To my mind, New Year celebrations could start if Barca won. Given there would only be one team playing , 1-0 would have done just fine. It was that just 18mins in when Iniesta divined how the RMA back four could be sliced up in front of him. Xavi, like in most occasions, was on the same wavelength and Saint Iker was picking up the ball from the net.
Jose's men still packed their own half and chased after the yellow ball. Problem: Like Joker, it was like a dog barking after a bone, it didn't know what to do when it did finally got it. Having expended a lot of energy to touch that yellow magic-crystal rolling all over the park, they simply stumbled on it - or put it out of play! Pretty soon though there was no other way for the Translator (yes, by now he must have wished to have his old job back) but to order his men to come out and play. Pedro got in front of his marker to slot home Villa's cross. For once, Carvalho keeping his hands folded behind him (to avoid the handball call) looked ridiculous - Villa had gotten a full yard in front of him to find the killer pass.
2-0 and the effects of the Pep tranquilizer appeared to be wearing away as RMA started playing a higher line - actually, they started playing and created a few chances. Christiano was anyway playing the ball out of play (which was pretty much the only thing he did all night), but on most occasions he would have gotten the penalty when Valdez made the contact. This, for Franco's men, will be the talking point regards this Clasico.
On restart though, whatever progress RMA had made toward playing & away from simply chasing, everything was back to square-one. How often have we seen Jose teams come back after the break with a couple of quick goals, prompting us to rave of his half-time talk and tactical acumen. Whatever he said last night, it put the RMA galacticos back into space limbo - some of them looked dazed, some confused and most picked up bookings for fun - pretty much the only thing resembling football they managed all night.
The front-page stars, Leo & Villa, combined a couple of times, a couple of goals, game over and it was back to tiki-taka - back to front, left to right, until RMA won the ball, gave it back within a couple of touches and some more tiki-taka. Pep was able to bring on Bojan and Jeffren, give Villa and Xavi the standing ovations they deserved. The subs combined for the fifth and Jeffren's first La-Liga goal comes against RMA!
Despite the great restraint of Mr. Gonzalez, Ramos had had enough with less than a minute to go. A couple of shoves and he was off the pitch, this time thankfully he didn't feel like shaking the referee's hand. In the fracas that errupted surrounding Ramos' dismissal, it Saint Iker's authority with players (most of them he captains for Spain) was plain to see. He ordered Busquets (brilliant game), and Pique to back off & the reprimanded men did exactly that.
Deliberately getting sent off to the real thing - for Spain's sake, I hope Ramos knows how to grow out of it. He is too important, too talented in the Spain setup to become the Jose hitman at RMA.
For the statistically inclined: Pep continue the perfect Clasico record, Leo hasn't scored against a Jose coached side, Christiano did the disappearing trick yet again, FCB controlled the ball for about 70% of the time, RMA put it out of play 70% of the time, blah blah blah.
But all I hope is that this 5-0 is an omen that in the holiday season and the new year, sexy will get the better of tactics. Well, I agree with The Boomtown Rats and don't like Mondays - but this one...
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Chennai Half Marathon 2010
It has to start with Fr. Jagath Gaspar Raj’s wielding of the mike from sometime prior to the (scheduled) 6AM start to well after it. He orchestrated the oath like last year, in Tamil and English, like last year. The melodramatic promise of fair play in the oath indicated that he must think of distance running in the same breath as kabaddi. When Kanimozhi was (thankfully) brief in her wishing good luck to the participants, the Father pointed it out as the new progressive politician’s mojo, and then lectured on. Meanwhile 20 odd minutes of dawn were past and the sky brightened up. If not for the cloudy drizzly morning, on an average day in Chennai, the father’s speech could have spelt T-R-O-U-B-L-E.
He did, eventually, pass the baton – it was to the showman Mr. Shivamani, though. Everyone went through about 10 minutes of him belting out peppy beats. It was good, and could have been better if it was not holding up the start further. But clearly, not all were annoyed, not everyone was ruing the missed opportunity of an additional 30mins sleep. The showman was better than the preacher. This joyous celebration at dawn on one hand and mature patience on the other was a lesson in what good politics probably is – count the numbers, count on people’s patience.
My run was in four phases – first, running with Mr. Hariharan and Dr. Suresh, then the chase to catch up with my running group after a bio break, running the much feared 13-17k with the Bangalore businessman’s reassuring words (Mr. Ajay, not sure), and last couple of kms with the Navy submariner (Mr. Rohit/ Mr. Rohan – gosh, I am terrible remembering names).
Mr. Hariharan, the seasoned runner, who I have seen in a few earlier events, must be 50+, pretty effortlessly adjusts pace to accommodate his running group and achieve his time target. He and Dr. Suresh were running at 6-mins/km pace and I tagged along with them after starting out with Ashok. This went quite well for me until somewhere between MRC Nagar and Sathya studio; the bio break just had to be taken. On joining back, I expected Mr. Hariharan to be somewhere within sight and began to chase the tell tale black running jersey, clean shaven head and smooth running style. When I caught up just after Adayar bridge, it turned out to be someone else and there was only explanation – he had pulled away.
But thankfully, it remained a cloudy morning and entering Besant Avenue only made it better. When the aid station volunteer handed a lemon juice refreshment and pointed out to me that it was not water, it was good to enough to walk, to minimize spillage. Once the drink was done, it was back to running (or jogging). This year’s start was from Anna Square, the route included going past Madan’s house and going down the Elliots Beach road to the Church. Amongst watching and cheering along the Elliots stretch was Mrs. Dharani – and this was very cool! Call me biased; inclusion of the Elliots stretch made what was already a good route even better.
On the way back from the church, somewhere near Besant Avenue was where I met up with the Bangalore granite business man, Mr. Ajay who trains with the NRC at the Kanteerva stadium. He advised me to refrain from checking the parameters on my (new, as I repeatedly point out) Garmin watch so often. It was great advice and the pair of us managed to make it back past Adayar bridge. I was happy and nervous to note that this was +1 to 2km from the distance last year that I began walking a lot.
Closer to the Foreshore Estate bus stand Mr. Ajay began dropping off and my target for now was to get to the Lighthouse from where I hoped checking off the landmarks, taking in the expanse, and availing the “Free Hug” would make it easier. By now, the number of people needing to crisscross had grown with the day and the cops were doing a good job keeping the running path clear. By the time I passed the police commissioner’s office and lighthouse the average pace reading on the Garmin had slipped to 6:35 per kilometer. Some calculations on the way to Chennai in the train told me this: 2:06 finish if pace is 6 mins/ km, 2:27 finish if pace is 7 mins/km, 2:49 finish if pace is 8 mins/ km and 3:00 finish if pace is 8’30’’/ km (last year’s mark approx.). As far as I didn’t slow to a walk now, it looked good.
That got somewhat easier when I caught up with Mr.Rohit/ Rohan – submariner based near Chennai. This was his first long run he said, but at no point was the defense man anything but exuding confidence, including plotting to overtake someone 150 meters ahead! With a km or so to go, he was encouraging me to go faster but I asked him to carry on. Come to think of it, there was enough energy to push but I didn’t want to risk it.
By the time I crossed, the average pace over the course read 6’39’’ mins/ km. This time around a private hospital had set up a tent for first aid (you could see their ambulances up and down the course), and they whisked me away to it, after someone threw a medal around my neck. There I got Electral/ Glucose and water and a place to lie down. Soon enough, looking around at the folks in obvious distress, it became clear that this was not for all finishers and whoever ran the triage (if they did, indeed) had triaged me in. After convincing the first aid workers that I was okay, I stepped out into the post-finish milling zone and met up with Ashok and Vidya. Also, met up with Mr. Hariharan and saw Mr. Ajay stretching.
The splits – 65’36’’ for the first half, 2:20:10 overall – meant that the first half this year was faster by 15mins and the second half was better by 25mins – all compared to 2009! But the fact is that every subsequent km had me going slower and that is not very good and needs to be fixed. Overall, though, this Chennai Half Marathon turned out much better than the last one.
The weekend came with the sad news of Mr. Radhakrishnan passing away earlier this year. A scholar of a football coach (not sure if he got it from working with Der Kaiser himself, early in his career), the practice, tournaments and city walks with him constitute the best, and most constructive, of my college memories (’95 to ’97). His love for football, athletics too, sat comfortably with the concern for youngsters to have a well rounded education. Thousands, I am sure, are better off for having trained with/ played for/ played with/ administered by/ known him. RIP.
http://sportzunlimited.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21&Itemid=55.
He did, eventually, pass the baton – it was to the showman Mr. Shivamani, though. Everyone went through about 10 minutes of him belting out peppy beats. It was good, and could have been better if it was not holding up the start further. But clearly, not all were annoyed, not everyone was ruing the missed opportunity of an additional 30mins sleep. The showman was better than the preacher. This joyous celebration at dawn on one hand and mature patience on the other was a lesson in what good politics probably is – count the numbers, count on people’s patience.
My run was in four phases – first, running with Mr. Hariharan and Dr. Suresh, then the chase to catch up with my running group after a bio break, running the much feared 13-17k with the Bangalore businessman’s reassuring words (Mr. Ajay, not sure), and last couple of kms with the Navy submariner (Mr. Rohit/ Mr. Rohan – gosh, I am terrible remembering names).
Mr. Hariharan, the seasoned runner, who I have seen in a few earlier events, must be 50+, pretty effortlessly adjusts pace to accommodate his running group and achieve his time target. He and Dr. Suresh were running at 6-mins/km pace and I tagged along with them after starting out with Ashok. This went quite well for me until somewhere between MRC Nagar and Sathya studio; the bio break just had to be taken. On joining back, I expected Mr. Hariharan to be somewhere within sight and began to chase the tell tale black running jersey, clean shaven head and smooth running style. When I caught up just after Adayar bridge, it turned out to be someone else and there was only explanation – he had pulled away.
But thankfully, it remained a cloudy morning and entering Besant Avenue only made it better. When the aid station volunteer handed a lemon juice refreshment and pointed out to me that it was not water, it was good to enough to walk, to minimize spillage. Once the drink was done, it was back to running (or jogging). This year’s start was from Anna Square, the route included going past Madan’s house and going down the Elliots Beach road to the Church. Amongst watching and cheering along the Elliots stretch was Mrs. Dharani – and this was very cool! Call me biased; inclusion of the Elliots stretch made what was already a good route even better.
On the way back from the church, somewhere near Besant Avenue was where I met up with the Bangalore granite business man, Mr. Ajay who trains with the NRC at the Kanteerva stadium. He advised me to refrain from checking the parameters on my (new, as I repeatedly point out) Garmin watch so often. It was great advice and the pair of us managed to make it back past Adayar bridge. I was happy and nervous to note that this was +1 to 2km from the distance last year that I began walking a lot.
Closer to the Foreshore Estate bus stand Mr. Ajay began dropping off and my target for now was to get to the Lighthouse from where I hoped checking off the landmarks, taking in the expanse, and availing the “Free Hug” would make it easier. By now, the number of people needing to crisscross had grown with the day and the cops were doing a good job keeping the running path clear. By the time I passed the police commissioner’s office and lighthouse the average pace reading on the Garmin had slipped to 6:35 per kilometer. Some calculations on the way to Chennai in the train told me this: 2:06 finish if pace is 6 mins/ km, 2:27 finish if pace is 7 mins/km, 2:49 finish if pace is 8 mins/ km and 3:00 finish if pace is 8’30’’/ km (last year’s mark approx.). As far as I didn’t slow to a walk now, it looked good.
That got somewhat easier when I caught up with Mr.Rohit/ Rohan – submariner based near Chennai. This was his first long run he said, but at no point was the defense man anything but exuding confidence, including plotting to overtake someone 150 meters ahead! With a km or so to go, he was encouraging me to go faster but I asked him to carry on. Come to think of it, there was enough energy to push but I didn’t want to risk it.
By the time I crossed, the average pace over the course read 6’39’’ mins/ km. This time around a private hospital had set up a tent for first aid (you could see their ambulances up and down the course), and they whisked me away to it, after someone threw a medal around my neck. There I got Electral/ Glucose and water and a place to lie down. Soon enough, looking around at the folks in obvious distress, it became clear that this was not for all finishers and whoever ran the triage (if they did, indeed) had triaged me in. After convincing the first aid workers that I was okay, I stepped out into the post-finish milling zone and met up with Ashok and Vidya. Also, met up with Mr. Hariharan and saw Mr. Ajay stretching.
The splits – 65’36’’ for the first half, 2:20:10 overall – meant that the first half this year was faster by 15mins and the second half was better by 25mins – all compared to 2009! But the fact is that every subsequent km had me going slower and that is not very good and needs to be fixed. Overall, though, this Chennai Half Marathon turned out much better than the last one.
The weekend came with the sad news of Mr. Radhakrishnan passing away earlier this year. A scholar of a football coach (not sure if he got it from working with Der Kaiser himself, early in his career), the practice, tournaments and city walks with him constitute the best, and most constructive, of my college memories (’95 to ’97). His love for football, athletics too, sat comfortably with the concern for youngsters to have a well rounded education. Thousands, I am sure, are better off for having trained with/ played for/ played with/ administered by/ known him. RIP.
http://sportzunlimited.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21&Itemid=55.
Monday, July 19, 2010
When it all (well, almost) comes together
What didn’t fall in place this world cup was the Spanish finishing. This left them with 8 goals, and my guess is that nobody has won it with that few over the tournament. Just as well too, if that hadn’t been the case there would have been many instances similar to the embarrassment that Germany dished out to Argentina.
The number of shots that Messi fired, at a comfortable waist high stopping height of goal keepers, makes me think that Messi was not a 100% tournament fit. At the grandest stage of them all, being quarter a foot further behind the ball than he should is all the difference there is between balls nestling in the bottom or top corners on one hand, and comfortable blocks on the other. Guess he played about 60 games over the season, and given the attention he gets, no big deal that he was indeed carrying some ‘niggle’. On the other hand, Iniesta missed a lot of the season for Barca, an ultimately heartbreaking one, but was sharp in SA and his performances telling.
What about gold? Along with Saint Iker, Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina are all in the 27 to 29 age range – giving the goalies a realistic chance of going to two more world cups.
While we may not see Capdevila, Puyol and Marchena (all 30 – 32) in Brazil, there are four other defensive players in this squad who will be between 27 and 30 next time around, in their prime. But, let us not forget that this is not an Italian back four – and hence might benefit from different personnel too. The Jose ambition to win it all at Real, with Real's heavy debt burden, might just lead to unearthing some Spanish defensive talent.
In the midfield, where Spain are scary and surreal, we don’t know if Xavi and Alonso are going to be preserved adequately (at Barca and Real, respectively) to be on song in 2014. But they have a chance, and they have the likes of Zidane to look up to when it comes to being world class midfielders till the mid thirties. If Cesc continues in the EPL, he might be a 27 year old with a 30 year old’s legs under him in four year’s time. Let us hope that doesn’t happen to him. Being at the Gunners should’ve helped him recover adequately for the world cup, and that might be one good reason for him to stay there. After all, Gunners don’t really compete for any big titles!
Upfront, if they manage to keep up, pretty much the same personnel could turn up next time around as well. Villa and more so, Torres, would want to add a bucket of goals to the winners’ medal.
Del Bosque, Saint Iker, Valdez, Iniesta, Xavi and Puyol all have nothing left to win. Eight of the playing eleven play for Barca (which for Spaniards must mean they came through the youth systems). Hopefully, there are unknown twelve to fourteen year olds knocking on those doors, just as we speak.
Overall, we got a glimpse of football that has evolved a notch - Spain leading the evolution. Two other semifinalists - Germany and Netherlands - appear to be attempting to get there. Maybe 4 or 5 years hence every one will play some flavor of this evolved game. Jose and Fergie, for all their winningness, haven't managed any evolutionary impact. That credit is firmly with Spain and Barcelona.
The high of the world cup will give way to the lesser sporting spectacles, most annoyingly the superlative ridden EPL. But just as it has been doing in the past, the Tour de France has been helping the detox by gently bringing us back to ‘bau’ (business as usual), while reminding that when it comes to grueling it rocks.
Shleck has been doing well at holding off Contador. We are well into the Pryennes (spelling?) and for the first time in more than twenty years, there are 3 continuous days of climbs and descents. This third day, it is said, is what brings the riders to hit the cycling 'wall'. Afer nicking the lead, Contador should be favorite. The Astana riders will keep up and much like the Spain and Barca midfield, try to show the world what hunting in a pack is all about. But Scheck's team, Saxo Bank, has Cancellera in the ranks and cannot be written off just yet. All in all, it should be a grand battle over this week culminating in Paris.
The Texan is somewhere in the pack too, and in a general sense, he has comeback from worse.
After Sunday, there will always be FC Barcelona (also deep in financial debt). No offence to Cruz, Vicky and Christina!
The number of shots that Messi fired, at a comfortable waist high stopping height of goal keepers, makes me think that Messi was not a 100% tournament fit. At the grandest stage of them all, being quarter a foot further behind the ball than he should is all the difference there is between balls nestling in the bottom or top corners on one hand, and comfortable blocks on the other. Guess he played about 60 games over the season, and given the attention he gets, no big deal that he was indeed carrying some ‘niggle’. On the other hand, Iniesta missed a lot of the season for Barca, an ultimately heartbreaking one, but was sharp in SA and his performances telling.
What about gold? Along with Saint Iker, Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina are all in the 27 to 29 age range – giving the goalies a realistic chance of going to two more world cups.
While we may not see Capdevila, Puyol and Marchena (all 30 – 32) in Brazil, there are four other defensive players in this squad who will be between 27 and 30 next time around, in their prime. But, let us not forget that this is not an Italian back four – and hence might benefit from different personnel too. The Jose ambition to win it all at Real, with Real's heavy debt burden, might just lead to unearthing some Spanish defensive talent.
In the midfield, where Spain are scary and surreal, we don’t know if Xavi and Alonso are going to be preserved adequately (at Barca and Real, respectively) to be on song in 2014. But they have a chance, and they have the likes of Zidane to look up to when it comes to being world class midfielders till the mid thirties. If Cesc continues in the EPL, he might be a 27 year old with a 30 year old’s legs under him in four year’s time. Let us hope that doesn’t happen to him. Being at the Gunners should’ve helped him recover adequately for the world cup, and that might be one good reason for him to stay there. After all, Gunners don’t really compete for any big titles!
Upfront, if they manage to keep up, pretty much the same personnel could turn up next time around as well. Villa and more so, Torres, would want to add a bucket of goals to the winners’ medal.
Del Bosque, Saint Iker, Valdez, Iniesta, Xavi and Puyol all have nothing left to win. Eight of the playing eleven play for Barca (which for Spaniards must mean they came through the youth systems). Hopefully, there are unknown twelve to fourteen year olds knocking on those doors, just as we speak.
Overall, we got a glimpse of football that has evolved a notch - Spain leading the evolution. Two other semifinalists - Germany and Netherlands - appear to be attempting to get there. Maybe 4 or 5 years hence every one will play some flavor of this evolved game. Jose and Fergie, for all their winningness, haven't managed any evolutionary impact. That credit is firmly with Spain and Barcelona.
The high of the world cup will give way to the lesser sporting spectacles, most annoyingly the superlative ridden EPL. But just as it has been doing in the past, the Tour de France has been helping the detox by gently bringing us back to ‘bau’ (business as usual), while reminding that when it comes to grueling it rocks.
Shleck has been doing well at holding off Contador. We are well into the Pryennes (spelling?) and for the first time in more than twenty years, there are 3 continuous days of climbs and descents. This third day, it is said, is what brings the riders to hit the cycling 'wall'. Afer nicking the lead, Contador should be favorite. The Astana riders will keep up and much like the Spain and Barca midfield, try to show the world what hunting in a pack is all about. But Scheck's team, Saxo Bank, has Cancellera in the ranks and cannot be written off just yet. All in all, it should be a grand battle over this week culminating in Paris.
The Texan is somewhere in the pack too, and in a general sense, he has comeback from worse.
After Sunday, there will always be FC Barcelona (also deep in financial debt). No offence to Cruz, Vicky and Christina!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Being Brown
Soon after Germany trashed England, my Facebook was riddled with message regards the terrible decision, untrustworthy refs, etc. How unfair and unfortunate it was, was followed by the know-alls wondering why slo-mo replays or hawk-eye technology could not be used to determine whether the ball crossed the goal line or not. But I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of technologies that work for a small hard leather ball, and whether they would work for an air-filled Jabulani – neither am I going to get into how that would, in my view, kill some of the soul and spirit of football (the one played with a spherical ball).
My concern is regarding the color brown. What is being brown?
Answer: Being brown is aspiring to be white, to do white, and follow wherever the Anglo-Saxon press & lifestyle will lead you with a carrot or whatever; while sympathizing for black. When we put all of this into a big drum and shake it all around, we have brown!!
An instance is the Facebrown reaction to the Germany England 4-1 taken together with the total silence over the Uruguay Ghana penalty shootout decision. The brown position regards the English exit was that it was time the game of football used technology and ensured the referee mistakes don’t color (yeah, any color take is fully intended) the eventual outcome. But a large spectrum of brown doesn’t really follow basketball, and those that follow basketball probably don’t follow football. Due to that, there have been no murmurs on Facebrown about how the rules of football should be changed to award ‘goal-tending’ calls as a goal against the offending team. This would be along basketball lines, it would be one hundred percent Anglo-Saxon fair, and would have given the game to Ghana in the 120th minute – making them the first African team to get to the semis of the greatest sporting spectacle in the planet. Not a murmur.
But brown is more likely to feel sorry for Ghana, to empathize with them, to verbalize their ‘so-near-yet-so-far’. Gyan (‘Jeeyan’) picking himself up after the penalty (which he wouldn’t have had to take if football rules ruled goal tending as a goal) miss and converting the first penalty shootout kick for Ghana – that might get a footnote. Brown might also not feel that Suarez celebrating the Gyan 120th minute penalty miss, still hanging around in the field of play, is the most shameful thing in recent football memory. Hats off, Brown!!
My concern is regarding the color brown. What is being brown?
Answer: Being brown is aspiring to be white, to do white, and follow wherever the Anglo-Saxon press & lifestyle will lead you with a carrot or whatever; while sympathizing for black. When we put all of this into a big drum and shake it all around, we have brown!!
An instance is the Facebrown reaction to the Germany England 4-1 taken together with the total silence over the Uruguay Ghana penalty shootout decision. The brown position regards the English exit was that it was time the game of football used technology and ensured the referee mistakes don’t color (yeah, any color take is fully intended) the eventual outcome. But a large spectrum of brown doesn’t really follow basketball, and those that follow basketball probably don’t follow football. Due to that, there have been no murmurs on Facebrown about how the rules of football should be changed to award ‘goal-tending’ calls as a goal against the offending team. This would be along basketball lines, it would be one hundred percent Anglo-Saxon fair, and would have given the game to Ghana in the 120th minute – making them the first African team to get to the semis of the greatest sporting spectacle in the planet. Not a murmur.
But brown is more likely to feel sorry for Ghana, to empathize with them, to verbalize their ‘so-near-yet-so-far’. Gyan (‘Jeeyan’) picking himself up after the penalty (which he wouldn’t have had to take if football rules ruled goal tending as a goal) miss and converting the first penalty shootout kick for Ghana – that might get a footnote. Brown might also not feel that Suarez celebrating the Gyan 120th minute penalty miss, still hanging around in the field of play, is the most shameful thing in recent football memory. Hats off, Brown!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
What happened to 451 and 442?
It might just be a somewhat skewed observation, or a real shift at this world cup. 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1, 4-2-3-1, etc seem to be the norm in the manner teams set up to play. Whichever way you look at it, thats an extra player in attack and more space at the back to exploit/ be exploited. Of all the teams the one still playing a more crowded backline is...yes, Brazil! For those who remember that wily, tough, and often ugly holding midfield days of his, that is Dunga doing his thing. It might have something to do, as well, with the coach wanting Gilberto (smile, Gunners fans) on the pitch.
But is this a shift in the way managers and coaches strategize OR just a way to ensure that matches don' t spill into extra-time (the phenomenon that labourers the world over and Americans call over-time), thus preserving the players for business end of this world cup and the next gruelling club season?
If it is a longer term shift in strategy, then we could get more of the passing, off-the-ball running, quick breaks, and ball-control treat that the likes of Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Ghana, and Japan have dished out thus far. Spain and Portugal are missing from that list only because I haven't managed to catch any of their games. The only endogeneous reason I can see for this shift is player preservation, and it almost goes hand in hand that coaches will then revert to a more crowded backline as soon as a really important game (read 'club') comes up. But that is being overly pessimistic about what insights coaches would glean from this experiment. It is already quite clear that with no 4-5-1/ 4-2-2 goalkeepers' quality is out in the open and in the spotlight - with there being that many more shots on goal.
But is this a shift in the way managers and coaches strategize OR just a way to ensure that matches don' t spill into extra-time (the phenomenon that labourers the world over and Americans call over-time), thus preserving the players for business end of this world cup and the next gruelling club season?
If it is a longer term shift in strategy, then we could get more of the passing, off-the-ball running, quick breaks, and ball-control treat that the likes of Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Ghana, and Japan have dished out thus far. Spain and Portugal are missing from that list only because I haven't managed to catch any of their games. The only endogeneous reason I can see for this shift is player preservation, and it almost goes hand in hand that coaches will then revert to a more crowded backline as soon as a really important game (read 'club') comes up. But that is being overly pessimistic about what insights coaches would glean from this experiment. It is already quite clear that with no 4-5-1/ 4-2-2 goalkeepers' quality is out in the open and in the spotlight - with there being that many more shots on goal.
Friday, June 4, 2010
2010 Sunfeast 10k Debacle (***)
A shocking 63:47 (18secs slower than last year) at the Sunfeast 10k. During the run itself, I had been chasing sub-60 mins on my watch after the first two kilometers, which took a grand 16mins!! So, when I crossed the finish and my watched showed 59:45 I felt pretty good with the effort. But that lasted only a day or so before Marathon Photos uploaded the official times.
Any thoughts about the run time is depressing, let me turn my attention elsewhere regards the 10k.
(1) Out of the 6-7k crowd at the Open 10k, about .5k were girls and women. At the finish, with folks milling about, the absence of heckling, hooting, misbehaviour was pretty cool to observe. Guess that makes it only two cities in India where a crowd of men remain human around women - Bombay and Bangalore.
(2) Not only do we drive like idiots, we run like idiots too. Over the first two kilometers, on more than a few occasions, I came up to anything from 3 to 7 people walking abreast of each other, blocking the carriage way. This meant a lot of turning back to make up for the lack of a rearview mirror, sharp turns, hand signals, sideways sneaking past people, and speed changes.
(3) Venting helps. Somewhere running up to the first of the U-turns I asked a bunch of bums to keep left if they were going to walk. They said something in protest but I couldn't quite hear what they said.
(4) Port-a-loos?! Ended up waiting in a queue for two port-a-loos before the start. There was another queue for 3 port-a-loos a little up ahead. Sometime during the close to 1-hour in that queue, I calculated the expected wait time to be another 30mins. That was when there was only 15 to go for the start. We ran ahead and found one of the hundreds of spots within the Kanteerva complex where guys can take a leak. It was a big relief but by the time I got back into the holding area, it was obvious that my start would be behind4-5k of the partipating throng. If it is going to be port-a-loos next time, I better bring my own.
(5) Stretching rocks!!! One thing different from last year's run was that I spent about 15mins stretching post the run and woke up next morning without absolutely no ill effects.
(6) The Lucknow crowd rocks!!! Met Radhesh ('03) a little after the finish and he and a bunch of Lucknow folks had chosen the Basketball court inside the complex to meet up. Made a note that this is a good post-run meeting up zone and the benches there would also come handy with the stretching exercises.
(7) This headbanded Chennai Runner helped me with the pacing as well as the first 2km dodging strategy and if not for him my finish would have been worse that it was. Saw him at the finish and it appeared that he was one of the last Chennai Runners to finish. Running in the Chennai pressure cooker, perpetually on high or sim, helps these guys take us genteel Bangaloreans to the cleaners. Easily, from now on, they are the 'enemy'!!!!
So, a pretty interesting Sunday morning that was followed by a couple of weeks of driving (2,500km in total), and hoping off-and-on that I could forget the run time. I can see the entire running thing is catching on in this city - if it follows the same trajectory, then the organizers have their task cut out for next year.
***Turns out Marathon photos time is the gross time (gun to finish), and the net time (my start to finish) is close to the time on my stopwatch - 59:13 (4:16 improvement from last year). Thanks to Kishore for bringing this to my notice.
Any thoughts about the run time is depressing, let me turn my attention elsewhere regards the 10k.
(1) Out of the 6-7k crowd at the Open 10k, about .5k were girls and women. At the finish, with folks milling about, the absence of heckling, hooting, misbehaviour was pretty cool to observe. Guess that makes it only two cities in India where a crowd of men remain human around women - Bombay and Bangalore.
(2) Not only do we drive like idiots, we run like idiots too. Over the first two kilometers, on more than a few occasions, I came up to anything from 3 to 7 people walking abreast of each other, blocking the carriage way. This meant a lot of turning back to make up for the lack of a rearview mirror, sharp turns, hand signals, sideways sneaking past people, and speed changes.
(3) Venting helps. Somewhere running up to the first of the U-turns I asked a bunch of bums to keep left if they were going to walk. They said something in protest but I couldn't quite hear what they said.
(4) Port-a-loos?! Ended up waiting in a queue for two port-a-loos before the start. There was another queue for 3 port-a-loos a little up ahead. Sometime during the close to 1-hour in that queue, I calculated the expected wait time to be another 30mins. That was when there was only 15 to go for the start. We ran ahead and found one of the hundreds of spots within the Kanteerva complex where guys can take a leak. It was a big relief but by the time I got back into the holding area, it was obvious that my start would be behind4-5k of the partipating throng. If it is going to be port-a-loos next time, I better bring my own.
(5) Stretching rocks!!! One thing different from last year's run was that I spent about 15mins stretching post the run and woke up next morning without absolutely no ill effects.
(6) The Lucknow crowd rocks!!! Met Radhesh ('03) a little after the finish and he and a bunch of Lucknow folks had chosen the Basketball court inside the complex to meet up. Made a note that this is a good post-run meeting up zone and the benches there would also come handy with the stretching exercises.
(7) This headbanded Chennai Runner helped me with the pacing as well as the first 2km dodging strategy and if not for him my finish would have been worse that it was. Saw him at the finish and it appeared that he was one of the last Chennai Runners to finish. Running in the Chennai pressure cooker, perpetually on high or sim, helps these guys take us genteel Bangaloreans to the cleaners. Easily, from now on, they are the 'enemy'!!!!
So, a pretty interesting Sunday morning that was followed by a couple of weeks of driving (2,500km in total), and hoping off-and-on that I could forget the run time. I can see the entire running thing is catching on in this city - if it follows the same trajectory, then the organizers have their task cut out for next year.
***Turns out Marathon photos time is the gross time (gun to finish), and the net time (my start to finish) is close to the time on my stopwatch - 59:13 (4:16 improvement from last year). Thanks to Kishore for bringing this to my notice.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Take a Bow
Part of the mourning process - for Barca's semifinal exit from CL - is the identification of potential areas for improvement for this team, which since the past year and till only a fortnight ago appeared was as good as it ever gets.
But before that, where did Inter outplay Barca?
(1) Their back four clearly trashed Messi & friends (of whom Mr.Zlatan had an off day), with more than a little help from a protective line in front of 'em. Remarkably, even Etoo & Schneider popped up with tackles letting Lucio & Co. pick up the pieces.
(2) Barca, it appears, wins the psychological battle by picking holes through the center of the field that eventually leads to 3-on-3 or 3-on-4 near the box. Teams playing a 4-man midfield line obviously feel ridiculed. Wednesday night, it was clear that the Inter ploy was to cede the middle of the park to Barca. Result: No psychological scars from being made to look ordinary, and the two defensive lines were playing a hand-shaking distance of each other. Squeeze squeeze squeeze. Barca was 4-8 around the box, not easy to overturn against as well drilled a system as Inter.
(3) Cesar brought off more than one great save. Most important one I thought was somewhere around 35 minutes when Messi ran across the back four from right to left and his strike to the bottom right post was turned out brilliantly by Cesar. If that had gone in...
With Inter's defensive pedigree, it is perhaps possible to hold out for 90 minutes, two-thirds of which was played with a man down. But my sense is that there are areas of Barca's game that people are going to look and say "hey, we can take these guys down!".
(1) There are no drives from 25-40m out, making it very easy for Inter to back down and create a very very tight defensive line. Where are the ala Mathaeus, Gerrard missiles? It would force even Inter to play a higher defensive line, create the bare minimum space that even Messi, Xavi, Zlatan, etc. need
(2) The game exposed the lack of tall players popping up in the box. With only Zlatan bringing high balls under control around the box, the flank play needed to be magical to create any danger. I am not suggesting any manpower changes - certainly no Drogba type import (please!!!) - just that all the times Barca were 4-on-6 inside Inter's box, it should have been 5-on-6 with the fifth one a tall player. Yes, yes - and would have not imagined I'd say this - Barca didn't attack enough!! Especially after Motta was sent off for what should win Busquets a consolation Oscar award.
Not sure if it was lack for form, injury or team tactics that kept Iniesta out, but it could have been different with him around. Liked the Barca president coming out and saying that the team needed its fans support in this 'darkest hour'. Will this change the way Barca set themselves up to play? Will some of the midfield talent get traded? I certainly hope not. There is a big Barca poster on one of the columns in the 5th/ 6th floors in the office. Right now, it appears gloomy but hopefully it will lift soon enough.
The finals - it is still a mouth-watering one. When Gaal led Barca to one of its earlier CL wins, Jose was assistant coach. They have been saying that the Santiago Bernebaau will be a much happier place to not have to see Barca play in the final, but whatever happens a former Barca coaching staff will win. Thank God for small consolations!! And it might help Gunners fans - Sony, Girish - feel a little bit better ;-).
As for Jose, right now it appears that to get good competition at matching wits, he needs to join one of these teams...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lo4MUedfrk&feature=channel. At 2-3, Topalov certainly can use some help!
But before that, where did Inter outplay Barca?
(1) Their back four clearly trashed Messi & friends (of whom Mr.Zlatan had an off day), with more than a little help from a protective line in front of 'em. Remarkably, even Etoo & Schneider popped up with tackles letting Lucio & Co. pick up the pieces.
(2) Barca, it appears, wins the psychological battle by picking holes through the center of the field that eventually leads to 3-on-3 or 3-on-4 near the box. Teams playing a 4-man midfield line obviously feel ridiculed. Wednesday night, it was clear that the Inter ploy was to cede the middle of the park to Barca. Result: No psychological scars from being made to look ordinary, and the two defensive lines were playing a hand-shaking distance of each other. Squeeze squeeze squeeze. Barca was 4-8 around the box, not easy to overturn against as well drilled a system as Inter.
(3) Cesar brought off more than one great save. Most important one I thought was somewhere around 35 minutes when Messi ran across the back four from right to left and his strike to the bottom right post was turned out brilliantly by Cesar. If that had gone in...
With Inter's defensive pedigree, it is perhaps possible to hold out for 90 minutes, two-thirds of which was played with a man down. But my sense is that there are areas of Barca's game that people are going to look and say "hey, we can take these guys down!".
(1) There are no drives from 25-40m out, making it very easy for Inter to back down and create a very very tight defensive line. Where are the ala Mathaeus, Gerrard missiles? It would force even Inter to play a higher defensive line, create the bare minimum space that even Messi, Xavi, Zlatan, etc. need
(2) The game exposed the lack of tall players popping up in the box. With only Zlatan bringing high balls under control around the box, the flank play needed to be magical to create any danger. I am not suggesting any manpower changes - certainly no Drogba type import (please!!!) - just that all the times Barca were 4-on-6 inside Inter's box, it should have been 5-on-6 with the fifth one a tall player. Yes, yes - and would have not imagined I'd say this - Barca didn't attack enough!! Especially after Motta was sent off for what should win Busquets a consolation Oscar award.
Not sure if it was lack for form, injury or team tactics that kept Iniesta out, but it could have been different with him around. Liked the Barca president coming out and saying that the team needed its fans support in this 'darkest hour'. Will this change the way Barca set themselves up to play? Will some of the midfield talent get traded? I certainly hope not. There is a big Barca poster on one of the columns in the 5th/ 6th floors in the office. Right now, it appears gloomy but hopefully it will lift soon enough.
The finals - it is still a mouth-watering one. When Gaal led Barca to one of its earlier CL wins, Jose was assistant coach. They have been saying that the Santiago Bernebaau will be a much happier place to not have to see Barca play in the final, but whatever happens a former Barca coaching staff will win. Thank God for small consolations!! And it might help Gunners fans - Sony, Girish - feel a little bit better ;-).
As for Jose, right now it appears that to get good competition at matching wits, he needs to join one of these teams...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lo4MUedfrk&feature=channel. At 2-3, Topalov certainly can use some help!
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Winner Takes Whats Left
Have you seen the section in Mama Mia! where Meryl Streep sings "The Winner Takes it All" by some rocky seashore?
Brilliant way to start a 3-day weekend: be reminded of a song, tape, landscape Phillips tape-recorder playing ABBA, Boney-M, other 70s hits, Voice of America; all when the Madras 90 pin-code was quiet enough to hear the sea when the tide came in.
In case you need some reminding: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cwKCU8Z5c
Early days of the music video still
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
"Resolve"
Thats a word you would not normally associate with what won a football match, although always a key ingredient. But Inter prevailed over Chelsea last night (no pun intended ;-)) because their center backs - the World Cup winner Lucio and the Argentine, Walter Samuel - stopped whatever was thrown their way.
Watched the first-half this morning, and was glad to see a number of great blocks, tackles and slides that protected the Inter keeper. Even as the half wound down, Julio Caesar collected a nice easy goalward lob; with Lucio holding off Drogba from harassing the goalie. Good stuff to watch!!
When an Italian squad goes to London and comes away with that most honest of all scorelines - 1-0 - I dare to think that the world as I like it maybe down but not definitely out.
Ancelloti coaching Chelsea, Capello with the England top job, Mourinho in Italy, Brazilian-Argentine center back pairing at Inter, the Cameroonian Etoo hurting the London club in Catalan colors and now in the Inter away strip: Free trade, baby; Free trade!!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
21/3000
Thats were I finished at a recent online tournament. Short-stacked and going all in against the other short; it was my AK versus his A5 and my guess is favorite 9-to-1. Of course, the flop comes 5JJ and the rest, including me, is history. Turn came 9, and after that the only outs I had to survive were K, 9, A. River came an unglamorous 7.
This took about 450+ hands...closest to the final table in a long long long time. Took sometime to focus attention away from the suck-out to what was actually within my zone of influence/ control...and this is the diagnosis: slid down the chip-count rank by playing a few hands - each with a couple of high cards, having a number of 'outs' post-flop and then chasing it all the way till the river. How do I stop doing that? and before that, why did I do it?
Probably got duped into believing that this was just the guy trying to steal all over again. Point is, if I really wanted to test that, I should have raised - may be at flop; and walked away from the hand if he still showed strength/ confidence/ poise (hell, where are the casinos?).
In summary, while i got knocked-out on the suck-out, with good tournament play, i should have never been the short stack - and at least 2.5X short-stack chips. That way, with the suck out, I could have lived to play a few more hands at least. Anyway, curiosity got the better of me and I did log in to check how 'mdh62', my slayer, did the rest of the tournament. After knocking me out, he must have been ranked 15 or so out of the 20 remaining players. Knew for sure that his 340k chips was up against it - still only about average chip count, or less.
Guess what: 'mdh62' won it!! and made $1,000+
This took about 450+ hands...closest to the final table in a long long long time. Took sometime to focus attention away from the suck-out to what was actually within my zone of influence/ control...and this is the diagnosis: slid down the chip-count rank by playing a few hands - each with a couple of high cards, having a number of 'outs' post-flop and then chasing it all the way till the river. How do I stop doing that? and before that, why did I do it?
Probably got duped into believing that this was just the guy trying to steal all over again. Point is, if I really wanted to test that, I should have raised - may be at flop; and walked away from the hand if he still showed strength/ confidence/ poise (hell, where are the casinos?).
In summary, while i got knocked-out on the suck-out, with good tournament play, i should have never been the short stack - and at least 2.5X short-stack chips. That way, with the suck out, I could have lived to play a few more hands at least. Anyway, curiosity got the better of me and I did log in to check how 'mdh62', my slayer, did the rest of the tournament. After knocking me out, he must have been ranked 15 or so out of the 20 remaining players. Knew for sure that his 340k chips was up against it - still only about average chip count, or less.
Guess what: 'mdh62' won it!! and made $1,000+
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