Beckham says "asta LA vista" to Real Marid !!! (extracted)

After being told early in the year that he will never play for Real Madrid again, David Beckham churned out a performance justifying his £125 million move to LA Galaxy. He not only put Real Madrid on the brink of the title, but also gatecrashed his way back into the comatose England team, resuscitating their Euro 2008 qualifying hopes. What I like about him is his commitment on the pitch and his ability to comeback everytime he has been given stick. He did not play much yesterday on a star studded night in the presence of close pals Tom Cruise and Katy Holmes and tennis sensation Rafel Nadal, but he guided Real Madrid to a position, which would enable them to clinch La Liga. It was upto the rest of the Real Madrid team to justify their presence and boy they did after being down by a goal, they came back strongly with goals from Reyes(2) and Diarra(1), who flew all the way from Africa overnight, for this game.

After a host of trophies with Manchester United, including the famous treble of 1998-99 and the La Liga winners' medal this season, Beckham has paved a dream-path for his entry into Hollywood. What remains to be seen is whether the football in that part of the world is as competitive as here. Whatever it is, he has been one of my personal favourites because of his commitment on the pitch, response under pressure, media handling capabilities and his never say die attitude. His departure to Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy is a great loss to European Club Football and Becks will be missed big time.

All the best Becks and may your star shine bright and long in LA Galaxy!

Whiners and Moaners - II

Mood : Gobsmacked and Gutted !!!

It is him again! I did mention him in Whiners and Moaners and his recent comment gives me extra confidence in my humble opinion. Two world titles after hard fought battles against the world's best Formula One driver ever have not changed this whine-kid from Spain, Fernando Alonso.

When I first noticed him whining, he had not yet won his second world title. It was during Schumi's recurrecting drive in the second half of last season that Alonso complained about lack of support from the team. He was of the impression that the team did not want him to win because then he would take the car numbered 1 along with him to Mclaren in the 2007 season. How juvenile does it get? Does a reigning World Champion talk like this about his team mates?

His latest problem was exactly one week ago. It was the Canadian Grand Prix of the 2007 season held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. F1 debutant and British hot shot Lewis Hamilton won his first ever race after a flawless performance in qualifying and the race itself. Alonso himself made a mistake, braking into turn 1 in the very first lap and did the same mistake at the same turn twice more, later on in the race, which eventually cost him a lot of positions and points. He has the audacity to say that Mclaren being a British team and Hamilton being a British driver, the team rallies behind Hamilton. I personally think Alonso is cribbing and trying to pass the buck and blame the team for his lack of performance. I have no comments to do justice to such a blasphemous attack by Alonso on his boss and his team mates.

Formula One Season 2007 (extract

The season starts in ten days precisely. The opener is back to Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. The title contention however is likely to boil down to two teams, Mclaren; the favourites and Ferrari; the underdogs. Renault, the reigning world champions will be the best of the rest, along with Honda. Apart from this we have Williams, BMW and Red Bull racing to look forward to. However, this year’s title looks likely to be a close fought contest between two teams and three drivers, the men being Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa and Mclaren’s Fernando Alonso, the current World Champion.

Mclaren are clearly the title favourites, this season for a lot of reasons. To begin with, they have managed to rope in the World Champion driver, which they failed to do a decade ago, when Schumi was up for grabs. Having the car bearing the number 1 on its nose cone adds a lot to the team morale. Alonso brings with him the Latin flavour and the expectations of a champion, who has fought Schumacher to two titles and ended up winning, which I believe are necessary to push Mclaren to performance. They also have in their ranks, Lewis Hamilton only 22 years old, whose skills in the junior levels of racing have been spectacular. Certainly one debut I am looking forward to personally. However, the fact that he is English and the English media’s nasty reputation for meting out extreme treatment to its stars will be a factor to watch out. What also makes me sceptical is the way Nico Roseberg made his debut and where he ended up, last season. The best part for Hamilton is that he is in the hands of Ron Dennis, who at one time handled the volatile driver combination of former World Champion drivers, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. What also remains to be seen is whether Hamilton be given status of a contender or will he play second fiddle to champ Alonso. Both Mclaren and Engine suppliers Mercedes Benz will be entering this season without a win the previous one.

The sensitive topic of Mercedes Benz brings me to another question, one that talks of reliability. In recent years, it is clearly evident that reliability is the single greatest factor that can make or break a season. The glaring example was in 2006, when Alonso had an unassailable lead of 25 points over Michael Schumacher and the way he fought back, thanks to Ferrari’s reliability and lost the plot in the penultimate race at Suzuka, again due to Ferrari reliability or the lack of it. Mclaren’s reliability was questionable in 2005, where they had their best shot at title and lost narrowly and bitterly to Renault. FIA’s move to freeze engine development is not doing any of the big boys any good. Nor is the switch to a single tyre manufacturer. What the new tyre regulation does is that it takes a critical variable from the big championship equation, making life more predictable on the track. Formula One is no fun when it’s so transparent. This rule also has the potential of working against Mclaren who over the last few seasons have developed their cars to adapt to the behaviour of Michelins.

To sum it all up for Mclaren, positives are, World Champion Alonso and car numbered 1, an equally hungry engine supplier, Ron Dennis’ vision and talented and youthful Hamilton for backup. Negatives are, Hamilton’s lack of experience, British press, and Bridgestone tyres. Reliability is a neutral factor and can swing in any way.

Let’s now look at the underdogs; Ferrari. Why I call them the underdogs, this season is pretty much down to the fact that they do not have Schumacher, which is very obvious. Also they do not have the services of Ross Brawn; architect of all but three of Schumi’s wins and the team boss Jean Todt. In addition to this Paolo Martinelli, the engine wizard of Ferrari has been moved to road car production. What we have now is a set of new faces, which have been working in the background all these years. Mario Almondo takes over as technical director and he will be assisted by Luca Baldisseri, who was predicted to be Brawn’s successor.

What they have in their favour are, presence of Jean Todt higher up the ranks, watching over the proceedings and the expertise of Schumacher, whose role is still to be defined. They also hold a trump card as far as the tyre war goes. The scarlet chariots have always been shod on Bridgestones and the last five double titles owe a lot of gratitude to the Japanese tyre manufacturer. Nigel Stepney is still around in an elevated position, which without doubt is good news.

In Ice cool Kimi and fiery hot Felipe, they have potentially the best driver line up on the grid. On paper this line up looks perfect. It is very similar to winning rivalries in the recent past such as Prost & Senna, Kimi & Montoya, Schumacher, Massa and Schumacher & Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher & Montoya and of course Alsonso & Fisichella. A combination of a predominantly European driver and a predominantly South American driver, with the exception being Alonso, who is Spanish. Such a combination has produced some fantastic races and rivalries in the past combined with some brilliant examples of teamwork and driver coordination.

In the past, Schumacher’s place at Ferrari was taken for granted and all other drivers were there to assist him. Now there is a change of guard at Ferrari, where neither Massa nor Raikkonen can take his place as title contender for granted. They will have to fight it out hard and fair to establish superiority on the grid and in the team. Massa, being the cheerful, approachable and more importantly already the established driver with in the inner circles of the team, will certainly be a favourite in the team garage. What Raikkonen will have to do is to simply display commitment for the common cause by being warmer, friendlier and more approachable. True, Schumacher could carry, being rough, arrogant and ruthless, but with his teammates he was always gentle, polite and one of the lads. So Kimi has his task cut out. He has to deliver, crush the ice and be a little more approachable by the team. Massa on the other hand has to keep his momentum going and not be fazed by the arrival of Raikkonen, the star from Mclaren.

To sum it all up, Ferrari have the best driver line up, bridgestone tyres and an unquestionable reliability. What they need to focus on is channelling the new leadership, keeping driver rivalry at a tolerable and mutually complimenting level and getting used to the fact that they do not have Schumacher, Brawn and Todt as quickly as possible.

Whiners and Moaners

Ok, this gets its inspiration from the dugouts and the pitlanes and; The greatest reality show on earth - Life!

1.Jose Mourinho:

Jose Mourinho, the manager of Chelsea FC, the current English Champions has a problem. After back-to-back titles and a fortune to spend on players, he still feels he needs more players. His team is trailing behind Manchester United by 6 points in the Premier League. Now, Mr. Mourinho has all reasons to complain that he is not getting enough support from his boss, club owner, Roman Abrahamovich, the Russian oil tycoon despite the fact that he was permitted to make three high profile signings of international superstars, Andriy Shevchenko (from AC Milan of Italy), Michael Ballack (from Bayern Munich of Germany) and Ashley Cole (from Arsenal of London) with a combined value of close to £100 million. He has also publicly lambasted his side for under-performing and has been cribbing about his bosses, telling the media that he is not being given enough freedom to do what he wants to. Thats a brief summary of whiner 1.

2.Fernando Alonso.

Fernando Alonso, the current Formula One World Champion too had a problem towards end of season in 2006. He, at that time with Renault, was assured of his title half way when he had a massive 25 point lead over veteran Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. But then Michael Schumacher fought back and also took a lead in the Championship with two races to go, as he was equal on points with Alonso but had won more races. It was before the penultimate GP of the year at Japan when Alonso started cribbing. Please bear in mind that it was already announced that Alonso would be moving to Mclaren outfit from season 2007. Now Alonso starts complaining that his team and pit-crew are not supporting him as they feel if he wins he will take the car numbered 1 along with him to Mclaren and blah-di-blah. That was whiner number 2.

The third whiner is from real life and he is a scumbag anyways. So the lesser said about him, the better.

Now here are two cases of whiners from the sports world in detail. We come across people like this in all walks of life, who will not take the blame or even responsibility for anything if things go wrong. Why is it that they cant do so and how does one deal with such people and such situations?

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2007 (extracted

MOOD : Ecstatic !!!

A1. Chelsea

A2. Barcelona

B1. Bayern Munich

B2. Inter Milan

C1. Liverpool

C2. PSV Eindhoven

D1. Valencia

D2. Roma

E1. Lyon

E2. Real Madrid

F1. Manchester United

F2. Celtic

G1. Arsenal

G2. Porto

H1. AC Milan

H2. Lille

Here is how the top 16 line up. I cant remember when was the last time when all four English teams topped their groups.

Italy fielded only three teams in the main draw:

>Inter

>AC Milan

>Roma

All three are through.

Same with Spain.

> Barcelona

>Valencia

>Real Madrid

All three are through here too.

Of the three German teams:

>Bayern Munich

>Werder Bremen

>Hamburger SV

only Bayern have advanced. Looks like they arent missing the services of Ballack and the injured Hargreaves.

Of the three French teams:

>Olympic Lyonnais (Lyon)

>Bordeaux

>Lille Metropole

Bordeaux could not make it.

Portugal fielded three teams too, the usual culprits

>FC Porto

>Sporting Lisbon

>SL Benfica

out of which only Porto has qualified.

PSV Eindhoven, semi-finalists against AC Milan in 04-05 are maintaining dutch courage alive.

In my perspective the teams to look out for are All four British teams in alphabetical order: Arsenal

Chelsea

Liverpool

Manchester United

AS Roma: Totti could be their talis-man after his heroics in the world cup and allegations against him during Euro 2004.

Real Madrid: Under new coach Fabio Capello a resurgent Real could return to winning ways. Well they have won more European cups than any other team, 9 if I am correct.

Barcelona: Retaining their title will be paramount to them, but Real are snapping at their heels in the La Liga. So it will be a good exercise of football connoisseurism (pardon my Fren-glish) to see how they strike a balance between La Liga and UEFACL.

AC Milan: They have a point to prove after the shocking betting scandal. They are the only team involved in the scandal who are in the UEFACL. Winning it this season will not only hand them their eighth title but will also help them redeem themselves.

Now the British four.

Arsenal : They were runners up last year. This year is a different story. The rumour mills are on overdrive, talking about Henry and Wenger falling out with each other and Gilberto Silva threatening Henry's captaincy. Winning against the best of Europe will not only stop the rumours but will give the perennial under-achievers of Europe the much needed boost they need after being almost there for four seasons in a row.

Chelsea : Behold the new Roman Empire! Set not in the sprawling landscapes of Lazio the Italian province, but in South West London, Caesar is called Mourinho here. They have won the league twice in a row and are a live wire this season. Critics say their best is yet to come with their vast supplies of money and bench power. Bench power certainly will be crucial as we head towards the business end of the season. Can Jose win a second UEFACL title for himself and the first for Chelsea? Will this reinforce the resurgence of English teams once again after Nottingham Forest and Liverpool dominated Europre in the 70s and early 80s? Sure looks like it.

Liverpool : What Bill Shankley started was carried forward by Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish and more recently Rafel Benitez. When I saw him at Bramall Lane when Liverpool were trailing Sheffield United by a goal to nil, on the opening day of premiership, there was an extraordinary air of calmness about him. This reminded me of the cyclone's eye. Chaos all around it but calm. With his focus entirely on UEFACL this season, it would be daft to write Liverpool off this season. If Rafalution takes over Anfield, God save their opposition.

Manchester United : One of the top teams in the European league which did not buy any superstars in the June transfer window. All Sir Alex did was buy Micheal Carrick, sell Ruud van Nistelrooij and trust his old warhorses Ole, Giggs and Scholes. He also handed the tremendous responsibility of spearheading the strike to Saha, who knew his role a few seaons ago when he was given the coveted jersey number 9 worn by Sir Bobby Charlton. Today, almost four months into the season, the underdogs are sitting on top with a three point cushion(considering the fact they've played an extra match) in the league and have bounced back to the top of group F in the champions league. Going down and coming back up has always been a United tradition and we will have to see if they go the distance and lift the trophy in Athens next May.

cheers

Raam

Topsy Turvy Formula (extracted from my another blog)

It surely has been a topsy turvy weekend in the F1 fraternity with so many things happening in such short a time duration.We hear that Ross Brawn, who has been the mastermind behind Ferrari's success over the last few years is taking a sabbatical during the 2007 season. The immediate question is, how does this affect Michael Schumacher? Will he choose to drive for Ferrari despite Brawn's absence (all but 3 of Schumacher's wins have come under Brawn in Ferrari and Benetton)?

Also Raikkonen seems to have grabbed a seat for himself in a ferrari for 2007. Will we see a pairing of greats after Senna-Prost teaming at Mclaren circa 1989? Interesting. We know that Alonso is going to Mclaren, next season. Also Webber has not extended his contract with Williams, bringing Alexander Wurz in the team with Nico Roseberg. Now think of it, Flavio Briatore also manages the career of Mark Webber, so are we seeing Webber in a Renault alongside Fisi next season?

Drama, drama more drama.Looking at today's qualifying i go back 9 seasons when Schumacher was fighting Villeneuve for the title. It was Jerez and the last race of the season. The surprising part was, Schumacher, Villeneuve and Frentzen set up the same qualifying time. The FIA had also decided that Villeneuve should be suspended for the previous race in Japan, which ensured that when the season went down to the wire, there would be only 1 point separating Schumi and Villeneuve.

Let's look at circa 2006. Last race, the mass damper system was banned on the Renaults which saw them face severe handling problems and finished a pathetic 5th and 6th, bringing the driver's championship looking like this: Alonso : 100pts. Shumacher: 89pts. The constructors' title looks like this: Renault: 149pts, Ferrari: 139pts. Also both drivers have been handed 2 sec penalties, Alonso for mischief on Friday and Schumacher for overtaking under a red flag on Saturday. Well the FIA has not made it as obvious as the past but it surely looks like it.

Why Not Brazil (extracted from my another blog)

Their defeat to Uruguay in the finals of 1950, in front of their own people inflicted deep wounds into the minds of the Brazilian people. Its influence must be so strong that, young footballers are bred with this hard-hitting truth, which has perhaps led to Brazil producing players of great quality, who understand the value of playing for their country. When you see a Brazilian team on the pitch, you can feel it; they don't play for money or fame, but only for national honor and pride.

There is a message to the rest of the world, a message that says: "You need to be special to play football for Brazil." Their games are an attempt to erase the scars of 1950, but I wish those scars never go, for if the scars disappeared I am left wondering, whether we will get to see the beautiful game ever!

Now, coming back to a few harsh realities of the beautiful game. Statistics say that the last time a Latin American team won a World Cup in Europe was back in Sweden 1958. Now who won it? Brazil! Wait! Another statistic; Incidentally, Brazil is the only Latin American team to win in Europe!

When I say Latin America, I also include Mexico. I do personally believe that statistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is suggestive but what they hide is essential. Now having said this let’s make an effort to see what they possibly reveal in this case and what they try to suggest.

The easiest conclusion is that European teams have dominated in Europe and also no European team has won outside the continent. A very logical and common explanation one can give is weather and playing conditions in Europe being different from Latin America. All said and done, there have been two World Cups played outside Europe and Latin America; USA 1994 and Korea-Japan 2002. Brazil won them both against European opposition, Italy in 1994 and Germany in 2002. Some more fun, Italy 1990 and France 1998 were the last two Cups to be held in Europe and they were won by European teams, Germany and France respectively, and the runners up? Latin American teams, Argentina in 1990 and Brazil in 1998.

There is something else too. We call as premature-peak-syndrome (PPS). It happened to Argentina, and the defending champions France in 2002. Apparently Argentina were the strong favorites to win the cup simply due to their stunning form in qualifying and in the pre-world cup matches. But when the tournament started, they had lost the pristine touch that they possessed. On the other hand, Brazil and Germany were the least favorites to win the cup. But look what happened. They, of all teams made it to the finals. When I talk of France, I must say that they are the reason for a major rule change after the last edition of the cup. Their miserable performance and eventual exit after the first round came as a surprise to the footballing fraternity. Hence FIFA decided that even the defending champions had to qualify, which actually saw Brazil as the first defending champions to endure qualifying.

The media for obvious reasons has hyped them. They have the flair and they have what it takes to win the world cup. But if they win it wont it be all too boring? I mean FIFA would not want it, would they? Give this a thought, the game was born in Europe, The FIFA is based in Europe and the championship is staged in Europe. More importantly, Brazil has dominated the world cup by winning a record five times. A sixth championship will make it all tasteless and boring, yes very similar to Ferrari’s domination of The FIA Formula One World Championship in the first half of this decade. Yes football is a beautiful game and the Samba Kings are masters at it. But there is something bigger than them. Money! It makes the world go round. Money will flow in only when people like it and people surely don’t like to see the same team gather glory once every four years. So for these simple reasons, there could be a strong chance that Brazil may not win this edition.

The Scar That Would Deface, Defame and Define a Champion

A new season was taking shape. There were speculations galore in the Piranha Club, which is the inside word for the F1 team bosses’ unofficial league. Sir Frank Williams had signed Heinz-Harald Frentzen after his world champion driver Damon Hill opted out. Frentzen would now partner Jacques Villeneuve, son of the famous Gilles Villeneuve, who incidentally drove for Ferrari. Maranello bosses had reasons to smile, too, as it was the reunion of two Formula 1 greats, former world champion, Michael Schumacher and his technical director Ross Brawn, who also quit Benetton for Ferrari. The big question: Will they succeed this time around?

A word about Ferrari, the oldest and most prominent of the teams in Formula 1. The racing division of Ferrari Automobili is called Gestione Sportiva. It is famously known as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro as Phillip Morris is the chief sponsor for the team. Jean Todt was at the epicenter of resurrection at Sportiva. His first major change was to bring world champion Michael Schumacher and the car No 1 to Italy. He achieved this in 1996. He then set forth inviting Ross Brawn to join the stables in 1997, which was quickly accepted. All set, they had the motivator (Todt), the strategy wizard (Brawn) and the best driver in the world (Schumacher). But more importantly, what they did not have was a world-beating machine, a fact best illustrated by Giovanni Agnelli’s words: “If Ferrari does not win the title with Schumacher, the fault is with the car and the team.”

Testing over, and it was race time. The 1997 season was about to be flagged off. Before we get into the nitty-gritty’s of the moment that motivated me to write this article, let’s take a moment to understand what defines a driver and how one distinguishes between a good and a great driver. We talk of only good and great because, if one is not good enough, then there is no job in Formula 1.

In simple terms, a Formula 1 driver is just an overpaid employee. Yes, that is what he is. But why is the driver given importance above all people in the high-risk circus of Formula 1? Simply because, what we see on TV on Saturday and Sunday is just the icing on the cake, baked over months and months of research and development. A famous quote in the Formula 1 pits goes: “The glamour is only outside, inside it is all work, work and only work.” The driver’s inputs in the development of a car are as essential as the engineers’ or the mechanics’ and good teams make it a point that the driver, his race engineer and mechanics share a good rapport. A very good example is Schumacher, Chris Dyer and Francesco Barletta. I am sure you would not have heard of Dyer and Barletta. Well, a good driver needs to be naturally fast, aggressive and should have amazing car control. Now ideally we will want the driver to treat the car as an extension of his persona. The four corners of the car are like natural extensions of his limbs. He feels every rev of the engine which conveys subtle secrets. Every time the car hits the kerb, the suspension sends coded messages to the driver. The relationship between a driver and his car is so unique and mystical that it cannot be defined or explained; it has to be experienced. The ability to read, understand and to communicate this message to the engineer is what makes a great driver. The reports given by the driver after a sortie of a few odd laps adds a lot of input to the way the final machine takes shape on Sunday afternoon. This symbiotic relationship with the car and the team is what makes him a champion and a multi-millionaire. This is precisely what Michael Schumacher is and always will be.

A point separated Schumacher and Villeneuve as the latter was disqualified from the penultimate race in Japan, bringing the championship to the wire. If you thought this was all, hold your breath! A cracker was in store. The top three cars, Schumacher, Villeneuve and Frentzen, had all set the same qualifying time! Sounds scripted, doesn’t it? Well, you never know!

The final round of pit stops had been made and now it was the relative temperaments of Schumacher and Villeneuve that would decide the outcome of a topsy-turvy season. Villeneuve was growing on Schumacher’s mirror with every passing lap. Then, at Dry Sack Corner, he made his move - a daring one, I must say. He jumped on the inside of Schumacher, who moved away, only to move back in. What happened thereafter is history. Yes, Schumacher was severely criticized by everyone around, most importantly by La Gazzetta Dello Sport, the Italian sports daily.

Now back to those three moments. Let’s freeze time and slowly analyse the situation, including the build up. Picture this, Schumacher sees Villeneuve coming and is expecting him, but he does not know when or where it will happen. Villeneuve knows getting behind Schumacher is one thing, getting past him is something else. The cat and mouse game continues while the world watches. The men in red and the men in white are barking team orders. But nobody in the world knows what will happen, not even the two drivers. This is the mystery, thrill, suspense and excitement surrounding a Formula one World Championship that makes it so glamorous and money spinning. Will he? Won’t he? Questions are asked. Is this Schumacher and Ferrari’s year, or is this the year of a great son born to a great father? Questions, questions and more questions. And then the answer! Villeneuve makes his move on Dry Sac Corner and catches Schumacher asleep. By asleep, I do not mean he slept off, I mean a momentary lapse in concentration. Schumacher suddenly wakes up. He does what is morally right, he moves out of the way. But then came the moment, the scar that defaced, defamed and defined the champion that he is. He had the ability to think what was right and move away. The very next instant, his logic and reason was back and he cut back in, resulting in a shunt and far greater repercussions like confiscation of all his points earned for the season and being antagonised by the world.

Knowing what is right, what is wrong, but more importantly, processing a set of complex events and arriving at a decision so complicated, crucial and controversial, after judging and analyzing the situation, then prioritising, acting and counteracting, all within fractions of a second, combined a mesmerising ability to steer the disobedient car and making it behave according to his requirements make him the champion that he is – Michael Schumacher!