2011-12, for me, will be the season I'll remember for switching over
from Cricket to Football. Ofcourse, Cricket, will have its own special
place. But I won't be following it as closely as I have till now.
There's too much of it. And more importantly the IPL has killed it for
me. No fun in watching hapless bowlers being fed to Chris Gayle. That
ain't Cricket, for me. So best of luck to the game, especially Test
Cricket. I don't want it to die out in my lifetime. Some affair it has
been, and I wish I breathe my last before I see the demise of this game.
Long live!
To Football now!
I have always, in a way, followed Football, i.e. the FIFA World Cup. My first would be the 1994 World Cup in USA, which Brazil won. That really was my introduction to Football. I was rooting for Argentina 'cause that's the team Maradona played for! Unfortunately, he was sent back home, mid-way through the tournament, after testing positive for Ephedrine. The rest of the squad was on its way home too, when Argentina were knocked in the round of 16 by Romania.
Before this could dim my interest in the game, I was introduced to the 'Divine Ponytail' Roberto Baggio of Italy. I wanted Italy to win against everyone's favorites Brazil. Tch. That didn't happen either! But I'll never forget that tournament.
4 World Cups since then and I still wait for Argentina.
1998 was all about France. Now I didn't know of Zidane and Henry, but could sense that Brazil weren't exactly the favorites now. Even though Argentina's campaign began on a sound note, 'we' could make it as far as the quarter-finals only. Croatia's Davor Suker one name I remember from then. But Zidane was the flavor of the season. And he took France all the way to the finals and then the Jules Rimet trophy.
The Brazilians were back in 2002, with the triumvirate of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho crushing everything in sight. I still believed they couldn't get past Germany's wall, i.e. Oliver Kahn. Have never seen a better keeper. I mean there are very good keepers and there's Oliver Kahn! Wow! A very good keeper and a bully! To score a goal, anywhere, any game is special. But to score one against this guy has got to be very special. And Ronaldo it was, who slid past 2 in the final to bring home the trophy for the (gasp!) 5th time.
God knows what I was up to during the 2006 edition in Germany. Don't remember much about it, except the final game, ofcourse! The Zidane-Materazzi head butt was pure theatre. Italy weren’t the better side but were able to get under the skin of the Frenchmen and went home with the trophy.
2010 WC in South Africa can be credited with getting me hooked onto the beautiful game. This WC was going to special because no one was talking about Brazil which was surprising to me. Since I followed the game once in four years only, this was something I couldn’t comprehend. How exactly were Brazil not the favorites? That's because everyone else I knew who followed Football, were into 'club football' too. They knew what the world was up to, how it had changed and was changing.
Ofcourse Brazil will always be amongst the top contenders and will always produce talent in bucket loads. But 2010 wasn’t going to be their World Cup. Spain and Germany were the most talked about teams. England and the Netherlands too. England because the Premier League is most watched and followed league in the world. The Netherlands because the likes of Sneijder, Van Persie and Robben were making a name of the themselves and their team. My money was on Germany though. Maybe with some more experience they could have closed it. I'd say Spain, the Netherlands and Germany were equally poised to do so. Spain prevailed. But it could have gone either way.
Argentina were still my no.1 team though! We had the team. But with Maradona as coach, we weren’t going to make it very far. With Messi, Higuain, Tevez, Aguero, Di Maria & Milito at their disposal. The world bows to Marcelo Bielsa but what do the Argentines know? Anyway. Don’t think Bielsa will want to go down that road anytime soon. But there's hope. As long as Maradona's not at the helm, there's always hope!
The next World Cup is a good 2 years away. Until then there's Euro2012! And I'm putting my money on Germany again.
To Football now!
I have always, in a way, followed Football, i.e. the FIFA World Cup. My first would be the 1994 World Cup in USA, which Brazil won. That really was my introduction to Football. I was rooting for Argentina 'cause that's the team Maradona played for! Unfortunately, he was sent back home, mid-way through the tournament, after testing positive for Ephedrine. The rest of the squad was on its way home too, when Argentina were knocked in the round of 16 by Romania.
Before this could dim my interest in the game, I was introduced to the 'Divine Ponytail' Roberto Baggio of Italy. I wanted Italy to win against everyone's favorites Brazil. Tch. That didn't happen either! But I'll never forget that tournament.
4 World Cups since then and I still wait for Argentina.
1998 was all about France. Now I didn't know of Zidane and Henry, but could sense that Brazil weren't exactly the favorites now. Even though Argentina's campaign began on a sound note, 'we' could make it as far as the quarter-finals only. Croatia's Davor Suker one name I remember from then. But Zidane was the flavor of the season. And he took France all the way to the finals and then the Jules Rimet trophy.
The Brazilians were back in 2002, with the triumvirate of Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho crushing everything in sight. I still believed they couldn't get past Germany's wall, i.e. Oliver Kahn. Have never seen a better keeper. I mean there are very good keepers and there's Oliver Kahn! Wow! A very good keeper and a bully! To score a goal, anywhere, any game is special. But to score one against this guy has got to be very special. And Ronaldo it was, who slid past 2 in the final to bring home the trophy for the (gasp!) 5th time.
God knows what I was up to during the 2006 edition in Germany. Don't remember much about it, except the final game, ofcourse! The Zidane-Materazzi head butt was pure theatre. Italy weren’t the better side but were able to get under the skin of the Frenchmen and went home with the trophy.
2010 WC in South Africa can be credited with getting me hooked onto the beautiful game. This WC was going to special because no one was talking about Brazil which was surprising to me. Since I followed the game once in four years only, this was something I couldn’t comprehend. How exactly were Brazil not the favorites? That's because everyone else I knew who followed Football, were into 'club football' too. They knew what the world was up to, how it had changed and was changing.
Ofcourse Brazil will always be amongst the top contenders and will always produce talent in bucket loads. But 2010 wasn’t going to be their World Cup. Spain and Germany were the most talked about teams. England and the Netherlands too. England because the Premier League is most watched and followed league in the world. The Netherlands because the likes of Sneijder, Van Persie and Robben were making a name of the themselves and their team. My money was on Germany though. Maybe with some more experience they could have closed it. I'd say Spain, the Netherlands and Germany were equally poised to do so. Spain prevailed. But it could have gone either way.
Argentina were still my no.1 team though! We had the team. But with Maradona as coach, we weren’t going to make it very far. With Messi, Higuain, Tevez, Aguero, Di Maria & Milito at their disposal. The world bows to Marcelo Bielsa but what do the Argentines know? Anyway. Don’t think Bielsa will want to go down that road anytime soon. But there's hope. As long as Maradona's not at the helm, there's always hope!
The next World Cup is a good 2 years away. Until then there's Euro2012! And I'm putting my money on Germany again.
