The Final Four

This World Cup has completely opened up and is anybody's to grab. All the 4 finalists have equal chances of winning the World Cup. Its the moment of reckoning for all of them. No history or past glory in the previous matches will count. The one with self confidence and the fire to win will succeed. With the way the World Cup is progressing this year, and the four teams that we are left with, I am finding it pretty hard to convince myself on who would be the lucky one to lift the World Cup trophy on the 11th of July 2010.

For the Knockout matches, there were 6 countries from Europe, 5 from South America, 2 from Asia, 2 from Latin America and 1 from Africa. There were big time theories floating around that European teams were finding it tough to play in the high altitudes of South Africa. There were theories that countries from the southern hemisphere would do better than the European countries. But finally, now that we are left with the last [ best ? ] four teams, we see that 3 of them are from Europe and only one from South America !!! These four teams will be playing the remaining four matches [ 2 semis, the finals and the third playoff match ]

1. Germany : The team with the most dominant performance. Razor sharp. Clinical. Ruthless. Atheletic. Energetic. Young. Fast paced. Solid defense. There is hardly any weakness that is visible. Though, they look to be invincible on paper and past performance, I for some reason, do not want to see them win !!! This has been a World Cup of surprises. I am hoping for one more :) As I once heard from some football coach, all you need to win a football match is to score just one goal more than your opponent.
2. Spain : These were the pre tournament favorites along with Brazil to win this year's World Cup. They had a shocking start with a loss to Switzerland in their very first match. They have done great to fight back and make a place for themselves among the last four. They should be thanking their golden boy David Villa and amazing goal keep Iker Casillas for it. The way they play is very sweet and pleasant to watch. Very similar to the likes of Brazil and Argentina. They create good set pieces and are hoping that their star player Fernando Torres fires in the remaining matches. Germany are their biggest hurdle yet. Their match with Germany is certainly a final before the finals. Anything can happen in a Knockout match. I am hoping that Spain succeed and proceed to lift the World Cup 2010 Football trophy on July 11th.

3. Holland : Robben did it again for them. This time against the five times World Champions Brazil. Their tactics of scoring in the second half and then defending whatever lead they might garner, worked fabulously for them. A bit of rough game, but I guess one gets desperate in such Knockout matches. They have knocked out the favorites Brazil and certainly have the momentum on their side. They are certainly on fire and are quick on the field. Robben and Sneijder are right on the money. Persie is yet to fire !!! They have a relatively easy opponent in the form of Uruguay. If they are not over confident or complacent in their performance they have a great chance of entering the finals.
4. Uruguay : The most luckiest entrants into the semis. Had great luck against Ghana. They are the only South American country in the final four and will be hoping to represent South America in the final match. They won the very first World Cup tournament in 1930 and then later in 1950. They have the fire power and be hoping to reach the finals against Holland. They have a very good goal keeper in the form of Fernando Muslera who saved 2 crucial penalty kicks in the Sudden Death against Ghana. They might miss their striker Suarez though. Diego Forlan has been in good form in this World Cup. Uruguay  will be hoping to see some magic from him against the inform Dutch.

All the best to all the four teams !!! 

Let the best team win.

Saddest day of World Cup 2010

Who would have thought that Brazil would not be featuring in the Semi Final line up in this year's World Cup ? Whose heart might have not skipped a beat when Gyan missed that penalty kick in the dying moments of extra time ? More than half of the football world must have been saddened after seeing Brazil lose to Holland. All because of their poor defense. As if that was not enough, I am sure even more people must have shed a tear or two for the unlucky players from Ghana. What wrong had they done to be denied a victory by the mere margin of the thickness of Suarez's arm ?

Both Brazil and Holland had good strikers and the match lived up to its expectations of being a tight match with plenty of attacks. It was certain that there would be no dearth in the number of hits on target. The winner of the two was difficult to predict. But it was certain that the one with the weak defense would certainly be on the losing side. And so it was. Unfortunately, it was Brazil who did the mistakes and exposed their weakness in defense. People had so many expectations from Brazil. They were already assumed to be in the Finals. Many even believed that all the knockout matches being played were only to decide the contender against Brazil in the finals. But, just as it happened 4 years ago in Germany, Brazil were knocked out in the Quarter Finals. Robben was the nemesis for Brazil. The match was a tad rough, though I dont know why the teams resorted to it. Robben was marked very well but he succeeded in gaining the highest number of free kicks. These fouls accompanied by the referee's sympathy for free kicks, meant that Brazil would not be able to play their free flowing football. They did have their share of luck, but ended up on the wrong side of the fense. It was a very sad day for me to see Brazil do such mistakes in their defense and lose the match.

I was somehow recovering from the shock of  Brazil's early exit, when I witnessed the Ghana - Uruguay match. The brilliant confidence displayed by Ghana, helped me lift up my spirits. The first goal coming just 15 seconds before the end of first half, that too from a long range shot, was so thrilling to watch. As expected, second half provided even more excitement. The match started picking up more heat after Uruguay equalized. The match progressed to Extra Time. Both the teams were equally attacking. More drama was yet to unfold. With less than 2 minutes to go for the second half of Extra Time to complete, 4 players of Ghana moved ominously towards the Uruguan goal. They struck, but were denied the goal. Not by the referee, but the Uruguan player Suarez. [ Hero or villain ? Thats the biggest debate going on around the World Cup now ] Suarez deliberately handled the ball on the goal line and denied a certain decisive goal to Ghana. He was red carded and Ghana were awarded the penalty. Their experienced player Gyan took the penalty kick, but succeeded in only striking the ball to the top of the goal post !!! Every person watching this match skipped a heart beat. If Suarez hadnt hand balled, Ghana would have scored a goal and qualified for the Semis. If Gyan would have scored, then too Ghana would have qualified for the Semis. But destiny was with Uruguay. Suarez hand balled. Gyan failed to score. Match moved into Sudden Death. Fernando Muslera was the hero for Uruguay who saved 2 goals and made sure that Uruguay qualify for the Semi Finals. For me, this was a very sad sight. More sadder than seeing Brazil being knocked out.

By the time I wrote this, I also witnessed the clinical thrashing of Argentina by the ruthless and young German attack. If it was not for Spain, it was the end of stylish, sweet and beautiful football in this World Cup.

Fourth Semi Finalist

The Fourth Semi Finalist would be the second team qualifying for the semi final match to be played on July 7th. It would be one of the following 4 teams.

1. Spain : Had a bad start to the tournament, but have started showing their true colors now. That early loss has come as a blessing in disguise for them. Their striker David Villa is in supreme touch. They are the best European team this World Cup, may be only next to Germany. Their match against Portugal will definitely produce sparks. This is one of the matches I am eagerly waiting for. Spain might have to play Paraguay in the Quarter Finals. That too would be an exciting match since both the teams are very quick on the field and produce attacking games of football.
2. Portugal : Coming from the group of death, they have had a rather easy qualification after that 7 goals win against North Korea. They may be a tad relaxed and lack the momentum which Spain possess. If they do regroup and play well as a team they certainly have the fire power to beat Spain. Would be interesting to see how Ronaldo plays himself against Spain.
3. Paraguay : The only South American in this quarter. They will have to fight hard against the Japanese. If they defend well, they have a good chance of beating Japan. South American teams have been doing good in this World Cup, but with teams like Spain and Portugal in this quarter, I think Paraguay might be lacking a bit against them. Would be interesting to see if they qualify for the semis from this quarter.
4. Japan : The second Asian team to have qualified for the Knockout stage. Their star striker Honda is the man to be watched. He scored 2 fabulous goals through freekicks in the group stages and also has the reputation of being the most fouled player. I dont expect them to qualify for the semis, since the other teams in this quarter have so much more experience in World Cups. But, for a change it would be great to see an Asian team in the semi final lineup.

Oh Dear !! Greene

Funny as it might look, it certainly wasn't something that anyone watching the match or even playing the match, ever expected. It was one of Greene's worst mistakes. More than laughing, you feel sad for him. Luckily for him though, eventually England have qualified for the Knockout stage. Otherwise, he would have been made the sole person responsible for their debacle.

Funny Spanish Goal

Not sure if you can call this a goal keeping mistake. Probably he was over confident ?

Great Japanese Freekicks

Amazing freekicks

Its been very rare to find goals being scored in this World Cup from freekicks. These 2 great free kicks from Japan should definitely fill that void. I miss watching Roberto Carlos taking those great banana style free kicks.

Third Semi Finalist

The Third Semi Finalist would be the first team qualifying for the semi final match to be played on July 7th. It would be one of the following 4 teams.

1. Argentina : This is a very tough quarter of teams with big reputation fighting it out with eachother. Argentina certainly are my favourite to move on to the Semis from this quarter. They have a very good style of quick and small perfect passes much like the other South American teams. Messi is getting into form and creating a lot of spaces for his teammates to score goals. They have reached the Knockout stage with a clean sheet winning all 3 matches in their group and would certainly want to carry on that momentum. Their match against Mexico is not gonna be a cake walk for them. Their next match would be something worth watching. Be it either the clinical Germany or England, it certainly is one of the battles to look out for.
2. Germany : Very clinical. Good physical presence. Very strong defense. Attacking and young strikers. They would come hard against the lackluster England. Klose will be back from his suspension to strengthen their forward line. Their match against England would be exciting to watch. If they reach the Quarter Finals, their match against Argentina [ hopefully ] would be a treat to watch.
3. England : Look very tired. Lack luster in their group game matches. Sneaked in to the Knockout stage through some lucky goals. But, on their day, they can certainly make the opposition pay. Ferdinand in their defense is being missed a lot. They need to improve on strengthening their defense. Rooney needs to learn from his counterpart Klose and also the likes of Ronaldo and Messi, to create spaces for others to score goals.
4. Mexico : The lesser ranked team in this quarter. Will have to fight the mighty Argentina first to move any further. It would be the biggest upset of this World Cup if they can win against Argentina. They sometimes play rough when cornered and might break the free flow passes that Argentina are used to. Would be interesting to see how much they can resist the Argentinian attack. If they move to Quarter Finals, they will certainly be hoping for the gods to be smiling for some more time on them :)

Second Semi Finalist

The Second Semi Finalist would be the second team qualifying for the semi final match to be played on July 6th. It would be one of the following 4 teams.

1. Uruguay : The only team to have ever won a World Cup title among all the teams in this Quarter. They certainly have the experience in their coach. With fresh young blood rejuvenating the hopes of the erstwhile first ever World Cup Champions, one can only hope that they live up to their expectations and reach semis easily. They have much lesser experienced teams in their Quarter, but all 3 of them have been mercurial in their progress to reach the Knockout stage. If Forlan sticks to his best that he has shown in the group matches, Uruguay should find it much easy to qualify for the semi final spot.
2. Ghana : The sole African nation in this Knockout stage. They will have the entire continent backing them with all the vuvuzellas blowing at highest decibels. They will have to make sure that they first over power the mercurial USA team and then fight the mighty Uruguan side to reach the semis. Taking one step at a time would be their ideal approach to the semis. They need to make sure that they dont get bogged down by the high expectations of the entire continent and stick to their basics. It wont be easy for Ghana to reach the Semi Finals from this quarter, but would be good for African football if Ghana reach the Semi Finals.
3. USA : They have had the most dramatic qualification to the Knockout stage with a last minute goal  in their last group match from Donovan. They are the surprise package for me in this quarter. They have a very good defense. They create good scoring opportunities but have failed to connect at the last moment. They will be hoping for more miracles from their star strikers to move ahead in the Knockout stage. It would certainly be a dream run with lots of excitement and entertainment, just like an Hollywood movie, if they reach the Semi Finals
4. South Korea : The first Asian country to qualify for the Knockout stage. Have a lot to prove for themselves. They are very fast paced on the field and might come in handy against their opening match against the in-form Uruguan team. They have reached the Semis earlier, when they hosted the World Cup in 2002 and should know a trick or two about playing in the Knockout stage. I would be happy as an Asian, if they qualify for the Semis, but I see that it would be a very tough ask for them.

First Semi Finalist

The First Semi Finalist would be the first team qualifying for the semi final match to be played on July 6th. It would be one of the following 4 teams.

1. Brazil : They are certainly my favorites to qualify from this Quarter. They might face some rough and tough opposition from Chile which they might already be aware of. It wont be so easy beating them though. With Kaka coming back into the playing eleven, Brazil should be up with confidence. They still need to tighten up their defense. Except for the goalless match against Portugal they have conceded atleast one goal in the other two group matches. They might have to fight next with Holland who are looking good this year. All the 4 teams in this quarter have good strikers and hope to see good entertaining football in all the 3 matches
2. Holland : They are my second best choice after Brazil. They are the only team apart from Argentina to have reached this round by winning all 3 group matches. They have a very good striker in the form of Persie. With Robben ready to join the team now, they might have an easy match against the surprise package of Slovakia. I would love to see Holland and Brazil battle it out in the Quarter Finals.
3. Chile : Good attacking game. But, can play rough when they are frustrated. This can backfire them if they end up getting more yellow/red cards. I would be surprised if they reach the semis from this Quarter.
4. Slovakia : The surprise package !!! Had a dream run in their Group games and will be hoping to give their best now. With nothing to lose they might as well go all guns against Holland. This World Cup has been favoring the underdogs a lot and you never know if Slovakia can produce more surprises

Group H - FIFA 2010 World Cup

1. Chile : Good attacking game. Strong defense. The only team to have not conceded a goal yet in this group. They have the South American flair to their game. With 2 wins in 2 matches they have already qualified to the Knockout stage. Their next match is against the struggling Spanish team. Spain desperately needs to win this match to qualify for the next stage, while Chile would be looking to go to the next stage with a clean sheet. This match has all the ingredients for entertainment.
2. Spain :  Rooted as the best in-form team this year and a probable finalist in this World Cup, surprisingly went down to Switzerland in their opening match. This setback has placed them in a must win situation against the group leaders Chile. They have a very good attack. Very fast in movement. They were rusty and unlucky in the first match to have not converted any of their attempts into goals. They showed their true colors in their second match against Honduras where they beat them by 2 goals. This win has given them a one goal advantage over Switzerland who share the same 3 points with them. They are hurt and desperate in need of a win and their match against Chile has been hyped as a battle royale.



Matches in Group H

3. Switzerland : Surprise package of this group. They stunned everyone and almost produced the first upset shock of this World Cup when they beat the in-form Spanish team. They defended very well in their first match to deny Spain any goals. They were lucky to score one goal and managed to maintain that lead till the end. They fought gallantly against Chile, but could not defend as well as against Spain. They are one win away from qualifying into the next stage. They now need to beat Honduras by more than 2 goals to upset Spain and qualify for the Knockout stage.
4. Honduras : Its only their second appearance in World Cup and they looked nervous and rusty in their opening match. They lacked cohesion and could not create goal scoring opportunities. They definitely defended well, since they conceded only 3 goals in their 2 matches. With 2 losses in 2 games, they are certainly out of contention for the Knockout stage from this group.

Group G - FIFA 2010 World Cup

Initially nick named the "Group of Death"

Matches in Group G

1. Brazil : Classy as ever. Sweet clean passes are the hallmark of their game. Watching Brazil play football has such a soothing and calming effect. There are hardly any yellow cards shown to them. Clean passes and clean tackles. No rough play at all. Kaka's red card was definitely a spur of the moment decision by the referee and was not because of a bad tackle while the ball was with Kaka. Robinho and Fabiano were exquisite in their display of Brazilian magic. After the first match, Kaka started showing his flair of passing the ball. This is one speciality I like about Kaka and other players in Brazil. They are not keen on scoring, but creating opportunities for their teammates. With 2 wins in 2 matches they have already qualified for the Knockout stages from this group. Their next match with Portugal is a mere formality.
2. Portugal : Rusty start to the tournament. Ended up with a draw against Ivory Coast, creating even more problems for themselves in this group of death. They had to win against North Korea and Brazil in their next 2 matches. But, what transpired in the match against North Korea was something super natural. The class and finesse with which they scored the first 4 goals completely devastated the North Koreans. By the last 15 minutes, when North Korea finished trying all they could with their attacking and fast paced game, one could see that their defense had tired. With the rains and wet ground adding more troubles to them, Portugal ended up scoring 7 goals !!! This match completely changed the nature of this group. Portugal now have such a huge lead in their goal differences that Ivory Coast need to beat North Korea by more than 9 goals. I am sure North Korea will be expecting this and be ready for the attack.
3. Ivory Coast : I expected a lot from this team. They were said to be the best in-form team representing Africa. Unfortunately, they were in a group alongside Portugal and Brazil. But, it was their presence in this group that made people call it the group of death. They were unlucky to end up with a goalless draw in their first encounter with Portugal. They had more chances than the rusty Portugal. Should have gained more points from that game to make it easier for them in the later matches. They could not defend well against the guile of the Brazilians. And now, with Portugal almost certain of qualifying from this group as the second best team, their 3rd match against North Korea is just a formality. 
4. North Korea : Played very well against the mighty Brazilians. Had some great defense. They got great raves for holding back Brazil for a goalless draw in the first half of their match. It needed a great magical finish from Maicon to go behind the strong defense of North Korea to score the brilliant first goal. They were a tad unfortunate in their second match against Portugal. With the rains it wasnt easy anymore. Their defense was completely broken apart by the grit and class of Portuguese players. Both the teams were in a do or die situation. The final scoreline was just too harsh on the North Koreans. Their defense wasnt that bad. With 2 losses in 2 matches, they are out of contention for qualifying for the Knockout stage.

Group F - FIFA 2010 World Cup

If the next 2 matches end up in a draw [ with equal goals being scored in both the matches] , we will for the first time see lots being used to decide the second best team in this group that should move ahead to the next round.

1. Paraguay : Classy. Good passes. Have that South American flair in their game. Good attacking game. Defended well to hold Cup holders, Italy to a draw in their first match. With the only team to have won a game in this group after 2 sets of matches in the first round, they are only one point away from qualifying to the next stage. They only need a draw in their game against New Zealand to make it to the Knockout stage.
2. Italy : Defensive as ever. Buffon's absense might affect them. They had to fight hard to clinch a draw in their match against Paraguay. Looked rusty in the beginning. They were lucky to have not lost their match against New Zealand. They had tons of chances but could not convert a single one to fruition. With 2 draws in a row, they are now in a spot of bother as are England in Group B. They now need to win against Slovakia and hope that New Zealand lose to Paraguay.



Matches in Group F

3. New Zealand : Surprise package of this group. Almost created an upset by drawing with Italy. Infact, they ruined their chance of beating Italy. They gave a great fight in the first match as well against Slovakia to pull back a last minute goal and draw the match. Their gritty defense has opened up this group. Virtually, any team can qualify from this group. They now need to win against Paraguay to qualify for the next round.
4. Slovakia : Looked good most of the time in their first match against New Zealand. The last minute equalizer from New Zealand seems to have beaten their confidence. Their loss against Paraguay has left them virtually out of this World Cup. They have a mathematical chance of qualifying if they beat Italy and Paraguay beats New Zealand.

The next set of matches in this group are nothing less than a knockout punch. All teams have a chance and will give their best. Hopefully, we dont see any rough games being played [ as in the other groups ] but rather see some great football being fought in the air.

Group E - FIFA 2010 World Cup

1. Holland : Nervous start. But picked up their game and tempo in the second half of their first match against Denmark. Very good strikers. Fast paced and attacking game of football. Defense is a tad weak and might get exposed against a tough opponent. With 2 wins in 2 matches, they are the group leaders and the first European country to qualify for the Knockout stage.
2. Japan : Very strong defense. They did a great job against the mighty Cameroon attack. With a win in their first match, they have a very good chance of qualifying for the next round. Very organised in their approach and very methodical. Even a draw with Denmark will suffice to qualify for the Knockout stage.



Matches in Group E

3. Denmark : Poorest performance after Greece. Lack agility and very bad at passing the ball. May be they were still very nervous in their first match. They seem to have regrouped and found their rhythm in their second match against Cameroon. They now need to beat Japan by atleast one goal to qualify for the next round.
4. Cameroon : Strong and tall personalities. Very good strikers but they need to improve quickly to find any hope of moving ahead to the next round. Good defense as well. Unfortunately, they lost both their initial matches and became the first African team to exit the World Cup. I was very disappointed by their dismal performance.

Group D - FIFA 2010 World Cup

Group with the maximum number of possibilities

1. Ghana : Have good spectator support. Lucky win against Serbia. Look to be more confident now. Are the group leaders now. Have a very good chance of qualifying for the next round. Even a draw with Germany will see them as the first African nation to qualify for the Knockout stage.
2. Germany :  Clinical, precise, right on the money. Ruthless in their demolition of Australia in the first match. Very strong defense with the reputation of never conceding a goal [ well almost ]. Combined with this formidable defense they now have a young force of strikers. I certainly see Germany reaching the semis. With their surprise loss to Serbia, Germany have put themselves in a spot of bother. They now need to beat the group leaders, Ghana to be 100% sure of a place in the Knockout stage.



Matches in Group D

3. Serbia : Good attacking game. Do not have a great defense. But, did a great job of holding the mighty Germans to a 1-0 win. Athletic in the field. In a very tough position to qualify for the next round. They now need to win against Australia and hope that Germany either lose or end up drawing with Ghana.
4. Australia : Good strikers and good attacking game. Need to fix a lot of their loop holes in their defense. Are virtually out of the tournament. Need to win by more than 5 goals against Serbia to move to the next stage.

Group C - FIFA 2010 World Cup

1. Slovenia : Weakest of the teams in this group. But, with the lucky win they got against Algeria, they have a very bright chance of qualifying for the next round. Can cause an upset in this group. Infact, after two set of matches in the first round of games, they are the Group C toppers !!! They just need to make sure that they dont lose their match against England. Even a draw will do for them !!! Slovenia's dominance along with the poor performance of England has very interestingly opened up this group.



Games in Group C

2. USA : Surprise package. Have very tall and very good defenders. Its tough to beat them in the air. It was only Crouch with his height who was able to tackle them. Donovan is still impressive and creates good openings for his teammates. They had a great comeback game against group leaders Slovenia, when they were down by 2 goals. They almost had the victory in their grasps when the referee over ruled their third goal. They have to make sure that they beat Algeria with more goals what England might beat Slovenia with.
3. England : Green ! Oh dear Green ! I am sure he is gonna be remembered the most in this year's World Cup than anyone else. England seemed to be in good shape for 80 minutes of their first match, but could clearly see fatigue and low confidence in the final 10 minutes. Their defense without Ferdinand seems to be a bit weak. Rooney is showing only some glimpses of shining in this World Cup. England must be hoping for some goals from him and Crouch. Lampard's horrible luck in the World Cup finals continues. I really hope he gets to score atleast one goal this year. With lesser known Algeria and Slovenia in their group apart from the fighting USA, England seem to have a good chance of progressing to the next round. With 2 draws in 2 matches, England have only themselves to blame for this situation. They are now in a do-or-die situation and need to beat the confident group leaders Slovenia to have a chance of qualifying to the Knockout Stage. 
4. Algeria : Physically strong. Good attacking game. Unfortunate to lose against Slovenia. Tough road ahead. They showed their class and great defense against England by holding them to a goalless draw. They need to now beat USA and hope that England dont win against Slovenia to be able to move to the next stage. Its a tough call for them, but with nothing to lose, one can only expect a great match.

Group B - FIFA 2010 World Cup

1. Argentina : They got speed. They got flair. They got Messi !!! For a change, Messi was playing more than what people must have expected from him with the Argentine shirt on. If it wasnt for the great goal keeping of Nigeria's Vincent Enyeama in the first game, we could have probably seen Messi's first goal in the World Cup finals. This team is very confidant and playing attacking football. They also have a fairly good defense. Its an easy group for them. After convincingly winning the first two matches, they are the first team to have qualified for the Knockout stage.
2. South Korea : Very quick in the field. Very good attacking game. Very athletic. They should give a good fight to Nigeria. They are the surprise package for me in this World Cup. They even managed to salvage a goal against Argentina. Their next match against Nigeria will definitely produce good football. They are very good at man to man marking and have a formidable defense. The battle for the second place in this group is something to be watched out for. They need to beat Nigeria and hope that Greece lose [ or atleast lose concede more goals than them ] to Argentina.
   

3. Greece : Horrible start. Completely dis-organised. Feel sorry for them. After having qualified to the World Cup finals, one hopes that the teams manage to at-least score some goals, if not victories. They seem to have failed to do that for all of their World Cup finals matches. I was hoping they at-least score a goal this year and salvage some pride. Their victory against Nigeria was another surprise. They could consider themselves lucky to be in this position. They now have to produce another miracle to beat Argentina and hope South Korea falter against Nigeria.
4. Nigeria : Looked very promising. Impressive goal keeping by Vincent Enyeama. They might have to tighten up some loopholes in their almost good defense. They are fast and have good strikers in the front. It was a surprise to see them unfortunately lose to Greece. This group has been full of surprises !!! Feels sad for them, since they played very well but ended up being the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup since they are yet to open their points tally, losing both their opening matches.

Group A - FIFA 2010 World Cup

1. South Africa : Looked more confident. Played much lively football.Were very unlucky in the first match. They had far superior chances than Mexico. Unfortunately, after one draw and one defeat. they are almost out of the World Cup. They have the daunting task of beating France by more than 6 goals [ or goal difference to be precise ] to have a chance to qualify !!!
2. Uruguay : They had only one good opening in the beginning of the match with France. Not very impressive. But, with their 3 - 0 win over host South Africa, its evident that they were nervous starters. They are top team in this group, and are almost sure of qualifying for the next round. Even a draw with Mexico will do for them now.
3. Mexico : Very nervous. Started off very well in the first match, but could not maintain the same momentum throughout the match. Looked rusty. But, I am happy that they won against France. It was a much better performance. One could see the South American touch in their game. They must be hoping for a win against Uruguay to avoid an encounter with the top team of Group B, Argentina.
4. France : Pathetic as ever. Ribery was the only player who could create some chances for them. Just like the previous World Cup, they take the ball to the opposition D and falter while striking the ball. Either the ball is passed to a no man's land, or the strikers are way too ahead and no ball reaches them. I am glad that they are almost out of this World Cup. They now need to score more than 5 goals [ goal difference to be precise ] against South Africa. With all the trouble brewing up in their dressing room, one can be sure that they will be worse than always. 

Brazilian Magic

This has to be the best goal of this World cup yet !!! With the thick and strong defending of North Korea, I think, this was the only way one could have scored a goal. I wonder if anyone, including the striker Maicon, would have anticipated the ball to swing in this fashion. If this was a planned shot, then I dont have any words to describe it. Its simply pure Brazilian Magic !!!

FIFA 2010 World Cup Calendar

Easily scroll through this calendar below. This is available in ICAL for you to download.

Google Home Page

This is my new Google Home Page :)

FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup Template

In less than a week's time, all sport lovers will be glued to the Mega event of the world's most watched sport, FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. 

Since long I had this fascination for having some webpages that get updated automatically based on the results of the matches being played. Some place where I can find the new updated team rankings in each group after every game. The prevailing positions of the teams in a group mid-way through the Group Stage, that help to come up with all the possible permutations for finding out which teams will make it to the Knockout stages. At the end of the Group Stages, an automatically updated list of the matches in the Knockout Stages. The Knockout matches getting updated automatically with teams progressing towards the Finals while the losers getting dropped.

In the past one year, I have been having some great fun with Excel functions. I was looking for some spreadsheet magic that would help me achieve all the above things and makes following the World Cup even more fun. Couple of weeks back I came across an old template in the Google Spreadsheets Template Gallery, that did pretty much the things that I was looking for. It had some bugs in the formulae it used. I fixed them and used it as a starting point to create an excel sheet that does just what I wanted. Thanks to the Google Docs feature of submitting spreadsheets as templates, I have now published my FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup Template for all soccer fans out there. 

Here is a list of some basic things that you will find in this Spreadsheet.

1. The Google Spreadsheet contains the list of all the matches in chronological order.
2. Users of this Google Spreadsheet only need to update the scores for each match
3. Based on the scores for every match, the teams ranking in each individual group is decided
4. There is a "Groups" sheet that one can view to compute the permutations needed for their favourite team to make it to the Knockout Stage
5. The "Groups" sheet contains the points and also the Goal Difference that comes in handy for deciding the Group leaders in case of a tie
6. At the end of the Group Stage, the draws for the Knockout matches get updated automatically by selecting the best 2 teams in each group
7. Even for the Knockout matches, users will have to update only the scores, that too in the same page as the Group Stage
8. There is a neat "Knockout" sheet that gives a pictorial view of the matches leading to the Final Match

Apart from the above basic things needed for following the matches in the tournament, there are few more things that are unique for this spreadsheet

1. You can see the snapshot of the matches played on a given day, and its previous day
2. Using a simple hidden trick you can use the above snapshot feature to follow through all the matches played in the tournament from the first day
3. Make sure you read the "Usage" sheet to find out this simple hidden trick
4. There is also a setting in the "Usage" sheet using which you can find out the timings of the matches in your timezone by updating the TimeZone Difference of your country from GMT
5. This spreadsheet has been made so generic that you can now use it to follow any future/previous FIFA Soccer World Cup matches
6. You need to modify the list of teams in each Group in the first sheet [ named as "Teams" ] and the list of matches in the Group Stage in the second sheet [ named as "Matches" ] and you are done
7. Updating the Start Date of the tournament in the "Usage" sheet updates the date field for all the matches in the "Matches" sheet

You can get a preview of this Google Spreadsheet Template and click on "Use this template" button on the preview page to create your own copy.

I hope people will find this Google Spreadsheet useful for following the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup and also the future World Cups. Make sure rate the template if you like it :)

Entrepreneur

While on my one day journey to my native, I had this idea of spending a day in reading and completing a book in a single day. Since, its been ages since i read a book at leisure, i thought completing a non-fiction book in a day would be too challenging. But completing a fiction book would be close to possible. The worst part was that I got this idea, just before boarding the state transport bus. Left with the only option to buy at the Bus Stand, I ventured out asking for books available. You must know the "kind" of books that are sold in Bus Stands ;-) [ If you dont, then you are too naive or very ignorant :p ]

I was able to find one novel. Infact  Exotic Engineer Entrepreneur by Jayanth Gurijala was the only novel that did not belong to the genre of books available in the Bus Stand :D

Moving on to the review now ... The book boasts of writing a story based on real life incidents. A story about how a software engineer ventures out of the software industry and becomes successful in becoming an entrepreneur. The stimulus for the author to write the book is quite noble. That of encouraging the vast pool of talent hidden in the Indian software industry to venture out in solving mundane looking problems faced by Indians in their daily life. And, in the process, make a living for themselves. This is certainly the way forward since India is the world's biggest and least explored markets, especially in the field of Telecom, Gaming, Entertainment, Transport, Infrastructure, Agriculture, et al. 

But, with such a noble stimulus, the book is a disaster in this aspect. It ends up being a simple story about a guy's perspective of love. Love for his cars and his girls. It does touch up on the dull life of a software programmer who ends up debugging code and bored by it. Gets a boss who loves doing micro management. This aspect of a software engineer is depicted quite convincingly. He also shows how the youngsters these days are obsessed with Shopping Malls and Cafe Coffee Days for their hang outs. No wonder, we are loosing out on so many parks and gardens, since they are deserted :p

The process of coming up with the idea for his new venture is depicted quite realistically and is convincing. But, what was lacking in the book, is the commentary on the struggles and difficulties the protagonist faces in developing this "idea" into a "product", and how he overcomes them. Writing more on these aspects, rather than on how girls interpret him and how he ends up proposing his girl in his new car, would have helped in prodding his readers to follow their dreams and provide fuel to their ideas. Sadly, the book ends up being a love story cum romantic novel of a guy who also happens to become an entrepreneur. Certainly not the kind of reaction the author desires to get from his readers.

Well, yeah, I did succeed in [ almost ] completing this book in a day. I had to complete off the remaining portions of the book the next day after reaching back home. Not too bad a speed I guess for a novice reader trying to complete off reading a novel of 200 pages in one go. While reading this book, I got this "idea" of writing a review for it. I am planning to extend this review writing to not only the books that I read, but also to any movies [ especially the low key ones which are great but go unnoticed ].

Since the online world is going all collaborative these days. I am thinking of creating a new blog where I can invite writers to write reviews for the books that they have read or any movies that they want to write a review for. It need not be the latest and greatest book or review. It could also be a very old book like Not a Penny More, Not a penny Less or the very old Lalita Pawar starrer Mem-Didi. Just leave me a comment with your interest about penning a review [ all my comments are moderated. You can leave your email id n the comment and it wont be visible to anyone till I approve your comment ] and I can grant you access to the new Popcorn Fun blog I have created for this purpose :)

Bugs

While going through some Evolution [ a Linux email client ] mailing list today, I came across the following text :

While I was adding debug printfs to maildir_summary_check() somehow this
bug went away (classical heisenbug ;)). I could not reproduce it anymore.


A bit of googling on this "heisenbug" took me to this wiki page that lists some popular but funny ways of classifying software bugs. Few of them are :

• Heisenbug

These type of bugs are the most annoying ones and encountered by most programmers who work with large pieces of code or large pieces of multi-threaded code.  By definition, this is a computer bug that disappears when an attempt is made to study it. Example : You see this bug in production systems but you do not see them in your debug builds !!

• Bohrbug

These type of bugs, once caught can be studied but with great difficulty. The conditions under which these type of bugs occur is usually unknown, or takes a very long time to deduce. Example : a buffer overflow bug that manifests itself only when a particular [ usually large or corrupted ] set of data is used. We had some funny name for these type of bugs. We called them, "scratch the head" bugs :D .. Basically originated from someone trying to explain the scenario when this bug occurred by saying, "I was using this software for doing some work, and suddenly out of the blue, just when I scratched my head, it crashed !!!"

• Mandelbug

These are bugs whose behaviors may or may not be chaotic, but are so very complex that there is probably no practical solution. Example : A bug manifested due to the fundamental flaw in the design of the program.

• Schroedinbug

One of the funniest and most annoying bugs. Usually caused by using the program under a particular scenario [ most of the time its an unusual way to use the program ] and it is realized that the program should have never worked in the first place. And from this point onwards, the program simply stops working for everybody else till that annoying bug is fixed.

GMail filter

Had been struggling since a couple of hours to fix this problem of mine. It ended up in a silly search filter that did not flash to me soon. Thought of sharing it with all :)

Problem :

1. I have a filter to star all emails that land up in my GMail inbox.
2. I am using the GMail Labs feature of having multiple inboxes and the first pane on top lists all the emails that are starred ( is:starred )

This helps me in seeing all the important [ un-archived ] in the top of my mailbox [ in the separate pane ]

I have also subscribe to GMail alerts and they land up in my inbox as starred based on the above filter.

Since, the number of GMail alerts has increased and they keep flooding my "is:starred" pane, i wanted to modify the search for creating this pane to show all the mails addressed to me excluding the GMail alerts.

Solution :

I was not able to find a search term to exclude some mails in the "is:starred" pane.
So, I had to modify the filter that adds a star to all incoming mails.
The filter had to be written with the following criteria:

• Mail should be addressed to my email id
• Mail should not be from Google Alerts
• Apply star

I could not find a way to add a search string in GMail that says, the from address is not Google Alerts. So, after going through the list of GMail keywords, I was able to finally create a simple search string that excludes emails that contain the words "Google" and "Alerts". The new filter looks something like this :

The picture has been modified to make the image small and visible. The new search string is :

Has the words : (-google -alerts)

Software Professional

Came across this amazingly simple form for creating a new userid on the APSRTC online booking site. Check out the options for Occupation field. Its the most innovative and simplest number of options given :)