Football Fiesta At Kolkata, A New Experience...

A country of over a billion people would certainly have die hard football fans in every nook and corner of the country. But with the national team which is languishing in 144th position and certainly not going places as of now, a friendly game between top two teams in the world in a neutral venue is certainly  a delight for the neutral fans. Yes I am talking about the Argentina - Venezuela game to be played at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on September the 2nd. The first FIFA sanctioned game for India  involving two of the world's top teams which would certainly be no less than a carnival in one of India's football crazy towns. Argentina are currently ranked 9th while Venezuela are 44th.

The hype around the big game can certainly be attributed to the presence of Messi , the little genius and European footballer of the year. For fans watching him each year on TV , to watch him perform his tricks right in front of their eyes will certainly be a dream come true for the ones who can make it to the Salt Lake stadium.

The result of this might be immaterial, but there is certainly one winner and that is the Salt Lake Stadium. Commissioned in 1984 the stadium has been in misery thanks to the apathy of the officials. Now thanks to this big game the artificial turf,which was laid a couple of years back, has received extensive repairs and is back in fine condition.The entire stadium,too,is being given a facelift. Broken seats in the VIP area have been replaced with new ones and the stadium looks like it has got a new lease of life .The players dressing rooms have been completely refurbished, new lockers,toilets and massage tables are now in place to meet international standards.The players tunnel,too,has been done up.The stadium now boasts two new warm-up zones and medical and dope-testing rooms.The press box is now Wi-fi enabled and the electronic scoreboard has been replaced with a brand new giant LED screen.The floodlighting system has been a source of embarrassment over the years as scores of matches have had to be halted following breakdown.

With such extensive preparation for a game which the Indians fans would have only dreamt of watching it happen in their country there cannot be two ways but that the game has to go well. Some have even gone to the extent of saying that the stadium is capable of hosting World Cup games. I wouldn't go to the extent of agreeing with that statement as preparing a host nation for a football world cup is a different ball game altogether , a tournament considered bigger than even the Olympics in terms of fan following and TV viewership.However, the successful hosting of the Argentina-Venezuela match will pave the way for soccer's national body to organise more international friendlies and AFC tournaments in future.

The September 2 friendly will no doubt help widen the fan base for football in India,but it would be a challenge for the football fraternity in the country to keep them interested in the beautiful game where Hockey is the national game and Cricket a religion. But with European giants Liverpool ready to setup their academies in India, Manchester United already tapping the commercial market with Cafe Bars and EPL Team Blackburn Rovers being owned by an Indian firm there would be an Indian footballer playing in the high grounds on an European team sooner rather than later.(Baichung Bhutia has played 37 games for Bury FC in Greater Manchester, England over a period of 3 years while Sunil Chhetri has trialed with MLS club Kansas City Wizards).

With more than 100,000 fans expected to throng the stadium and millions more glued to their television sets in 152 countries as they tune in to watch Messi and his mates,India could well emerge as a hot spot for top European clubs when they plan their pre-season tours.Indian football has nothing to lose,but everything to gain from this Messi visit.

For football viewers in India the match will be telecast on 2nd September at 6:50pm onwards on ESPN.

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The Crap Invincibles

I was being told by Starfish Stevie, our companion on footiemagic that ManU might just break Arsenal’s record of 49 unbeaten games in the Premier League for which all I had to say was ‘Chill! Such things are only bad dreams’

And that’s one thing no one has to even dream about right now coz Wolves ended ManU’s unbeaten 29 game streak, a treat for all other football lovers considering the fact that this team never deserved to be called “Invincibles” in the first place, a term that can only be associated with the great Arsenal team of 2003-04.

A statement by Sir Alex Ferguson in October reiterates, why even imagining that ManU would go unbeaten throughout the season would have been a mistake. "In this present league you cannot think for a minute you will go through undefeated. It is an amazing league this year." The present ManU team who were unbeaten till the last game weren’t even a shadow of the team which won the premier league titles in 06, 07 and 08 and to have remained unbeaten throughout the season and break Arsenal’s 49 game record would have needed more than luck.



Left : 'Invincible' Arsenal , Right : The 'So Called Invincible' MANU



Except for a few games, ManU haven’t really played like a team which could instill fear in the opposition. All the teams including the smaller ones have played them with great optimism which showed they believed that ManU couldn’t run away with the game. Only Berbatov and Nani have been their saving grace with Berbatov leading United's title charge so far this season, bagging 19 league goals, and is understandably delighted with the standards he has set following lingering criticism throughout his time at Old Trafford. Arsene Wenger on the other hand had built a team to compare with any side in Europe. With Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure at the back, Patrick Vieira and Pires in midfield and Henry partnering Dennis Bergkamp up front, Arsenal had too much steel and too much style for their Premiership rivals. They had bags of character too. But it all ended in controversy at Old Trafford as a harshly-awarded penalty spurred Manchester United to a 2-0 win in October 2004.

Very rightly Manchester United were defeated 1-2 by bottom placed Wolves and what a morale booster this will be for Mick McCarthy’s boys. They achieved what no team in the Premier League could achieve till date this season.

Wenger's 'Invincibles' will never be forgotten.

The Good, Bad and the Ugly!

The eccentric subject in question is the self proclaimed "Special One", Jose Mourinho. There are not many managers in world football at the moment who can lay claim to the kind of success that Mourinho has had over the past decade, and he probably is the most charismatic of them all. Some of the statistics are mind boggling to say the least. He has gone 145 home league games without defeat, dating back to his time at Porto.Also there has been no trophyless calendar year under his regime since 2002. So,there is no denying he is special and for some, he has already done enough to occupy his place in the pantheon of greats, and we leave that argument for another day.

Rewind to 23rd November, Match Day 5 of the UEFA Champions League, Venue: Amsterdam Arena, Occasion: Ajax V Real Madrid.

A clash of the two true European Giants, although the Ajax of today are nowhere close to their illustrious predecessors. The match turned out to be a walk in the park for Mourinho's men, with a 4-0 scoreline to show for their efforts.

But what caught my attention, though much later( I didn't watch the live match!), was a series of events in the closing stages of the match.

86 minutes on the clock and Xabi Alonso gets a strange red card; strange because of the circumstances and the manner in he which he earned it.Remember, Madrid are four goals to the good, and there was no point in deliberate time wasting. And minutes later, Sergio Ramos amazingly does a carbon copy of his team mate, which is when it becomes fairly obvious that Mourinho's ugly games are at play.

Alonso and Ramos were already on a single yellow card, and both get another one during the course of the match. Now, as things stood, if they were to earn one more yellow during Match day 6, they would have to sit out their last 16 match against what turned out to be Lyon. So, Mourinho passes on this piece of tactic onto them, and they get a deliberate second yellow each . Result: They sit out their inconsequential Match day 6, and they go into the last 16 with a clean slate.

While this is all within the rules, there has to be a line drawn somewhere for fair play. Mourinho, has to realise that this is not something that no one has thought of before, but just that they chose to play it fair.Platini, has to look to bring in something for this sort of foul play, rather than being unduly interested in the success/non-success of the English clubs, and how he can clip their wings.

This is not the first time we are seeing this from Mourinho, and it definitely won't be the last time either. While his success and audacity are well appreciated all over, these itsy bitsy things will not do him any good, and downfall will be that small bit sooner.

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