We finally lose…

We are no longer unbeaten in the Premier League. We have our first loss of the season against Wolves this weekend. It was an off day for almost everyone at the office.

We were hit with an injury right before the start of the game when Rio went out. He was replaced by Evans in the starting lineup with Smalling joining the substitutes bench. Considering Evans’ performances this season I am always worried whenever he plays in. But recently he has showed glimpses of his talent once again and I was hoping that this game would witness that talent as well. But unfortunately that did not happen. We lacked our usual calmness and organization in the defense and conceded two goals from set pieces.

Behind only on goal difference, really?

Before the weekend started, the Premier League top 3 looked like this Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United with Chelsea 3 points ahead of United and 2 points ahead of Arsenal. When United and Chelsea started their games, it was clear that Arsenal were not adding to their points tally since they already lost 2-3 to Spurs at home (a cracker of a game in its own right). Basically, what this means is that if we won against Wigan and somehow Chelsea lose, we would be level on points with them and ahead of Arsenal. Only thing as fan I was not hoping for was a poor performance which results in us dropping points once again even though Wigan game is usually a 3 pointer.

We still have ‘own goals’ on our side

I never heard the news that we extended the contract of ‘own goals’ recently. If anyone else did, please let me know. When the game against Fulham was heading for a draw at 1-1, I expected Hernandez/Berbatov to shine and score the winner. But it was our loyal and trusted servant ‘own goals’ who showed us the path to victory when Hangeland scored an own goal to give 2-1 lead to Manchester United. Soon after that, United got a penalty to take the lead to 3-1 but somehow Nani’s shot was saved. Fulham crawled back and Hangelang scored to make the scoreline 2-2.

Do we need more signings?

If you are a Manchester United fan, you cannot escape the talk surrounding the Glazers. Since the last season ended, where we finished 2nd, there have been talks about big name signings and we have been linked with almost every talented player on the planet.

Fergie has said that there is no value in the market. Fans’ interpretation of this statement is that Glazers are not giving him any money to spend.

But do we really need any more signings?

The wait is finally over.. and so is the World Cup

Finally the long wait is over. After so many attempts and so many failures, Spain have finally succeeded in lifting the coveted trophy of the World Cup. Netherlands will need to continue their attempts and will have to deal with this failure once again.

Spain totally deserved this trophy today. They played way better than Netherlands. The Dutch were just stifling their opponents today with rash challenges. It was a game which featured 12 yellow cards (7 for Netherlands and 5 for Spain) and 1 red – a finals record in itself. The way the Dutch played today disappointed me immensely. I mean, this type of game may be suited for a group stage or so but not for a final. I remember people saying that Alex Ferguson can play this type of a game against Barcelona in the Champions League final and win it but the final deserves respect. And the Dutch didn’t do that today.

3rd place once again…consistency.. I guess..

So Germany have secured the 3rd place at the World Cup once again. Should we call it consistency? I guess we can call that considering what chances they were given at the start of the tournament. They were without their inspirational captain, Michael Ballack, who was out injured. They were without their first choice goalkeeper, Robert Enke, who committed suicide. They were without their second choice goalkeeper, Rene Adler, to injury as well.

This was the youngest ever side put out by Germany for the World Cup. Thats right – youngest ever. Only Ghana had a younger side than them. But this young side had a few things with them. They won the under-21 tournament before this world cup and there was barely any weight of expectations on them since everyone was thinking that this is the worst German team ever and won’t be able to achieve anything. But this team surpassed all expectations. Reaching the semifinals – only losing out to Spain but securing the 3rd place with a 3-2 win over Uruguay for the 2nd tournament running.

Sadly Germany are out…

So Germany are out of the World Cup. Well, they are not exactly out since they would still be playing for the 3rd place but they now have no chance of lifting the World Cup. And that practically ends my interest in the tournament. Holland are still there but I do not support them as I do Germany.

And the fact that is hurting even more is that they didn’t play well. They just defended and defended the entire game. It was not the usual Germany that we saw throughout the tournament. It was the Germany that we saw in the game against Serbia where the passes were not clicking and shoulders started dropping after going behind.

Hup Holland Hup…

Hup Holland Hup is same as Go Holland Go and they sure are going places as they have reached the final of the World Cup for the first time since 1978 with a 3-2 victory over Uruguay with Arjen Robben’s goal being the difference between the two teams.

The first half was a pretty boring affair with two beautiful shots thrown in between. The first one was a screamer of a shot by Bronckhorst from 30 yards out to which the goalkeeper had no answer. Diego Forlan, who had an awesome world cup, equalized in 41st minute with a beautiful shot of his own. Other than that, 1st half didn’t feature much. Holland controlled possession but were not able to make anything out of it. Robben was tightly marked and was not able to get his shots in.

Sherlyn and Larissa must be disappointed or are we??

Today is a really sad day. It should probably go down as the saddest day in the world cup history.

Sherlyn Chopra tweeted before the Argentina v Germany game that she would dance in bikini if Argentina win today. Larissa Riquelme said she would run naked with her body painted in colors of Paraguay if Paraguay go on to win the World Cup.

There were the opportunities but we were denied those. We were denied because of the performances by Argentina and Paraguay. Argentina lost to Germany 4-0 and Paraguay lost to Spain 1-0. This is just sad. But if we look at the positive side, we were spared the cruel sight of Maradona running naked. I guess I’ll take that.

Germany 4-0 Argentina:

Honestly speaking I really didn’t care if Sherlyn danced in her bikini or naked, I would have always been rooting for a Germany win. And they didn’t disappoint me at all. Germany totally slaughtered Argentina. Argentina who boast of talents named Messi, Higuan, Tevez (I don’t think he is a talent though) were totally clueless against a dynamic German side who took their opponents apart.

Drama of quarterfinals has already begun

Quarterfinals of the world cup have begun and they have begun with a bang. Two games full of drama and excitement – what else does a football fan wants? Well, lets leave that question open. If the first game featured an exit for Brazil from the tournament, the 2nd game featured all the drama possible and a cruel cruel exit for only African team left in the tournament – Ghana

Netherlands 2-1 Brazil:

It was a game dominated by 2 men – Melo and Sneijder. Melo provided a brilliant low pass which cut through the Dutch defense and allowed Robinho to latch on to it and give the lead to Brazil. First half was all Brazil as they were ripping apart the Dutch defense. Kaka came close to scoring by a curling shot from outside the penalty box but was denied by Stekelenburg. 2nd half started with the Dutch looking for the equalizer. It came around in 53rd minute when Sneijder crossed in and Melo headed it into his own goal. Think about the save made by Stekenlenburg now.