Showing posts with label FIFA World Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FIFA World Cup. Show all posts

Sunday, July 06, 2014

Brazil’s Cup

The Unisphere, built for the 1964 New York Wor...
The Unisphere, built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, New York City (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Brazil-Colombia has been the most intense game in the World Cup so far, with Germany-Algeria a pretty close second. Messi deserves a Cup to join the all time greats of the game, but Brazil is the most exciting team. Neymar’s injury and ouster aside, I think the home team has a clear shot at the Cup. Half the world is watching live.

James (Ha-mez) of Colombia crying after losing to Brazil made my eyes wet. A Brazilian took off his shirt and gave it to James. That was perhaps the most beautiful sight of the entire tournament.

The ugliest happened only moments before that. The attack on Neymar was a knee to backbone deliberate, premeditated attack. It was an immediate red card. This was criminal behavior. The whole world saw, but the referee did not. There was not even a foul called.

Messi is methodical when slow, and magical when fast. When he is about to score, the pace of the game quickens.

Politics is my sports to watch. But I do watch World Cup Soccer, not even the Olympics so much. Brazil is the team I root for by default. It can be argued I am still rooting for Pele, the undisputed all time great.

Soccer is to Brazil that cricket is to India. It is like religion. It is such a big part of the country’s culture.

The US team to make it to the round of 16: it has come a long way. It might even win the cup by 2030. An entire generation of Americans will have to embrace the game if the country is to have a shot at the Cup. It does not come easy. You sure can not throw money at it and make it happen.

Soccer is the simplest game. You just need a ball. You can play it anywhere.

Although refereeing will have to go high tech. You can’t let a crime watched by half the world go unpunished. That sends bad signals.

There are not enough cameras in the stadium. There are not enough cameras looking at the fans. It is fun to watch people watch soccer. There are not enough cameras following the ball, and the teams. World Cup viewing is still in the age of television. It is like the Internet has not arrived yet. World Cup viewing has to be taken to the age of the Internet. The age of mishmashing of videos has arrived.

FIFA needs to brought to the 21st century. Its ways are still archaic. There is not enough fluidity at the top levels of the organization. More dynamism would help.

During the Brazil-Colombia game, the Brazilian team gave an outstanding performance. The team was liquid, especially in the first half. I don’t remember seeing soccer that good the last time. It helped that I was at a bar that seemed to have collected what felt like 1,000 Colombians. I was rooting for Brazil, but was quiet about it.

World Cup Soccer is the ultimate festival on the planet. These are movie stars dancing on our TV screens. The all time greats are still alive and kicking. Kind of like the village in Gabriel Garcia MarquezOne Hundred Years Of Solitude where no one has died yet.

Sometimes when I watch I get flashbacks in my mind of my average soccer skills during high school days. I made it into the teams but was not a star player. I played defense. The idea would be to kick the ball hard in the other direction. That is rudimentary. You have to possess the ball, you have to pass the ball.

By now I play mental soccer. I try to think like the stars. I try to imagine scenarios.I try to stratetize. I think there is room for that.

Watching the World Cup can also give you energy for your own simple workouts. I bought a soccer ball and made a few trips to the Flushing Meadows Corona Park just to be able to dribble around. The giant globe in the park is apt metaphor for the global appeal of the game.

I hear soccer is religion in Brazil.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Watching The World Cup In NYC



Watching the World’s Game, in the World’s City
Outside Brazil, there is no better place to experience the world’s sport than the world’s city. Passion for soccer runs deep in New York ..... In 2013 alone, nearly 900,000 Brazilians visited New York City ..... Tonic, a three-story sports bar in Times Square that has been the de facto headquarters for the Netherlands during World Cups past. .... Amsterdam Ale House 340 Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan ..... To love Italian soccer is to suffer passionately. To follow the Azzurri is to be superstitious. ..... El Pequeño Coffee Shop 86-10 Roosevelt Avenue, Queens
The World Cup Takes New York
World Cup Fever in New York's Little Brazil
World Cup Fever
World Mug: Here are New York's Best Soccer Bars
The 20 best New York bars for watching the World Cup
Best Bars To Watch Soccer

New York Times: Full Coverage

Tonic
(212) 382-1059
727 7th Ave,
New York, NY, 10019

Sunday, July 04, 2010

The Germans Called Me Robin Hood



This was in early 2006. I was deep into the Nepal democracy movement work. We were a few months away from grand success, but we could not have known it at the time. And I got an email from a German reporter. She wanted to talk. So we talked over email and the phone, and she wrote up an article for some German newspaper. I used Google Translate to translate it into English to publish at my Nepal blog.

Me @ BBC

Her story had a fancy title: Robin Hood On The Internet. That story got picked up by the German radio people. They emailed me asking me to come to their studio in Manhattan so they could record an interview. They said they had requests from many local radio stations in Germany. And so we talked.

And although I have been rooting for Brazil and Argentina, they are both out. Now it is obvious to me that Germany is going to win this cup. And I am happy for them.

I am gladly rooting for Germany now.

Argentina Was Not A Team
Brazil: The Overconfidence Of A Soccer Superpower
Soccer And Latin America
Brazil
Walking On The Moon
Lionel Messi (2)
Lionel Messi
Young Folks
Walk In The Park
Freehand Exercise: 1,000 Push-Ups, 1,000 Squats, 1,000 Crunches
Brazil And Argentina: My Choices And Those Of My Favorite Actor
The Eyes Of Truth
Hey Now, Hey Now
Tomorrow
Samuel Eto'o
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Soccer And Latin America


Check this out. Each of the four quarter-final matches has one Latin American team in there. Is that something or is that something? Soccer is Latin America's game. Hats off to the continent of Latin America.

Brazil



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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Walking On The Moon

Argentinian Soccer All Star Lionel Messi from ...Image via Wikipedia
Germany has been a soccer superpower just like Brazil and Argentina. I have been taking Germany seriously. This morning Germany made England look like it were North Korea.

France, Italy, England: three former soccer heavyweight countries are by the wayside now.

You got to watch Ozil. That dude can give one killer pass and tilt the game. Ask England.

Argentina had a field day today against Mexico. I was hoping for a 3-0 victory, but that was not to be.

I went ahead and bought myself a soccer ball afterwards, and went to a park nearby. I was able to touch the ball 38 times before it hit the ground. I guess I am in decent soccer shape.

Brazil's defense is like a castle, Argentina's like a whip.

When Messi dribbles it is like the entire field is mud. The ball is stuck until he commands it to move. And he likes to give short, quick commands.

Now Argentina meets Germany next. I am just a little nervous. I want Argentina to win, but I know the German team is in decent shape. I think it will be a close call, but Argentina will prevail. It will squeak by to meet Portugal in the semi-finals.

The scenario I am seeing is one where my two favorite teams - Brazil and Argentina - meet in the finals. It will be hard to pick the one to root for, but Diego might win me over. I might end up rooting for Argentina.

But I do want to have to make that call.

FIFA World Cup 2010
Lionel Messi (2)
Lionel Messi
Young Folks
Walk In The Park
Freehand Exercise: 1,000 Push-Ups, 1,000 Squats, 1,000 Crunches
Brazil And Argentina: My Choices And Those Of My Favorite Actor
The Eyes Of Truth
Hey Now, Hey Now
Tomorrow
Samuel Eto'o


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Lionel Messi (2)

Lionel Messi
Young Folks
Walk In The Park
Freehand Exercise: 1,000 Push-Ups, 1,000 Squats, 1,000 Crunches
Brazil And Argentina: My Choices And Those Of My Favorite Actor
The Eyes Of Truth
Hey Now, Hey Now
Tomorrow
Samuel Eto'o