Haha.

Lol!

Arsenal fans will feel sad but as a Barca fan, all I can say is Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[News link]

We have seen violence in Brazil, the football riot death in Italy, racism in Spain and match fixing scandals in Italy and even smaller football nations like Poland – not items any one would want associated with a beautiful game. Such issues are nothing new in sport, particularly football. If any thing, at least the violence in football has reduced in various countries and the last football world cup went violence free bar a few tiny incidents. However, there still are countries where the violence is deep rooted and the hooligan impact is big. Evils exist in one form or the other in the sport in most places.

Football is the biggest sport in the world and enjoys unparalleled fan base . A die hard fan may keep watching the game despite the evils though he may strongly be against the given evils. However, that does not mean that football or it’s image isn’t affected by the constant negative news we here about the game. Football still has roads to travel – growth in countries like USA, improvement in standards in Asia, Africa being three of many important areas.

Even for a sport which has inelastic demand in countries like Brazil, or is close to achieving that level of fan support in many other countries, a sport holds a responsibility to remove evils from the game. Football has improved in this regard but there is a lot more to be done – some thing which has to be taken far more seriously.

A lot of people have been shocked at the price tag, particularly as it is felt that Beckham is not worth the money where worth on the field is concerned. LA Galaxy certainly feels differently and Beckham and LA Galaxy feel it is going to be beneficial move for both the parties concerned, I do not see why people should moan over the money Beckham will get.

A common refrain would be - he is not that good a player any more and so it is bad sign that a player not that good can command so much money because of his brand name, selling shirts and all that jazz. Brands exist in every thing and modern sport is business as well. So, if a club feels that they can make money because of the brand name of a player, it is not a huge talking point for me.

Eventually, in the long run in any business, if performances aren’t there, profits and brand names cannot last. In some cases, brands get fanatical support and performances do not matter as much - which is where the complains come in. As long as a football team looks at putting the best XI in the football field and does not pressurise a manager to put some one in the field based on how many shirts he is selling, there is little reason to complain.

As far as this particular Beckham deal is concerned, it is very good over all for football as well as it is a given that Beckham will attract newer fans to the game in the United States and that can only be a good thing.

Real have had two manager changes in two years. After stumbling form, Capello is facing the pressure. While Real started off the season quite promisingly, it has all fallen in the past few games.

What ails Real? It is simple to point out attitude, lack of committment, superstars does not essentially mean a great team and millions of other things. However, if some one can actually reverse the Real situation, he would make a lot of money. So to actually solve the problems is a different ball game altogether.

Even as a Barcelona fan, it was sad to see Real stumble in their last encounter - against Deportivo. Now Deportivo is no world beater - they have been struggling this season and have conceded almost the double the number of goals they have scored. However, against Real Madrid, they looked like world beaters. Real kept giving away the ball and the defense was woeful. In the second goal Deportivo scored for instance, Cannavaro had the chance to clear the Deportivo attack twice. Deportivo could have have scored 3,4 or even 5 goals in the game. It was that poor a performance from Real.

The Spanish League needs a strong Real Madrid side. It means a strong competition with Barcelona which can attract so many people to the Spanish game. I am not that sure that a Real Madrid revival will happen quickly and I am not sure changes in managers which mean changes to the situation as the problem is much deeper. It needs to be addressed at so many levels right now. However, with the correct approach, I am sure that eventually, we can see a strong Real Madrid side. Again, I am not sure the fans or the media are that patient - another problem.

Former Bosnian star Sergej Barbarez

Guardian reports:

Thirteen Bosnia national team players have threatened to boycott international call-ups unless the heads of the Bosnian Football Association (NFSBIH) resign…

“We will no longer accept call-ups to the national team while these people are performing these functions, hoping that our gesture will mark the first step in the healing of this cancer in our soccer and a new beginning for the national team for which our hearts beat,” the letter said.

Sport should provide equal opportunity to all and then the best should comprise teams at various levels. Ethnic preference is no way to run sport as famous and just retired Bosnian football hero Sergej Barbarez has said.

If the threatened boycott is indeed implemented, there might be some changes but I doubt if there will be major structural changes over all in the way Bosnian football is run as the problems run deep:

The domestic league is also in a poor state, mired in allegations of corruption and match-fixing. The NFSBIH is run on ethnic lines that reflect the delicate balance between the country’s two parts, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation, created after the 1992-95 war.

Root causes of sporting problems are usually not in the sporting realm but they occur as a consequence of problems politically or otherwise in a country as we see in Bosnia. From wikipedia:

Tensions between the three constitutional peoples remain high in BiH and often provoke political disagreements. Each of the three peoples are influential to roughly a same degree in Bosnia with Bosniaks being the most numerous, Serbs having their own entity, and Croats, though politically marginalized, being the strongest economically.

I am immediately reminded of the crisis Zimbabwe cricket finds itself in at the moment. A lot of players have protested and resigned. Zimbabwean cricket remains in a deep hole and not much has improved. I am apprehensive that there will sweeping changes but even if some good can come from the protests and even if small changes are made in the way Bosnian football is run, it would be a successful move.

In any case, it is much better to protest and live a poorer or less priveleged life than a discriminated one.

The case of Charleroi, a Belgian football club, versus FIFA has opened a can of worms regarding the importance of international football. It is no secret that international football is losing out to club football slowly but steadily. If the landmark case goes in favour of Charleroi, it could hasten the inevitable.

The whole issue of who owns international footballers crops up. A country shouldn’t have less right to it’s footballer than a club and have to compensate the club if a player gets injured playing for the country (of course, that the player wants to play for his country and has not signed agreements with the club restricting his free will is a given). For instance, the country wouldn’t harm the player intentionally as more often than not they would have to use the player in future matches as well.

The bigger problem lies with the lack of competitive matches we see in international football today. A case in point are the Euro qualifiers. A lot of mismatches which could have been avoided if minnows were required to qualify for the qualifiers themselves. Moreover, it would give international football much more respect as you would expect a particular high standard from the matches and not have players playing in their first or second gears.

International football is still a huge draw. People often tune in to football only once in four years during the world cup and newer audiences are attracted to the game. There is little doubt that it is important to football at large. Traditionalists would even argue that international football should always be and be regarded above club football. However, it has to improve it’s stand in the form of public sentiment much more to remain a big force. Here’s hoping that international football lives long and has sound health for many years.

Chelsea and Yash Raj films enter into a partnership. Maverick has more on it. Why go into such a partnership? Abhishek Bachchan, the hero of the film, tells us via this statement:

The character I play in the film is of a very loyal Chelsea fan. I have now had the chance to see Chelsea live after following them over the last few years and the club have given me a jersey with my character’s name Ricky on it, so that was fun.

The premiership is becoming big in India but it is still not being able to sell the jerseys of star players. India has missed the bus on this craze so far. Firstly, BCCI didn’t market selling shirts as well (we still don’t have BCCI official cricket shops like we have NBA stores). However, Pepsi increased it’s product sales by offering team jerseys coinciding with the 1999 world cup and then the BCCI encashed a fair bit before and during the 2003 world cup.

The big problem with jersey sales in India is the price sensitive nature of the consumer. People would rather have an unofficial t-shirt than the official costlier one. Who is to say Chelsea is looking just at jersey sales? They want to sell every thing possible to the fans and via the help of bollywood, possibly attract newer fans as well. Yash Raj films get to promote their film and it is a win-win situation for both.

The consumer sports luxury good market in India is still largely untapped and Chelsea is hoping to capture some of that market share. I won’t buy Chelsea jerseys though as we all know that Barcelona>>>>>>>>>>>>Chelsea! ;)

Was it France-Italy or Argentina-Brazil? The match was played at the pace Barcelona usually attacks for most of the time. I loved the game, not the least because many of the Euro 2008 qualifying has been one sided to put it mildly (13-0 drubbing of San Marino any one?). A whole debate has resurfaced regarding qualifying matches. I have had some interesting talkathons on the topic and continue having them. I do agree with most of what Alan Hansen has already said though.

Coming back to the match - players are always guarded in the world cup finals and big matches as they don’t want to be the one who commits the error which costs their country the big tournament. Yesterday, all the inhibitions were gone and it seemed like France will run away with it after an early 2-0 lead. The Gilardino goal in the 20th minute made you get on the edge of the seat a bit more as Italy weren’t going to take it lying down. In the end, France won it 3-1 and despite the players not being as fast on the reflexes as they were during the world cup final, it was exciting and a match in which you couldn’t take your eyes off the tv screen.

France didn’t deserve to win

France did play better football but if we dissect the match, Italy were very unlucky. The first goal France score in the couple of minutes was the result of the perfect cross from Gallas. Govou then made no mistake in converting that pass into 1-0 from a very narrow angle. However, Gallas was probably off side when he received his pass. I cannot say for certain though as they never showed it from a 90 degree angle in the television replays. Even if we forget that, Italy had two situations in the match when they should have been awarded penalties. No, I am not an Italian supporter and I did want France to win the game. Many more Italians would have been complaining had this been the world cup final.

Impressive - Govou, Coupet and Pirlo

Coupet showed quick reflexes in the little chance he got. He has been over shadowed by Barthez all his career and it is pleasing to see him get some more international football finally. Pirlo was accurate as ever with his passes. The player who impressed me most was Sidney Govou. Coming into the first XI in the place of Saha, Govou was fast on his legs and seemed strong as well. What was most noticeable was him being in the right place at the right time - an easy thing to say but very difficult to achieve during a game. We should be hearing a lot more of Govou for many years in international football.

Was it a revenge?

Not really. In 1983, India defeated West Indies in the cricket world cup finals in one of the biggest upsets. Soon after, West Indies toured India and clean sweeped them. It lead to the glorious world cup winning captain, Kapil Dev, sacked from captaincy. How many people remember West Indies clean sweeping India? People still talk about India defeating West Indies in the world cup final. A revenge can only occur if it is done at the same stage when the same trophy or a bigger trophy is at stake. So if France defeats Italy in the 2010 world cup final, only then can we call it a revenge.

Italy digging itself a hole

Italy’s situation is precarious in the group now lying second from the bottom. Ukraine is also in the same group and Scotland is topping it. Italy’s real battle was to be with Ukraine but with Scotland threating to come into the equation, it can all get very tricky. There are a lot of matches still to go but a good start saves a lot of heart wrenching moments. Will history repeat itself? (Italy hey didn’t qualify for the subsequent Euro after winning the world cup in 1982). Maybe most matches are boring but this is definitely the group to keep track of!

[BBC report]

My thoughts after the 2006 France-Italy world cup final can be read here.