Life is a Game…

The title may look misleading but according to the Portuguese gaffer, “Had I stayed in Porto, the folks there would respect me as the supreme power, maybe next to Jesus”. This sums up the attitude of the manager who has won the league titles with every team he managed- FC Porto, Chelsea and Inter.

He announced his arrival to the world when he ran down the length of Old Trafford after his team edged out Manchester United to make it to the finals of Champions League. He earned the wrath of ManU fans and endeared himself to Chelsea fans when he declared, “I am here to win and I don’t like to lose” He assembled the squad that would go on to make history by not losing at home for 83 matches. He famously or infamously once said, “Chelsea have the best players and at the risk of sounding arrogant, the Best Manager”. He was also involved in frequent verbal duels with Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger. Particularly he was scathing on his attack towards his predecessor at Chelsea, Rainieri by insulting him over his language skills.

In short, you may love him or you may hate him, but you just can’t ignore him.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two marquee clubs in the World football, never mind the La Liga. The rivalry between these two clubs is not only because of the football but also because of the various cultural aspects. Barcelona are a Catalunya based club and their language is Catalan while the Madristas have made a little secret of their dislike towards the Catalans.

When Real Madrid was winning every trophy that was available during the 1950s, Barcelona began to assemble their own team. This dates back to the days of Spanish General Francisco Franco who was a fanatic fan of Real Madrid CF. During 1950s, both Barcelona and Real Madrid were involved in a fierce battle regarding the signing of Alfredo de Stefano, who would then become Spain’s all time leading scorer. It’s thought that Franco’s intervention helped Real Madrid to sign him and he singlehandedly won five champions league trophies for Real Madrid.

This further aggravated the rivalry and the El Clasico or The Classic Battle became an integral part of the Calendar. In 1960s, the boiling point was reached as the two clubs faced off each other in the European Cup with Real Winning in 1960 and Barcelona following it up in 1961. Their head to head record stands at Real Madrid 68-30-60 Barcelona. During the 1990s, Johan Cryuff’s dream team began to create history for Barcelona and Real Madrid was struggling to keep pace with their rivals. The tables turned and Florentina Perez assembled a Galactico era in 2002 which helped them to win the champions League. Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 6-2 at the Santiago Bernabeau this season and that has broken the hearts of the Madristas.

This rivalry brings the best out of both the teams and let’s hope that this remains a healthy rivalry till the end.

The T20 world cup is over and Pakistan are the new world champions. It’s no coincidence that India won the inaugural world cup and both the finals were an all-Asian affair. The reason is that the Asian teams are the masters of Spin bowling.

 In T20 every over counts and the middle overs are the key to decide the course of the match. The team that has te best spinners can dictate the play and precisely that has been happened in both the world cups. Though most teams have a Spinner or two they do not fall under the same class as that of the Sub-continental Spinners. To be crisp, Van der Merwe or Botha are no Murali.

 Srilanka has the spin twins – Murali and Mendis who can baffle any opponent and weave their web over them. Dilshan and Jayasuriya can also do a decent job. For India, it’s Bhajji and Ojha while the likes of Raina, Yuvraj and Pathan can roll their arms over. Pakistan has unearthed a gem of a spinner in Afridi. His exploits along with the reverse swing of Gul caused huge damage in the opposition ranks.  The nature of pitch in the Sub continent encourages the development of slower bowlers and despite their best efforts; the other part of the world is finding it hard to catch up with Asia in terms of the quality of Spin bowling.

Until there is a dramatic increase in the number of Spinners from Southafrica, England and Newzealand, the Asian teams’l continue to arrest their supremacy in the exciting new format of the game.

When Bangladesh shocked Pakistan in the 1999 world cup, it marked a revival of sorts in the under-dogs’ cricketing status. They were duly rewarded with the “Test Status” but they did not repay it. Barring aria n curtailed draw against Zimbabwe long back, they managed to lose every test match – and more than half of it were innings defeats. But the history was rewritten last week.

Bangladesh took on a depleted West Indian side – nevertheless a quality side- in the Caribbean soil. Opting to bat, the tigers did not perform well and were all out for a mere 238. West indies in reply scored 370 odd runs and the thoughts of yet another innings defeat was lingering in the minds of every Bangladeshi fan. Bur Tamim Iqbal ensured that they were needless fears and he stroked a remarkable century that underlined his potential as the world beater. With some handy knocks from the middle order, they set a target of 277 to the west Indies.

Had there been Chris Gayle, the match’d have been over in 30 overs. But it was not to be. Mahamdullah picked 5 wickets on his debut to consign West Indies to a humiliating 95 run defeat. Thus Bangladesh won their first test ever and they have a reason to cheer- had they failed in this test too, their test status would have been in a grave danger and now they have saved that status!! Thanks to their young tigers.

Being a football fan is not easy in a cricket mad country like India. There are so many factors that hinder the football fans from following the game.

 First of all football fans are a minority. Their preferences are mostly ignored by others. Be a mall or a common viewing room in dorms, it is cricket which gets the preference. Even the television channels are biased towards cricket and some of the important football matches are not telecasted. Moreover, you’ll find every service provider offering cricket scores but you’ll never hear about football. Another thing is merchandise – everywhere T-shirts with Dhonis and Sachins can be seen but finding a Walcott or a Benayoun is as painstaking as it takes to count the number of castes in India.

 With such kinda lukewarm response to football, we cannot expect India to produce football talents. If it’s tough even to follow the football matches, imagine the plight of those who have taken up football as their profession. There is no use in lamenting that India doesn’t do well in football. If there is no fan following, how can you expect the players to give their best?

 I’m not saying that we should boycott cricket but just that if we are to witness a change in fortunes of the Indian football, give atleast 10% of the support you offer to cricket!

Now that the FIFA player of the year 2008 is off to Madrid, what next for the EPL and ManU in particular? The fans would miss his antics, his diving prowess, his petulant activities etc. But the biggest loser is Manchester United.

When Ron was there, he would strike fear in the hearts of defenders – thanks not only to his playmaking skills but also due to his well timed dives. But however you gotta accept that he was the difference between the 0-0 and 1-0. Take him out and ManU would have been 10 points short. He can play as a winger, double up as a striker and the worst of all (for the opponents) he can do both with the same efficiency. But now Valencia is no Ronaldo. Agreed he is a talent in Wigan but to replace CR7 is no joke. Rooney will relish it as he can move back to his favourite central striker position but who is gonna convert those free kicks on a regular basis and make lung bursting runs down the flanks?

But on the brighter note, Dressing room atmosphere will be serene, Rooney can be back to his poaching best and above all, Alex can select the team and formation that he likes. It remains to be seen how the United can adapt post-CR period and the impact of this transfer will be known by this time next year.