Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Phoosball Argentina could not win World cup again, i have been watching this crazy game since Italia 90 and they have disappointed an ardent fan in me time and again. But i am sure they ll be back, Messi will only grow stronger and cleverer, Requelme will be 30 and Tevez, well only uglier and craftier in South Africa. Brings me to Indian football scene these days, apparently we have a new coach who says that we need taller players (duh), and he is sure that he ll find 4-5 of such folks in North India. It has all come down to this! We are easily 130th on a list where apparently war torn ex Yugoslav republics are hitting top 20s easily. So story goes that Indian National team was in Canada where they were playing against world class teams in Vancouver White Caps and Cardiff city. We ended up third there. Competition was certainly tough, apparently Vanc WC were so desperate that they enlisted highly professional local street footballers to stop Indian juggernaut of five feet giants. I must also add here that third side Cardiff has long tradition in English football, albiet they have failed to make presence in EPL for decades now. Nevertheless there are going to be celebrations in Kolkata when Indian team comes back and hectic football season starts (yet) again. Man there is no other place when micro achievement is met with such enthusiasm. I still remember when Sao Palo club had come over to India with 4th or 5th string team and were beating India 4-0 at every center matches were held. And suddenly in a game someone scored (certain malnutrioned Bikash Panji I think, used to be India captain) with a seemingly impossible volley from 25 yards. My TV (middle class Texla model) started jumping up and down due to deafening noise in the stadium. Then came '92 and Star TV. I chose less pompous crowds of EPL and Serie A instead.