Armando Colaco and India’s World Cup Qualifiers Probables

Yet another World Cup Qualifiers are on the way and like the last time (thanks to rankings) we will have to play a knock out round before playing in the group stage. In the 2010 qualifiers we went out in the first round after losing to Lebanon 6-3 in the aggregate. We managed to grab a 2-2 draw in the second leg at Goa but already lost the tie when we went down 1-4 at Lebanon.

Lots has changed after that defeat and things have improved bit for us. With Bob no longer with the team it’s a big setback for us. The interim coach Armando Colaco will have a tough task and beating UAE is no easy for us. Last time when we met in a friendly the result was a 5-0 hammering. But if you have memories we had defeated them 1-0 at Bangalore in the 2002 world cup qualifiers with a squad that featured legends like I M Vijayan, Baichung Bhutia etc. Our standards have improved and the performance in Asian Cup was a proof of that. We must carry on the good work that has done under Bob Houghton.

AIFF

Lots have been written on whether Armando was the right choice from AIFF and many have been critical on him. I personally feel it’s a good choice as a new foreign coach will take a lots of time to know about the players. With qualifiers approaching soon the Dempo coach is the best soultion. Armando knows many players in the probable squad which is good. Then he can work on their strengths and weakness and build tactics. The goan coach has twice won the I-League for Dempo and has taken them to the semi finals of the AFC Cup which was a great achievement for an Indian club.

The 42 probable’s looks fine too me and the number of youngsters in the list is positive. I was bit surprised by the fact that N P Pradeep was omitted from the squad. The central midfielder had a good season with Viva Kerala and played a key part in their survival. But when you look at his performance in the national team it was disappointing. May be it was a reason why Armando has dropped him.

Indian team (Courtesy: Chris P Daniel)

While upfront with the likes of Jeje and Chhetri it looks promising. And with Viva Kerala striking pair Sabeeth and Anil Kumar the bench strength is good. I still remember someone associated with national team telling me Bob Houghton assuring him that Sabeeth is one who could replace Bhutia. I personally know the boy and he is quite unlucky having had to sit out with injuries. But now this is his chance to impress and i hope he can do well with lots of other youngsters.

It will be difficult for us to beat UAE and I sincerely want all of us cheering the national team like we supported the cricket team. We are not playing world cup football but it’s a path towards it. Our national team deserves support for all the good work done in Asian Cup. My hearts says we can beat UAE and I don’t care about what my head is saying 😀

Tennis!!

 

Tennis

I never adored tennis like Football and Cricket. Whenever I followed it had a reason for it. It may be the love for a particular player or if it’s Davis Cup which is the country wise competition and Olympics too. During the end of nineties I learned more about it and mother was the guru.  She had followed the careers of legends like Ivan Lendl, John Mcenroe, Martina Navratilova etc. I still remember when she used to tell me how Mcenroe was famous for losing his temper and throwing his rackets.

During that period it was Pete Sampras who dominated the tennis world and I always enjoyed watching him. The emotionless man who dominated Wimbledon and US Open was the best. His encounters with Andre Agassi were always exciting and he always had the last laugh. While the duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi was slowly rising to the top. Those days when ESPN STAR SPORTS didn’t telecast the finals it was Dooradarshan who first broke the news that both won their first grandslam at Wimbledon. Their chest bump celebration is something I will never forget.

I don’t remember much of the matches that took place and one which I still have a memory is the Athens Olympics 2004 Men’s Doubles Bronze Medal Match. The Lee-Hesh duo met the Croatian pair Ancic and Ljubicic. A match lasted more than five hours saw Indian duo losing it in the final set 14-16. Throughout the match I was hoping for a medal for my country and was praying to god when we were winning a point. It was a disappointment but still it’s was one of the best tennis match I have ever seen.

When the Pete Sampras era was over and with Lee/Hesh duo split for some unknown reason I kind of lost interest. But with emergence of Roger Federer I started following it. It’s always a pleasure to watch the ‘Swiss Maestro’ in action. He has the ability to produce some unbelieveable shots from his racket and is definitely a legend. When I saw him in action today against Djokovic in the French Open loved the way he played. And when he meets Nadal on Sunday it’s definitely going to be a classic match.

I also loved players like Andy Roddick, the ace man Goran  Ivanisevic, Gustavo Kuerten, etc.  While in the women’s section I loved Martina Hingis who I thought had a beautiful smile and was one of the best players and of course our own Sania Mirza

Tennis may not be as popular as other sports like Football but yet has it’s own beauty. Today I spend the whole day watching French Open and never felt bored. The ace’s, backhand winners, the never ending rallies, drop shots etc makes it a treat for eyes. I always loved when the chair umpire says “Game, Set, Match ….” If you are a sports buff you will definitely love the game of rackets and tennis balls.

Good Night 🙂

Take Care 🙂

Does Heart Break’s’ many times?

Over the years I have seen many people being part of relationships. I travelled with friends to visit their girlfriends and during the journey they say to me they found their love of life or soulmate and all sorts of things. Then I feel great as they have sorted out the most important thing in life and now all will be good for them. To inspire people there are all kinds of classic love movies are there. Special thanks should be mentioned in the name of Karan Johar for all his “classic” romantic movies which is now what Bollywood is inspired on.

But things change after some time when cracks start to appear in relationship. That’s the time when Enrique songs will have lots of listeners (esp: I Wish I Was Your Lover, Somebody’s me) and all the sentimental songs will be in the favourite list of the IPOD’s and the music players.

The interesting thing is that when that mourning period is over then it’s the start of a new era. Thanks to technology we are now ever closer. When they find their new ‘love of life’ mobile companies will start to earn profits thanks to the late night calls, messages and of course the callertunes too (which they didn’t get during the mourning period). The sad fact is that parents are at the receiving end here and in most cases without knowing anything.

As they get close to each other one day they decide “We can’t be together and our parents won’t allow it. We are from diferent caste, and even if we are from same our sub caste is diff. And if all these things are fine your family won’t accept me or mine won’t accept you”, blah blah. Then everything is over and here starts yet another sorrow period. Facebook status will change, people will get philosphical, more cigarettes will be burned and most importantly alcohol takes the centre stage.

As life has to move on everyone will get busy with their jobs and some times while alone there is that old memories will come up. Then their friends will get forwards that say how a boy and girl were in love and how sad they have split. I was in the receiving end of this many times and some of them were really hilarious. The most popular one is this: “If you love something set it free if it comes back it’s your’s if not it was never meant to be”. You Gotta Be Kidding Me.

Once we have a good job and a good bank balance we are finally ready to marry someone arranged by our parents. Then we will live happily or presume to be like that for our parents, ourselves and may be for the kids.

When I see these things happens I wonder why people fall in this thing called LOVE. Some say it’s accidental and it’s unavoidable. But when you are starting a friendship with someone you will always have a thought that this may end up in a relationship. If you are able to discover that fact then we should think whether to go through this pain. And the regrets we have some people for some reason they call ‘sweet memories’.

Even I am a person who had gone through this but that was just an infatuation. When I realized it I thought how stupid I was and I took it as a lesson that should be learned in life. I don’t hate LOVE but what I say is that if you don’t have the confidence to marry the gal who you love why you make life uncomfortable for others and of course for yourselves. Never buy pain it may be cheap but after effects will be unbearable. If you want good memories celebrate with friends, spend more time with parents or like me watch Manchester United in action every weekend :).

I am not old enough to write these things and whatever I have written is what I have seen during these 23 years. I may be right or wrong.

This post is not meant to hurt anyone or against love. It’s my personal opinion and just consider me as a crazy person in this crazy world 😀

Good Night 🙂

Take Care 🙂

Money!!

“A penny saved is a penny earned”, is a quote from the founder of America Benjamin Franklin. All these years in my life I never had a phase in my life i struggled with out. In my childhood days parents were their to buy me whatever I wanted. As I finished my college days luckily got a job which helped me to manage my own expenses. I never use to save money that much and did spend it when i felt it was necessary and some times unnecessarily.

When I finally decided Sheffield is the place where I will be doing my masters I thought I will be fine as it’s easy to get a part time job there. But then things changed. To manage my own expenses I struggled badly. Quarterly payments from my parents helped me but in the long run that was not possible. Life changed and I started preparing a budget and limting my own expenses. When I feel to have a coffee or breakfast from outside it clashes with my monthly budget and I used to limit my temptation.

Then when I feel to call out some one for a lunch or dinner there is always this confusion. I always believed that if you want some thing in life you have to go and grab it.  But I ignored my heart and used my head. Which meant I missed some good things in life but you may call it as an insecurity of a person who lacks confidence in his life. A person like me when I have money I love to spend it but when I don’t have it I rather move away from these things.

When you become rich and ready to spend there won’t be people waiting for you to enjoy life with them. Some times money dictates life and if you have it your lucky otherwise just wait for your moment to come. And sadly there is no closed substitutes available for money too.

Good Night 🙂

Take Care 🙂

UEFA Champions League Final and Sheffield

It was a disappointing night at Wembley yesterday as Barcelona got the better of United with a clinical display. They clinched fourth UEFA Champions League title and has repeated the 2009 victory in Rome. Being a Old Trafford faithful it was frustraing to watch it but have to admire the Catalans were amazing. Their passing game, movement off the ball where all brilliant. It’s as if we think there are more than eleven players in the pitch as when ever they go forward there are plenty of people to attack the opponent’s box. It’s a treat to watch Messi and co. play football.

United celebrating the 19'th title

I felt sad at the final whistle but was relieved that this season was never a disaster for United. Winning the 19’th title was really a great achievement and chanting “Are you watching Merseyside” makes it more fun. No offense meant to Liverpool fans as I still respect the club.

While talking about some thing not related about Sports it’s my first blog entry after three months.  Last one was before the Valentines’ day though it’s doesn’t have any connection with my absence here. One reason I could think of is too much Facebooking.  I have told some of friends who had been asking why I am addict of it I used to say them  it’s has become a girl friend for me now. I can say anything to her at any given point of time and it has the patience to listen. Unlike girlfriends it won’t turn his back when we want to talk though I don’t have any personal experience to speak of.

With my classes over I kind of getting bored with my life in Sheffield. I always loved the early morning hurry- burry walks to university. To be honest this student life was the one i enjoyed. Made some good friends and it changed me a lot in terms of my attitude. I was always a shy guy in college days and now I am better as I am interacting more with people. And that’s why I feel missing the uni days. It was always fun after class dicussions with my classmates about different cultures, about life, global issues etc. That’s how people get close to each other.

Sheffield Hallam University

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the time being I am going to enjoy a cliched Sunday with the hopes of better days in Sheffield 🙂

Bye, take care 🙂

 

Manchester Derby, Cricket World Cup & bit of Sports Journalism

The weekend started on a bright note with United winning the Manchester derby. Though watching the match in laptop courtesy of streaming is no fun glad that saw both goals live. Nani’s opening goal was quite a lucky one I would say as any another day the defender could have cleared it easily. But the Portugese winger did worked hard to win the ball from Kolarov of a Giggs pass to give United the edge at half time.

Courtesy: Getty Images

Second half City looked better and their equalizing goal was a bizzare won. That’s the moments where one thinks “Yet again we are going to drop points”. But a beautiful overhead kick from Wayne Rooney of a Nani’s pass helped to silence the ‘Noisy Neighbors’. The goal definitely came at the right time for England striker to win support from the fans after what happened in the early parts of the season. Also as a United fan it was good to see Tevez struggling through out the match. Like the fans chant “What’s the Score Tevez?, What’s the Score Tevez”. The win definitely helped us to maintain the four point edge at the top and I am looking forwarding to the Round 16 of UEFA Champions League clash against Marseille. It’s not the only game I will be following as would love to see Gunners giving a shock to Barca and Spurs pulling off some thing against an inform AC Millan team.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

20:20 might have taken charm out of the 50 over format. But with the  ICC Cricket World Cup just a week away that’s some thing I am looking forward to. With the warm up matches kicked off the excitement too with the fans. I am looking forward’s to India’s first Warm Up match against Aussies. Will be interesting to see what fast bowlers can do in flat tracks. Definitely a stern test for the likes of Zaheer, Munaf, Nehra & Sreesanth. While in the batting department I am keen to see how Yuvraj Singh perform. He had a disastrous 2010 with the bat and is definitely key to India’s hopes to win the tournament after 28 years.

Chak De Men in Blue.

With new semester finished three weeks of classes it looks good and interesting. Sport and Media is definitely the interesting module while ‘Journalism Law and Society module is bit dry Alan Hurndall’s classes are really funny. When the ‘Valentines’ celebrate their day on Monday we will be having a court visit as part of our module. It will be a different experience on a visiting a court in England.

With the I-League currently happening in India it is definitely some thing I miss. Taking down stats, calling up players, coaches etc for quotes was part of my life was for the past four years. I dream one day our league will be like the Premier League in UK with dedicated pages by newspapers for football, tv channels covering it, radio stations talking about it. That will definitely help India to climb up the ladder in World Football.

I hope one day my dreams will be realized even though I may be hoping against hope 🙂

Good Night 🙂

Ice Hockey – Sheffield Steelers V/s Nottingham Panthers

When our ‘Sport and Media’ module tutor Seth Bennett announced that he will be able to take us for an Ice Hockey match on Friday I was bit excited. Though had seen the game in ESPN channel back in India watching it LIVE at a stadium will be more impressive.

A Tram in Sheffield

The match happened at Arena (also known as Motorsport Arena) which was a 15 minute travel in Tram (Supertram) from the City Centre, where I stay. The one interesting about transportation in England is that when ever you are traveling up and down the rate will be pretty much lower. So as I caught a Tram I told the ticket collecting women ‘Return too from Arena’. But she did gave me a single journey which cost’s 2 pounds. To my stupidity I thought the charges were reduced. But as I reached destination my friend told me it’s around 3.5 pounds. So which mean’s I will have to pay two pounds again and in total 4 pounds. Gosh I will loss 50pence!!

The Arena where Sheffield Steelers play their home games. Thanks Mariana Linhan for the photo

As we entered the 8,500 capacity Arena it was slowly starting to fill. Our tutor Seth Bennett shared some pre-match thoughts and did tell us to do some creative journalistic stuff on the match. As the clock ticked 7:00 the Press Officer came to the pitch and started to talk about the home team Sheffield Steelers. It was nice to hear when he chanted ‘We are the Steelers, We are the Steelers’.

When the away team ‘Nottingham Steelers’ entered the ice covered pitch predictably there was booing and lights were turned off. With the entrance of home team the voices in the crowd became loud and the lights were back on. The match started in a terrific pace with Steelers scoring from a goal keeper mistake while the away team before the end of first quarter did equalize to make the match evenly poised.

The match has three quarters with a duration of 20 minutes and like field hockey the timer will be stopped for any fouls or penalties. After each quarter is over there will be a 15 minute break. During that time a mascot will come to the pitch and is seen throwing some club stuff to the spectators.

The Steelers dominated the second and final quarter to seal an emphatic 6-1 win to move point one closer on the league (Elite Ice Hockey League) leaders Cardiff Devils. The people in the arena were celebrating their win against the close rivals. It is some thing one never see in India  familes coming to support the home team. If women come to watch a match in the stadium people will definitely offend them and like the Andy Gray story there is pretty much sexism back in our country.

If I like some thing about England this is one thing. There are passionate followers for each and every sport in the country. There is no gender difference men, women and small children all will fill in the stadium to cheer their home team. The biggest example I can give is Sheffield United – Ispwich Town match (Sheffield United lost 3-0) which had an attendance of 1800o+. Though the club is in relegation zone in the Championship their fans come in the hope that their team will win. That’s what you call a trust, hope or confidence like being Family. One day I hope the same will happen in India where I can wear my home team jersey and cheer them. I am waiting for that moment!!

150 Days and Football

Sheffield United football fans on their way to Bramall Lane to watch their in club in action against Watford FC

By February 9’th will be celebrating my 150’th day in England. Though missing home badly life is definitely interesting in a country where Football is more than a game to the people.  Whenever I am out to watch a football match was always excited by the enthusiasm shown by local people to cheer their team. I always wished the same would happen back in India. Just imagine thousands of people wearing Viva Kerala jersey and cheering them in the gallery. It’s from the same thought had the idea to do the final project about Indian Football and it’s unexplored potential. Worked four years in IndianFootball.com and it’s an advantage for me while doing 14,000 long dissertation.Now I hope that my course leader will agree to the proposal so in a way it will be a come back for me to Indian football action after a while and definitely missed it a lot.

For the time being I am off to bed in the Room No 85.2 in Phoenix Court. There is definitely an excitement for tomorrow as will be watching an Ice Hockey match for the first time thanks to our Tutor Seth Bennett. Will definitely be fun to watch Hockey played in Ice 😀

Good Night guys 🙂

Hello world!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to my blog.