Commonwealth Shame

It really is a shame to see the preparations for the games. I mean the way we have been competing with China in every aspect, but look at the difference the way China hosted Olympic games!!! It puts the whole country in poor light. Several participating countries are so concerned that they have delayed their arrival into Delhi. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard highlighted security fears surrounding the Games and said athletes should decide for themselves whether or not to attend. Two foreign vistors were shot and wounded by suspected militants on Sunday. "There is obviously widespread concern about the Commonwealth Games," Gillard told reporters in Canberra.

The Games, held every four years for members of the organization of mostly former British colonies, are estimated to have cost $3-6 billion. We had hoped to use this event to display our growing global economic and political clout, rivalling China. Instead, it has snowballed into a major embarrassment for the government, having to fend off criticism of shoddy construction, inadequate security and unfit accommodation. In a sign of desperation, the government has ordered the organizing committee to hand over management of the Games Village, which will house 6,500 athletes, to the government.

I certainly feel ashamed of the whole arrangements. On one side we try to pose as if we are a great emerging market but when given such responsibility we have failed collectively. Government has totally been out of touch and failed to recognize the importance of the games.

World discus champion Dani Samuels of Australia has pulled out of the Games because of security and health concerns, as did England's world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu. Four other champions have quit due to various reasons, including injuries.

Triple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica is the highest profile athlete to skip the event.

A Dengue epidemic has spread through New Delhi, sending thousands of people to hospital.

"They (athletes) may not be able to sustain their performance so they find out some reason or other why they are not participating, but these things happen in every game, every competition," Lalit Bhanot, spokesman of the Delhi organizing committee, told CNN IBN.

Images of stray dogs, stagnant water, workers urinating in public, and human faeces found at the unfinished athletes' village have overshadowed the successes of the Games -- the main stadium and other sporting venues. A portion of false ceiling in the weightlifting venue caved in on Wednesday, a day after the collapse of a footbridge by the main stadium, injuring 27 workers.

The event has also been plagued by security concerns. Two foreign tourists were shot and wounded at the weekend by unknown assailants in Delhi and Australian TV broadcast how a reporter bought bomb-making devices to smuggle through security points. Indian police have denied he ever crossed a checkpoint.

I just hope that the games are cancelled and our country is saved from the humiliation of being such poor planners. Also hope that the government looks into things that led to such failures in order to avoid such embarrassments in future.

Spain - World Champs

Spain were not just good on the night but were so throughout the tournament.

Few would have predicted them to be the world champs after their initial loss to Swiss. But they bounced back from that set back spectacularly. They improved game after game. By conceding just 2 goals and scoring 8, they have become the lowest scorning nation to ever to win the cup. They stuck to their passing game no matter what and ground the teams to score winners very late. Most of their score lines read 1-0. But they had the highest number of shots on target. Probably their finishing was not as efficient as the Germans.

Getting back to the final game, if the Dutch had won, it would have been bad for the game because the way they approached the match was just not in the spirit of the game. The Dutch played beautiful football until the finals. It's one thing to have a game plan, be organized and get men behind the ball, but kicking your opponents off the pitch is absolute disgrace. The Dutch played to a game plan that was off beam. They had few breakaways but their approach was to stop the Spanish playing and I personally didn't want to see that, I wanted an open game. By the end of the match, the entire Dutch team apart from Maarten Stekelenburg and Wesley Sneijder were on yellow card. They had a player sent off as well. They in fact were lucky that De Jong was not sent off early in the game, for that wild kick on Xabi Alonso. It might not have been the best final but Spain have been the best side for the last three years and they always tried to play the game in the right way and they for me were the worthy winners on the night.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good:

1)      Spain, Uruguay, Argentina and Germany

2)       Iniesta taking off his blue Spain jersey to reveal a white T-shirt bearing the words, "Dani Jarque: siempre con nosotros" — "Dani Jarque: always with us.”Jarque collapsed and died at the age of 26 on a preseason tour of Italy last year, one month after being named captain of Espanyol. Iniesta and Jarque were teammates on Spain's under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 teams.

The Bad:

1)       The final game with umpteen yellow cards

2)       England, Brazil and Italy

3)       Jabulani 

The Ugly:

1)       Play acting

2)       Horrible tackles (Van Bommel kicked anything that moved)

3)       France

4)       Annoying vuvuzelas

Feel free to pour in your comments.

The World Cup So Far

It’s been quite hectic work wise. So here is my latest blog and obviously it’s on my favorite sport “Football” and favorite occasion “World Cup” 

I personally think that this world cup has failed to deliver in terms of atmosphere and enthusiasm. The previous world cup held in Germany was fantastic. Also I do not know why FIFA has to introduce a new ball for every tournament. The Adidas Jubalani has created more news than the players on the field. Also why doesn’t FIFA introduce goal line technology I do not understand? FIAF makes Billions of dollars and I think they can invest a few bucks on the technology to avoid some dubious decision that can make/break a teams fortune especially in the knockout stages. 

Well I have been supporting Argentina from the qualifiers and I was very nervous during their qualifying stages. They were almost knocked out (Phew!!). But what a team they have been in the tournament. They have turned it around brilliantly. I would say that Maradona has done brilliant job. He has been soaking up all the media pressure and has not let the pressure affect his players. With the team full of attackers (Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Milito and Aguero) I thought he would have a tough time in team selection. But his team selection has been on the spot. With just 2 goals conceded and 11 goals scored they look in ominous form. They are my favorites to lift the cup come July 11^th.

Apart from some beautiful football we have had some controversies and seen some ugly part of it as well. Here are few of my selection:

1. Team of the Tournament So Far: Argentina  
2. Shock of the Tournament: Italy’s Exit In Group Stages  
3. Most over hyped team: England  
4. Overachievers: Ghana  
5. Dark Horse: Netherlands
6. Sore Losers: France 
7. Player of the Tournament So Far: Lionel Messi - He has not scored yet but has been a tremendous team player and has assisted critical goals.  
8. Misfiring Players: Rooney, Ronaldo, Lampard, Henry, Anelka and so many others  
9. Coup of the Tournament: France players rejecting to train  
10. Shocking decisions: Lampard’s disallowed goal, Tevez’s offside goal, Klose red card. FIFA (Sepp Blatter) wake up.  
11. Shocking display by players: Rob Green Vs USA  

Please comment your views.