Saturday, July 10, 2010

Paul who? Dutch envoy still backs his country to win World Cup

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) The Netherlands' top representative in Taiwan is standing by his pick that his country will win the World Cup, bucking the choice of a "psychic" octopus that sees Spain taking the title in South Africa Monday morning Taiwan time.

Menno Goedhart, representative of the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office (NTIO) , the main Dutch office in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, said he predicted a Netherlands-Spain final and picked his home country to win its first ever World Cup in an online pool ahead of the quadrennial tournament.

"It's an online pool participated in by tens of thousands of soccer fans that requires you to make picks of results of all the 64 games before the tournament, " Goedhart explained.

The Dutch representative said he was standing by his choice even though Paul the Octopus, an octopus at a German sea life center, has predicted the opposite.

Paul has gained fame by correctly predicting the result of all six matches played by Germany in this World Cup, and on Friday, it took Spain in the final to defeat the Netherlands and Germany to win the third place game against Uruguay.

Undeterred, Goedhart said the Dutch office will host a party in a Taipei bar early Monday morning and all NTIO employees and fans in the Dutch and Taiwanese community are encouraged to go and cheer for "The Oranje," the Netherlands' national color.

"You don't need to be a soccer fan to be crazy during the World Cup. Those who go to the party will be allowed to take Monday morning off," he said.

Goedhart, a dedicated soccer fan who supports the Dutch professional club Feyenoord, said he didn't watch the Netherlands-Uruguay semifinal, the only match played by his country that he has missed in this World Cup.

But his mother in Holland, he said, made sure to see it.

"After we beat Uruguay 3-2 and made the final, my mother, a 98-year-old PSV Eindhoven fan, was so excited, she went to the kitchen and started shouting, " he said.

The Uruguay game was the most watched television program ever in Dutch history and the whole country was jubilant with the win, he said.

Goedhart said he was most worried about the quarterfinal encounter against perennial soccer powerhouse Brazil, which the Dutch eventually won 2-1, because the Dutch knew from day one that they would likely meet Brazil in that game.

"But we have a strong team of course. They didn't lose for a long time and expect to at least make the second phase of 16 teams. We knew if we beat Brazil, there was a chance to go to the final, " he said.

The diplomat is hoping that this year's final will reverse his previous two World Cup finals heartbreaks, when the Netherlands lost to Germany 2-1 in 1974 and 3-1 to Argentina in extra time in 1978.

"Both times, we were this close to victory," he lamented.

Goedhart, who's retiring in August and has decided to make the southern city of Tainan his permanent home because of his love for Taiwan, said he played soccer until he was 30.

He started out as a midfielder and later became a defender because he was "stronger and fatter."

"When I was young I was not bad, quite frankly. But when I was in university I started drinking beer with friends and you know what happened after that," he said.

(By Chris Wang)

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