REAL MADRID
Havent seen (tearing my hairs out) any decent football..so am totally out of date with football, read in harish's blog that Real Madrid suffered a "shocking" 3-0 defeat. If you have players of the caliber of Figo/Zidane/ronaldo/raul/becks..and so many others..any defeat would be shocking. I always think the current Real Madrid team was a outcome of some schoolboys fantasy, if you ask a kid to take a paper and write down his dream team, inevitably 90% of the players would the ones who are there in Real Madrid.

But football tournaments (not matches) are not always won on fantasies..they are won on teamwork, grit and great defences. As the Italians say "attack wins matches, defnese wins tournaments". Though you have some rare flashes when some team will come out with an all out emphasis on attack and carry all before it(brazil in 2002, 1970)..but over the history of the sport more than 90% of the tournamentst have been won by solid defence allied with attacking flair..defense then offense.. remember Italy in 1982, Brazil in 1994, France in 1998, Germany in 1990, Germany in 1996 European Cup, Denmark in 1992 Euro?? All these teams were fundamentally based on solid, great defense. Though I admit it doesnt make great TV as compared to attacking soccer. Remember Euro 2000?? in my opinion the most exciting soccer tournament I have seen. I wish I had seen the 1970 World cup live. That would have been something. Even the last world cup, the accent was more on attack. Did somebody get a chance to see the 1995 (?) Copa America...? amazing display of attacking soccer, if by any chance u get hold of the tapes.. dont hesitate!!

After the 1990-94 world cup , i kept hearing people bemoaning fact that the matches were "boring", lack of attcking soccer, defensive modes etc , but if we see with hindsight we have come full circle..nowdays the accent is more on attacking, flair football. Its all a cycle my friend ..all a cycle.

Coming back to Real Madrid, with their weak defense they will always be suspect to "shocking defeats". They are too top heavy to win consistently. The other great Real Madrid team of the 1960s , which won 5 european cups was more balanced in the sense that there were 2..no 3 i think all time great players and the others played around them . This team's philosophy seems to be to get the 11 best players in the world (defense ??somebody forgot i guess) and then build a team around them. Sorry, never works and never will..especially in club soccer .

LARA, kya hai mara!!
the Prince has done it again, 400 in test cricket, the batting milestones seem to be falling like nine-pins. this should be the final jawab to all the doubting thomases , who claimed that Lara was on the wane, or said he didnt deserve the tag of "Great" any longer. To bat 12 hours, and score 400 when one is 20 odd days away from his 35th birthday , simply exhibits the class of the man. what do they..Form is temporary , Class is permanent.

Mrs Gavaskar , once commented, "Sunil is my favorite batsman, but if I have to ask someone to bat for my life it would be Miandad" Since that streefighter from karachi has long gone into retirement, if i have to pick one of today's players to bat for my life..it would be Lara. Bevan would have been another option but his test match performances (or the lack of ) rule him out. The number of times he has risen above the surrounding mediocrity and taken his team to victory on his own sheer brilliance is extraordinary. I am bowing to the inevitable and again making a comparison Sachin vs Lara.
Sachin is like a solid throughbred racehorse, honest, terribly talented, in a race, every punter will bet on him by default because his sheer consistency stands out above others. Lara is more like a maverick horse , in a normal race you wont bet on him, but cometh a big race, he will suddenly summon all his genius together and come out with a jaw widening effort. The risk-takers dream.