Breaking News : A Goal !

Soccer-craze : Real or artificial ?
I reside in a place where football is the No.1 sport - not cricket. In the whole of Indian sub-continent, cricket is the favourite sport. But in certain pockets like Bengal,Kerala, Goa and the North-east, it is football that reigns supreme. Assemble any Indian football XI and players from these region will dominate the team. The soccer-clubs of these region are as old as any other part of the world. The advent of FIFA Worldcup is like a festive season here. Some of the most fanatic fans of Brazil can also be found here. Even the fury of monsoon-rains have not dimished their enthusiasm for the game.

But what about the 'soccer-mania' in the rest of the country ?
If the vast media-coverage of on-going Worldcup-2010 is an indication, it seems like soccer-craze is catching up with the rest of India as well. The TV-channels have devoted their time exclusively for Worldcup with 'breaking-news' every time a goal is scored. Going with the trend, TV-anchors and VJs appear on the screen carrying football as a prop. The sudden shift of media-focus towards soccer even prompted the publicity-obsessed Bollywood stars to turn soccer-fans overnight ! So is soccer the next big thing in the country ?

Let's not be too optimistic. It's naive to reach a conclusion based on the hype or hysteria generated by the media. To 'follow the herd' is after all a characteristic trait in this part of the world. And the latest football-fever can't come at a better time. The national pastime cricket is already in doldrums due to the corruptible influence of Big Business and Bollywood. There was a time when India dominated the world hockey and it was the popular sport for decades. Then India won the cricket worldcup and world-champioships in the 80s, and everyone jumped into the cricket bandwagon.
Similarly if Indian soccer needs to go places, its national-team must achieve great results - atleast at Asian level if not world-level. But then comes the real challenge : that is - to meet the high expectations and high demands of millions.

SOCCER MANIA !

DVD : Shaolin Soccer

movie : Shaolin Soccer(2001)
Directed by : Stephen Chow
Written by :Stephen Chow Tsang Kan-Cheung
Starring : Stephen Chow Zhao Wei Danny Chan Kwok Kwan

World Cup Soccer - preview

World Cup Football - 2010

South Africa

Which are the teams I'm gonna support in this Worldscup ?
Apart from Brazil - of course. I've been long time fan of Brazilian football and my full fledged support naturally goes to the men-in-yellow-and-green. They are the masters of total-football and there's nothing like watching a Brazilian team at its full flow. So I want to see Brazil regain the Worldcup which they won 8-years ago in Japan. I am sure they will have a lot of local support in South Africa. Argentina is also starts as the favourites but they always starts as favourites and ends up in disappointment. There's already a lot of hype surrounding their team and its coach, and let's see how they will do differently this time. This is not the case with Brazil - they have already won the cup many times and there's no shame if they miss a few times.

Apart from Brazil, I'm a big fan of African football. When it comes to sheer footballing skills, none can match them. They move as if the ball is attached to their foot like a magnet. This is the first World Cup to be held in Africa so it's the ripe time for Africa to sieze the moment. There'll be no surprise if an African team or two will feature in the semis. So all the best Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Ivory Coast and hosts South Africa.

Never in recent times did World Cup fixture look so odd. Where are some of the largest and prominent nations - such as Russia ,Sweden, Belguim, Turkey,Romania ,China ,Iran or Saudi Arabia. In their place came some obscure teams such as Newzealand, North Korea, Honduras and Serbia. It seems like the qualifying round didn't do full justice to teams from Asia and Europe. Even France managed to scrape-through over Ireland by a whisker. As it often happens, the top players of the top teams are lured by lucrative contracts with top clubs so that when it comes to playing for the country, they will have little steam left. Either they will be too jaded or injured.

Like previous Worldcups, many new names will emerge out of this Worldcup while some big names may fade into obscurity. The previous Worldcup in Germany is mostly remembered for the infamous 'head-butt' by Zenadine Zidane. Let's hope this time the tournament will be remembered at best for some positive and attractive display of soccer.