In a clash of giants, the Parisian side reversed a first-leg loss against their Spanish rival to reach the semifinals in quest for elusive European glory
From a Chinese panda to a German octopus to a clairvoyant camel in Dubai, we’ve had a fair share of our friends from the animal kingdom successfully predicting the winners of matches in the recent Fifa World Cup tournaments.
However, this has been the year that a human psychic has taken the prediction game to a whole new level with his quirky forecasts on not which team will win, but which team will lose!
At a time when football fans are in a race to predict the winners of the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 matches, an Omani has become an instant celebrity in the Middle East for his ‘precise’ predictions.
Popularly known as Mjomba, Oman’s Mohammed al Hajri has achieved celebrity status on social media for his precise predictions.
And how does he do it? It’s simple.
Mohammed just wears the jersey of a team that he thinks will lose and abracadabra, so it happens.
His reverse magic has worked right from the first game when he wore the Qatar colours when they lost in the tournament opener to Ecuador. Since then, he has been spot-on with all his predictions.
The Omani has been flaunting the jerseys of some of the biggest football-playing nations and, just like that, that was the end of them in the tournament. Take a look at some of the teams Mohammed 'jinxed':
On Dec 9, favourites Brazil were stunned by Croatia 4-2 on penalties in one of the biggest knockout-phase upsets in the tournament's history. Mohammed, of course, was sporting the Brazil team colours that day.
The Balkan country's joy did not last much longer though. Though they made it to the quarter-finals, Croatian hearts were crushed as Argentina reached Sunday’s World Cup final with a 3-0 victory at the Lusail Stadium. Here is Mjomba on December 13, decked up in Croatia's chequered colours.
Football great Ronaldo was no match for Mohammed's jinxing ability, it would seem. Morocco wrote World Cup history on December 10 as the first African and Arab country to reach the tournament’s semi-finals, continuing their surprise run in Qatar with a shock 1-0 victory over the highly fancied Portugal.
Wondering about that historic Saudi win? Have no doubt. On the day that the Gulf country notched one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history with a 2-1 win, thanks to a scintillating second half comeback, Mjomba was snapped, grinning away, in an Argentina jersey.
The moment of truth has arrived and today, football fans across the Arab world are fervently praying Mohammed will not be dressed in Moroccan colours, as France square off against Morocco in the second semi-final of the tournament. They're not the only ones making petitions though.
Earlier today, the French Embassy in Oman posted a video of French ambassador Luciano Rispoli requesting Mjomba not to wear the French jersey colours to the match at Al Bayt Stadium tonight. Mjombo shared the post on his page, captioning it with an apology to Moroccan fans.
The cheeky social media sensation soon had the roaring approval of his Arab brethren, however, after he revealed his jersey for the evening was France's after all. "Congratulations to Morocco for qualifying for the World Cup finals," quipped several commenters on his page.
One can only hope the giant killers who have so far taken out Belgium, Spain and Portugal come through to make history again.
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In a clash of giants, the Parisian side reversed a first-leg loss against their Spanish rival to reach the semifinals in quest for elusive European glory
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