Near goal for China's 'X' man

Anyone in his or her right mind would agree Prescient Paul, the octopus who predicted the outcome of the World Cup, was the star of the tournament. He unfailingly hit the target while big names like Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Kaka were largely disappointing.

China's equivalent of the prognosticating Octopoda is an individual called "X From the Future", who correctly forecast before the World Cup began that Spain would meet Netherlands in the final.

On June 13 he/she wrote on a Baidu forum: "I come from the near future. I know many people will think this is a joke but here are some facts. The evidence (for what I have said) is that the World Cup final will include the Netherlands and Spain."