Posts from — June 2004

It has taken a 20-year old, big-serving Croat, Mario Ancic, this year, to end the eternal British hopes of seeing their beloved Tim Henman win the Wimbledon title.

Ancic grew from strength to strength to cruise past Henman in straight sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2. With such an emphatic win over the Brit who actually looked pretty good in his last two matches, Ancic has entered the semi-finals with a bang.

Henman’s loss in the quarter-finals also brings into focus his legendary inability to live upto the die-hard British hopes, year after year. Henman, an average player by any account, shoots into limelight every year when he manages to squeak through the first week, thus igniting hopes of the British fans who brave rain, cold and sun to stand patiently in queues outside the AELTC hoping to get an entry into the Center Court which hosts most of Henman’s matches. And every year, without fail, Henman flatters to deceive as he almost invariably fails just before hitting the home stretch! The fans, however, ignore this trait every single time and keep on turning up for his matches in unprecedented numbers.

The atmosphere inside the Center Court during a Henman match is something to behold! Its absolutely electric… with every point that Henman wins being wildly cheered by his adoring fans. The collective oohs and aahs when he loses a point are almost farcical. Intermittent shouts of ‘Come on Tim!!’ resound through the court when he is winning points or losing them. His pumping fists drive his fans into raptures and when a Mexican wave starts going around the stadium, even the usually staid British royalty in the Royal Box join in. Its an experience worth waiting long hours in the queue for! I can vouch for that… after having experienced it first-hand this year.

Like strawberries ‘n cream, Tim Henman and his futile attempts at going past the final couple of rounds have become somewhat of a Wimbledon tradition. And while the strawberries ‘n cream at the AELTC are overrated piece of overpriced fruit, Tim Henman, at the AELTC, is an overrated specimen of underachievement.

While a defeat isn’t something to get worked up about… a 6-1 bashing at the hands of Pakistan is painful!! … especially with veterans like Dhanraj Pillay in the team!

What a bunch of wussies!!

I’m glad they’re teaching this as a proper course. Too long has ‘ethical’ hacking remained in the shadows of its infamous twin sibling. It’s high time that this sibling rivalry is brought out into the open!

In the end, it was a match to remember. It was a match that could turn the indifferent into football fanatics. For 120 minutes, two evenly matched teams slugged it out on the pitch, trading heavy blows but refusing to take a step backwards. Until… an unlikely hero carried the hopes of a nation into the semi-finals.

Portuguese goalkeeper, Ricardo, saved a crucial sudden-death penalty with his bare-hands and then struck a near-perfect kick to find the inside of the net, past the outstretched hands of a diving David James. That was enough to bury England’s hopes which rose and fell with an annoying regularity throughout the match. Portugal was through to the semi-final and England was left with an early journey back home and an excuse to blame their defeat on!

Urs Meier was turned into an instant villain when he disallowed a Sol Campbell goal that could have settled the match inside the first 90 minutes. Its just over 12 hours since the England defeat and the English press has already indicted, tried and convicted the referee. And that, I think is most unfair. Meier was in perfect position to see the proceedings near the goal-mouth when Sol Campbell and John Terry went for the ball. Terry’s leap was fruitless as he missed the ball which Campbell deftly headed down into the goal. While Campbell ran away from the scene in joy as the linesman gave it a goal, Meier blew his whistle to indicate otherwise. As English players, fans and commentators expressed their astonishment at the referee’s decision, the replays showed that all the referee had done was to play safe. So what did the replays actually show!?

When Terry leaped up to meet the ball in mid-air, his forearm was on Ricardo’s left shoulder. Terry missed the ball, but Sol Campbell did not and the ball landed inside the goal. Ricardo might have saved it and then again, he might not have. But with Terry’s arm on his shoulder, he could not get off the ground to either catch the ball or to punch it away. This amounts to obstruction and even though it was in no way intentional, the fact still remains that it was a foul according to the letter of the law which makes pushing a goalkeeper a ‘direct-kick’ foul! In fact, strictly speaking, Terry’s actions can fall into not one but three categorizations of a ‘Direct Kick Foul’

* charging into an opponent (the goalkeeper can also be called for this if his action is careless, reckless or uses excessive force)

* pushing an opponent, including the goalkeeper (if careless, reckless or using excessive force)

* jumping at an opponent in a careless or reckless manner or using excessive force (this includes jumping for a header if an opponent is carelessly or recklessly bumped, and jumping at the goalkeeper)
[source: SoccerHelp]

Urs Meier was simply following the law. Damning him for his actions only conveys a boorish attitude on the part of the English players and supporters… and earns them a dubious tag of ’sore losers’!!

I hope that the English players and fans quit complaining and accept the fact that the deserving team won on the day. Yes, a penalty shootout is like a lottery. But then at this level, every team has to make its own luck instead of attributing their failures to referee and God!!

With the knockout stage of Euro 2004 kicking off today, there’s one thing we’ll leave behind in the group matches… and that is an all-square final scoreline!

With a clear result necessary for one team to progress and another to pack their bags, we’ll have extra-time and penalty shoot-outs if necessary.

That’s normal, you say. What’s new?!

Well… many of you might not know that the usual golden goal rule will not be applied in this tournament. Instead, they’re going to have a Silver Goal rule.

Here’s what will happen if the two teams find themselves deadlocked with an indecisive scoreline after 90 minutes of play…

*If scores are level on 90 minutes, extra time will be played and the silver goal rule will come into force.

* If a team scores a goal in the first period of extra time, play continues until the first period is complete and if one team leads, they win the match. If it is still level at the end of the first period, the second period will be played to its end and if scores are still level, there will be a penalty shootout.

* In the penalty shoot-out, each team alternately takes five spot kicks. If, after this procedure, both sides have converted the same number of penalties, kicks continue to be taken in the same order, until one team has scored one goal more than the other from the same number of kicks.
[source: BBC SPORT]

Now you know! …So pick your favourite teams and enzoi!!! :-)