italy wins the world cup. how little this says about the fitting finale we witnessed to the glorious tournament. deserving champions italy were for sure- at no point did france look like being a force to reckon with- possession-smossesion was all crap, esp. second half. italy played like pros, defended like patriots and attacked with calculated ease.
an unfair foul, an audacious penalty from the maestro zizou meant france had trashed all predictions by going ahead. it was cheeky, very cheeky on zidane's part to take a penalty like he did, that to against buffon. but italy counterattacked like they so often did in the tournament, and the equaliser was just a matter of 'when'.
the next 90 odd minutes were okay-ish. france were looking to have some teeth finally in their attack. anything could had happened really. a thunderous zidane header was fisted out by a leaping buffon, who actually personified the term 'acrobatic' then.
but that apparently wasn't sufficient for zizou. oh no it wasn't. he had to go and use his head (physically) by ramming it into materazzi's chest in response to some profanities said by the italian defender. SHAME on you zidane! i hate matches with sending offs (i think i mentioned that sometime before), but what i hate even more is players like zidane who willingly toss out of the window a huge amount of respect, fame and admiration painstakingly accumulated over the years by doing something so stupid and moronic. the final will be remembered for zidane (the man of the match for sure!). it was pathetic, simply pathetic. sigh.
so this is what it feels like to see heroes disgraced. we like to believe that there are individuals like zidane who can transcend those boundaries of the mundane and conjure up things which fascinate us, make us feel overawed and give us pure joy. and i hate zidane for destroying fore ever that venerated image of his in people's memories! :-( a pity indeed, that zidane couldn't even collect his silver medal. but he should had thought about all that before ...
anyway, the italians repeated their feat of 1982 which too was achieved under the same conditions (match-fixing etc). the ghost of penalty-shootout losses was excorcised. italy conceeded just TWO goals- one own goal and one penalty; and scored with TEN different players. cannavaro stamped his mark on the world cup nice and proper. and yet shame on france for not allowing me to savour this italian victory fully ...
my prediction came true- zidane scored AND italy won, but surely no one could had predicted a final like this! here's to the glorious uncertanities of this wonderful game! :-)
- Mood:
ddp presentations tomorrow :( - Music:Italian national anthem ringing in my ears ...
GK- buffon (world's most expensive goalie, and the best one too), ricardo (surprise package), shaka hislop (v/s sweeden! :O )
RB- miguel (speed, endurance), sagnol (experience), wilhelmson (swedish fellow, amazing bursts and dribbling)
CB - Cannavaro (golden ball), thuram (inspired form), ferdinand (and not terry), puyol (esp. for the god assist against iran/ tunisia)
LB- lahm (prodigious talent), ashley cole (not fully fit, and yet so wonderful!), zambrotta (utility player to the core)
RWM/ RM- cristiano (all said and done, those nimble moves ...), beckham (best dead ball expert, hands down), joaquim, kaka (amazing speed)
CM- gerard (definitely not lampard), ballack (control), zidane (god is french?), fabregas (didnt play much, but unnerving accuracy), riquelme (lazy magician), deco (deft touches), gattuso (the sicilian), totti (sentimental favourite), appiah (heart of ghana midfield)
LM/ LWM- robben (only dutch fellow in the squad, a pity), joe cole (why did sven hate him so much?), schweinsteiger (he's the man!),
ST/ CF- podolski/ klose (most underrated player, golden boot still ...), torres (liked what i saw, torres come to man utd!), toni (imposing), crespo/ tevez/ maxi rodriguez (any one of these 3), ronaldo (FIFTEEN world cup goals, i rest my case), robinho (pure excitement)
(NB: ppl in bold- my first team)
i realise that makes it >11 players- no problemo, keep a few as subs, whatever
also, this list might have some notable omissions, will rectify if necessary, but more or less this is it.
cannavaro deserves the golden ball award, have this feeling he'll substantiate my opinion with a masterclass in defence against the french!
- Mood:
cheerful - Music:James Blunt- You're Beautiful
3rd place playoffs. a match NO team ever dreams of playing. a match which germany wasn't expected to play ever, leave aside playing as overwhelming favourites. a match portugal got to play because they couldnt score, but miraculously managed to maintain clean sheets for so long.
germany- portugal. stuttgart. 3-1
total and utter dominance. forget the possession stats, the passing stats- portugese ppl had the ball mainly in their own half, where they got all happy and excited by making intricate but horizontal passes :P. the first half passed by in a blur, astonishing how it ended 0-0. kahn proved he still is the same player who won the golden ball award 4 years ago. no ballack, no borowski, no problem either. a boy called bastian came of age. 2 yrs ago, he looked a distinctly uncomfortable 19 year old in euro 2004, with greatness thrust upon him unfairly. the substitutes were awesome, the youngsters showed amazing maturity, the future of german football looks awesome! klinsmann smiling like a schoolboy, getting all excited like those good ol' times, sigh. deserving winners (ok, third place winners) germany were.
a word in for the portugese (iberians is what they are also called, apparently)- figo went out on a high note. his team lost, but his cross to nuno gomes stamped his class forever. the team just wasnt good enough. cristiano ronaldo later said he will leave england- he'll be missed, but not too much by man utd. he needs to grow up soon!
today's match- france-italy, the final. this world cup is sooo better than the last one for sure. italy will win, so says my head and my heart :P
zidane should go out with something magical though. let's see!
- Mood:
hopeful - Music:Guns N Roses- Sweet Child of Mine
The wc semifinal related blog- i forgot to write before, so writing now :P
2 semis on consecutive days, formbooks prevailing to set a wonderful final showdown ...
germany-italy. 2-0 (ET). dortmund
what a match! it was not a classic by any stretch of imagination, true. it had none of that flair of south american football either. the shots on target were few and far between too. and still- what a match! i enjoyed it maybe because both teams have been my traditional favourites ever since i started football ages ago ...
anyway, 1st half- italy makes ppl go "HUH!" 6 men attacking germany, infinite pressure, unheard of before in italian footballing history.
2nd half- germany fight back, idiot schneider proving why he has scored just 2 goals in 70 odd internationals, frings missed sorely by germany. but cannavaro o cannavaro! he is my current favourite for the best player award (dunno the official name) - he has shown calm and presence of mind and speed and technique like never before, making all those italians back home exceedingly proud. and gattuso- a highly underrated player, always seems to tackle hard but never gets booked, awesome player, very much similar to makalele of france.
extra time- the story changes. italy go blazing, gilardino misses, so does zambrotta. germany holding on to go to penalties- awesome record they have, winning last SIXTEEN shootouts apparently! but the inevitable happens. grosso scores, curling the ball within a short distance, the italian juggernaut rolls on. italy's 11 goals in the tournament so far have been scored by TEN different players. interesting stat that is. the match fixing fiasco forgotten temporarily, an entire nation dances with joy. and deservedly so.
germany go out, but with awesome pride- this was a team which was pathetic up until a few months ago, but now they could very well boast of having the golden boot winner in klose! man i love football.
france-portugal. 1-0. somewhere, not important, dont care.
possibly the most unanticipated semis ever. portugal scoring just 6 goals in last 5 matches. their victories over netherlands and england were more due to doggedness, no class/ brilliance. all france needed to do was go ahead by a single goal, which was precisely what they did. a semi final with a defender (thuram- hats off to him btw) is declared man of the match says a lot about the match. barthez very sloppy, which makes me very happy. henry back to his abnormal self, a form he takes up when he is NOT in arsenal colours. zidane waay under par, but zidane at his best wasn't really needed for this game.
portugese were pathetic, absolutely pathetic- it was like watching an amateur stage performance, the diving and crying and astonished faces and all- even scolari! :O ronaldo is a good player- yes, i say this partly because he's a man utd player which might change soon- but he HAS to grow up. bore match, possibly matched in boredom generated by the iran-angola match (which match, you ask? precisely)
anyway, italy look too good, very good infact. technically superior, defending like never before, attacking like never before too. and nesta returns too. which makes things virtually settled :P 2-1 italy's favour, i think.
and germany 3-1 for the 3rd place! but that doesnt matter
- Mood:
blank - Music:U2- City of blinding lights
but every world cup has it's share of upsets, those matches when you just sit and stare as the supposedly better team simply self-destructs. this happened on the 3rd day of quarters. and it happened how!
eng-portugal. geiselkirtchen or gisele-r-kitchen. 0-0 (1-3 pen.)
a match being labeled as a walkover for england, with portugal hampered by suspensions to 2 players and threats of suspension to 5 more. england were managing to find the net at least once in every match so far, and 1-0 were the predictions.
the match turned out to be a yawn from the start. a big gaping yawn. lampard, beckham, rooney, gerrard- the STARS were just not finding any touch whatsoever. the very fact that hargreaves and crouch were the best two players in the english side tells the story, doesn't it. there was just no passing in place. now portugal were not playing well either- god no! they were as awful as england. but i didnt care, because i believed england were capable of so much more. rooney's red card was a bit harsh true, but then he was being a spectator anyway! besides, the game was much livelier when crouch came on after rooney (i never thought i would say this ever, but it's true!)
england's jinx in shoot-outs continues. scolari recorded his third consecutive win against england- wc 2002, euro 2004, wc 06. sven goes out. boo, england. boo for raising my hopes unnecessarily. and boo for an awful display.
bra-fra. 0-1. frankfurt.
this was labeled as a grudge match- the memory of 8 yrs ago, when france's humiliiation of brazil still fresh in people's minds. the messer-in-chief of that time, monsieur zinedine zidane, had been unusually low-key and almost a non-entity so far in the world cup. malouda and ribery, the two young french wingers had never really clicked. henry was trying too hard to be thierry henry when he should had just been himself. brazil were coasting, although the form of kaka and ronaldinho was a bit of a problem. clearly the odds were stacked heavily in brazil's favour.
but there was a problem in this analysis, one fatal miscalculation you see- zidane. the bugger is aging, having announced his plans to retire after the world cup. but then he is not a mere mortal, is he? age has made him forgetful. it does to some people. and so zidane just forgot that he was supposed to be a fellow who is in the twilight of his career, a person who'll be always remembered for his heroics eight years ago. a person who has the respect of everyone in the league he plays, but is feared by very few. a person who people talk of in the past tense. a player who couldn't last for longer than 70 minutes for madrid. he just forgot.
and zidane's forgetfulness effectively spelt doom for brazil. the energy, alertness and enthusiasm with which zizou played was back. and it was mind-numbing, mind-boggling and (once you accepted that france were going to win) a treat to watch. mesmerising play, deft and yet pinpoint passing, those trademark turns, those stepovers, that lazy elegance, vintage zidane was on display. and france simply lapped it up with glee as zidane controlled the whole game!! everyone else just played around him (even henry. which speaks volumes about his dedication too). the french defence was awesome- to limit brazil to just ONE shot on target, which came right at the end too speaks volumes of thuram and co.
my dislike of france diminishes in no way- i will still continue to cheer against france for sure. but they deserved this victory every one bit. and brazil deserved to lose. formbooks-shmooks all were irrelevant. and i hail zidane, for just proving why he is, in my opinion, right up there in the list of footballers of the decade, rather past two decades! brazil never knew what hit them :-)
the irony- ronaldinho and lampard, voted this year world's best and second best player respectively, put up awful showings and were eliminated on the same day! klose has a very good chance of winning the golden boot for sure, unless henry does something incredible- which he might very well do. 4 european teams in the world cup semis for the first since i was born. awesome :-)
- Mood:
amused - Music:Fab 52 nonstop remix :D
germany- argentina. olimpiastadion, berlin 1-1 (ET) 4-2 (Pen. Sh.)
an awesome build up to a match between the tournaments top goal scoring teams meant that this match was going to be one hell of a fight! the ref yellow carded podolski in the 3rd minute itself, which was a good thing, because it meant the players were alert and didnt commit useless or lazy fouls. Both teams were scratchy, neither of them being that convincing- the commentators called it something akin to a 'chess game', i thought it was plain boring except for a few, very few, flashes of brilliance. argentina clearly were superior on paper and on field, at least man-to-man, but they couldnt really make that tell except for having the bulk of possession. the argentine goal was awesome, but the german equaliser was too good- Klose is in the form of his life! 5 goals so far in the tournament ... arg coach peckerman, who apparently resigned after the match, went against his usual strategy- left out messi, and subbed riquelme and crespo with cambiasso(!) and julio 'who-lio?' cruz (!!) ... that was the turning point i suppose. Extra time was nothing great. penalty shootout got over in a flash. lehmann made two not-so-tough saves to justify his selection over kahn (although i still dont particularly like him, maybe it's because he plays for arsenal :D ). home support and teamwork prevailed in the end. argentina choked. again.
italy-ukraine. somewhere. 3-0
who would win was never the question, and by what margin was of academic interest really. ominous signs- luca toni finally scored, and scored two! ukraine dominated possession, but then as this world cup has time and again showed, possession and goals are totally unrelated! shevchenko tried and tried, his team huffed and puffed, but cannavaro and co. with buffon as the last defence were simply impenetrable. italy have been extremely lucky so far as far quality of opponents and refereeing goes, but germany is going to be one hell of an opposition for sure. 5th july 12.30 am marked in red for sure :-)
an italy-germany semi-final. a possible england-brazil matchup in the other half. this world cup is proving to be AWESOME!!
predictions- eng-por 1-0, bra-fra 2-1. or 3-1
- Mood:
awake - Music:Mark Isham- Flames (Crash OST)
i realize it is unfair on my part to crib like this, given that i've had >2 months to prepare and have had absolutely nothing to do, which i have done just fine. but then we all know that unless you have deadlines breathing down your collar, the fear of 'what-if-i-dont-complete-with-colon-O' w
It is actually fun doing real nerdy stuff sometimes (very occasionally), the sense of achievement is tremendous. the pride, the immediate self-belief (i CAN actually do this!) are all very very nice. then comes the regret- i should had done this all a long time ago, it's not good leaving things for the last minute, nay, last millisecond. then comes the resolve- next time, even if i am a bit more sincere, i could achieve so much more, i could do work which generations after me will cherish. then comes the satisfaction- cool, hypothetically speaking i CAN achieve more. which is enough to motivate me during the final push for the submission on hand.
problem is, this is more or less how every semester, every project submission and every deadline ends... which doesnt speak too highly of my self-motivational abilities. but then, there's always a next time! :-D
- Mood:
determined - Music:Keane- Somewhere Only We Know
brazil-ghana. dortmund. 3-0
very lucky stadium for brazil, same place where they outclassed japan 4-0 in their group stages. but ghana- totally different cup of tea. ghana gave infinite fight, dominated possession, loads of attacking opportunities, wonderful passing, and then either sending the ball flying over the net or hitting poor photographers seated 10-15 yards away from the goal. brazil soaked up the pressure, albeit not too convincingly, counter-attacked beautifully, banged in 3 goals all from near offside positions against an immature ghana defence. class v/s enthusiasm. class prevailed. ronaldo became all-time top-scorer in world cup, and he sure as hell deserves it. ronaldinho was peripheral, should be dropped for ricardinho/ juninho, but won't be, because he's a big match player, and all he needs is one moment of magic. there was a lot of 'love' in the air though, with players hugging and cuddling and whispering sweet nothings and stuff :-)
espanyol-france. hannover. 1-3
france played well, gotta admit, added to that spain choked horribly as expected from them. 67 yr old spain coach aragones was dancing on the sideline, but his team never really recovered from the french equaliser. henry going offside repeatedly, didnt watch the game post- halftime. apparently there was some controversy surrounding the 2nd french goal. whatever. although i always cheer on any team which plays well, i sincerely hate the french team- for their attitude, for their irritating coach, for their arrogance, for droppping guily, for playing wiltord instead of trezeguet, for defeating brazil 8 yrs ago ... this time, brazil will surely pick them apart. i hope so.
now two days of no football, so i can concentrate on my report submission. small mercies, all these ...
- Mood:
okay - Music:blank
i realise this went from being speculative to an immodest blog. sue me :) or better still, ask me footer trivia! sigh, this world cup rocks.
- Mood:
nerdy - Music:Gangster- Tu hi meri shab (part01)
italy-australia. kaiserslautern. 1-0
italy last played usa on this same ground, and there was disaster then, with 3 players being sent off (bad boy de rossi, and 2 bad boys from usa), and the match ending in a very yucky 1-1 draw. now i personally never like anyone being sent off, not even if the player sent off is from the team i don't support, 'cause the game then becames too boring and much too defensive after that. but watching italy defend is a treat byitself. cannavaro, gattuso, Buffon, everyone defended as if they were playing against school children. Hiddink for all his guile and magic (i have this lurking suspicion that he performed some voodoo/aboriginal black magic) to get materazzi sent off. he planned out things perfectly, reserving a substitute for extra time, when IT happened. The moment of the world cup.
3 min extra time, 92:55 on the clock, grosso (a defender, note) is fouled in the box. I dont care whether it was a valid decision or not (especially if it was NOT). Penalty!! this would surely be the last kick in full time, or in the entire match. up steps Francesco Totti, the darling of italy up until a few years ago, but now an ageing superstar who still is talented but not really that talismanic anymore. he has a big-match-choker tag to boot. Totti stares at the goal with his enormous green eyes which fill up the entire screen, i feel my heart thumping like a drilling machine, my current sick state forgotten completely... and he scores it!!!!!!! a penalty hit as cleanly and coolly as i have ever seen penalties being hit! to quote monica, OH MY GOD !! OMG! italy excorcise the ghost of hiddink, whose south korea knocked out italy in the last world cup. australia just weren't good enough in this match, eventually class prevailed.
this is what i watch football for!
ukraine-switzerland. somewhere. 0-0(3-0 Pen)
hands down the most unanticipated match of the 2nd round. slept like a log during the entire duration, and after that. apparently it went to penalties, the score 0-0 after extratime. switzerland best defence of the tournament, NO goals conceeded in entire world cup even on being eliminated (shootouts dont count). shevchenko misses his penalty, but switzerland misses ALL of its penalties, ukraine through 3-0 on penalties, very good, but run into a charged up italy, so it'll be so long, and thanks for all the fish (or wheat, ukraine being wheat bowl of the world and all, bad one i know)
DONT say italy was lucky. they played with 10 men for nearly 30 minutes, and still dominated. a fitting end it was for sure.
it's funny, but people keep replying to this my blogs about a particular day's play commenting on matches which happened the NEXT day. :)) it's still ok, i guess :D
- Mood:
DDP report writing! - Music:Yuva- Suno suno
2nd day of round 2 of qualifying saw two of the most boring matches ever- i almost dozed off during england's match, and actually missed the portugal-netherland match (no regrets there, i dont really enjoy people fighting on the football field for anything other than the ball)...
eng-ecuador. stuttgart. 1-0
england were insipid, boring, tepid (if it is what i think it means), boring, boring, tired, clumsy, boring. except for that splendid free kick by beckham (bent it like no one can), the match was- BORING! lampard couldnt score, gerrard didnt want to, everyone just didnt want any possession, they kept giving the ball away to either each other, or if everyone refused, to ecuador players, who promptly returned the favours. beckham still must be dropped, he is too slow. sven needs to be stopped from giving his 'motivational' talks during the interval, 'cause england consistently perform worse in the second half in general. still, england will go on, because portugal will be depleted horribly. why? this is why-->
portugal-netherland. nuremberg. 1-0
didnt watch it, so cant comment. but definitely cudnt have been a classic. deco costinha out, cristiano injured probably, uncle figo might be disallowed. sigh, england have all the luck. the referee deserved a yellow card. and sepp blatter (fifa prez) concurs with this observation too!
(was pretty amusing though- 2 barca teammates deco(por) and van bronckhorst(ned) both sent off, and then the two are seen happily chatting on the touchline and cursing the ref)
italy's match today, and the commentator is already talking of extra-time!
(the disconnected sentences continue)
- Mood:
go azzuri :P - Music:italy v/s australia just started
Germany- Sweeden. Berlin. 2-0
Sweeden god team. nice passing, no goal scoring ability. larsson hugs penalty. the embarrasment was complete. in fact, had larsson scored, the final scoreline would had been 3-1 or 4-1!
Germany godder team. tipped to get screwed big time. klose and podolski forge telepathic partnership at the front, result- a thrashing of sweeden never seen before! as some commentator said, if this was a boxing match, it would had been stopped at half time :) GO GERMANY, my traditional favourites.
Argentina-Mexico. Zentralstadion, Leipzig (nice stadium names these germans have) 1-0 ET
Mexico scraping through to next round. starts off at a frantic pace, goal in 6th minute, argentina all haywire. equaliser in 10th minute, then match is dead for nearly 80 minutes.
Argentina- team with embarassment of talent. crespo gets a goal in barely. "lazy magician" riquelme shows sparks of magic, but is more or less just lazy. bore and bore till extra time. 98th minute, maxi rodriguez hits goal of the tournament (awesome goal truly). argentina scrape through. such a performance will get them nowhere against next round opponents Germany (GO GERMANY!) messi and tevez though were magnifique. i was sorely pissed that i stayed up coughing and sneezing and wheezing till 3.30 in the morning for this.
Next matches- England-Ecuador, Ned-Portugal. Heart says England and Netherlands. I know it'll be England and Portugal who go through. stupid nistelrooy, absolutely useless fellow!
apologies for disconnected sentences please!
- Mood:
whatever it is, i am that - Music:Fix You- Coldplay
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