Friday, April 30, 2010

Invictus

Just came across this short poem, while looking for the film description with the same name. I had already head a lot about this poem, but never really looked it up.

'Invictus' was written by William Earnest Henley in 1875.


Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Awe-Inspiring.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Jose Iner-rupts Barca's Run

Last night bore witness to a ten-man Inter Milan dump Barcelona out of the Champion's League.

What was the most striking sight of the night? Was it the Camp Nou filled to capacity with 96,000 screaming fans? Or was it the sight of Mourinho running onto the ground when it was over? Or was it Busquets going down like he was a shot after what seemed like a 'soft' push by Motta? I truly do not know. But what I do know, is that the character shown by Internazionale was the stuff of legend.

The build up to the match had been striking enough - between Mourinho stating that Barcelona was "obsessed" with reaching the finals in the Bernabau, home turf of their bitter-most rivals Madrid, Gerard Pique connecting with the fans and asking them to make the atmosphere electric enough to make inter hate football for 90 minutes, this had promised to be a cracker of a contest. When Inter won the home leg 3-1, several critics doubted their ability to hold out against a rampant Barcelona team on a wider pitch, with a faster outfield. But as it turned out, Inter Milan did all that - and more!

There was intense drama right before the match... Mourinho named Sneijder in starting eleven, even though the midfielder was not 100 percent fit after his hamstring problem against Atlanta. Messi had scored 17 goals in two Champions League tournaments so far - 9 in the last year's edition, and 8 so far in this year's. Barcelona's centre-back Gabriel Milito was set to face older brother and Inter's forward, Diego, as Barca looked to the home atmosphere to pull them through. Barcelona were also not without their injury problems, with Andres Iniesta (thigh) and Eric Abidal (groin) not in the squad.


Just a few minutes before the match, Jose Mourniho withdrew striker Pandev for defender Christian Chivu, citing an injury to the forward. But whether this was a genuine injury, or a tactical switch after seeing Barcelona's 3-4-3 attacking formation is yet to be seen. The Inter manager might be asked to produce evidence of the injury.

The match itself saw Barcelona hold all the possession - at one point it was close to 80%. But Inter looked pretty stable, with very little gap between their defense and midfield.

Incessant whistling followed Inter whenever they had the ball, with the home fans showing their displeasure towards Mourinho, who had worked as a translator at Nou Camp for four years in the early stages his career. More ire followed his words over the week, and about Figo's presence as Inter's ambassador. (The Barcelona fans never really forgave him after his move to Real).

Barcelona seemed to be camped inside the Inter half for long periods in the first half, but Inter matched them metre for metre, denying them any space at all. Then came Motta's sending off.

Thiago Motta had already been booked earlier for hauling down Ibrahimovic in the 10th minute, but was shown red for his challenge on Sergi Busquets. It looked like a soft push, though, and Busquets went down like a sack, clutching his face. Replays showed him looking at the referee in between, before writhing in agony once again, in a sickening display of what Mourinho had warned referees of before the game itself.

With Motta trudging back furiously, Inter adopted an even more defensive approach, with their lone striker, Milito striking a lone figure up front.

The second half continued the story of the first, with Barcelona having all the possession, but unable to put the final touch. Ibrahimovic was largely nonthreatening on the night, and fans looked to Messi to deliver the killer punch. Pep Guardiola replaced Milito with Maxwellat the break, and later Ibrahimovic with Bojan in an effort to infuse some fresh legs into his attack. Jeffren came on to replace Busquets.

Mourinho brought on Muntari to replace Sneijder, who had had an excellent night out despite his lack of fitness.

While Xavi and Messi dictated play in the Inter half, Barcelona failed to put a telling ball into the final third, the closest coming through Bojan, who headed Messi's delightful cross in from the left just agonizingly wide. Inter's night was pretty much summed up when even Eto'o was back at the post, making a vital interception.

But the game changed suddenly in the 84th minute, when Pique showed great composure to turn his marker, and slot the ball past the effervescent Julio Cesar into the empty net.

All of a sudden Barcelona fans were on the edge of their seats, and watched as Barcelona applied incessant pressure on Inter in the final five minutes, plus four minutes added time. And so it ended, Inter losing the second leg 0-1, but going through to the finals for the first time since 1972, on a 3-2 aggregate.

So this leaves us heading towards the Bernabau on May 22nd, where Mourinho will meet his former mentor Van Gaal, and Inter Milan will face Bayern Munich in the final. What a match that will be to look forward to!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

New Blog Up

For all the guys visiting my blog for football related topics, I have just put up a new blog entirely dedicated to sports, football in particular. Here is the link:

http://www.futbolmundialz.blogspot.com

It's still in it's nascent stages, all I've done is taken a basic template and imported articles form this blog.
My article was published in sportskeeda.com, hence now I want to engage in sport articles in a different manner, on a different platform. Will be posting here as well for some time, till I decide to quit it here. Thanks for following!

Monday, April 26, 2010

EPL - Week 36


What a weekend it has been in the Premier League! And by Premier League, I mean the English Premier League, not the Indian Premier League, although the cricketing bonanza has had it's fair share of headline-grabbing thrills as well for the last couple of weeks...

Chelsea took to the field on Sunday, knowing that one of their closest rival (Arsenal) was out of the race after their draw at home to Manchester City, and Manchester United was two points ahead after their win against the Spurs. (see here)

Chelsea knew that anything apart form three points would hand the initiative back to United, and that they had to fire, at home against the Potters. And boy, did they! A stunning game followed as the Blues were in rampant form, netting seven past the helpless Stoke. An efficient display of ruthless quality, Chelsea showed every bit the title contenders they looked to be, as they scored seven in a game for the third time this season. The win was Chelsea's best ever since the result against Portsmouth in May 1963, and Stoke, who had been unbeaten in their six previous away games, lost by their biggest margin since the 0-7 loss to Birmingham twelve years ago.

Let's take a short look at the other results before eyeing the mouth-watering prospects coming up next weekend.

Liverpool thrashed Burnley 4-0 at the Turf Moor, which not too long ago, had been considered a fortress by the Clarets supporters. Gerrard was in sublime touch once again as he scored a brace, as 'Pool pushed Burnley out of the Premier League.

In the 100th derby meeting between Aston Villa and Birmingham, the Villans brushed through 1-0 courtesy of a penalty in the 83rd minute. James Milner the scorer, Aston Villa are now on par with Tottenham at 64 points, though both the Spurs and ManCity have a game more in hand.

Everton hosted Fulham at Goodison Park. Everton dominated the first half hour, but were witness to a howler from their left-back Baintes, gifting Fulham a shock lead in the 35th minute. For a spell after that, it seemed Fulham were lifted, but Everton equlalised five minutes after the restart through Anichebe/Smalling (both seemed to have gotten their heads to it). But it wasn't until a late late penalty that Everton were to get get their three points over the under-strength Fulham (under-strength because of the nine changes made to the squad considering the return leg against Hamburg this week).

Now a look at the jucier fixtures next weekend.

Of course, the biggest game is the Reds hosting the Blues, which many are dubbing to be the title decider. Liverpool are riding high on confidence after their 4-0 dismantling of Burnley, this without Torres. Chelsea look solid after their rampant 7-0 win over Stoke.

Manchester United travel to the Stadium of Light to face a good Sunderland unit, but this game will kick off after Chelsea's, so the players will know what position they are in before the start. Of course, they will be counting on a Chelsea slipup.

The battle for fourth place also heats up, with ManCity facing Aston Villa. ManCity also have a game against Tottenham on May 5th.

Arsenal face Blackburn, and will want to bounce back after being held by ManCity.

The fixtures are as follows:

The points table:

Chelsea 36 80 Man Utd 36 79 Arsenal 36 72 Tottenham 35 64 Aston Villa 36 64 Man City 35 63 Liverpool 36 62 Everton 36 57 Birmingham 36 47 Sunderland 36 44 Blackburn 36 44 Fulham 35 43 Stoke City 35 43 Bolton 36 36 Wolves 36 35 Wigan Athletic 36 35 West Ham Utd 36 34 Hull City 36 28 Burnley 36 27 Portsmouth 36 16

What Would It be Like Without Religion?

I came across another unbelievable article (in my blogroll), about abolishing religion totally! Check it out here.

My take on it....

While I am not a very religious guy myself, I am not against people having their own religious beliefs, your point about starting a cult following with a hundred members was pretty funny :P

I want to bring to light the turmoil in France right now, with the abolition of the burqa. In France, you are not allowed to flaunt your religion, not allowed to publicize any symbols/signs related to your religion, etc. Is this how it should be for India as well? Even the mere suggestion of it will lead to (yet again) communal wars.

It's funny I came across your post today, because coincidentally, I was watching The Da Vinci Code earlier this evening. I liked the part where Tom Hanks says, it's all on your beliefs. When the book (and later movie) were released, Christians all over the world felt offended. No one was prepared to accept the fact that it is, merely, a fictional whim, a masterpiece created by the author Dan Brown. If anything, the realism of the story buys into it's whole debate.

While abolishing religion as a whole is pretty idealistic, that doesn't mean to say it's not a positive hope to cling on to. Cases against self-proclaimed godmen have been sprouting up through the years, it's nothing new to misuse people's trust for your own personal gains .And while I am not implicating anything, isn't that exactly what even Jesus Christ was about, and wasn't that why the Romans turned against him? Every belief in the world has it's own set of doubters and critics. It's what makes the world an open playground. If everyone were to have the same set of beliefs, well, that's what Hitler's been famous for, hasn't he?

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Arsenal now Out of Title Race

After today's fixtures, some races have seemingly been decided, whereas others have opened up further to make this this EPL ride all the more interesting!

ManCity fail to capitalize on the Spurs' loss to ManU, by reaching a stalemate against Arsenal at the Emirates. Arsenal is now mathematically out of the title race, as they can reach a maximum of 78 points if they win their last two games. ManU is on 79 with two games left, Chelsea on 77 with 3 games left. Chelsea host Stoke tomorrow in a bid to regain the slender lead at the top of the table. ManCity is on 5th still,1 point behind the Spurs, and 2 points ahead of Aston Villa. Liverpool are 7th, with a maximum point haul seeing them reach 68 points by the end of season - and whether this will be enough for them to get a Champions League spot, only time will tell. Although it looks like the odds are heavily against them, with Tottenham only needing to get 4 points from their next three games to reach 68 and push the Kop out of the race mathematically. But as the maxim goes, it ain't over till it's over.

In other games, Bolton Wanderers drew to the already-relegated Pompey, Wolves drew with Blackburn, West Ham boosted their Premier League return chances with a vital 3-2 win against the inconsistent Wigan. Hull City remain six points away from safety after their loss to Sunderland 0-1.

Oh and to those who have been living under a rock, Wayne Rooney is now officially out for the rest of the season, and so is Fernando Torres.

The table looks like this now:

PlWDL+/-Pts
1Manchester United3625475379
2Chelsea3524565477
3Arsenal3622683972
4Tottenham Hotspur3519792664
5Manchester City35171262763
6Aston Villa35161361561
7Liverpool35178102459
8Everton3514129954
9Birmingham City35121112-847
10Sunderland36111114-644
11Blackburn Rovers36111114-1644
12Fulham34111013-243
13Stoke City34101311-443
14Bolton Wanderers369918-2536
15Wolverhampton Wanderers3681117-2335
16Wigan Athletic369819-3435
17West Ham United3681018-1834
18Hull City3661020-4128
19Burnley357622-3727
20Portsmouth366723-3316