Saturday, Jul 05, 2014
Dubai
Shaheen the camel sat with his neck extended, proudly displaying the Netherlands flag between his teeth. He held the pose for a few seconds before the cameras stopped rolling.
It was the moment of the World Cup so far for the four-hooved prediction machine.
The Dutch thrashed Spain 5-1 and the powerful image flew around social media. Spain had won the last three major tournaments they had taken part in, including the 2010 South Africa World Cup. But they had just received the thrashing of their lives - and Shaheen predicted it.
Since then the unassuming ungulate from the depths of the Dubai desert has continue to get more right than wrong.
His master-predicting is the talk of the football world, with videos shared in several different languages and picked up by TV stations including CNN and the UK’s ITV. He even made it on to screens in the Cayman Islands.
After an initial perfect record of four from four, he went on to call seven out of eight quarter-final ties correctly, some with a mere sniff and a wink, others with a more-confident nibble and a few with an outright bite.
Conspiracy theories poured in thick and fast, ranging from hidden food to the trainer being stood behind camera, telling his trusty steed which way to go. Some viewers seemed unable to accept Shaheen’s picks were completely genuine.
The hump-backed football genius hasn’t had it all his own way.
His most famous fail came in selecting Portugal to beat Germany in the group stages. When the Germans went on to win 4-0, the social media backlash was swift and harsh, ranging from just words to graphic images.
As of Saturday, Shaheen’s record is 16 right and nine wrong, a score that would stand up against some of the most well-respected pundits around.
With the competition at the semi-final stage, the old adage says there are no certainties in football.
But you can be certain of one thing - that Shaheen the camel will keep on predicting right to the last whistle of the World Cup final.
By Gareth Butler Web News Editor
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
