Yes Paul, Spain’s sunshine football can topple Dutch

WHILE the whole of the football world, and especially those parts of it coloured either orange or red, works itself into a fit of feverish anticipation ahead of tomorrow’s World Cup final, your correspondent finds himself in the unusually luxurious position of feeling eminently chilled about the outcome.

See, it’s a win-win situation for me. For once, I’ve got at least half a prediction right, having forecast back at the start of the tournament that Spain would contest the final. No matter that virtually every bookie and probably billions of other people predicted the self-same thing. No matter either that my soothsaying suffered a major setback when my co-favourites Brazil had their hopes dashed by tomorrow’s surprise finalists the Netherlands.

When, as a self-styled expert, you find that you’ve been repeatedly poked in the eye by an octopus – and what better-equipped beastie to do the poking, eh? – you tend to take what small victories you can. And, as The Guy Who Said That Liverpool Would Win The Premier League last season, believe me, there is ignominy even more enduring than being outflanked by a fantastically ugly creature of the deep.