Oranje looks better than Red ...

For all of those who forget that there will be a quite historical slant to Sunday's WC final, here is a bit of context. BTW, I called this World Cup final ... See my Choker World Cup post .. with a 7-6 Holland win.

 

The country of The Netherlands was formed after the struggle against Spain, back in 1581. The national anthem (the oldest in the world!) is in fact a rebel song against the Spanish Oppression. Not a lot of people will realize on Sunday, but the King of Spain will be present this Sunday and the Oranje will be singing this once forbidden song in his presence.

 

Ironically enough in South Africa, it will be on soil that the Dutch ourselves occupied. This final will be the closest to a home game that the Dutch would have ever been in the World Cup, since they have never hosted the World Cup before.

 

On Sunday, I'll have opportunity to be sending video from Eindhoven. Here is what it looked like when Van Bronckhorst scored his "bullet"

 

 

On a side note, as much as I have hated Germany growing up, they looked to have the best team and deserved it the most right now but everyone knows that the World Cup isn't usually won by the best looking team. It is the exception than the rule that the best team wins the World Cup.

 

But back to the Dutch ... my Dutch friends were telling me about the celebrations when they won the Euro in '88 with that superstar side with Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard. Win or lose, there will be some type of similar this time around, only probably with 10 times as many people.

 

People’s houseboats in the canals of Amsterdam were sinking, because people were jumping on top of them and I’m sure all these guys are already sailing their houses away…

 

Now if only Hunterlaar can score ... I need a repeat of this video ... seriously ... it brightens my day!

 

 

Till the next post from Eindhoven!

 

About Rishi Sankar

Best ... 1st round ... ever!!!

For the first wave of matches, there were complaints about things like the vuvuzelas (That would be a cool band name), special children saying that "1 + 1 = Butterflies" and not 2, the Jabulani/Zamboni/Pastrami Ball, a misalignment of Neptune with Mars and a general lack of goals.

Then the drama started with all the upsets in this World Cup. I cannot think of a World Cup in the last 40 years where so many favourites and European teams started so badly or conversely where so many "No-Name" teams played so well. If anyone told me that New Zealand (!) would be undefeated at the end of the first round ... I would have asked you for some of what you were smoking ... cause it surely would have been good.

If someone had predicted that both France and Italy would have CRASHED out of the World Cup without winning a single match ... I would have said that you were dreaming in Technicolor.

Oh how I wished I was on College St Thursday to see the shattered dreams, to know that every time Slovakia scored, an angel wept in joy. Even though the Italians scored the best goal of the WC so far with Fabio Quagliarella's 91st minute finesse, it was too little, too late.

There has been a lot of other drama in this first round also. As much as the world hates to see Americans do well in football, you couldn't help but rise to your feet when watching the US v Slovenia match ... just brilliant drama! 

As for the English and their hopeful "Barmy Army", there was nothing in Rooney & Co's first round performance that suggests that the English could overcome yet another meeting with their Argentine nemesis in the quarterfinals, provided that they were to possibly beat Germany.

Right now, we are on for possibly the greatest final ever ... Brazil v Argentina for all the marbles. My fingers, toes and future children's toes will be crossed in the hope of witnessing this possible miracle, as I am sure millions of Argentines are walking, thumbing those rosaries to death, while millions of Brazilians are happy digesting their Feijoada and Flan in anticipation of this event.

While this is all happening, let's not forget the second coming of the Spanish Inquisition, if "Las Furias Rojas" doesn't beat Chile by more goals than Switzerland is expected to beat Honduras by. The Spanish are also teetering on the Italian/French precipice!

I guess Spain can no longer be considered as the leader in the Choker World Cup standing ... and if they did choke, they aren't the abject failures that the French and Italian football teams were.

About Rishi Sankar

Switzerland: Post-mortem

Our neighbourhood was eerily and pleasantly quiet this morning, and it was not because of the G20 activities going on downtown Toronto.

During the Brazil-Portugal game there was absolutely no one on the streets and due to the scoreless draw there was only muted reaction immediately after the game, even though both teams advanced (usually one cannot escape the audio clues of a goal or a win for the Portuguese or Brazilian teams). One of the reasons may have been that neither teams’ fans yet knew which Group H team they would face in the round of 16.

As a fan of the Swiss team, my spirits were still high before the last group matches this afternoon. A knock-out game against either of the big lusophone soccer powerhouses with all their household names would have been a wonderful reward for surviving a group with all Hispanic opponents.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Switzerland would have made it through to the next round with a 2-goal win against Honduras, regardless of the score in the Chile-Spain game. The Swiss, with their wonderful defence, were simply not able to switch over to a really creative and offensive game. Despite having the bulk of possession, the scoring chances were few and far between and, in fact, Honduras may have pulled off a win if not for another stellar performance by Swiss keeper Benaglio.

Now we’re left licking our wounds and pining for the next World Cup in Brazil. By then maybe some of the young Swiss players who won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2009 with seven consecutive wins will have matured and display some of that attacking flair on the senior team. So it’s not all bad!

On a side note, I would have gladly continued to fly the Swiss banner on our car even after elimination, but in a telling mishap, about one hour after the final whistle in Bloemfontein, the flag accidentally got knocked off our car window on Dufferin Street and was immediately crushed into the hot asphalt by a motorcade of cars decorated with Portuguese flags.

About Philipp Gysling

Honduras : Spain can still win the Choker World Cup ...

After watching Portugal dismantle and dismember North Korea this morning, I could be a little worried about a very hungry "Las Furias Rojas". Spain absolutely needs to win ... convincingly. Not just to quell the masses on the Iberian peninsula but to have a chance for 2nd round glory. It is truly a David vs Goliath match ...  but this is the "Underdog" World Cup.

In the last 24 years, I've never seen so many upsets of "Big" teams as I've seen in the 2010 Copa Mondial. Some of the more surprising results so far include

• Paraguay 1:1 Italy
• England 0:0 Algeria
• Germany 0:1 Serbia
• Spain 0:1 Switzerland
• France 0:2 Mexico
  And my absolute favorite so far
• New Zealand !!!!! 1 : 1 Italy

Even North Korea held mighty Brazil at bay and scored a goal against them, and South Korea could have been 2:2 with Argentina had one critical chance been taken. The world game is alive and well, and the disparity between established teams and small nations is growing smaller and smaller with every World Cup.

In relation to Honduras' match, the Spaniards were huge favorites but lost its debut game against Switzerland in a match where the “Las Furias Rojas” looked visibly shaken after receiving the first goal and more than 200 million dollars in transfer fees were walking around like village idiots. Even the famous Spanish self belief is suffering ... I think that with the pressure on the Spaniards ... they will show their famous and legendary "CHOKER" form and eke out a draw with Honduras.

Over the last 25 years, I've seen enough Spanish players show up as though they had eaten stale Paella and 24 lbs of Patatas Bravas ... In fact, in the all time Choker World Cup final ... I see Spain beating Holland in a tense choking final, where Spain would have a 6-0 lead in the 89th minute with 3 mins of extra time and Holland would score 7-0 in 2 mins and 41 seconds ... that my friends is how badly Spain can choke!

Go Los Catrachos!!!!

About Rishi Sankar

How to pick a European winner 101

With the recent spate of surprising results

• Italy : Paraguay - 1:1
• Mexico : France - 2:0
• Spain : Switzerland - 0:1
• Serbia : Germany - 1:0
• Greece : Nigeria - 2:1 (If the Greeks thought that they could actually win a match, then there must have been some ouzo in that tsatsiki)

I've determined a formula on figuring out whether a European team will win their next group match. Take the Euro, then determine a country's relative GDP in comparison to overall European economy. The higher the relative GDP, the lower is that country's chance of winning a match.

How else can one explain Germany losing to Serbia and the Greeks winning anything but the lottery? :D

If one doesn't like this theory of football predictive analytics, I have heard that Maggie the Monkey is looking for work - she is excellent in hockey picks, stock analysis and manages Hedge Funds in her spare time.

BTW what a comeback! Who knew the Americans had that spirit! Best game of the World Cup so far but Honduras isn't looking that bad right, are they? 

About Rishi Sankar

Honduras : Keep your heads high!!

There are many teams in the World Cup and every four years, a compelling story comes up. Most of the 32 teams are just happy to be there and have no pretensions about creating waves after week 2.

For the majority of the "just glad to be here teams", the main goal is to play with honour and determination and not get blown out of the water and embarrassed - see Germany v Saudi Arabia - 2002 or Germany vs Australia - 2010 or exhibit the expert finishing shown here.

Honduras played with pluck and determination. Chile are a team that probably deserve more attention than they get. Marcelo Bielsa led his side to second place in World Cup qualifying, just one point from Brazil. So let's put this in perspective, Chile was second to BRAZIL!!! During the qualification, with the help of prolific striker Humberto Suazo who finished the top scorer overall with 10 goals, they managed terrific wins over Argentina (who look unstoppable right now - even with a non existent defence), Paraguay (just drew with Italy) and Uruguay (good win 3-0 winners over the hosts). 

The next match against the humbled Spanish titans will be a battle of attrition and to even collect a point against "Furias Rojas" would be a huge result, not in terms of qualification but just in raising Los Catracho's football profile. It's clear that even with a tiny representative population in Toronto, the Hondurans can still keep their heads high amongst the rest of the football world.

About Rishi Sankar

Chile: Celebrating the Honduras win

 
Some Chileans in downtown Toronto, watching the game against Honduras. This pictures was shared by Pedro Moya.

 
In Chile, after 48 years without a win, Chileans celebrated in all cities. The picture was taken in Plaza Italia, the main place for this kind of celebrations in Santiago de Chile. (Photo shared by Óscar Egnen)

About Fernando Gonzalez Martinez

Honduras: Down but not out ...

A second major injury of the Honduran team is  that Julio Cesar de Leon has been ruled out of the World Cup with a right leg injury. Team officials say the hard-tackling midfielder tore a muscle in his leg and will be replaced in the starting lineup against Chile on Wednesday by Jerry Palacios.

De Leon is one of the team's mainstays, and has made 77 international appearances. This also compounds the loss of Carlo Costly. Costly who currently plays for Romanian club Vaslui and is currently recovering from a fracture in his right foot, has sent his best wishes to “Los Catrachos" since Rueda had to leave him out of the final 23

Here’s what he had to declare to the local press: “I am the number one fan of the national team. A World Cup is not played every day, I wish good luck to my teammates and the coaching staff because you should always fight for what you want. Being outside the group does make me wish I could be singing the anthem with them, but I will send out good vibes to them from here.”

On the good news side, both Wilson Palacios and David Suazo play down alarm about their injuries and they should be ready to go tomorrow. Go Catrachos!!!

About Rishi Sankar

Honduras: Where to cheer for "los catrachos"?

In a city as large as Toronto is, with one of the most diverse and international populations in the world, it seems that there is no definitive heart of Honduran support. The Catrachos don't even have an embassy in Toronto. Both Honduran embassies are in Montreal and Ottawa. I mean seriously ... It's hard enough finding English outside of Montreal and they want to find the Spanish speakers in Quebec?

So dear public - all you hidden Catrachos ... I have been playing the part of an intrepid detective to find Hondurans in Toronto, I think an easier task would be finding Pizzaro's lost gold. Do I have to head over the Salvadorean restaurants to ask for Hondurans :D

Hopefully there will be no shades of 1978 and Honduras won't have to withdraw from La Copa Mundial. BTW with all the lovely football jerseys that will be in fashion for the next month, who in the blue hell at JOMA came up with the design for the Catracho jersey.

Hondurans are up in arms about the design of the jersey. To quote a Catracho poster,"that white strip at the top is hideous...I think they need to discreetly stitch on that JOMA logo like Puma or Nike...a simple Joma on the collar bone would be simple, but that white strip with Joma on it kinda ruins it. we're representing Honduras...not Joma"

Yet I'm gonna be wearing my Honduran jersey in support, since I can't wear my Trinidad jersey like in '06! It was also a somewhat ugly jersey, but we dressed it up in Germany, hence I'm sure the Catrachos can dress up their jersey also. I even had Red, White and Black shoes ... who says that guys don't coordinate!

About Rishi Sankar

Work-life balance ... out the window?

With the World Cup starting in three days, I've had to put some serious thought into my overall work-life balance mix.

Previously, my time allocation and balance consisted of the following

• Work  : 50%
• Travel : 15%
• Eat :10%
• Everything else : 25%

Now with the first round looming my allocation is probably going to change to the following

• Watch/Read/Eat/Sleep/Write football : 63.487%
• Watch/Read while Travelling : 15%
• Everything else : 21.513%

I suspect that there will be many females who will wonder where their mates are and whether they will see them for the next month.

Now I need to spend the next eight hours trying to figure out how to either

• Circumvent company firewall to see youtube
• Reroute proxy server to accept torrent connection
• Install video software on my Nokia E71 to see matches while on the road
• Find bigger laptop to see more picture in picture video.

Am I the only one going through this? Hopefully I'm not the only one ... dear readers let us know how your work-life balance will change in the month ...

About Rishi Sankar