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You are viewing the most recent 9 entries January 7th, 2007July 11th, 2006: Zidane for Golden Ball ???? !#!$@#!$ I was never a great fan of Zizou. He plays amazingly well, with incredible balance n' ease but still his temper was one of the main reasons I never liked him. Neverthless to say the least, his sending off was greeted well by me and those who don't play the game beautifully ought to stay outside the field. Materrazzi surely won the battle of wits and if it was a racist chant that provoked the genius, I think Materrazzi deserves to be punished. But still nothing justifies what Zidane did on the field. A player who has been at the top for more than 15 years ought to know the tactics in and out -- sad to see a player of that repute loose it at such a stage. Now how does Zidane get the Golden Ball ?. IIRC, the only games he played well was the one against Spain and the game against Brazil. The rest of France's game was nothing short of a lousy football match (barring the second half in the final -- again thanks to Henry who kind of showed why he is the best forward in the world along with Schevchenko). The rest of matches were goals via penalties and he never had command over the tempo of the games. I really don't like this 'swansong' reason ! Fabio Cannavaro without doubt was the person who played well right from the start to the finish of the tournament. What a way to celeberate his 100th appearance for his country. A person who was the ball boy when Italy lost to penalties in the 90'Italia just had the perfect finish. Sad you are FIFA. Italy played an amazing first half and did a great job to get that first goal and even to hit the crossbar. France defintely had the upper hand in the second half with Henry making strong surging runs into the Azzurri territory. Totti never seemed to be in the game from the start and Gattusso, Pirlo, Cannavaro, Buffon, Zambrotta, Matterazzi were the players who shone through the match for the Italians. The French had lost it with Viera limping out, Henry taken off and to top it all the so called genius getting himself kick butted out of the match. Some solace at last the WC bought for me ! The last of my favourite wins it. But to be frank I never expected them to reach this far forget winning it. Shame on FIFA to give the Golden ball to Zidane :(. One who plays the beautiful game should be the receiver of that recognition. Cannavoro played a clean tournament and an artisitc one too at times. They did the same in 2001 (or 2003 ?) for the European player of the year when it was by far Pavel Nedved who was the clean choice for almost single handedly guiding Juventus to the UEFA CL final. Guess whom they gave it to then ? -- Zidane ! .. terrible ! July 5th, 2006: Vintage Azzurri ! Deco Vs Makalele Or Figo Vs Zidane Germany - 0 Italy - 2 Semifinals WC 2006 The Azzurri always fascinated me in some ways or the other. Is it the catennecio style ? or is it just the defence part of their game ? or is it their technique and skill to put the ball behind the net whenever they get a chance ?. There is just something about their way of play. Tuesday's game was a mixture of safe play and neat 1/2s. The Germans, according to me, never looked like a team that was to be in the SF after their lacklustre performance against the South Americans and an even poorer display against the Italians. I was looking forward for an all out attack Vs an all out defend-n-couter game, but the approach of the Germans left me dissappointed. They were waiting for their opponents to commit a mistake on which they could capitalize and press forward. The Italians however started off with their impeccable defensive approach and pushed forward into German territories with neat 1/2s of which Pirlo, Totti and Gattusso were major contributors. The first 45 mintues was Italy showing greater will to go ahead, though the Germans had their fair share on goal too. The second half had Germany holding a slight edge over the Italians though the latter's technique and ground passing signalled a constant threat. In short, it was the Italians dictating the game and the Germans looking for loopholes in their plan. That never happened and come extra time, Italians must have felt that it is simply not their night; after they had 2 shots that hit the woodwork. The way the game started with a number of half-chances and a few full-chances (overshadowed by the brilliance of Buffon n' Lehman), penalty-shootouts didn't seem the way out. 2 mintues left to judge who would be the best custodian of the night. Pirlo, outstanding throughout the match, had the ball for what seemed to be 'eternity'; threatening the german defence inside their box. He must have thought a thousand times to take shot at goal; before gathering himself and playing a pass to the unmarked Fabio Grosso. The rest can't be written; one had to see the finish to believe it -- a moment of true brilliance ! 1-0; it seemed that the Italians would sit n' defend the rest of the night (120 odd seconds that were remaning), but we were in for some Vintage Azzurri show a minute later. The Germans pressed for goal and Cannavaro (is there any better defender than him in the world right now ?) architected the couter with Gilardino who passed the ball to Alex Del Piero. The finish sent a message across to his critics why he was Juventus highest scorer till date and if i were to choose b/w the 2 Azzurri goals , it would have to be the second one -- just for the sheer joy of watching Del Piero score in the Azzurri 'cattenecio' fashion. Now its Viva Portugal ! Still wondering if the game will be won by the better of Deco/Makalele or Figo/Zidane ? I don't expect much from that dud C. Ronaldo but you never know at times his step overs do work ! Yes he doesn't fall !!!! July 1st, 2006: Scolari'02 played Ronaldinho better than Parriera'06 - WC 2002 Scolari played his cards well and there was Brazil with the 3 Rs, Rivaldo/young Ronaldinho/Ronaldo shredding defenses. Rivaldo defied age with his speed/skill, Ronaldinho showed great vision feeding the two and became the player he is now. Everyone called it Ronaldo's WC but for me it was Ronaldinho's WC though still fans at Barca doubted his talents during the horrendous inital 6 months with the Catalan giants. - Brazil deserved to loose the way they have been playing throughout the tournament :). I was cheering them all through inspite of hating to see my favourite player Ronaldinho in a Riquelmesque position. Sacrificing his skills, playing long balls to slow teammates Ronaldo/Adriano and not gaining the trust of his teammates to give him the ball when wanting a solution. France looks upto Zidane, Argentina looks upto Riquelme, Brazil ? .... at times they seemed not wanting to give him the ball. The only time Brazil played like the way we wanted them to was, aganst Japan. Young legs took over from the seniors and ran wild over the asians. - Finally when 30minutes of time left to salvage something; they turn on to Ronnie and it was too late and vintage Zindane inspired France got their deserved victory. But for me the key man of the French team was none other than Makalele. He masterminded and became a bottleneck b/w the defence and the midfield. Kaka (who I thought would play better than Ronaldinho after taking over in that position) and Ze Roberto hardly got the ball; Ronaldo and Ronaldinho did not get any service. Those who saw brazil in the last 30minutes, saw Ronaldinho close to his good (not best) and the youth of Robinho pumped up more adrenaline into the Brazilian attack. Even Ronaldo showed pretty decent ball control. Well, it was all too late. Neverthless, to say the least, Robinho could have done better with that chance in front of goal. - No one got to see Ronaldinho due to Parriera's tactic and fans who don't follow club matches would be wondering 'was this the person who was crowed with all those prestigious European trophies ?'. But believe me - follow the club football and you will know why ?. I sill feel he is the world's best by miles :). There is no one who comes near him when he has the likes of pacy Messi, Etoo, Guily and the divine Deco at FC Barcelona that form the catalunya attack. Now that they have procured Eiuder Gujdhjohnsen from Chelsea, lets hope form something interesting. - Argentina, another from my wish list, failed. Jose Pekerman played Lionel Messi overcautiously. Why ?. And worst he never played a part in the quarters. The South Americans did not play their free flowing pacy game and lost. The French used Thierry Henry effectively against the ageing legs of Cafu ( I was thouroughly impressed by Cicinho against Japan). Roberto Carlos probably made the mistake of his life by leaving Thierry Henry to run freely in the Brazilian box and score. - Man of the Match : Brazil Vs France (France: Makalele who laid the foundation for Zidane to architect Brazil's downfall; and Brazil: Ronaldinho (got his precision passing close to perfect with whatever little he had; esp. under pressure in the dying moments). - Man of the Match: Germany Vs Argentina (Germany: Jurgen Klinsmen, for his ice cold calmness and not exprimenting too much; waited for Pekerman to commit the first mistake by doing those wierd subsitutiions and taking the pace out of Argentina; and Argentina: Tevez. Without doubt , the one who caused trouble for Germany, would have surely caused more damage with Messi by his side. - Messi, Ronaldinho, Gerrard .. none of them shone the WC like i wished them them to. Blame it on the tactics of the coach and now my WC is over (with Germany as THE choice for the victory, though I wish a DECO led Portugal do something). No team/club beats Germany in Germany. Even the best falter. We saw Argentina .. let's see who else falls. - Another footballing season and the anthem's back 'Forca Barca' !!! .... Sad weekend of footbal with Argentina n' Brazil ... bowing out. Shit happens :) ... Current Mood:  blankMay 19th, 2006: Arsenal - sore loosers ? Is it just me who feels that Arsenal are sore loosers ? What's wrong with the UK press ? I am a hardcore Barcelona supporter for the past 5 yrs (since those days of Overmars, Rivaldo, Luis Enrique). They always played entertaining heavenly football even during their worst of seasons. I do appreciate Arsenal alongside Liverpool as one of my favourite teams in the EPL. But what I saw in Paris was something different. I felt really uncomfortable watching the game after the sending-off of Lehman. Neverthless to say the game ended on a note that made me happy. Barcelona - Champions of Europe 2006 !. But after watching Henry's emotional outburst about the refereeing and the anonymity of Ronaldinho and Eto, I feel he missed out the following aspects in the game : 1. He never rued of his missed chances in the opening 3 minutes. 2. Barcelona are never the team to sit back and defend once they have a goal advantage. Imagine if the goal had stayed and Lehman played on. Does he think that Arsenal would have surely won in that case ? 3. Okie the yellow card he got was kind of unfair. But what about the goal from the setpiece which Sol Cambell converted ?. Eboue (?) dived on receiving the faintest of contact with Puyol and won that freekick. What does Henry have to say about that ? 4. Larsson was the difference - agreed !. I would say Ronaldinho was the difference because if it weren't for his pin point killer pass to Eto, Lehman would not have made hell for himself. And that, was the turning point of the game -- the red-card incident !. Albeit harsh, the referee was 100% technically right :). I am not mentioning the pass Ronnie made after waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting .. to Eto, whose produced an amazing first touch and directed a shot goalwards, which deflected off the goalkeeper and bounced off the near post. 5. Ronaldinho was anonymous, well it would have been the same if they would have gang-marked him as well. He was left all alone as Barcelona were getting lost in their natural instinct to play attacking football, searcing for that equalising goal. And not to say on those errie counter attacks, when he just had Valdes to beat, he messes it up. Ronaldinho had the miserly Arsenal defence to beat all the time. But I also whole heartedly agree to the fact that our magician did not have his best of nights neither did Henry for that matter. 6. Eto's goal should have been disallowed ?.Well I guess the offside rule says that as long as the player does not interfere with the play his position doesn't count. The ball was being passed to Larsson and Eto was no where interfering in the gameplay. Larsson produced a dummy and that set up Eto who scored. So as far as I see it things are fine. AC Milan didn't make a hue cry of Vladmir Smicer's goal which was well left by Baros en route to goal, inspite of the latter being in an offside position. The Rosseneri rued, but then played on and didn't make a big deal of it. 7. Barcelona played with the best of composure, never the ones to loose their minds and stuck to their natural game. It payed off in style ! 8. Refereeing had its share of unfair moments for both the sides. But it is all part of the game. If it was for proper and fair refereeing the game as I would have seen would have the score 2-0 to barcelona (the goal scored by guily stands, arsenal never wins the set-piece that resulted in the goal, beletti scores, henry keeps missing :) ). See, sounds stupid right ? ... exactly ! Henry must look at his team and more than that, at himself !. Things go wrong but that doesn't mean that at such a high level he doesn't pause to give credit to the ones who deserve to win. It's a known fact (not that I am a Barcelona supporter and I say it) -- Barca play the most heavenly of possesion and attacking football one has seen over the past 3 years. This was long overdue ! Hats off to Frank Rjikaard - for his vision, his team and his cool temprament ! Hats off to Arsenal because they could not have done better with 10 men ! Henry was unhappy not because he had it bad, but he was so pissed that others had it good ! January 8th, 2006: IPod on FreeBSD ... Thanks to some wierd error in apple's programming (as read in some discussion forums) you can't mount it on a Running FreeBSD system. So here is the 'iKickAss' approach to mount the darn thing .... 1. Connect your iPod to the USB port. 2. If your system is running, then shut it down. 3. Now before you restart the system make sure that your iPod too is swtiched off (It gets switched on from the power supply running to the USB cable even if the comp is not running) 4. Now start your system. 5. Login and go to 'su' mode. 6. Do a 'mount_msdosfs /dev/da0s2 7. I installed 'gtkpod' from the /usr/ports/audio directory. Run it and voila ! I don't know if you need to compile the FreeBSD kernel with GEOM_APPLE option (open the /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/GENERICS file and add this line of option 'options GEOM_APPLE') and compile your kernel; if the above 7 sins are not enough. Compiling a FreeBSD kernel: 1. cd /usr/src 2. make buildkernel 3. make install kernel simply aj October 23rd, 2005: gimp 2.2 rocks !! ..... a new userpic (theme: slashdot a.j.) I just installed gimp 2.X and it sure is rocking. I don't know if i am biasedin my opinion because of my prior exposure to the gimp software (during which i broke my head understanding 'how the stuff works'). Anyways created a digital work after a long time .. :-) ... Shall post the larger version once i am done organising my fickr account .... Current Mood:  cheerfulOctober 7th, 2005: another bad tete-ala-tete with my browser . . . This time konqueror is the one making me X-(. The damn thing does not have a 'plugin' tab by default for BSD. I have to install that port seperately. One good dude had posted somewhere that it is inside /usr/ports/www/kde-konqueror-nsplugins/ and I couldn't find that directory in my ports directory !!!!!! ... I goto the Fresh Ports website and find that the latest 'commit' has moved it to be part of /usr/ports/x11/kdebase3. I go there and run a 'make install clean distclean' and just to make matters worse compilation breaks. Then I figured out that i have to install the ARTS plugin first and then followed by the /usr/ports/x11/kdelibs3 and then the kdebase3. And voila .... kdelibs3 and arts both break while 'make'-ing and throw and error : libtool: link: `gslfft.lo' is not a valid libtool object Google has not been useful till now to help me through this . . . :-(( Anyone has any idea bout this . . . may comment ....... my platform: FreeBSD 5.3 KDE 3.3 /usr/ports collection updated to the latest (today) Current Mood:  confusedOctober 6th, 2005: damn u mozilla . . . Breaking my head on how to get java running on Mozilla (1.7). I placed the symbolic links inside the /usr/X11R6/lib/mozilla/plugins/ directory to piont to the java shared library as instructed by the website but it doesn't seem to be working. On top of that flash support causes my mozilla to crash. Is it something to do with the FreeBSD 5.3 desktop i am running because i see threads that indicate many users have faced this problem and all of them happen to be FreeBSD users . . . . The funny part is that my 'konqueror' browser is running java applets fine now but not able to run the flash sites. Maybe I have to get the plugin for it. And my mozilla runs Flash but crashes without a warning and that too WITHOUT a core dump :-((. I guess I will try to rely on my konqueror and get the flash stuff running on it too and once that is done; voila !!! and i can work from home over SSLVPN . . . Oh . . Btw BSNL broadband is amazing . . . Konqueror - 'here i come !!' . . . Mozilla - 'Chal hatttt' . . ;-) Current Mood: down but not outCurrent Music: Solitude n' Silence |
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