Thursday, January 25, 2007
The Real Ronaldo
He is by far, to me, one of the most unfortunate footballers to grace the world stage. Initially blessed with Cheetah-like pace, jaw-dropping skills, and some brute strength, our fat favourite Ronaldo proved his metal with Barcelona, where he bedazzled himself to superstardom, or more aptly to footballistic enlighenment.
Then came Inter Milan, where he won my heart, and in the early stages proved his record signing fee worthwhile. But then enter "Knee Injury 1". It sidelined him for one and a half years, and thus began the great man's downfall, from which he never fully recovered. Anyway, he did medically recover from "Knee Injury 1", and made his much awaited comeback against Lazio in the Italian Cup semifinal all those years ago. But then 7 minutes into the game, enter "Knee Injury 2". Heartbreaking. In those days this injury-filled genius was my hero, my inspiration and my love. And to see him out for another year and a half was close to devastating. The same knee, the same ligament snapped again. Unluckiness personified.
I don't think he ever recovered from that. That was the time he put on weight, and then kinda betrayed the club that helped his 3-year healing, when he left for Real Madrid from Inter. For me that was his worst decision, but women and gold are similar, so...
Amidst all this pain, he did feel sheer ecstasy. This was at the 2002 World Cup were he scored 8 goals, and led his country to yet another football crown. But not one of his goals where brilliant. They were good, and it seemed that at least his finishing was back on track.
But after the world cup, nothing much happened for him. Real did what Real does best - it allowed Ronaldo to stagnate into this large-if-not-overweight deflated balloon, who could hardly ever find the goal. He struggled at Real. Everyone somehow does. There were so many stars in that over-rated team and not one of them seemed to be making sense at the club, with Mr Beckham making a close second on the list of "half-failures".
The 30 year old, however, has one last chance to prove himself yet again. The struggling Red-Milan club have almost definitely signed him, and the soft heart that I have for the ex-maestro beats for him to regain some lost glory. Completely "abused" at the 2006 World Cup and with all his injuries, this 2-time-world-player-of-the-year piece of talent should have become much bigger than he is now. Well good luck old man, for it's un-wreteched luck that can sometime turn the tables and derive the best out of you.
P.S. Dont forget to enjoy the game.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Bliss
It wasn’t a great game. Arsenal were half-struggling. A goal down, Arsenal didn’t seem to make sense.
It wasn’t a great game till the 82nd minute. Solksjaer-Like-Super-Sub Van Persie was brought on. A midfield scramble in which the 2 pigeons, Rosicky and Fabregas nibbled out the ball, led to a decent Czech cross, which Henry claimed to have “back-heeled”, which ultimately went on to the left foot of the Super-Sub and SLAM – top-right corner! Arsenal – 1, Man Utd – 1. I squealed, literally, for I was trying to control the sudden joy, after all we had only equalized. Suddenly the entire stadium was resonating with chants and songs. This newly revived crowd was a little too excited – they were actually gunning for a Gunner winner. Too brash right?
93 minutes after the first kick off, Eboue made a hopeful cross into the box. Up rose King Henry, seemingly awakened from his egg-filled dream world, and slotted home a powerful expert header beyond the reach of the Dutch Van Der
Forget the 12 points, but the sheer defeat that Man Utd received at the hands of God, i.e. Arsenal is enough to ruin any season. I just had to shove it in someone’s face. But through this I hope to shove it in your face, if, obviously, you are a Man Utd supporter. Moreover, my prediction came true, though it had a low probability, well at least one of the two did.
In the other minor match,
Anyway some weekend huh? Enjoyed it! The Arsenal-faithful, please share your joy with me. Muhahahahahahahahahahaha!
P.S. 2 things, the first being "who said Henry can't head?" and second, "I know this is a little irrelevant, but I am going to be a hypocrite tomorrow. Hopefully, I will let you know!"
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The Battle Of The Giants
Probably the most anticipated weekend of the premiership this season, it’s time to unwind, enjoy and worry the hell out of yourself. The top four are knocking on each others' doors, and a more crucial time in the premiership race has not yet been witnessed.
Liverpool V
Liverpool: With a midfielder-scarcity, a confused manager and a knack of not-performing-against the giants,
Verdict: It’s impossible to predict a football match, and in doing so I would be doing injustice to the game, for the unpredictability of football is the beauty of the game. But if it was a computer generated result:
Even though
Why the negativity? Both teams ain’t in the best of forms, and both team quite frankly don’t play the most attractive of football. I hate Mourinho’s “do anything to win” attitude, and Rafa, I feel, is over-rated. But personally, I am supporting
Arsenal V
Arsenal: Looking the most impressive they ever have all season, with the return of Henry and his form, with Adebayor, Rosicky, Fabregas and Baptista buzzing, and the recent recaptulation of form at the Emirates Stadium, Man Utd have all the right to be worried. Though Van Persie is a big doubt, and the great Gilberto is suspended, Eboue and Adebayor are back. But I hope Wenger doesn’t start with the annoying Flamini in the hole with Fabs. Hleb and Rosicky are buzzing on the flanks, and the team looks fresher than ever, with more depth then ever, with more youthful potential then ever and with more class then ever. Aliadiere, Walcott,
Henry = 1.5 x (Saha)
Rooney = 1.5 x (Adebayor)
Scholes = 1.2 x (Fabregas)
Ronaldo = 1.5 x (Hleb)
Rosicky = Giggs
Toure = Ferdinand
Neville = 1.2 x (Eboue)
Vidic = Senderos
Lehmann = Van Der Saar (though the former is explosive).
Emirates = +1 (Arsenal)
Victory @ Old Trafford = +1 (Arsenal)
(any additions to this list of equations are welcome and open to debate)With all the above factors in question, the teams cancel each other out, almost, and that’s why this match is going be one hell of a contest.
Verdict: It’s impossible to predict a football match, and in doing so I would be doing injustice to the game, for the unpredictability of football is the beauty of the game. But if it was a computer generated result:
2-1 to Arsenal. I feel they are buzzing too much to not win, and recently at the Emirates they have burst into life.
But hey I could be wrong, and that’s the beauty of it!
Enjoy the football extravaganza of a weekend!
P.S. The image is self made. It's not that great, but none the less...
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Becks In The States
" It's tantamount to a semi retirement isn't it? "
-Gary Lineker on Beckham's move.
Totally. It's an escape, with a hint of exploration for Becks, and family. Obviously, Becks’ PR agent is brilliantly diplomatic, for all his public statements are a hundred percent politically and “for-good-image”-ly correct. Apparently he is in it only to raise the "soccer-bar" of the USA. Right. But credit to David on that. How much ever he does get the stick, there is this general radiation of genuineness in Beckham which must be appreciated. But his wife? Well let’s just leave that bit to the “Insider”.
Let us first understand the enormity of this contract – 128 million pounds of 5 years – yes 128 with 6 zeros, to play for an American “Soccer” Team, in country which calls the age-old game of football, “Soccer”! All in all, the moneys adds up to about 26 million pounds a year, and about 490,000 pounds a week, which is about 70,000 pounds a day. Yes I know everyone can do the math, and everyone knows the “figure(s)”, but I need to reiterate – It’s a bloody large sum of money! All I am saying, Mr Beckham, is that, being Godly is all good, but a sum like that would attract even Him. So it wouldn’t be all that bad to admit the fact that, well yes, the money is a ‘fair’ factor, and along with that, “I can also bring about some growth in the MLS, and take American “soccer” to another level” and the other rot. A good counter on that statement of mine would be that Becks has enough already with all his endorsements, so more of these “paper-notes” wouldn’t make that much of a difference to him, but humanity and Posh are different. We humans spend a lot if we can and so does she, maybe her a 'little' more than we can, and when you have 3 mouths to fill, you need that much money now, don’t you?
Sorry, that does sound a little harsh, but sometimes it’s so glaring that we debate only because of the severity of the situation, which goes beyond reason. Let’s not do that. I feel the money is one of the major factors to David's departure and a sum like that will always be - just accept it - no one’s going to kill you. Another "factor", according to me, is Posh. The Hitler-Beckham would love to go the States right, and to
Maybe I am making a big deal out of the family factor and the female-Hitler, but hey how deceiving is what appears? We will never know. So for my selfish pleasure, I write this half-sadistic post and try and ridicule the living day lights out of the Beckham family.
David Beckham’s right foot is legendary in its own way – but then, that’s it. His time at
MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement: "David transcends the sport and is a cultural icon. David is clearly one of the most recognizable athletes in the world”.
I say: "David is clearly one of the most recognizable male-fashion-icons of world, beyond the little football he can play with his right boot.” But then who the hell am I?
P.S. I superficially apologize for the harshness, but my views stick.
Arsenally Arsenal - All You Can Breathe!
http://arsenalclips.blogspot.com/
This site offers the most exhaustive coverage of all possible (latest) Arsenal goals, incidences and hell, full matches. It's updated more than regularly and you can find free live streams on the site when the match is going on.
So for all those Harishchandra-like people who don't get to watch the team they love, here's a mini-escape. Enjoy.