radar - I suppose someone had to fill the gap left by the ineptitude of England (and France, and Italy). I had hoped that we may get a Germany vs. Netherlands final (a replay of 1974) but as it is we will get a new World Cup winner - the first time since France in 1998 and the first time we are guaranteed a new winner since Argentina played the Netherlands in 1978 (good grief, I sound like Motty).

With just the final and the rather pointless 3rd/4th play-off to go it's probably worth picking my favourite game of the tournament. I think that would have to be the Germany vs. Argentina match. I have found these two teams to be by far the most entertaining. I had expected Argentina to implode in a similar fashion to the way France did but, instead, they have been one of the life and souls of the party. Having said that, they were managed by a tactical lunatic and the game against the Germans reminded me of a late 1990's Newcastle vs. Liverpool match where Keegan's spirited 1-1-8 formation would throw themselves headlong at a similarly gung-ho Liverpool side in what Roy Evans would call "Suicide Football".

One particularly odd-box story from this World Cup has been the case of Paul the Octopus. This Oberhausen based cephalopod has had a remarkable history of picking the correct winners in all of Germany's matches although, in fairness, he usually goes for the German flag (no doubt he remembers that there is food under there) and Germany usually wins. However, he picked the Serbian flag in the group stages and, surprisingly, the Serbians won that match. You can imagine the trepidation of German football fans when he picked the Spanish flag for the semi-finals and, once again, Paul was right. In fact he has a much better prediction rate than Hansen, Lineker et al and he is a good deal more entertaining. Maybe the BBC should hire him - particularly since Adrian Chiles has moved to ITV, although I'm sure that an animated brummie gargoyle would suffice.

Anyway, for any Germans that would like to cheer themselves up after the treacherous antics of Paul the Octopus, the Spanish dish of Pulpo a la Gallega may be worth a try. For this you will need:

1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
olive oil (aim for a fruity, extra-virgin oil)
2 potatoes, preferably yukon gold
1 bleeding smart-alec octopus (2-2.5 lb / 1 kg)

Simply freeze the octopus for 2 days, chop it up with a knife, boil the bastard and add the potatoes and other ingredients.

Lovely!