A day of our lives

Me and my friend started from the Department at a little past 2 AM after a hard and futile session spent studying valiantly in vain a subject which we were never going to understand. Laughing and cracking jokes at our pitiful condition, discussing philosophically about our future if we get thrown out of the college, as we were heading back to our hostel, which is around a 15 minute walk (as many of you already know, a typical Indian measures distances in units of time - so expecting me to do anything different isn't fair) along the sylvan roads of the campus, I saw at a distance  a polka dotted-cloth fluttering around randomly, sometimes defying the physics of the wind direction.

"Why don't we blame our academic poor performance on the restless spirit with polka dotted saree which sucked the living lights out of us on this particular night, when we would inevitably face the Academic council?" I said, half in jest.
"Yeah, right. You're making even the ghosts warm up to fashion nowadays, eh? 'Polka dotted saree' wow!" my friend retorted, disinterested.
"Hey, I'm not joking. Look there, it's roaming around waiting for us to go straight into her trap" I said pointing out to that cloth.
At that exact moment, it chose to fly behind a dense thicket of trees, but not before my friend had caught a glimpse of it.
"Damn! Why didn't you tell this to me before? I would've captured its pic and started off a restless spirit rumour right away" he groaned.
"Oh yes! And presented that as proof to the Academic council too!"
"Do you really think we suck so much at academics?"
"Gosh! Do you really think we are even half-decent? Anyway, careful now, this is where we last saw the ghost, it was here in this thicket that she disappeared into. Pray to God and hope for the best."
"Yeah, sure I will. The best that could ever happen is that she turns up and poses for us so we can get a pic of her and show that as proof to the council, and get our poor performance forgiven."

And God heard our prayers. Partly. As we looked at the thicket where she was last seen, there appeared a pair of radium-green eyes, the kind that Ramsay brothers' Zee Horror Show ghosts usually sported. We froze in our tracks. Slowly and silently she glided towards us, and when she came in full view of the street lights, we saw that it was worse than what we had expected.

There, standing majestically in the middle of the road, looking at us with calm but wary eyes was a leopard. A magnificent beauty to behold, if not for the given circumstances.

My friend impulsively turned to run, but I held his hand tight urging him in whispers to keep his calm and not cause any commotion which could provoke the leopard to harm us. I had this feeling that if it wanted to harm us, it would have done so already. The leopard crouched into a leaping position and growled looking at our struggle. That was enough to quieten us. We stood there motionless. For a long time, which seemed like hours, we stood as we were, before the leopard relaxed and started walking away towards the lake, frequently pausing to look back at us. When the leopard was a safe distance away, we started walking briskly towards our hostel, and ran the last few yards to get into the hostel compound.

Still trembling and shaking all over from this scary experience, I bade goodbye to my equally frightened friend. I couldn't wait to get to bed, lie down and relax, and hopefully get some sleep to soothe myself. I unlocked my room's door, threw my bag on the bed and hissed in relief. The hiss seemed louder than usual, but more unusual things had happened today. I switched on the light and turned around to lie on my bed when I saw it there. A really annoyed cobra lying on my bed, looking at me with its hood raised, hissing angrily.

Euro 2012 - Preview

This post is about the upcoming Euros, the Euro-2012 (football tournament) to be held in Poland and Ukraine. I have tried my best to analyze all the teams.

GROUP A

POLAND

One of the host nations. They have got a decent team, with the Borussia Dortmund trio of Pisczek, Kuba and Lewandowski and Arsenal's Szczesny the star players in the roster. Given that these star players have had a successful season, particularly the Dortmund trio - their confidence definitely would be sky high after featuring regularly and contributing immensely in the league & cup double winning season - and the fact that they are playing at home could make them the surprise package of this tournament. They also have a relatively easy group and have a really good chance of qualifying for the knockout stages. The group stage could also act as a good platform for the team to find their feet and gain confidence which, along with the home support, might be a defining factor if the Polish aim to go far in the tournament. One thing is for sure, if the Polish team is to impress in this tournament and should it manage to go far, it would be mainly down to Kuba and Lewandowski, and most of the credit should eventually fall at Jurgen Klopp's feet for developing them into dangerous footballers.

Poland gets my vote for the "Dark Horse" of the tournament.

GREECE

The Euro-2004 champions. That was achieved mainly due to the discipline instilled by and the tactical genius of Otto Rehhagel. Though there are stars like Samaras and the 2004-winner Karagounis, I don't fancy the current squad to make much of a difference this time. 

I don't think they would get past the group stage.

RUSSIA 

With this being probably the final appearance in a major tournament for Euro-08 stars of Russia which reached the semi-finals that year, this could act as a motivating factor for these players. These players still ooze quality and shouldn't be taken lightly. This could also be a breakthrough tournament for the young CSKA Moscow star Dzagoev, who definitely has the ability of carrying a team on his shoulders.
 

Though I don't think Russia would go far in the tournament, I think they would qualify for the knockout rounds.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Pavel Nedved is the name that comes to everyone's mind when you talk about Czech Republic. Arguably as great a player as Zidane and Figo during the early 2000's, he inspired Czech to a stylish, dominant, winning run to the semi-finals of Euro-04, only to be undone by cruel luck and defensive steel of Otto Rehhagel inspired Greece. Though few players of that era still remain - the Chelsea goalkeeper Cech, the Arsenal playmaker Rosicky and former Liverpool striker Barros - I still think they would miss out on qualifying for the knockout stages this time around. They would need their captain Rosicky to step up and turn in a Nedved like performance if they hope to go far in the tournament.

TO QUALIFY

In my opinion, the teams coming through this group would be Poland and Russia.

GROUP B

Clearly this group is the "Group Of Death", and promises exciting match ups early in the tournament.

NETHERLANDS

Yet another chance for this exciting group of players to win that elusive "major" trophy. They dominated the group stage in Euro-08, scoring 9 goals and conceding 1 in 3 matches, only to be beaten in the quarterfinals by the Guus Hiddink manned Russia, which had peaked at the right time, in added extra time. They proved their mettle once again in the recently concluded World Cup where they stormed into the finals, only to be beaten in added extra time by a very special group of players - arguably the greatest ever set of players - of Spain. They still have unfinished business left and would be looking to win a major trophy this time around which this current group of players deserve. Though they are blessed abundantly in attack, it is their defence which looks ordinary. Nigel De Jong - the defensive mid - must have a super tournament if the Dutch want to come out with flying colours.

DENMARK

With the captain Daniel Agger partnering Simon Kjaer in central defence and Anders Lindegaard as the goalkeeper behind them, their defence looks good. But in this group filled with attacking teams, this may not be enough for the unlucky Danes. Even with other stars like Nicklas Bendtner and the next big thing -  Christian Eriksen - in the squad, it would be a tough ask for Denmark to make it to the knockout stages. They would be cursing their luck which pitted them in this group, and would be shedding tears when they see teams worse than them playing in the knockout stages. Unfortunately, even playing out of their skins may not be enough to see them through.

GERMANY

What can I say about them? The most exciting national team on this planet. Joachim Low has done an excellent job bringing in and blooding in youngsters, and it has paid off excellently as evidenced by their third spot clinching performance in 2010 World Cup which none expected. These youngsters have only become better over the past 2 years, and more have broken into the national squad. They play a 4-2-3-1 formation, and more importantly, not only do they have the right personnel to play that formation, but also many of the best ones. My goalkeeper of the year in Nueuer, an assured defence led by Hummels, wonderful playmakers in Schweinsteiger and Kroos, exciting attackers in Muller, Gotze, Podolski, Gomez and a host of other names, the striker who wakes up every 2 years for a month or so to deliver tremendously for his national team - Miroslav Klose - and goes back to sleep again, the fantabulous Ozil, surely they must be the favourites, isn't it?
 

The current king of football is Spain, but is this crowned prince's time nigh to dethrone the king? We'll find it out in a month.

PORTUGAL

The Cristian Ronaldo led Portugal has many stars like Nani, Meireles, Coentrao, Pepe, Moutinho etc. But, the sum of these parts has always been far lower than expected. If their superstars start gelling together and start working better as a team, they will be a threat to any team in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo himself is capable of creating some magical, match changing moments if there's no interference from his acclaimed colleagues.
 

I do not think they would change their habits, and predict that they will continue to underperform, and might even finish behind Denmark in the group stages just like they did in the qualifying.

TO QUALIFY

From this group, I predict Netherlands and Germany to go through.

GROUP C

This group may not have fancy teams like in Group B, but qualifying from this group is equally hard, if not more.
 

SPAIN

The World champions. The defending champions. They have almost the same squad as the World Cup winning one. They have the same coach, the same approach to the game, and the same personnel. Well, almost. We all know how important a cog David Villa was in that World Cup winning team. He was the one who used to bury the chances, and most of the times, created those chances himself. Though Fernando Llorente is not a bad replacement for Villa, you can't help but think Spain would definitely struggle without Villa.
 

The good news for Spain is the rise of David Silva. He can be an excellent creator-in-chief, and is also a good finisher. If used effectively, and if he's not out of form, we could expect him and Llorente to bear the goalscoring burden that Villa so effortlessly had handled.
 

Definitely one of the favourites to win the competition, I would be looking forward to see a Germany vs Spain matchup at some stage in the tournament.
 

ITALY

One of the traditional superpowers in world football along with Germany and Brazil, they do not quite look like one today. But neither did they look so in 2006 World Cup which they won. They do have a decent team this time around, but none of the defensive greats, or dangerous attackers that they had been blessed with in the last decade. The midfield looks strong with Pirlo, De Rossi, Montolivo and the upcoming Marchisio.
 

But much will rest on Cassano's shoulders. The erstwhile spoilt boy of Italian football has got his life back on track and this has clearly reflected in the beautiful football he has been playing for the last 2 years. I believe that Italy's chance of going far in the tournament lies in how well and consistently Cassano delivers.
 

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

A decent team with many players playing in the mid table teams of EPL. The team which was "wrongly denied" a passage to the 2010 World Cup by the hand of Henry (they have none of my sympathy, though) have a chance to show they really are a team which needs to be taken seriously. With the famous Giovanni Trapattoni at the helm, they have showed a lot of consistency over the recent years. He has made them a team hard to beat, classic catenaccio style. And he has a dangerous man up front in his captain Robbie Keane.
 

This is a team which could upset the big guns, but cannot be a big gun themselves. I think they would get past the group stage only if Italy self destructs like they did in the World Cup and Croatia fail to find their feet in the tournament, but both of these occurring simultaneously seems unlikely.
 

CROATIA

A well balanced, strongish team with a young coach, Slaven Bilic, at the helm for the past 6 years. They had impressed everyone with their performance in the previous Euros, only to be defeated by the "Kings of snatching victory from jaws of defeat" - the Turkey team of 08 in the quarter finals. All that promise shown eventually faded, and they failed to qualify for the World Cup, and came second in their group in the Euro-12 qualifiers. But, they still have the same quality in their squad, the same group of players who had performed so well in Euro-08. They still have the ability and quality to go far in this tournament. Luka Modric will be the key player for them.

P.S : It is time again to irritate my brother by saying aloud the Croatian teamsheet again and again - he hates the ićes..

TO QUALIFY

This is as tricky a group as Group B and anything can happen, but my vote goes for Spain and Italy going through from this group.

GROUP D

UKRAINE

The co-hosts of this tournament, they used to be a good team few years ago. Captained by the 35 year old former Milan star Andriy Shevchenko, the current team looks like it does not belong to this tournament, and have gatecrashed here on the basis of being co-hosts. But, they could fancy themselves qualifying from this group, as only France can be considered to be a dangerous team here, and with a little luck, the rest are beatable.
 

I cannot see them even putting up a decent performance, let alone qualify to the knockout stages.
 

SWEDEN

They possess a decent team, and a match winner in Ibrahimovic. They also have other good players like Seb Larsson, Kallstrom, Elm, Martin Olsson who can provide enough support for Ibrahimovic. If Ibrahimovic can turn it up like he does regularly at club level, they could hope for a decent run in this Euros.
 

ENGLAND

They have an inept manager in Roy Hodgson, whose only "trick" is to play 8 or 9 man defence. Well, with a considerable dose of luck, this could actually work if they manage to qualify for the knockout rounds where the plan to avoid defeat can be effective, as demonstrated by the current Champions League winners Chelsea (arguably the most boring and the worst European Champions so far).
 

I think, and fervently hope, that England won't qualify for the knockout stages. To the large horde of England fans out there - I hope the boredom of watching your team play a punt-ball, hoof-ball game with an 8-0-2 formation won't scar you for life. Best of luck!!
 

FRANCE

After the ignominy and comedy of the 2010 World Cup, they have bounced back strongly - the victory over Germany at Bremen being the high point of this changed team so far. With the dangerous Benzema leading the attack, Nasri and Ribery supporting him, Cabaye and Diarra manning the midfield, and a decent defence of Rami, Koscielny, Clichy and Reveillere and Lloris guarding the post - they have a team which can beat any team in the world on their day. They have to be considered as one of the favourites this time around.

TO QUALIFY

I suspect this is going to be the most boring group of all, not least because it features England. As for the teams going through - France definitely will, and between England and Sweden, I think Sweden should qualify.

Where will Kagawa play?

The imminent transfer of Kagawa to Manchester United has triggered this question in many a football fan's mind. Where will Kagawa play?

SHINJI KAGAWA

Shinji Kagawa, as many already know, played for Borussia Dortmund the past couple of seasons, arriving there at a measly 350,000 euros from the J-League team Cerezo Osaka and setting the Bundesliga on fire, becoming a fan favourite at Dortmund along the way.

His playing style was utilised well by the new blue eyed boy in the coaching world, Jürgen Klopp. A tricky player with a good eye for through balls and clever passes and also a good knack of scoring goals. He was correctly deployed at the position called by various names - second striker, attacking mid, "in the hole", or what I prefer - a media punta. His clever runs and positional interchanges with the attacking wide men who cut in more often to link up with him, his distribution to the attacking fullbacks were all taken advantage of. So were his weaknesses in defending covered by deploying 2 midfielders - Kehl and Sahin/Gündogan behind him. He was a perfect fit in the 4-2-3-1 formation of Borussia Dortmund.

Although my words here sound as though the Dortmund team was built around Kagawa, it couldn't be further from the truth. It just so happened that Jürgen Klopp assembled the right players to play his style and fielded the right formation where his players as well as his preferred playing style both fit in - and therein lies one of the major reasons why many, including yours truly, consider him to be a genius. And even now, when Kagawa leaves Dortmund, he has more than enough replacements - thanks to the rise of Kuba in the right wing position, which would allow Klopp to play Götze as the media punta. Then, there's also Marco Reus who has been signed from Borussia Monchengladbach who can fill in any of the attacking roles with ease. I daresay, if there's ever going to be a loser in this Kagawa to Manchester United deal, it will definitely not be Borussia Dortmund.

THE QUESTION

Now, coming to the question in hand, where will Kagawa play? As we all know, Sir Alex's favourite formation has been 4-4-2, with pacy/effective wingers and deadly striker(s) deployed. He has always played with this formation throughout his managerial career at United, except for the Cristiano Ronaldo days, where he rightly recognised the genius of Ronaldo and gave him a free rein in the attacking role. Even the present United team depends on service from wings, from the excellent Nani and Valencia, from the effective Giggs, tireless Park (though he has been woefully off colour of late) and the tricky Young. Their central midfielders' job are more of defence shielding, linking between attacking players and the defence, distribution to wide men. Chance creation through the centre has never been much of a forte of any United team (except for more than an occasional genius of Scholes), and the same holds true even today. In this traditional 4-4-2 formation, where exactly will Kagawa fit in?

Many say Kagawa would be taking up the central midfield role - he would be the successor of Paul Scholes. But, my concern is that Kagawa is not a central midfielder, the box to box midfielder that Scholes is - atleast not yet. Nor is he the kind of winger Nani and Valencia are. But given the 2 positions, I think Kagawa would make a better winger than a central mid. But then again, United are not short of options in that position for them to go out and buy somebody worth around 22 million euros as a backup.

You could expect United to change their formation to 4-2-3-1. They are very much capable of playing that way. But, in this case who will play the second striker role? One can argue that Rooney is more effective as a support striker than as a main striker. He has showed his prowess playing as a withdrawn sriker, and proved he is very much lethal in there. In this case, it obviously makes sense for Rooney to play in the second striker role, than Kagawa. Moreover, as seen throughout the season, Welbeck and Rooney work well together and it would not be a good idea to break up this blossoming, exciting partnership. Even in this formation, Kagawa does not find a place for himself.

MY OPINION

As has been opined and observed by many, and rightly so, the weakness of this United squad is their central midfield. Scholes is not getting any younger, and no player is even a quarter as good as him to fill in his boots. So, it makes sense to develop Kagawa as a central midfielder, rather than a winger or second striker. But, as pointed out earlier, he is not a natural box to box midfielder. He likes to operate further up the pitch, likes to get into the box, likes to be in a more attacking role. So, it could take time to develop him as a traditional central midfielder - and there's no guarantee that given that time, he would actually become good. There's considerable risk involved in this deal.

In my opinion, rather than Kagawa, if United had gone in for Wesley Sneijder, or even Christian Eriksen, they would have fit into their system more seamlessly. But, given the financial advantages that would follow signing up a Japanese player, probably this reason has been a major factor in this deal.

Nevertheless, personally, it has been a heartbreak seeing a player I admire going to a team I hate, but I've seen this all before (cue Alonso, Torres, Ozil) to affect my judgement much. But, it is really not good to see an up and coming, exciting player go to a team which does not fit his playing style. Then again, he could re-invent himself and do a Modric and be an instant hit in the new postition he would be played in, though I hope he doesn't. Hell, I hope he sticks with Borussia Dortmund for the rest of his life - surely Jurgen Klopp's project is too interesting a proposition to let go for an ill advised switch to a fancy team in EPL?