FIFA Ballon D'Or

FIFA and France Football have announced the nominees for this year's prestigious FIFA's World Player of the Year Awards. Players from Spain have dominated the list and rightly so. My dissection of nominees on a slightly different angle from which I can probably conclude who could be the winner on Jan 10 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland.

League-wise:
La Liga =11
Bundesliga = 5
Serie A = 4
Premier League = 3

Club-wise:
Barcelona = 6
Bayern Munich = 5
Real Madrid = 4
Inter Milan = 4
Atletico Madrid = 1
Arsenal = 1
Chelsea = 1
Sunderland = 1

Position-wise:
Goalkeepers = 2
Defenders = 4
Central Midfielders = 6
Attacking Midfielders = 5
Strikers = 6

Historically speaking:
Barcelona = 7 winners (Romario, Ronaldo X 2*, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho X 2, Messi)
Real Madrid = 4 winners (Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane, Cannavaro)
Juventus = 4 winners (Baggio, Zidane X 2*, Cannavaro)
AC Milan = 3 winners (van Basten, Weah, Kaka)
Inter Milan = 3 winners (Matthaus, Ronaldo X 2*)

WC 1994 Finals = Romario scored in shoot out
WC 1998 Finals = Zidane scored
WC 2002 Finals = Ronaldo scored
WC 2006 Finals = Cannavaro

(Note: * denotes played for 2 clubs in the same year)

Based on above statistics, it is safe to say that neither England nor Premier League players have left their mark on awards night. Only once on top and mostly finished in second or even in third place. The above stats also conclude that a central midfielder playing for Barcelona in La Liga who has also scored the goal in the Finals of the World Cup stands the best chance of winning the award. Andres Iniesta.

This year also sees the introduction of FIFA Manager of the Year award. The choices again are not surprising, because they all have either won some trophy for the club/country for the year or have been longest serving managers for their historic clubs. The obvious and popular choice would be to give this award to someone who has helped the country win the world cup or club achieve a treble in all competitions. Vicente Del Bosque and Jose Mourinho have achieved the feat with their respective teams; One had the players who knew their roles and performed as champions they were known to become and the Special One possesses special management skills and he knows exactly how he wants his team to play and makes them victorious champions no matter what. But one manager who stands out for me is he who believed in youth system, he who symbolized attacking football the way his Nazi ancestors used Blitzkreig on the armed forces, he who keeps a 'Loew' profile. Joachim Loew.

Well those are my votes for awards, who do you think is the most deserving player to win it this year?

Sachining & Shining

Hello again and a warm welcome to thee. This one is a short blog. I wrote a few weeks back about how bureaucrats are bringing disrepute to country by mismanaging the Games. I feared if India’s a one sport nation. Two weeks later those doubts have been put to rest.

A lot of news hungry section of media sensationalized and brought much malign to the Games. However the artists from India ensured a grand opening ceremony witnessed by thousands in the stadium and many others on television. I only watched it in bits and pieces and some on You Tube and forwarded emails… Reason – Arsenal vs. Chelsea. It is also people like me who do not watch the good things happening around but are first to criticize when things go wrong. But I have made a decent effort to overcome that and have kept a close eye on India’s performance in Games. 32 gold medals and counting… make me feel proud of the athletes. We have achieved more than what we did 8 years ago in Manchester. With medals in Shooting, Weightlifting, Boxing and Athletics and awaiting medals in Table Tennis and Hockey, it clearly shows the youth is participating in all possible games. And who are these winners – most of them from the small towns and cities of the country. Our next aim should be to repeat such performances in Olympics as well and try to beat the Chinese, Americans and Russians in some of the games in which they dominate the world sport. I would urge parents of all youngsters in the country to take up sport seriously as part of academics and encourage them to remain fit and healthy when the events such as these come knocking at the doorstep.

Cricket is Religion and Sachin Tendulkar is GOD. And He once again showed why He is an All Time Legend of a cricketer. Coming into 2nd test match after being named ICC Player of the Year, Sachin showed no signs of high headedness. He did what He does the best; a double century while guiding Vijay to his maiden test hundred. Even the statisticians must have forgotten the count of records that Sachin keeps on adding to his name. He can be compared to Ryan Giggs in this aspect – I once heard that Giggs played his 98471st minute on the pitch and that was published as a club record. Hehe, just joshing. :)

A 2-0 win over the Aussies looks so flattering to be deceived; but it was a hard earned series win which involved huge efforts from the entire team and bowlers especially, Zaheer Khan. He reverse swung the sessions of the match in India’s favor which the Australian bowlers failed to do. The momentum is now with India as we go into ODI series and hope they youngsters come good again. The prep for World Cup 2011 has to begin from now…

Congratulations & Thanks a Ton to All Indian Athletes in Commonwealth Games 2010 and Indian Cricket Team for giving 2 joyous weeks!!!

A Proud Indian.

Whaddaaplayaaa!!!

Hello readers, Welcome to the 11th edition of my simple blogs. Today I am writing this is in ecstasy. No, I have'nt been taking drugs or have been high on ale, but I just witnessed a heart breaking, nerve wretching and happy ending test match in office breakout area which India won convincingly by more than half a day to spare. Claps. Claps. Claps.

I woke up today morning with a feeling that Sachin will finally deliver when it matters the most and silence his critics. One can't blame the Master - he did his bit with the bat and fell to Bollinger's tact. I left for office dejected having absolutely no hopes on Dhoni pulling it off for us. Well, I had forgotten about one man army against the Aussies, who very recently in Sri Lanka series bailed us out from a similar position chasing 258. The Very Very Special Laxman.



VVS joined Sachin at crease with India still 140 runs behind. Remember Laxman was playing with an injured back. He accumulated runs at fast rate thus taking pressure off Sachin's shoulders. Even after Dhoni's run out; Laxman kept scoring steadily in partnership with Ishant Sharma. Whats up with this lanky bowler, bowled no-balls in both the innings before a dream spell where he picked 3 wickets. Now I gotcha why he bowled no-balls, he had them balls preserved for batting in tense situation. VVS and Ishant took the game away from Australia. Bravado.



In the closing stages of the game, Laxman showed all his emotions on the pitch. It was so apparent that he just wanted to win this game so ever badly for his country. He gestured throwing a bat at Ojha, scolded Raina for hearing his decision before making a call on whether to take a run. All in all, it was a sweet effort from the Hyderabadi batsman to once again pin down Ponting's men. As the winning runs were scored the entire country erupted in joy. The players from dressing room went running to the field to congratulate the heroes. And there I stood in office breakout area, with almost teary moist eyes, murmuring to meself,
"Thanks VVS. Take a bow, my son."