And perhaps it’s just this New York heat wave that has gone to my head, but I’ve decided, if a cephalopod can try and predict the World Cup, why the hell can’t I? The worst that I can be is wrong, and well, let’s face it, I’ve been wrong many, many times in my life (who hasn’t!).

At first I thought that with 23 team members per team, any astrological analysis would be a wash. I mean, wouldn’t it just end up with statistically almost equal numbers of each of the signs as well as the elements? Apparently not! It seems that there are some recurring themes to soccer, which is that usually there is a sign and element that more members have than would be average. And it seems that so far in the teams that I have analyzed, the Air signs seem to be the dominant element in terms of sheer numbers for 5 out of the 6 teams studied so far! Also, it does seem like there are a darn lot of Aquarians and Librans out there playing soccer! I would expect the Aquarians, given their “group teamwork” spirit, but I must admit I find the number of Librans confounding! For instance Paraguay has a total of 5 Librans on it’s team (the most of one particular sign) and Uruguay has 4 Librans as well as 4 Aquarians! The Netherlands also has 5 Aquarians as does the “Que Lastima!” team of Argentina! So far the only team to balk this Aquarian/Libra Air sign trend is Spain, who has a total of 4 Taureans as the most greatly represented sign (which only makes me wonder if their tradition of the Running of the Bulls is somehow carrying over into their soccer!). All the earth signs are well represented on the Spanish team: they have a total of 10 earth signs, 7 fire, 3 air and 3 water signs.

While the Air/Fire top two elements seems to constantly dominate, I will say that so far Germany seems to have the most astrologically balanced team so far with 8 air, 6 fire, 5 earth, and 4 water signs. Plus it is the only team so far seen to not be missing one of the signs. Does this give them an advantage if they represent ALL of the signs and can work together in a more balanced way than say a less balanced group such as Argentina which has 9 air signs, 7 fire signs, 6 water signs and only 1 earth sign? Let’s not forget those earth signs–remember my post about tennis and how sometimes those stodgy earth signs can win because they add the grit and determination to steel out any problems! Fire without Earth can burn out too quick, especially when Air gets the Fire going! Having said that in the upcoming match of Spain against Germany, I’m not sure Spain can win having the earth/fire combo without having enough air to keep the team going! I really favor the balanced astrological portfolio of Germany to win.

So let’s just cut to the chase: my predictions (no one go betting any money on these though, please! I’m an Earth sign and don’t condone betting!) are that Netherlands will beat Uruguay by a hair, only because Netherlands is slightly more balanced in it’s element distribution (9 Air, 7 fire, 4 earth, 3 water vs Uruguay’s 11 air, 5 fire, 4 earth, 3 water) and because it has more Aquarians than Librans and I think the Aquarians Fixed quality will provide more stamina for them. And for the Germany vs Spain, I still think that Germany will win because it’s also more balanced and while I LOVE the Earth signs (I am one after all) I feel 10 is just TOO many to have on a team with only 3 air signs to keep the engine running!

So there are my predictions! Of course, perhaps I’m totally off base and Paul the Octopus is one you should really be listening to!