The Euro fever has come to an end with those unending chants of 'viva espana'! For invalids like me who cannot be awake to watch the matches at those ungodly hours, it is the news bulletins that give a vivid description of the flow of the game! Yes, I find that the written articles bring the matches more alive than the video highlights. That is probably because the written word has more perspective than the 21" screen.
There are two columnists in particular, whose articles I never miss: Rob Hughes of IHT and Phil Ball of soccernet (espn). Both have their own styles of writing and their own prides and prejudices. I just love reading both of them.
Rob is very emotionally attached to football - he can't digest the hyper commercialization of the "world game". He follows all football news with an eye on the financial implications. He makes it a point to mention the absence of local talent in rich clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea. Like me, he loves Barca and Argentina. No wonder, I love his writing.
Phil is also a gifted writer, who can blend humour even into his most serious sounding articles. He is an Englishman settled in Spain for a long time now (he probably married a Spanish girl!) and loves to follow the La Liga, Spain's top league football. His writings are influenced by the social and political events of Spain - surrounded by the separatist forces of Andulasia, Basques and the Catalans. If you know a little bit of Spain's history, then Phil Ball is sure to amuse you with his digest of the Spanish league.
I would have never come to like football if not for these writers' articles with their mix of economics and politics into what otherwise would have been vanilla commentary.
Afterall I am a desi. I always like it with 'masala'!
I followed the Euro games with a different perspective - grouping the teams based on their kit sponsors.
* There were 16 teams in total and 4 kit sponsors - Nike (5 teams), Adidas (5 teams), Puma (5 teams) and Umbro (1 team).
* All 5 Nike teams made it to the quarterfinals. Only 2 Adidas and 1 Puma entered the last 8.
* Each semifinal featured a Nike vs Adidas and in both the games Adidas won and entered finals!
* In spite of all its teams getting into the second round, Nike could not feature in the finals! Adidas entered into the knockout round with only two teams, who eventually entered the finals.
Honestly, I supported Nike (Russia/Turkey), but ended up in disappointment. (as usual, bun!).
Another point to note is that the winners of all groups, save Spain, lost in the quarterfinals. It is the second placed teams from each group who reached the semis.
Last but not the least, I still dont understand why the schedule was drawn in such a manner to allow Spain to meet Russia again in a match before the finals. Had it been like A vs C and B vs D, such a repetition could have been avoided before the final match. I have no idea why UEFA did not think about this!
Hope the coming season will get my favourites back to where they belong - Barca, Liverpool and AC Milan - the top of their respective leagues. I wouldnt mind sponsoring a bash on the night Barca sets their hand on the Champions League Trophy!
Forca Barca.
2 comments:
Now that u have said that u will sponsor a bash on Barca clinching the trophy, better start praying that it doesn't!
Now that Barca did win, not one, not two, not three,...ok this can go on for a while,...Now that Barca had won 6 trophies - i.e., every competition they played in 2009., a bash is looooooong due. Will happen this summer in BLR. Invites only to those who RSVP. :-)
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