Spain is to football, what South Africa is to Cricket. The ultimate team on paper, but the CHOKERs. Even though I am no man to pass a judgement, there are shady glimpses of match-fixing in South Africa s past and present. Without a great fan following and ad market like Asia, South Africa will do no good to the sponsors by winning a trophy. But the players can always win by throwing matches.
But this is not the same with Spain. It has a football crazy population, s atrong league; and football is also used to express regional feelings. FC Barcelona, one of the most strong and famous footballing clubs, were primarily formed to express the Catalan feelings which were suppressed by the tyrannical regime of Spain. Real Madrid is the club with the richest history and the most cups. Yet collectively Spain fails in all major tournaments - expect last Euro cup.
It again has repeated in this Confederatiosn cup. It took only USA, who miraculoulsy reached the semi to kick out the 'La Furia Roja'. Many a world cup and Euro, Spain was always tipped to win the cup, but always found to lose their the way, in the fight to reach the last eight.
It may be a psycological barrier or over confidence - with a line up of Torres, Villa, Xavi, Alonso, Fabregas, Puyol, Pique and Casilas; how can any USA team beat them ? But failing to understand ' You have to play to WIN' ; Turing up on the pitch does not guarantee a win; the same lesson Champions League final taught.
But is the curse more deep rooted - a curse of Football itself ; Even though many countries try to own up origin of football - many factors point to an origin to Americas; in the tribes of Mayas and Aztecs(near modern Mexico) . No offence to Chinese and Japanese; who also seem to have an early form of football. But the presence of rubber balls and strong written information about early football makes Americas seem a contender for the birthright. But this history takes a tragic turn when Spainish landed in Americas. Rubber was a new commodity to them at that time. During the reign of King Charles V of Spain, teams from Americas were taken to perform before his court. But the ultra-religious Spainsh found the bounce of ball and rhythm of the game as handicraft of Devil. They cruelly suppressed the game in Americas. Their cruelty and also the diseases they introduced ultimately wiped out a major chunk of these cultures and also did much damage to the 'BALL GAME'. Is football taking its revenge on Spain ?
Sunday 28 June 2009
Monday 15 June 2009
T20 Exit - Surprised ?
When I saw Indians exit from T20, it was English football team that came to my mind. There are so many similarities for comfort. EPL and IPL attracts the global attention. Players over-rated by the hyping media. Fooling themselves by these myths and going out in field with no preparation.
Individually take any players in both teams even though both sports are different. Best on the paper, but collectively failing to click. Lampard, Terry earns more than CR7. So do Indian players, who earn more than SA players, even though a reality check on the talents prove otherwise.
It is foreign players who shine in both IPL and EPL, doing nothing for the host countries. Compare this to Spanish league which nurtures local talent, and the success of Spanish national team.
The amount of time dedicated for preparations for representing the country, are severely restricted by IPL and EPL. Because of the money and glamour involved in both, nobody even opts out for a rest. Such is the greed that, we saw how WI captain arrived for the England tour ill-preapred. Same was the case even with India. Any fresh players out there ? You can justify, so was the case with all teams.
This is not entirely true. The athletic ability of SA, NZ players make them more adaptive in such busy times. Many an Indian lack this kind of fitness, and hence a pathetic show in field.
Even a shoulder injury of a player was not found out. So much for pre conditioning for a world cup.
Even though the team boasts of a long batting line, it entierly falls on 3 players - YR, YP and VS, to give the explosive RR. Rest are all run a ball batsmen.
If it was one Ganguly which struggled against rising ball, now we seem to have built a team full of it.
It is not a rant, when a successfull team fails once. But still if we need to take up the place now left void by Oz, lot more has to be done. And GK as defensive as a brick wall as I remember him from playing days as a T20 coach? Some joke :)
Just some points worth a look into - Cut down on the amount of cricket, or have a large squad and rotate players. Make IPL more domestic oriented. Those who arenot motivated should be dropped from national team however skilled they are. Physical fitness is a must.
Individually take any players in both teams even though both sports are different. Best on the paper, but collectively failing to click. Lampard, Terry earns more than CR7. So do Indian players, who earn more than SA players, even though a reality check on the talents prove otherwise.
It is foreign players who shine in both IPL and EPL, doing nothing for the host countries. Compare this to Spanish league which nurtures local talent, and the success of Spanish national team.
The amount of time dedicated for preparations for representing the country, are severely restricted by IPL and EPL. Because of the money and glamour involved in both, nobody even opts out for a rest. Such is the greed that, we saw how WI captain arrived for the England tour ill-preapred. Same was the case even with India. Any fresh players out there ? You can justify, so was the case with all teams.
This is not entirely true. The athletic ability of SA, NZ players make them more adaptive in such busy times. Many an Indian lack this kind of fitness, and hence a pathetic show in field.
Even a shoulder injury of a player was not found out. So much for pre conditioning for a world cup.
Even though the team boasts of a long batting line, it entierly falls on 3 players - YR, YP and VS, to give the explosive RR. Rest are all run a ball batsmen.
If it was one Ganguly which struggled against rising ball, now we seem to have built a team full of it.
It is not a rant, when a successfull team fails once. But still if we need to take up the place now left void by Oz, lot more has to be done. And GK as defensive as a brick wall as I remember him from playing days as a T20 coach? Some joke :)
Just some points worth a look into - Cut down on the amount of cricket, or have a large squad and rotate players. Make IPL more domestic oriented. Those who arenot motivated should be dropped from national team however skilled they are. Physical fitness is a must.
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