Some activity..

I am blogging after a really long time . When I first started writing I wanted to write a treatise on cricket – my love for it and the art of bowling ; but I never started. I was waiting for the opportune moment . Then came the FIFA Worldcup . That was the time when I was a hysterical FIFA Manager player . I was very eager to write on football and showcase my newfound acumen in football. But since I found it unnecessary to start another blog dedicated to football, I started writing about ‘footy’ ( As my friend Deepak Chanchal would call it ) in the ‘cricket’ blog itself ( It would be wrong to call it so because the blog was and is still devoid of any cricket posts )

After the FIFA WC my interest in football waned , I became busy and stopped blogging . During those days I was very particular about what I wrote . I always wanted my posts to be blemish-free . I couldnot be casual when it came to blogging . I had to allot time for blogging . I was either too occupied with playing games or watching movies ( or sometimes doing nothing, lol @ the thought of ‘being occupied with doing nothing’ ). Or recovering at home last year from tuberculosis. All this brought my blog to a standstill.

I have decided to be more casual now onwards when it comes to blogging. I didn’t have much time in the last semester to publish. There are now four months of summer holidays ( three more, one is already over ) to spend. Interest permitting I will hopefully churn out more posts in the future.

CyA,

Sleeper

 

Massimo Busacca To Referee Barcelona-Manchester United

Massimo Busacca of Switzerland will referee Wednesday night’s Champions League semi-final first leg fixture between Barcelona and Manchester United at Camp Nou.

He seems to be a strict disciplinarian. So watch out Scholesy ! He has given out 20 yellow cards and one red card. Looking up his profile reveals that he is controversial too. His mother tongue is Italian. ( which is strange considering the fact that French and German are the prominent languages in Switzerland )

Anyways here is his profile -:

Nationality: Switzerland
Role: Referee
Date of birth: 6 February 1969
Height: 180 (cm)
Weight: 72 (kg)
Referee since: 1 January 1998
First international : Northern Ireland v Bulgaria ( 2 June 2001)
Place of residence: MONTE CARASSO (Lugano – CH)
Country of residence: Switzerland
Mother language: Italian
Other languages: English, French, German, Spanish
Occupation: Managing director
General interests: Skiing, holidays
Best memory: UEFA Cup 2000: Liverpool (ENG) v Slovan Liberec (CZE); UEFA Champions League 2002 Final: Real Madrid (ESP) v Bayern Leverkusen (GER) as 4th Official; FIFA World Youth Championship Netherland 2005 semi-final: Brazil v Argentina

Courtesy : http://footballreport.blogspot.com

Got a train ticket to the ‘City of Destiny’ on 23rd. So I wont be able to watch the match. Doesn’t matter though. The 23 Mancunians will make sure we draw the match at Camp Nou.

CyA,

Sleeper

 

A free-kick, frozen in time and space

The Red Devils are in pole position now. Was overjoyed to know that Owen Hargreaves was the scorer. He is not a stereotypical defensive midfielder from what I have seen. He hasnt got the chance to express himself at United until the match against Arsenal. When you dont give him the license to surge forward, he doesnt look that impressive. Like Roy Keane (  A complete central midfielder who played a defensive role later in his career ) Owen is mistaken to be a mopper. I would like to call him a highly versatile and well-rounded all-action midfielder. That said it is difficult to forget how effective he was at neutralizing Kaka in last year’s UEFA CL.

The following words are courtesy of vkpedia.com -:

{{{  In cricket, so often we see a shot played when the ball races to the fence, and no one needs to move – not the batsmen, nor the fielders. Often we hear commentators say, “Ah, a stand and deliver shot! No one moved.”

In football, one hardly comes across such moments. The game is always in a state of flux that it takes more than just brilliance to produce a goal that obviates the need for anyone other than the striker to move. Ronaldinho produced such a goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge three seasons ago – a goal of such magical quality that it should have counted as two.

Earlier today, Owen Hargreaves hit such a free kick against Arsenal at Old Trafford to put United 2-1 up, and on their way to the title (hopefully). The free kick, was such that it seemed that the setting was frozen for a second, so Hargreaves could measure his ball over the Gunners’ wall and into the back of Lehmann’s net, at which instant it was unfrozen. A moment to savor (and freeze in history), and one that might mean the difference between United and Chelsea in the race to the finish.  }}}

Here are a few links if you wish to watch the free-kick -:

Youtube : http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PQR8lGqfwiI

AVI : http://students.iiit.ac.in/~ysasank/owen_free_kick.avi

I just hope he overcomes his chronic tendonitis problem and gets to play week in and week out next season onwards.

 

Keane lambasts Ferguson

Roy Keane sensationally lambasted Ferguson calling him a hypocrite. He certainly has a point. He says “There are a lot of hypocrites out there. The same bosses who are talking about players showing respect have been sent off for abusing officials. I’ve seen other managers come out and demand respect [from referees]; how can their players then show officials respect if their boss does not?”

But IMHO players surrounding and harrying referees to intimidate them is entirely different from a manager expressing dissent. The reason for his outburst ? I think Fergie referring to the D’Urso incident recently might have opened up a few wounds.

Fergie’s batch of boys have certainly shown restraint in recent years which is in sharp contrast to the behaviour of a pack of hooligans from West London. I just can’t resist twisting Alan Trevor’s lines from Oscar Wilde’s ‘Model Millionaire’ and say-:

“Hooligans are rare enough; but by Jove, millionaire hooligans (the John Terrys) are rarer still !’

What have I got in Fergie’s defense ? Opposition players take advantage of Ronaldo’s earlier reputation for diving, and tackle him roughly. The referees almost always give the decisions inside the box infavour of Ronaldo’s opponents. When referees these days are so oblivious of the fouls on his players , and his captain Giggs is so soft-spoken, what else can SAF do to ensure his players are protected ?

He’s certainly short-tempered. And when the manager has to face the cameras so soon after watching his players kicked around the park with the referee doing nothing about it, it is very easy to burst out in anger as SAF occasionally does.

That ends the post.

CyA,

Sleeper

 

Scintillating encounter !

It entailed an awe-inspiring performance from the ‘Red Devils’ (read Manchester United Football Club) to resume posting on this blog. Not many gave United a chance. They said MUFC were too ‘arrogant’. United were set to lose two on the trot at home. ‘Contain Ronaldo to contain United’ they all shouted. But the end result was an emphatic 4-0 victory for United, knocking the Gooners out of the FA Cup. The performance was virtuoso and in recent times second only to the tearing-apart of Roma at home last year. Talk of coincidences and I would say it owed much to the energy of Fletcher and company(who was involved from the start in the scintillating display against Roma). The Scot’s performances continue to be unsung by many, but it was his drive in midfield and hunger for the ball which allowed Carrick to dictate play with his ‘Hollywood’ passes.

Enough said. But the purpose of this post is not to give my verdict. You could find better opinions on the net. I willnot be wasting any more time trying to be verbose.

I am a regular follower of BBC 606, and I found many funny and interesting conversations and quotes after the match. In this post I list a couple of those.

Funny Quotes :

1.  “I’m in the Arsenal end at Old Trafford. The Gooners are mad! Doubt I’ll unzip my jacket to reveal my Man Utd strip.”
Scared but proud Man Utd fan at OT, via text
“If you do, it might just be the last thing you ever do. Basically, don’t.”

2. If Nani beats Justin Hoyte down the left again, I think he gets to keep him. The Portuguese waltzes past Hoyte, floats over a cross to the back stick and Darren Fletcher, continuing his passable impression of Roy Keane today, bullets a header into the roof of the net.

3. The best booking is earned by Adebayor who goes down in the box as if he got shot by the mythical sniper.

4. Who’s “Adebayor” ????
Is he going to the Beijing Olympiques?…he’d do well in the diving events…*winkeye*
5.
“Dear Barnsley,
Thank you
Lots of love,
Everton Fans”
6. P.S. …. anyone seen s**tregas??? last seen goin into Anderson pocket???? *smiley*

7. The F.A cup is for the boys. Champions league for the men.
—————————————————————–
Ah, that would explain why you’ve never won the champions league then *laugh*

8. A girl at work complained to her boyfriend about getting 12 red roses instead of yellow ones and made the florist send them back. Sadly she missed the diamond attached to each rose! Karma is a wonderful thing.

9.
There is a link that generates Brazilian names.
Yeah, that’s been doing the rounds in the office, in fairness. I’m a bit disappointed in mine – my favourites so far are Junior Agogo – “Agoginhosa” and David Beckham – “Claudio Beckhson”. Thoughts?
http://www.minimalsworld.net/BrazilName/brazilian.shtml

Other Quotes:

1. But the absolute highlight of the game, in fact the highlight of the season so far has to be the look of absolute dread on the faces of the Arsenal players not wanting to come out the tunnel for the second half. That HAS to be embarrassing!

2. Arsenal, who have enjoyed taunting outclassed teams in the past, were not enjoying getting a taste of their own medicine and William Gallas was lucky to escape punishment for an ill-disciplined kick at Nani.

3. Anderson seems to play his best in the biggest games. Handy ability to have. Very handy indeed. Something possibly Cristiano Ronaldo could learn from his team-mate?

4. Nani starts doing keepy-uppies on the pitch and about three Arsenal players try to kill him. Honestly, I dont know how else to describe that.

5.  William Gallas kicks Nani after the ball is gone. Honestly, is there an Arsenal brain cell still out on the pitch?

6.  United have set the tempo and from 1-11 they have hungered for the ball like rabid dogs, especially Anderson and Rooney who have been fighting like pit-bulls!!
7. Arsenal are gonners (gooners???)

8. I know Gallas is getting slated for his performance and the kick out at Nani, but he stayed on the pitch in front of the taunting fans to shake everyone’s hand, when the rest skulked off. Fair play to him for that.

9. Call the scientologists, Ronaldinho has morphed himself into Carrick. What a ball.

10.  Michael Carrick is pinning some sensational Hollywood passes around Old Trafford today, it’s a masterclass of long-rangers

11. scholesy, owen, carrick, anderson and fletcher all in fine form. Five central midfielders there. And two slots!!! A good headache to have 🙂

12.  Eboue left his head in Ghana.

13. With 35 minutes on the clock, United’s fans are already ‘ole’-ing. I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt them.

Hmm.. so we have come to and end. Some of them are provocative. But in no way reflect my thoughts. Sorry to the Arsenal fans if you are hurt.

Btw, I cant findout what ole-ing means(checkout the last quote). Could anyone help ? It is regularly used on 606.

Nothing more to write. I am ecstatic !!! Couldnt bat an eyelid throughout the match.

CyA then,

Sleeper

 

‘Messi’ah

Messi… Messi… Messi… I am going bonkers over Messeeeeeeeeee

Yes he is god . He is the messiah. And this craze was there even before the S&M match. I named him in my dream team a long time back ( :-> )

GOD’s sermon after the match goes like this -:

“We did great today, but we still have to improve. We must try to keep getting better

I was really eager to play and fortunately I could do it today. Whenever I am on the bench, I can’t wait to enter the pitch

This was a big step up for us. We played great football today. We started off strong and confident and that was one of the keys. The next match is the only thing we must think of now”

Here is a cool video of Messi’s play during the S&M Match.

http://172.16.5.52/~sleeper/lionel.avi (dont use proxy for this)
Non-IIITians can get the video here -:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5593P012

You can also try -:

http://lionelmessi.tv/mundial2006/lionel-messi-vs-serbia_www.lionelmessi.org.avi

Google Video link -:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4158756320397448737

I am posting some pics of god.

Messi Maaaaaayniaaaaaaa

CyA

–Sleeper

 

tagging ?

I really dont know what taggin means. But I did read a couple of spawn’s blogs from which I know I need to reply to the same set of questions . And coming to the point , i_am_not_a_blogger tagged me. Too few questions 😦 Anyways lemme try to answer them.

1. World Champions …..

A South American team. Brazil would be first-choice. But I would support Argentina for Messi. Argentina’s bench is wildly talented. Coloccini hasnt got a game yet. Mascherano too hasnt had decent outings. Messi n Tevez r still used as supersubs :(( Expected a lot frm brazil but Ronaldo has been awful
2. Runners Up ….

Argentina/Brazil , I want a brazil/arg final
3. Golden Boot award goes to …

My heart says Messi/Ronaldinho. But it would be Crespo/Kaka

4. Golden Ball award goes to…

How I wish it would be Gerrard , but most probably Kaka/Riquelme

5. Biggest Failure (team)….

England ( i hate england (except GERRARD ofcourse) , their soccer team sux more than their cricket team :p )

6. Dark Horse …..

Spain (its performing well , can spring a few surprises, Joaquin still on the bench :(( )
7. Beckham or Ronaldinho …..

not these two, its messeeeeeeeeee

8. Puyol or Terry …..

Puyol

9. Klose or Ruud Van …..

RUUD VAN

10. Van Basten or Parreira

Pekerman
10 . 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 …..

fk these defensive formations, I like brazil’s formation which allows them to play two playmakers and two wingbacks. so my choice is 4-2-2-2

11 . The footballer with the hottest GirlFriend …..

Not really concerned abt gf’s of fuballers

12. Your Favourite team :p …..

Brazil nd Argentina

 

Of Dream teams and the FIFA worldcup

The first post should have been a cricket post. Didnt get any time to write abt cricket. Football fever has caught up with me too. So couldnt resist writing a post abt it. I was recently going through an edition of TIMES OF INDIA when I saw this news item titled ‘Beckham’s dream eleven’ . It was too biased in the first place with most of the players being his ol pals or real madrid teammates. Some were ManU giants. Some were German greats (beckham is in germany btw :P) The team wasnt balanced , there were two right-sided mids in the eleven. Leave that , lets move on to another topic

I thought it would be nice if I could select my dream team. After some thinking I came up with a 23-man squad (will list the squad later in this post ). I like offensive formations. So why not start with my favourite 3-4-1-2 . Has all my fav. players. Ronaldinho is obv. the playmaker. Henry picks himself. Ruud the deadly finisher gets a chance. Arjen Robben occupies the left wing. Cristiano resides on the right. No wingbacks in this formation. GERRARD captains the team. click on the pic to zoom

I thought abt other formations too. The next one is the 4-3-1-2 (the formation with which AC MILAN plays). And since Kaka is in the 23-man squad , he is the playmaker since he is used to playing in this formation. Mascherano plays the holding role. Sergio Ramos and Carles Puyol are versatile enough to switch between RB and CB. Shevchenko gets a chance to impress. Buffon gets the goalie’s job ahead of Cech due to his experience. GERRARD captains the team. In the other positions I selected some of the reserves in my 23-man squad. click on the pic

There is one more formation , which is essentially a 4-4-2 , but with one of the mid’s taking up a more advanced role(i.e the CAM). No particular bias towards Ronaldinho. Would have named Kaka in this. Just changed my mind in the last moment. Messi gets a chance in this formation as winger. (i cant afford to play him as CAM , doesnt hav the experience :P) Joaquin occupies the right win. Cech gets the keeper’s job. Del Horno rocks at left-back. didnt choose GERRARD as holding midfielder , he dislikes the role. Ronaldinho is captain.clic on the pic

The following one is more of a defensive formation. Henry is the lone-striker. He can play this role comfortably as seen in the UEFA Champions league. Ballack partners GERRARD. GERRARD is captain. Puyol plays at right-back. Iker Casillas gets back his job. clic on this

I would appreciate any comments on these squads. Lets have a discussion (:D)

Anyways here is my 23-man squad

GK’s -: Iker Casillas(ESP), Gianluigi Buffon(ITA), Peter Cech(CZE)

LB’s -: Asier Del Horno(ESP) , Fabricio Coloccini(ARG)

RB’s -: Sergio Ramos(ESP) , Carles Puyol(ESP) ( both are versatile enough to play CB too)

CB’s -: Alessandro Nesta(ITA), John Terry(ENG), Lucio(BRA)

DM’s -: Javier Mascherano(ARG)

CM’s -: Steven Gerrard(ENG), Michael Ballack(GER), Xabi Alonso(ESP)

LWM’s -: Arjen Robben(NED)(can switch wings) , Lionel Messi(ARG)

RWM’s -: Cristiano Ronaldo(POR)(versatile enought to play LWM too) , Joaquin Sanchez(ESP)

ST’s -: Thierry Henry(FRA), Ruud Van Nistelrooy(NED), Andriy Shevchenko(UKR)

I would have selected Rooney , but his match-fitness is in doubt.

As many as 6 spaniards in my team :O. I didnt expect that. I am not a spanish fan btw. Does this tell you spain has good prospects in this worldcup. I dont think so. Especially when they have a coach who reprimands the captain for coming to training in a yellow jersey. Wonder what would he do if ESP were to face the samba boys. Vomit ? =))

I am vouching for the Samba Boys. If a team can play to world-class CAM’s in the same match then it has got some meat.

Would have ended this post like this , but there is this new fashion of writing PS’s. So why defy the majority , lets indulge in some PSing

PS 1 -: Waiting for 12th June (thats when brazil starts its campaign)

PS 2 -: I desperately wanna write a post on cricket

PS 3 -: Federer please make Nadal eat clay , err…. mud

PS 4 -: Indians are faring OK in the westindies , Sreesanth is out of the second match

PS 5 -: Simon Jones injured yet AGAIN , and is now out of the ASHES. The world’s most devastating reverse swinger cannot now be seen in the ASHES.

PS 6 -: I am waiting for Ponting to unleash his VISWA ROOPAM(this word borrowed from the GITA , means universal form in english).

PS 7 -: It took a lot of time to prepare these formations in GIMP , got the fooball field from FIFA Manager. And then a lot of searching in google-images.

PS 8 -: This post written using emacs

PS 9 -: Pirates of the Caribbean on July 7th (thts when the worldcup is over) . Someone told me it was on June 7th and I got excited :((

PS 10 -: The City of Destiny awaits

PS 11 -: Found an illustration of the dutch-team’s tactics , looked good , so I am posting it. click on the pic

PS 12 -: So far Harsha Bhogle has done a commendable job analysing the FIFA Worldcup. If it were anyone else , say like the bitch who presented the last cricket worldcup it would have been terrible :((

PS 13 -: There were two commentaries running yesterday – both english and hindi . it was a mess. cudnt hear anything. problem got corrected later in the match.

PS 14 -: This is kinda my first blog

Bye Bye

CyA

–Sleeper

 

Hello world!

Hi Cricket fans , 

This blog is dedicated to the intriguing game that is cricket

Will post a lot of interesting stuff related to cricket and how I got in touch with this fabulous game

Recently I got hooked to football as well , so you might see some FUBALL related blogs 

Hope you enjoy

— Sleeper