[Niamh.]

Medium Santos: Ireland will be footie kings at Euro 2012

A FOOTIE-loving Asian soothsayer who wears a tinfoil bandana on his head has predicted Ireland will be crowned Euro 2012 champions.

Santos, from Indonesia, claims to be able to predict the winner of the tournament based on a vision of a colour.

The madcap prophet, Ambon Island’s answer to 16th-Century French oracle Nostradamus, has a history of success after plumping for blueshirts Greece in 2004, then picking the red of Spain four years later.

And this year the Indo oracle is staking all his rupiah on Giovanni Trapattoni’s heroes to triumph in Poland.

He said: “I see green colour for this year — I’m convinced it is Ireland which represents the colour and so will become the European champions.

“Of course this is crazy for so many people, but remember — anything can happen in soccer.

“Ireland is not a bad team at all. They have many players that play in English Premier League.

“Is it impossible for Ireland to become European champion? Watch Euro 2012 and you will get your answer.”

Two years ago, mystic mollusc Paul the Octopus stunned fans across the world with his ability to fore-SEA the winners of matches in World Cup 2010.

And up to 20,000 Green Army members will march on Poland next month, hoping Santos’s wacky prediction is on the ball.

Germany’s away shirts are the only other green strip in Euro 2012 but Santos said: “Yes, other teams have green colour in them. But Ireland is more green. Please look at their flag and uniform. That’s why their nickname is the Boys in Green.”

Santos took to YouTube to share his “interesting experiences” in guessing the Euro 2012 champions. He explained: “I was very confident as I saw the colour of blue in 2004. Somehow I’d a strong belief that Greece would win.

“It was even hard for me to believe it. I thought that maybe it was a rare occurrence.

“In 2008, I saw one colour. But this time my prediction was missed because I misinterpreted the colour.

“I thought Portugal would be champion but I was not that confident. Spain were red and naturally they won 2008.”

Trap’s footsoldiers kick off in Group C against Croatia in Poznan on June 10, then move to Gdansk to face world champs Spain four days later.

Robbie Keane and the lads then return to Poznan on June 18 for a crunch clash with Italy.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...Euro-2012.html