Europe Update

All the four Spanish teams played away lost: Barcelona and Ream Madrid to Chelsea and Bayern Munich respectively in Champions League, Athletic Bilbao and Valencia to Sporting and Athletic Madrid respectively in Europa League.

Barcelona lost 1-0 to Chelsea. The failure to score an away goal might come back to haunt them. This match was full of drama. Barcelona had 24 shots on goal: one hitting cross-bar, another hitting goal post and a last ditch clearance off the line, more than 70% of possession. Despite all these statistics Barca failed to score a goal. What a pity! It's one of those nights when despite doing everything required, there's nothing to show for the effort. Barca have been wasteful in front of the goal all season and managed to escape without a big damage, but this loss might cost them. What made this defeat even more bitter was Messi losing possession resulted in Chelsea goal. But Barca must back themselves to beat Chelsea at Camp Nou next Tuesday. What was not surprising about the match was, Chelsea played like Chelsea(defending deep and relying on counter-attack) and Barca played like Barca(hogging the possession and playing in Chelsea half.)
I do not see return leg being any different. Chelsea will defend even more and only try to score on counter-attack. Barca must be more ruthless in front of the goal. They must score three times to be able to overturn the loss at Stamford Bridge. What's guaranteed is Barca will score but they will also concede.

Madrid lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich. They managed to score a precious away goal.
Bayern Munich deserved the win! They went 1-0 up and still attacked Madrid goal. With a stroke of luck, Madrid equalized but then opted to sit back and defend. Just like CSKA, Bayern scored a goal in the last minute and now will go to Bernabeu with a lot of confidence. Mourinho played for a score draw of 1-1 but his plan backfired. They have no choice but to attack Bayern and this might give a slim chance to Bayern to score.

And then there's this small matter of El Classico in La liga this weekend. Madrid lead Barca by 4 points. But a win for Barca will reduce the deficit to one point and Madrid must not lose anymore points if they want to snatch the La liga from Barca. Madrid have yet to play Sevilla at home and Athletic Bilbao away. I hope one of these two teams take points off Madrid :)

In Europa League, Athletic Bilbao didn't look their best and had not kept possession of the ball. Muniain and Llorente looked ordinary, only Herrera shined. And when Bielsa took Herrera off with around 20 minutes to go Athletic were winning 1-0. But the fortunes changed soon after. Sporting attacked like they were possessed and duly scored an equalizer and Diego Capel scored a wonderful winner later on. The result was too harsh on Athletic but they were not their best. Importantly they scored an away goal and can overturn the defeat in Lisbon at San Mames.

Valencia lost 4-2. But for the last minute goal, the scoreline would have been 4-1. They have a steep target in front of them. At Mastella they must win 2-0 but keeping Atletico from scoring might prove difficult.
I predict Atletico Madrid to go through to final of Europa league.

So with 90 minutes to go both competitions are well poised. Next week will be very interesting indeed! Oh, yes the weekend too with El Classico.

Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao

Ok, I must write about Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao Europa League match. The match of the week, it was billed by the people who knew about Athletic and their coach. And they couldn't be more true!

After a very slow start to the season, Athletic have been steadily improving and are in a position to challenge for Champions League next season. When Marcelo Bielsa took reins of Athletic, people knew they would see a different Athletic -- high-pressing, high-tempo one. And that's what El Loco turned them into. Their matches with Barca and Man United are proof enough for that.

I must concede that this was the first Athletic's match I watched this season and realized what I have been missing. It was a late kick-off and I am glad it was worth staying awake to watch it!

I will skip the details on much publicised methods or madness of Bielsa. There's always a method to madness, if only one looks for it. Bielsa is eccentric and principled, and he's determined to get Athletic play his style of game and he will make them do it - whether or not they win anything. That's El Loco for you!

La Liga has often been criticized for being a two-team league - Barcelona and Real Madrid. But last night's performance of Athletic's must have opened those myopic eyes of the doubters that refuse to see the reality. The thing is there's a huge gap between Barca&Madrid and the rest of La Liga, but then there's a huge gap between Barca&Madrid and the rest of football world. It's just that Barca and Madrid happen to be playing in Spanish League.

Against United, Athletic have played one of the best matches I have watched in a long time. They kept the ball, attacked the goal, marauded the midfield and shredded defence apart. But for the profligacy of the attackers and fantastic keeping of De Gea, United would have been staring at the exit of Europa League, not that they aren't now! But the flicker of hope would have been so obscure that even Hubble telescope wouldn't have detected it. If they had played more a bit of tiki-taka, Athletic would have been almost Barca-esque! But their passing, pressing and relentless will to win the ball back were amazing. United knew what they were in for but then they don't play teams like Athletic every week to have a plan to nullify Athletic's strengths.

Muniain, what a talent he is. Copious amounts of praises have been written but I watched him only last night. And boy wasn't he good!! For me, he is the next Messi. I have not watched Neymar but if Muniain can play like this at 19, I wonder what he will do in coming years. It's wonderful to watch when a team plays like a team, and Athletic truly played like a team. Llorente, held the ball up, kept the defenders at bay and scored a thunder like header. Javi Martinez was cool, calm, precise in passing and covered the defenders when required. But for the trio of Barcelona midfielders he would be starting every Spanish national team's match. Athletic have one foot into the quarterfinals of Europa League and I hope they will take the inspiration from the win at "the theatre of dreams" to "La Catedral" of San Mames. I can hardly wait for the return leg!!

Beijing

In Bejijing again after 5 years.
And back at Wang Jong offices, only this time at building A.

The city hasn't changed much. It looks more clean -- Olypics might have helped it. Surprisingly the traffic hasn't been bad. It only takes 10 to 15 minutes(by taxi) to get to work from hotel, which is around 6kms away.

I am staying at Crown plaza hotel sun palace. Old timers(from Goldfinch and Amber) would know we have always stayed at Holiday Inn. It's a nice hotel and thanks to the late booking, got access to club lounge, where evening snacks are free :) The service is excellent. Upon knowing we're vegetarians they prepared sandiwiches for us and kept them locked until we showed up. They were just making sure that they were served just to us. My room is on 19th floor and can see plenty of city from the window. But then it's Beijing where there're tons of tall buildings across the city.

At Wang Jing towers, Olay Cafe is gone where I've had many a lunch years ago. But there's a new cafe which is called Memoire cafe. I recall that the seating was same in Olay cafe too. It could just be a change of name, but I couldn't recognise any of the waitresses.

Tried the subway yestersday and surprised to see how much it has improved from last time. It's neat, fast and the stations are equally well-maintained. Another thing to note is it's extremely cheap -- 2RMB anywhere(well, most of the city.) That's like Rs.16 at present conversion rate. There's a high value for the RMB(Yuan) unlike Indian Rupee. The manimum taxi fare is still 10RMB. I can't believe they have not increased it for 6 years.

Hilong market(Zhongguangcun) is as crowded as ever. And you still have to bargain like crazy. Also visited Tiananmen square yesterday. The place was crowed with tourists and locals alike. Undoubtedly one of the landmarks of Beijing. We were approached by a couple girls, probably to fleece us but we knew better than to entertain them. Do look up on net for tea scams/tea tasting scams in Beijing.

Today I leave for Bangalore and hope to come back to Beijing again.

What should Argentina do to regain its glory?

Sabella is the new coach and with a couple of victories under his belt, he's made a good start. He also drew Brazil with a bunch of local players. And Brazil played Neymar and Ronaldinho.

Is this the beginning of Argentina's revival? Time will tell.

For Argentina to become the team they can, they need to fix a couple things. Many say Argentina have a bad defence. I ask when did they ever have a good defence!

Argentina's problem is not defence. They haven't had a good defence for a long time. It's not even attack. It's the midfield that needs to be ironed out. Too many formations and players have been tried by coaches who simply did not have the coaching skills. Maradona had passion, Batista didn't even have that.

And secondly, the coach should figure out how to play Messi. He's the third coach who has the best player in the world on his team and wonders where and how to play him.

At Barcelona, Guardiola transformed Messi from a right winger into a false 9. He plays deep for a traditional striker and yet scores tons of goals. He has no specific role at Barca; he's a striker, an attacking midfielder and a winger.

How does he do this? He plays with players of quality like Xavi Iniesta, Villa and now Fabregas. The amount of passing and movement they create together helps Barca retain majority of possession and score goals.

Can he do the same in Argentina? I highly doubt it. It's not humanly possible. Unless Sabella plays Banega and Pastore in midfield. Messi needs players with quality to pass and take the ball. And he needs Aguero to add creativity in attack and Higuain to finish the attacking moves.

Probably it's not Messi that needs them, it's they that need him for them to tick. Football is a team game, an individual can only do so much.

Another move that Sabella should consider is starting Mascherano in defence. As he so often and brilliantly does at Barca, he should play in central defence. He can pass, tackle and has pace.

I don't as much care who Sabella plays for the remaining roles or where he plays them. But the above players and where they play is vital to bring back the glory and success to Argentina football.

FIFA 2010 World Cup Final

The final of the finals is here and played by two countries who have never won the World Cup. History will be made tomorrow. But of the two countries, who stand greater chance of winning it?

Holland have had a great tournament so far. Can they stretch their unbeaten record to one more match and lift the world cup. Holland arguably are the best country not to have won the World cup. Their most talented team lost to West Germany in 1974 boasting starts like Johan Cruyff. They lost again in 1978 to Argentina, only this time they were without Cruyff. And here they stand to play their third final.

Spain on the other hand, have never made it to the final and have already made history by reaching the final. Spain, a country that traditionally more divided than united, have been going through a golden period. Their lifting Euro 2008 speaks volumes about how they managed to put behind differences and start playing as a nation.

The fundamental principle of football is that whoever wins midfield wins the game. No other team has the class and talent that Spain have. Argentina coming a close second(if they had played Messi, Pastore, Riquelme together.) A midfield that keeps Fabregas on bench must truly be special. Xavi, the world's best central midfielder, Iniesta, the most creative midfielder, who can also play equally well on either wing have been the backbone of Spanish Armada for a while. And they can not afford to let their greatest opportunity slip away. Xavi will not be around in 2014.

The starting eleven of Spain consists of seven players from Barcelona. Barcelona play eye-catching, jaw-dropping football, which Spain also seem to be emulating. Having a major chunk of team from Barcelona does help matters. Although Spain play 4-2-3-1 formation, which is different from Barcelona's 4-3-3, the midfielders are same: Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.

This is absolutely the most talented Spanish team that will ever likely be. A team that was called chokers have steadily built a reputation of playing entertaining , slick passing game, and achieving the results while doing so. They also control the ball well and the way they keep possession of the ball is now almost legendary. Will this last until 2014? Probably not! Argentina have also young players(Pastore, Banega, not to mention a certain Messi) who will be playing in 2014 probably in their best years.

Holland have been thriving on the great form of attacking creative midfielder, Sneijder. He already won a treble with Inter Milan and has taken his form to World Cup. He really needs to fire for Holland to beat Spain. Sneijder, without an iota of doubt, is the most important player for Holland. Roben on either flank can create havoc, but he seems to do it only sporadically and individually. He does not bring his team mates into play. He, however is a nightmare for defenders. Can he exploit where Spain are weak: on wings? If Spain can keep Sneijder quiet, they will effectively kill everything that's good about Holland. With Xavi and Iniesta dominating the midfield, it seems very likely that Sneijder will be nullified.

On the other hand, if Holland ensure that Xavi and Iniesta do not get enough time on the ball, they will be on their way to winning the World Cup. Whether they can do this is anyone's guess!

This moment belongs to Spain. Will they grab it with both hands? We will know tomorrow!

PS: And then there's a small matter of awarding Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year. If Holland win, Sneijder is a prime candidate. If Spain win it could go to Xavi or Villa. And if they couldn't decide, Messi is on standby.

World Cup - After 1st Match

All teams have now played a game each.

Group A:

All teams are in the mix. I hope France finish first, I don't want Argentina to play them in round of 16.
If France don't pick themselves up, they might find themselves out of the tournament.

Group B:

Argentina looked lively, Messi in particular. The defence looks shaky though. Veron will be out for the game against Korea(which is not a bad thing.) I hope Pastore comes in for him instead of Maxi. It's only a matter of time before Messi and Higuain start scoring. I would like to see Milito getting more time. Korea played well against Greece. They were fit and fast. Surely will test Argentina defence.

Group C:

As expected USA did trouble England. Despite Green's howler, I guess Cappelo will continue to play him. He has been excellent last 2 or 3 seasons.
England still look favourites to top their group.

Group D:

What a game by Germany. By far, they played the best football of the tournament. And in the process scored 4 goals. Can never write them off as I wrote in the last post. All other teams still got a shot at finishing second in the group.

Group E:

Dutch seem to have left the "total football" at home. They played a scrappy game against Holland and were lucky to have won the match 2-0.
It's result that would hurt Denmark. If they don't recover and come back strong, they will be out. Denmark must beat Cameroon and Japan to progress.

Group F:

A point table similar to that of Group A's. Like France, Italy struggled to create chances and did little to defend their title.
If they don't improve they will find it hard to qualify for next round. I believe it's a wide open group.

As I wrote in my last post Italy and France really got to step up to make their mark.

Group G:

Brazil as expected laboured to victory, not before North Korea put up a good defensive display. Maicon scored a beauty of a goal. How much of that was the ball, no one knows.

Portugal and Ivory Coast haven't done anything noteworthy and should improve if they fancy playing in round of 16.

Group H:

The big shock!! Swiss defeated Spain 1-0. A very commanding display from Swiss. Spain lacked cutting edge in front of goal. They had nearly 70% of possession and nothing to show for it. Torres was rusty and looked short on match practise.

Now this changes everything. If Spain finish 2nd, they will play Brazil in next round. One of the tournament favourites will be out.
Pele's curse continues. Thank God, he didn't pick Argentina as favourites.

So far, all teams have played safe and focussed more on defense than attack. It hasn't been very exciting but that's been the trend: keep a clean sheet and score the odd goal. Now that teams have played a match, I hope they will express more and play good football.

More later...

World Cup 2010

Can't believe it's been four years since the last world cup and the first match of FIFA 2010 will kick-off in a couple of hours.

As always, my loyalty lies with Argentina. Maradona, the greatest player of all time, has been a disaster as a coach. I hope his strategy of playing four centre-backs is based on sound theory.

Not calling up Zanetti, Cambiasso, Aimar, Milito( even gago, Lucho ...) and resolving the issues with Riquelme potentially threaten Argentina's chances of going deep into the cup.

For a change Spain look favourites and how!! They have class oozing all over the pitch. One can imagine how strong a team is when Fabregas sits on the bench. No other team can boast of such class Spain possess at FIFA 2010. Certainly not Brazil. Dunga's team is effective but lack Joga Bonito that everyone looks for from them.

Enagland have got a shot at it too. Under Capello, they have been what they are expected to be: effective and clinical. They had a good qualifying season and got a good team going into world cup.

And there the usual suspects: Germany(can never write them off), France(without an ispirational leader), Italy(an ageing squad and a stubborn coach) and Holland(underachievers like Spain.)

Looking at the schedule, it seems like Argentina will face same teams in Round of 16(Mexico) and 8(Germany) as 2006, if they go through till there, that is. I hope they go through all the way and win it.

More than anything, I am looking forward to good football and may the best team win.