Memoria - Euro' 04 Quarter Final

This has to be one of the best international matches that I have seen. England plays Portugal in the quarter finals of the Euro – 04 in front the elated Porto crowd and the worth for their money was enormous.

The match started with national anthems followed by supporters’ emotional howls. And it wasn’t a long wait to make some amendments in the scores. It was two minutes and twenty four seconds and Owen flicks one past Ricardo to give English an early lead. And Portuguese already sniff that tickle down then nerve and a little sense of urgency! James denies a 20 yard from Maniche and soon after Nuno Gomes misses the far post. The English are already forming castles, and its less than 20 minutes. And a sudden counter attack from Lampard almost makes it two, wishing Owen could have converted that one as well.

What next, the poster boy of English camp Wayne Rooney twists his ankle, it looks serious and he is replaced by Darius Vassell. And now, Deco, Ronaldo turn to shooting modes, making life difficult for the English defenders. Deco-Gerrard tackle and the first yellow card of the game flashed, careful Stevie!

Half Time almost there and Gary Neville toggles Ronaldo and gets booked. Figo takes the strike from the edge of the box, unfortunately for his team, high and wide.

Half Time reads England one Portugal nil.

Portuguese get some sort of pep-up snacks and they come back firing the English defenders yet again. Figo shoots one in almost no time, but he is not having a merry time at all, still the team seems to make an impact. Next booking is for Costinha, dirty-tackling Beckham.

64 Minutes Simao in Costinha out and inside three minutes he almost stole the much awaited equalizer. A Portugal corner followed by an English corner, but no change in scorelines. Now, English barter Hargreaves on, Gerrard off.

GOAL!! Six minutes to full time and Postiga’s head puts the cross from Ronaldo behind the bars, and its 1-1. Game On!! The crowd has come alive (inside and outside the TV). What else now to pamper the epic, a disallowed 90 minute ‘Cross Bar-Line-Out’ Goal by Campbell. And Ronaldo’s excellence is curbed by Phil Neville and he gets a yellow.

Extra time on and the physical energy levels are forced to maintain, that’s for the players, the fans had to manage the emotional energy levels! 110 minutes and Rui Costa decides that there should be no penalty business in Portugal and he shoos away Phil Neville for an absolute 20 yard treat and it’s a GOAL!! Portugal 2 England 1. But Lampard believes that penalties are still an option and in 5 minutes from a Terry Flick, he tells the Portuguese that the English are game for Penalties.

A good for nothing free kick from David Beckham and its time, we're going to penalties.

Beeeeeeeeeep!

David Beckham! What have you done?

England 0 Portugal 0:

Deco, Confidence!

England 0 Portugal 1:

Owen, lousy! Thanks Ricardo for moving out of the way of this straight hit, thanks a lot!

England 1 Portugal 1:

Simao, no problems whatsoever!

England 1 Portugal 2:

Lampard, straight and low down the middle, level!

England 2 Portugal 2:

Rui Costa, the star misses it, mimics Beckham!

England 2 Portugal 2:

Terry does it with Perfection!

England 3 Portugal 2:

Ronaldo, nerves and a great penalty!

England 3 Portugal 3:

Owen Hargreaves, came in for Gerrard, and he doesn’t miss it!

England 4 Portugal 3:

Maniche, a miss means exit, and he doesn’t disappoint!

England 4 Portugal 4:

Sudden death is on Ashley Cole is next, Advantage England!

England 5 Portugal 4:

Postiga keeps hopes alive and puts it behind the bars!

England 5 Portugal 5:

Darius Vassell! Nooo, you came in for Rooney! And you missed it!

England 5 Portugal 5:

And Ricardo himself comes on to take the all crucial penalty, and he does it, Portugal has won a mind blogging contest, this is unbelievable football!

Alas! I can’t epitomize all the excitement in words, but for all those who saw it live, you can still feel that moment!

Image Sources : google BBC

Good Luck Team India

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Indian Team is leaving for WI today. Good Luck to the team , We hope this time Sachin and company will bring the cup and all the four legends Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid , Kumble will fill their resumes with the Cup winners as they have filled it with everything else.

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Few Moment of Brilliance

The whole of weekend I was thinking what to write, Aaj Tak makes you to write about Madan Lal and his expert comments on cricket, ESPN about Australia demise and PHL, Star Sports about FA Cup, Ten Sports about WWE, Zee-Sports about National Football League and lastly DD sports about the poor old National Games. What a mess I was in, so as usual what happened I couldn’t write anything.
Come Monday I came to office expecting nothing…but then u have a look at sportolysis, read the wonderful articles and the motivation is back. So to keep this inspirational stuff going on I would like to share some defining images which I just can’t ever forget.
Centurion, 2003 World Cup, a dream Match India vs Pakistan –Batsmen on strike Sachin Tendulkar , bowler Wasim Akram , a perfect delivery , pitched just short of good length and was curling in , Little Master goes on to the backfoot and then you heard Robin Jackman’s voice over Microphone “Ah what a shot , this has bisected the gap between Mid Off and Covers ”. This was the best back foot cover drive I have ever seen in Cricket and mind you it still remain the Best. Also that exaggerated follow through by Sachin was the defining moment of World Cup 2003.
From Centurion to Istanbul, 25th May, Champions League Final Milan Vs Liverpool. Milan 2003 champions were the heavy favorites and they seem to be on the path to glory again by smacking 3 goals in the first half against the lackluster and the hapless Liverpool. Second half and nobody even gave them a chance, to score 3 goals against an Italian side is next to impossible. But then comes the 6 minutes of madness , lead by the inspirational skipper Steven Gerrard they score 3 times in 6 minutes to tie the score and they reached the Penalty shootout no one can even doubt the result. Pool were the European champs and that image of Gerrard waving towards Liverpool fans after scoring the first goal was the unforgettable moment of inspiration.
To be continued…………..

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Memoria - II

Titan Cup
9th Match: India vs Australia
PCA Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.

I've always credited this match as my first blood of interest in Cricket. It was during October I heard my father talking something about procuring tickets. I wasn't aware he was talking about a Cricket Match. It was only two days before the match I get to know I am gonna watch a match live for the first time in my life. And the timing couldn't be less perfect. Tell you what, if a writer of fiction had dreamt this one up, he would have been accused of the grossest exaggeration. A full house. Two international teams, battling each other for a place in the final. Spectacular batting performances. Brilliant fielding. Suspense till the very end. And a result in the very last over...

The teams
India had one change in its lineup - Robin Singh replaced Aashish Kapoor to strengthen the batting. Australia for its part brought back Mark Waugh n Ian Healy who recovered from their respective injuries. Jason Gillespie replaced Damien Fleming.

Even being aware of India's propensity to panic when chasing, Taylor fresh from miraculous last ditch win pulled off by Kumble n Srinath and taking in the consideration the dew while bowling second, invited India to bat, and the match was on..

I must confess, initially I was not satisfied with the view I had before my eyes. We got our seats just below commentator box. But it didn't took me long to realize that I wasn't there to follow the score after every ball. As I stood in PCA stadium with thousands of other fans and we witnessed the finest moment of India flourishing under pressure.

Indian Innings
It was an era, where Indian Cricket was in the hands of Tendulkar who was the mainstay of Indian batting. Every match was a battle for him with himself to dash out any pressure on his teammates. If and when Tendulkar fires, and he did that today again, the only task left for rest of the batsmen was to keep up with the momentum. Sidhu was his usual self. After he got out at 54, the next surprise was Srinath walking in fresh from his recent cracking hitting. The move results in a no-show and in came Azhar. The day belonged to him. Or I should say till the time India's batting got over. After Tendulkar's wicket, his blazing start was followed by a steady middle ensured by Azhar and the classy Dravid who emphasized on deft placing and quick running. And at the very end, the perfect timed acceleration from the typical hustler Ajay Jadeja and surprisingly Mongia. All combining to give India an eminently defensible score of 289 for six in 50 overs.

Australian innings
I was too young to think of the fact that every chase got itself a plan already discussed during the slot in which I was more concerned about my Cold Drink. I remember the day more for the junk food I could see around me. Not once it came to my mind that in Cricket, tracks got their roles too. I already awarded the win to India. But the guys in my favorite color Yellow had some other plans that day. The openers struck right on money with Mark Waugh looking dangerous and fortunate Taylor riding on his luck. The first breakthrough came from Robin Singh who came into bowl after seven years and took surprise wicket of Waugh. For skipper Tendulkar, he was worth his place for that wicket alone. But Robin Singh provided icing as the next man to go was Stuart Law in the very next ball. Steve Waugh survived the hatrick n settles very quickly. What a strong lineup they had, that even the wicket of Steve n Taylor later on didn't provided any threat to the next in line Bevan n Slater, who almost batted India out of the game. But it was for this moment, I have always had a soft corner for Prasad, as he got rid of Bevan with his dream slower delivery. With Ian Healy departed in the same minute he arrived, Australia's two quick wickets provoked the third one of Slater. Yesssssssss....finally Srinath got a wicket in this series, he ended a long drought and what more he could have asked for after getting rid of aggressive Slater. The tailenders chipped and nudged the runs, and it all came to the last over.

The nerve game
This one scene alone suffices to encapsulate the game. It is the first ball of the very last over. Australia needs six for a win, with one wicket in hand and six balls remaining. The Indian captain, who has surprisingly not bowled a single over till then, decides to put himself on the firing line and bowl the last over himself.

The field is set. There's a kind of hush all over the ground...

The ball is bowled - an attempted swipe to the boundary, an LBW appeal, two batsmen frantically scrambling a single, the keeper, partially unsighted, reacting with lightning speed at the very end of a long, hard day, throwing a dew-drenched ball with unerring accuracy to run the non-striker out.

Sachin Tendulkar goes up in the air - a picture of sheer ecstasy.

While at the other end, the tall, loose-limbed Glenn McGrath stands perfectly still. Head down. The very personification of misery...

Oh well!

The essence of sport, frozen in that one tableau. India had won, by holding its nerve; Australia had lost, by losing its...

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Memoria - I

How many times we get sporting treats that become part of our hard disk, the memories of those moments never fade away. A last minute goal, or a diving catch by a slow fielder, a long volley in a long five set game, or a run out resulting a tie. Too much to handle and too difficult to forget. And the best part is the boomerang action of these events; they visit us strongly and make us feel great about those moments of great excitement. So, we will try to take you on a ride of nostalgia and do the necessary brushing up (ahh, frankly saying its just a feel good drug that we inject to ourselves as we love to talk about the games we have seen.)

1996 World Cup quarter Final

ODI no 1078, 2nd quarter final of the 6th world cup, M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore and a Science exam next morning. India Vs Pakistan and the whole country come at a standstill for those 8.5 hours. I knew it was our day when we(India) won the toss and like we kids always did, India batted first. Oh Sachin and Sidhu, my two favorites gave us a great start, 90 opening runs used to be a great opening stand (remember, the story is based in 1996). Then traditionally we dragged through the middle overs taking singles here and there and forcing us to go for an early tea break, the score soon was 226-5 with Jadeja and Mongia on crease and four days after Holi we saw diwali. Ask a cricket fans date of birth he may take some time, say "jadeja" and "QF 1996" he will shout in less that 2 seconds "45 in 25 balls", its imprinted, won't go now. Waqar bhai, sorry not your day and after making 96 runs in last 60 balls, we get a formidable score 287-8, looks so defendable (I told you it's 1996).

Indians are loyal, they try to give the audience complete worth for their money and when Pak batters came to bat, it looked that Indians will find it difficult to stop Sohail and Anwar as they piled up runs in the restriction overs. And then came the moment, do i need to even mention it? You are already seeing it so clearly in your eyes, that four, that bat flash, that inside edge, that dislodging of bail and that showing him the route. Was too much for a 13 year old at least (I knew my mom would kill me for science exam and I knew I can't miss this match, It's India, a patriot was born that day). Prasad and Kumble looked in good touch and at the other end Malik and Miandad were taking the match to an exciting finish, but they took it to not so disrespectful loss and pakis were bundled out for 249 in 49 overs (1 over penalty, slow Pakistanis).

The amout of happiness that one day gave me is unexplainable. We were on roads like everyone else on our dear Bajaj Chetak eating sweets, ohh, what a festival. We look back and say "those were the times" and I still feel “There is more to come".

Image Source : Rediff