FIFA World Cup - Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006

And finally the month long football fiesta came to an end. The final was a batlle between traditional rivals France - Italy and Italy came out champions in an intensely fought match, which was decided in a penalty shoot out. The majestic stadium in Berlin was packed fully, prominent color among the crowd was 'Blue' common to both the teams. Surpirse injury to Thierry Henry put the French men under pressure, and the Azzuris dominated the proceedings in the first half. Zidane scored the first goal through a penalty, but Materrazi made ammends soon and equalised through a beautiful header. In the second half Henry started with his aggressive style and pressed hard for the goal. Ribery impressed in patches, but when Viera left the field due to an injury, Les Blues were a little stretched. They looked as if playing without a plan and were hoping for Zidane to create something. The match went into extra time, and Zidane began playing some beautiful stuff. But he was heavily marked and Cannavaro and Co never gave him any space. In those extra minutes, Zidane was being singled out and there were comments and sledging at him. At one instant Cannavaro brought him down through a vicious looking tackle. In the heat of the moment, he lost his mind and let his anger get the better of him and as a result did that very insane act of head-butting Materazzi. Though videos showed that he was being taunted and was given hard time by the Italian defenders, a player of the caliber of Zidane is expected to deal with it professionally and not loose your mind. That one moment of madness has put a bad remark over his illustrious career. Nobody liked him to exit the stage in this manner.

The penalties are always a Waterloo for the Italians. Prior to this one, they had faced penalties 4 times and had lost all the 4 times. The pityful scenes of Roberto Baggio hitting over the bar in the 94 finals was still in memory of the Italian fans. But this time, none of their players errored. Grosso held his nerve and netted the final one and the nation erupted in joy. Trezeguet who was the nemesis for Italy in Euro 2000 commited the only mistake France could afford and hit the bar instead. So the wheel turned a complete circle and many notions were discarded. Italy finally won a penalty shoot out and emerged as world champions adding a 4th star to their achivement. They now stand second to Brazil with most number of World Cup Titles.

For the other awards - Podolski deserved his Young Player Award, Buffon got the best goalkeeper title (he never let any ball pass through in all the matches, except that freak self goal against USA). Zidane was voted the best player - a status which was slightly tainted with his dismissal. The real winners of this tournament were the Fans. They made it special by cheering and chanting for their teams both inside the stadiums and outside at the FIFA Fan Fest. Kudos to Germany for hosting a very successful tournament, which was managed very well. The huge stadiums, the Fan Fests, the warm welcoming crowds made it all very successful. Now we meet in South Africa after 4 years to start a fresh new battle for world supremacy. Untill then keep singing - Italia ... Italia !

FIFA Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : Zizou .... Allez ... Allez .... Allez

Come Brazil and out comes the magic of Zidane. If you saw the quarter final between France and Brazil, you could not help but be amazed at the skills of Zidane and would have agreed that France were playing like true winners. Before the tournament began, critics had written off the Les Blues. Zidane came out of retirement for the sole cause of keeping the French hopes alive in hunting that all elusive trophy.

When the match began both the teams looked a bit jitterish and not able to overcome their nerves. But 30 mins into the 1st half, Zizou began to spin his magic. His club mates from Real Madrid, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo had no answer to his absolute control on the ball. He was all over the place, making game giving passes and playing with absolute authority. Brazil met their same nemesis of 98 Finals - a charismatic Zidane. In Henry, Viera and Ribery he had perfect finishers. The only goal of the evening, was a free kick in perfection. It was a surprise that Brazillian defenders had not marked Henry properly, and he perfectly timed the volley into the net.

Its a pity that the greatly hyped Ronaldinho could not score a goal in this tournament. Its sad to bid farewell to Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Adriano and group. Now the battle for world supremacy is being played in the neighboured. 4 neighbours Germany, Italy, France and Portugal will fight it out amongst them for the World title. If France continues to play this way - they will be difficult to kept at bay. The coming week holds the answers to it.

FIFA Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : Dont Cry for me Argentina

And so it is. Germany will face Italy in the semi final on 4th July at Dortmund. The 2 quarter finals were a stark contrast in themselves. While the Azzuris had no trouble keeping Shevchenko and his side at bay and score some brilliant goals, the Germans and the Argentinians had a tough fight - a battle so intensely fought that it had to end on penalty deciders. At the end Lehmann held his post and the trust Klinsmann had put in him. Almost the whole of 72,000 supporters in the Olympiastadion at Berlin were backing Deutschland and chanting "Deutschland, Deutschland", after the match the phrase of "Dont Cry for me Argentina" was seen all over the press and match reports. Without doubt Argentina were one of the best teams in this tournament so far, its a pity that they had to bow out at this stage. Now only Brazil remains the sole representative of South America or else its an all European affair from here on.

Italy meet the host nation Germany in the semifinals, a tie which is quite ambivious for me to take sides. Both the nations have been my favourites. Having stayed in Germany for over 3 years and see them revive under Klinsmann after that disasterous Euro-2004, my heart surely backs Ballack und gruppe. But the Azzuris and their charismatic play so far overcoming the ghosts of match scandals of Italia Serie dont let you remain apethetic to the pulse of the nation you are living in at the moment. Either way its a win-win for me. The evening on the 4th July holds the answer to it.

FIFA - Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : The round of death begins

As the World Cup reaches its final phase, the excitement grows exponentially. The quarter finals are about to start in a couple of hours. Of the eight teams 6 are European and 2 giants from South America. The ties give an indication of tremendous action about to begin. In the past 56 matches we have seen some amazing goals being scored, some great performances and some heart-breaking exits. Of the teams that couldnt manage to make it to the "viertelfinale", I personally miss Austrailia, Ghana, Czech Republic who definitely deserved much better deal. However since only 8 teams can be selected we have the best of them. Now lets see, how these teams fare from here.

As the 1st quarter finals kicks off, there will be intense competition between the two most promising teams in the tournament so far. It will be a pity that only one of them will make it further. Both Germany and Argentina have scored plenty of goals so far. Will the host nation take advantage of its home conditions or not, will the German supporters in Berlin see their team in finals or not, only time will say. Among the other heroes battling for glory, we have Brazil meeting their nemesis Zidane and his France in Frankfurt. A repeat of the 98 finals is anybody´s guess. Its too difficult to say at this moment, but after seeing the performance and composure of Le Blues against the Spaniards, Ronaldo and Co are not going to have an easy song. England have an advantage against a depleted Portugal. The Azzuris are surely looking ahead for their Semi-finals, but can Shevschenko upset their plans? I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Travelogue : World Cup at Munich

I had gone to Munich for the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup. Though I could not manage to get a ticket for the stadium, my friends in Munich had decided to watch the games at the Fifa Fan Fest which was being held at the Olympia park. The Train from Trento to Munich was full of crowd both old and young who were going to Munich for the same reason. The Munich Hauptbahnhof was dressed for the occassion. All the stalls and kiosks were decorated with football themes. Flags from the participant nations were all around.

The afternoon of the D-day was full of enthusiasm. One could feel the pulse of excitement among the people, as if something great was being anticipated. There were people from all over the world, dressed in their flag colors, interesting costumes etc. We took a small walk through the Karlplatz to Marienplatz. The mood all along was festive, supporters of several countries, Mexico in majority among the foreigners, were flooding the streets. The game was starting at 6 so we planned to reach the Olympia park at 4 to get in. The way to the park was full of people everywhere. I had never seen so many people in Munich before, also never before I was in Munich during a World Cup. Germany was playing the opening match, so German supporters were for sure pumped up. On the way to the park, we noticed some people going in the opposite direction. The reason was the huge queue lined up at the entrance to the enclosure where the games were being shown. We waited for our turn, but around 530 we were told that the maximum capacity of the place was fulled, and they could not let in anymore people. To our badluck the whole of 20,000 places were taken already. So we went to a nearby restaurant to watch the match. In the evening afer Germany had won, the whole of Munich was celebrating it. Pepole were partying on the streets till the early morning.

The next day we went almost 5 hours ahead of the match to get in. It was England playing Paraguay and there British supporters were already filling in the places. We waited in the hot sun endlessly. There were some small fun games organised by the Fifa guys. There were several shops and stalls in the enclosure selling official Fifa goods. When the match started, the crowd was uproarious. After the goal was scored the whole park was echoing with the song "Its coming home ....". After the match the English fans were rejoicing as before. All in all it was a great experience for the two days. I had taken several snaps and have uploaded some of them here.

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=551462217&security=AJorIT

FIFA World Cup - Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006

With about 9 days to go for one of the biggest events in sports to kick-off, FIFA World Cup is the flavor of the season everywhere you go. When the tournament was last held in Japan/South Korea in 2002, I was preparing to leave for Germany for my MSc.

The performance of Germany was not very great, except for the miraculous hands of Oliver Kahn. My all time favourites Brazil displayed some amazing performances in the tourney. My personal favourite was the one against China, when all the 4 R´s (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho) showed their skills and the one against England when Ronaldinho´s free kick showed his true talent which was raw then. Now after an amazing season with Barcelona, he is back to create some Samba magic again. Clearly, he is one of the players to watch out for in this tournament. There are some others as well, who will keep you excited with their game. The legendary Zidane is probably playing in his last World Cup, then you have Ronaldo (though he has not shown any great form, but you can expect him to strike form soon). Rooney is said to be in the squad for England, he was a great talent in the Euro-2004 in Portugal. Christian Ronaldo is also a player to watch out for. Among some senior legs, Nilsteroy, Beckham will be a great sight. Ibrahimovich had shown some magical skills in Euro-2004, I hope he carries the same form in this tournament as well.

Well, the tournament is missing some good teams and players like Turkey and Eto´o (Cameroon striker) who could not qualify. But among the less glamourous teams, Iran is supposed to be a dark horse. The team is ranked 24th in the FIFA rankings, much higher than other Aisan entries (Korea and Saudi Arabia). In the Iran line-up, there are 4 players who play for various clubs in the Bundesliga and are sure to make use of their "home advantage".

My personal favourites (in order of preference) this year are Brazil (naturally), Italy, Germany (biased because of living here), France (Zizou for sure), Argentina, Portugal, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Sweden, Iran. I would love to see a final between Brazil - Italy with Ronaldinho bagging the golden boot award.