Loftus Versfeld Stadium
Paraguay 0-0 (5-3) Japan

After 120 minutes that was a punishment for attractive-football lovers like me, Paraguay beat Japan in a penalty shootout as Komano was the only Japanese who failed to score from the spot, hitting the crossbar. This was undoubtedly the most boring game of the world cup (there might be a few contenders but still) as both sides had no intention of keeping possession and creating some good movement. There was a lot of lifting the ball from defence to attack and even though we did have some hitting of the woodwork and turns and shots, it couldn’t change the dynamics of the game and it spelt out ‘B-O-R-E’! Both teams failed to convert the few chances they got and it went on to a penalty shootout. Barreto and Barrios for Paraguay and Endo and Hasebe for Japan converted their penalties to make it 2-2. Riveros made it 3-2 for Paraguay and Komano stepped of for the Asian side. He struck the cross bar with his penalty and this gave Paraguay the opportunity to take the game away. And take the game away they did, as Valdez and Cardozo converted easily and Japan had lost it despite Honda finishing his penalty off coolly. That was the end of a very boring game.

Green Point Stadium
Spain 1-0 Portugal

A million thanks to the Spanish for making up for the uneventful first match and beating Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal to set up a quarter final match against the South American team that won previously. It was an exciting first half that was mainly dominated by Spain, David Villa and Xavi the architects as their side dominated possession and kept testing Eduardo on the Portuguese goal. Portugal got their chances as Ronaldo’s freekick was tricky for Casillas and almost got in when he fumbled with it. Tiago took a shot too from 25 yards or so and Almeida almost headed the rebound in, but thanks to a stretching effort from the Real Madrid number 1 it remained 0-0. Spain continued their dominance in the second half with frequent breaks from Carlos Queiros’s side. Torres went off for Fernando Llorente in the one-hour mark, and the Athletic Bilbao forward had an immediate impact heading Ramos’s ball towards goal only to be denied by the Portuguese no. 1. In the 63rd minute, David Villa – who was undoubtedly the man of the match for an excellent performance – joined the top scorers of the tournament by scoring for Spain. He lashed on to Iniesta’s through ball and after he saw his initial shot denied by Eduardo he took a second from close range to make it 1-0 for the European champions! Spain continued playing their keep-the-ball game which is always lovely to watch and taking shots on goal. Just before full time, Ricardo Costa was sent off for a raised arm on Capdevila in the Spanish box. That was the end of it for Ronaldo’s side as they crashed out to a deserving Spain side.

Quarter finals – Match 4: Paraguay vs Spain

Moses Mabhida Stadium
Netherlands 2-1 Slovakia

The dutch made it past a decent Slovakia as Arjen Robben announced his arrival in the world cup. Their two key players, Robben and Sneijder scored to take them through to the quarter finals. The Bayern Munich star scored just before the 20 minute mark as he conrolled Sneijder’s beautiful ball on the right, made a run into the left that we are so used to and lashed it past the keeper with a left footer for 1-0. Slovakia got a couple of chances to level in the second half but thanks to the dutch keeper, it remained 1-0 till Sneijder found the back of the net in the 84th minute. A quickly taken freekick found its way to Kuyt on the left edge of the D and he took it over the keeper with a simple touch and pulled it back for Sneijder who coolly put it into an empty net to confirm their spot in the last 8. The Slovakians did pull one back right in the death as Vittek was brought down by the keeper and he put the resulting penalty through to make him the joint top scorer along with Higuain. Netherlands deserved to win but for a team that was compared to Cruyff’s total football team of the 70s, they haven’t lived up to their expectations in terms of the football they play.

Ellis Park Stadium
Brazil 3-0 Chile

The Samba boys showed the world what they were all about with one of the finest performances of the world cup yet,  to set up a dream fixture against the Dutch in the quarter finals. Dunga’s team outplayed a resilient Chile side who, try as they might, couldn’t match their excellence. After a few scares for the Brazilian defence, they finally took the lead when Juan rose high in the penalty box and headed in a corner kick. Just after two minutes or so, they doubled their lead with a delightful counter when Robinho charged down the left flank and squared it low for Kaka who played it up to Fabiano with a lovely first touch, and the Sevilla forward side stepped the keeper and tapped in for 2-0. Third goal came in the second half when Ramires made a run all the way from halfway line and fed Robinho in the box who scored his first goal of the World Cup by curling it past the Chilean keeper first time! Excellent performance from Brazil as they pose a threat to Netherlands and can easily go on to win the world cup if they play this way every game from now!

Quarter finals – Match 3: Netherlands vs Brazil

Free State Stadium
Germany 4-1 England

Germany put up a superb performance to humiliate England in a game that will be remembered for a goal that never was. The first goal came from Miroslav Klose, as Terry and Upson failed to deal with a direct goalkick and the striker capitalised as he met with the ball perfectly to put it past James into the bottom corner. Ten minutes later, Muller played a ball across to Podolski on the left of the box, and the Polish-born forward drove it across the goal and he was a bit lucky when the ball went through James’ legs, but that takes nothing away from the finish. Five minutes later, England got one back as Upson headed Gerrard’s lovely cross past the German keeper and it was game on! Just a minute later, Lampard came up with a beautiful chip from out of the area and beat the keeper. The ball hit the underside and landed inside the goal, clearly by a foot or so, but the goal was disallowed! This was the turning point for England and they failed to convert any more chances as the Germans ended their rampart in the second half. In the 67th minute, Schweinsteiger led a counter attack and played it outside on the right to Mueller who lashed it goalwards from distance. The keeper got a hand to it, but couldnt prevent it from becoming 3-1. Mueller scored a second about 2 minutes later from yet another counter attack led by Ozil this time. The youngster was no match for Barry as he rushed all the way down the left flank and perfectly squared it up for Mueller who put it past James. England were out of the world cup yet again and this time it was because of a thrashing from a young German side. They can blame the disallowed goal all they want, but it was horrible defending from them and Germans were just too good for them!

Tevez's strike

Soccer City Stadium
Argentina 3-1 Mexico

Yet another controversial game and the need for video technology for referees becoming inevitable now as we saw yet another blunder from them in this entertaining game that ended in a comfortable Argentinian victory.  Mexico looked strong in the beginning, till Tevez scored in the 26th minute. After the keeper charged out the ball fell at Messi’s feet and he chipped it on towards goal and Tevez, who was a yard or so offside headed it into the back of the net. From then on it was all Argentina and they found a second as Osorio gifted it to Higuain who rounded the keeper and finished to become the top scorer of the tournament for now. The third goal came in the second half and what a screamer it was from Tevez. He got possession of the ball just out of the box and smashed it into the top corner from there. Argentina were very poor on their attack after this and they hardly attacked as Mexico pulled one back as Man United’s own Javier Hernandez turned a defender and smashed it past the keeper on his near post. That was the end of another controversial game as Mexico were knocked out yet again by Argentina.

Quarter finals – Match 2: Germany vs Argentina

Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Uruguay 2-1 Korea Republic

The South American teams remained unbeaten as Uruguay became the first South American team except Brazil and Argentina to reach the quarter finals of the World Cup since Peru in 1978. Suarez scored a double for the men in blue, which took him to the top of the current top scorers of the tournament. Uruguay took the lead early in the first half, as Diego Forlans ball from the left was unattended by a bunch of Korean defenders and when goalkeeper failed to deal with it after going off the line, Suarez’s job was made easier as he side footed into an empty net from an acute angle. Uruguay played a laid back game after they took the lead, and Korea began to attack in the second half and created chances for themselves. It was worth their efforts, as the equalised in the 68th minute. The Uruguayan keeper came off his line to clear a Korean freekick but Bolton’s Lee Chung-yong got to it first and headed the equaliser. The goal woke the Uruguayans and made it an open game for the last half an hour or so. 10 minutes before time, Suarez struck what could well be the goal of the tournament, as he cut inside past two defenders on the edge of the box and curled it round the keeper towards the far post for the winner! The South Korean’s did get some clear chances to equalise but they took them straight at the keeper and the scoreline remained 2-1 in favour of Uruguay as they made their way into the quarter finals.

Royal Bafokeng Stadium
USA 1-2 Ghana

Ghana, the only African team in the knock out phase made it through to the quarter finals with a hard earned win over a very impressive USA team. Just 5 minutes into the game, Kevin Prince Boateng was gifted possession near the half line and he came up with a surging run towards goal and finished off with a low left foot drive to beat Tim Howard in his near post. It was end to end stuff, as Ghana dominated the first half and USA the second. The equaliser came from a penalty as Jonathan brought down Dempsey in the box and Donovan converted for 1-1! The game went into extra time and Ghana scored early in the first half again! Gyan, their top scorer, controlled the ball from over the top and blasted a volley past Howard from distance with two defenders breathing down his neck! Superb individual effort and another potential goal-of-the-tournament! Ghana managed to keep USA from scoring and eventually went through to the next round.

Quarter finals – Match 1: Uruguay vs Ghana

Group A
Favourites: France and Mexico
The runners up of the last world cup, under Raymond Domenech played out a disappointing campaign, barred by controversy and disunion of the team. Mexico impressed with some attractive football and so did Uruguay with Diego Forlan.

South Africa (Tshabalala) 1-1 Mexico (Marquez)
Uruguay 0-0 France

South Africa 0-3 Uruguay (Forlan, Forlan, Pereira)
France 0-2 Mexico (Blanco, Hernandez)

Mexico 0-1 Uruguay (Suarez)
France(Malouda) 1-2 South Africa (Khumalo, Mphela)

Winners: Uruguay
Runners up: Mexico

Group B
Favourites: Argentina and Korea Republic (South Korea)
Argentina won 3 out of 3 games and scored plenty of goals under Maradona, and Messi finally shone on the international stage despite scoring no goals at all. South Korea took the second spot as they won a game and drew one. Greece also recorded their first world cup victory ever, but failed to qualify.

Korea Republic (Lee, Park) 2-0 Greece
Argentina (Heinze) 1-0 Nigeria

Argentina (Park, Higuain, Higuain, Higuain) 4-1 Korea Republic (Lee)
Greece (Salpigidis, Torisidis) 2-1 Nigeria (Uche)

Nigeria (Uche, Yakubu) 2-2 Korea Republic (Lee, Park)
Greece 0-2 Argentina (Dimichelis, Palermo)

Winners: Argentina
Runners up: Korea Republic

Group C
Favourites: England and USA
England ended a nervy group stage with a promising performance after ending their first two games in frustrating and unconvincing draws. USA on the other hand, impressed to finish top.

England (Gerrard) 1-1 USA (Dempsey)
Algeria 0-1 Slovenia (Koren)

Slovenia (Birsa, Ljubijankic) 2-2 USA (Donovan, Bradley)
England 0-0 Algeria

Slovenia 0-1 England (Defoe)
USA (Donovan) 1-0 Algeria

Winners: USA
Runners up: England

Group D
Favourites: Germany and Australia
Germany finished top despite shockingly losing to Serbia and Ghana pipped the Aussies to finish second on goal difference.

Serbia 0-1 Ghana (Gyan)
Germany (Podolski, Klose, Muller, Cacau) 4-0 Australia

Germany 0-1 Serbia (Javanovic)
Ghana (Gyan) 1-1 Australia (Holman)

Ghana 0-1 Germany (Ozil)
Australia (Cahill, Holman) 2-1 Serbia (Pantelic)

Winners: Germany
Runners up: Ghana

Group E
Favourites: Netherlands and Cameroon
Cameroon lost all their games to finish bottom of the group, while Netherlands went through with full marks. Japan surprised Denmark to beat them on the way to the round of 16.

Netherlands (Agger, Kuyt) 2-0 Denmark
Japan (Honda) 1-0 Cameroon

Netherlands (Sneijder) 1-0 Japan
Cameroon (Eto’ o) 1-2 Denmark (Bendtner, Rommedahl)

Denmark (Tomasson) 1-3 Japan (Honda, Endo, Okazaki)
Cameroon (Eto’ o) 1-2 Netherlands (van Persie, Huntelaar)

Winners: Netherlands
Runners Up: Japan

Group F
Favourites: Italy and Paraguay
The holders drew two of their games and lost to the Slovaks to get knocked out along with runners up. Marcello Lippi, their coach was blamed the most for his squad selection. Paraguay, like the other South Americans played out a good group stage.

Italy (De Rossi) 1-1 Paraguay (Alcaraz)
New Zealand (Reid) 1-1 Slovakia (Vittek)

Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay (Vera, Riveros)
Italy (Iaquinta) 1-1 New Zealand (Smeltz)

Slovakia (Vittek, Vittek, Kopunek) 3-2 Italy (Di Natale, Quagliarella)
Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand

Winners: Paraguay
Runners up: Slovakia

Group G
Favourites:  Brazil and Portugal
The group of death. Big fixtures were played out in this group but Brazil finished top and Portugal second as the highly anticipated
Brazil vs Portugal game turned out to be a boring stalemate. But we did see Kaka get red carded and Portugal playe out a seven star drubbing against DPR Korea.

Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal

Brazil (Maicon, Elano) 2-1 DPR Korea (Ji)

Brazil (Fabiano, Fabiano, Elano) 3-1 Ivory Coast (Drogba)
Portugal (Raul, Simao, Almeida, Tiago, Liedson, Ronaldo, Tiago) 7-0 DPR Korea

Korea DPR 0-3 Ivory Coast (Toure, Romaric, Kalou)
Portugal 0-0 Brazil

Winners: Brazil
Runners up: Portugal

Group H
Favourites: Spain and Chile
This group produced yet another shocker in the world cup as Spain lost to Switzerland, but they recovered to finish on top followed by a very impressive Chile side. Also, Villa missed a penalty which would have made it the second hat-trick of the world cup.

Honduras 0-1 Chile (Beausejour)
Spain 0-1 Switzerland (Fernandez)

Chile (Gonzalez) 1-0 Switzerland
Spain (Villa, Villa) 2-0 Honduras

Switzerland 0-0 Honduras
Chile (Millar) 1-2 Spain (Villa, Iniesta)

Winners: Spain
Runners up: Chile

So those were the group stages. They started out a bit boring, with very few goals to entertain us, but they got more and more interesting and produced many upsets, biggest of them all being – France and Italy, the former finalists getting knocked out. We saw lot of entertaining football from the likes of Spain, Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Chile even. All the South American teams were unbeaten and qualified for the knockout phase of the tournament. The Asian teams put up a good performance too and two of them went through. Surprises mainly came against the European giants but everybody except France and Italy went through despite some shock results. African teams might have not lived up to their expectations but Ghana did come through and special mention needs to made for the hosts South Africa. They are the first host country to get knocked out in the group stages in world cup history, but they played it all in good will and only went out on goal difference. They managed to beat France and their fans are some of the best in the world.

So these are the fixtures for the next round:

26th, Saturday:
Uruguay vs Korea Republic
USA vs Ghana

27th, Sunday:
Argentina vs Mexico
Germany vs England

28th, Monday:
Netherlands vs Slovakia
Brazil vs Chile

29th, Tuesday:
Paraguay vs Japan
Spain vs Portugal

So those are some exciting fixures, especially England vs Germany and Spain vs Portugal. Its been one hell of a world cup till now, and it can only get better.

So yesterday, my friend asked me to come and play a match with him and I was like ‘What the hell? You’ve been sitting it out in the last two months anyway. One match wont hurt’. Before I started the match, I wasn’t even sure if I could do anything but jog and pass the ball around. But when I started, I surprised myself. Once the heat of the game gets on to you – and I mean heat literally – you can’t help forgetting about your injury. Its like a buzz, but along with the buzz comes the hangover too. I’ll get to that part later.

So yesterday’s match was the first time I played proper football in two months or so. We were playing against the Andhra Pradesh under-19 state team and we drew 0-0. In the beginning, I was concerned about my leg and watched my steps, but eventually I got on with the game and began to jog and even burst into a few sprints. I wasn’t playing my usual game of tracking back and running all around because clearly my leg wasn’t fit. I had to play on the left flank so I did get a few passes right and one cross, which I gave with my right foot after cutting back. I tried to play a little physical against the right back too, and did quite well but overall, I did mess up a bit. My problem was the high balls. I could deal pretty well with the ground ones and the passes. But because of the strain in my knee, I found it hard to stop the air balls. I got a nice chance to finish it one on one with the keeper when I got a cross from the right side over the defenders, but I failed to control the ball and it bounced over me, so I messed that up.

But we did draw 0-0 against the state team, though we played only one half. The second half we played some other amateur team, and we steamrolled them, atleast in terms of football and dominance(weird, I know). It was a very boring and pointless game, because they hardly knew their football. Nobody on our side was taking it seriously, and we actually lost. But noone cared, everybody taking it very lightly, 11 men forward, something like that. They actually went 2-0 up, but we were only laughing, making fun of each other for it. I lined up a cross from the right flank area, quite ahead of halfline but not close to the touchline. I tried to curl it in for the forwards in the box but it flew into the top corner of the goal and the keeper couldn’t do anything about it. A fluke, I agree – something that was almost a really good cross became a lucky goal – something like Dinho’s goal against England in the 02 World Cup. Since this team was much easier, I could easily go down the right flank and put in many more crosses but it’d be wrong to judge myself on this performance.

But one thing I know now – when I lined the ball up for myself, pulled my leg back and whipped a cross into the area, I was the happiest man on earth. Before these two months I kind of doubted myself – will I make it as a professional football player, atleast in some small time club in some quiet country? Now, I have no doubt in my mind. I was BORN to do this. This is my thing. It gives me all the happiness in the world. It gives me ecstasy. I’m going to recover completely from this injury, and I’m going to slog it off on the pitch. I’m going to practice and practice and improve my football tremendously. And to recover, I’m going to see a proper orthopedist today, someone that I’ve been referred to.

And now to the hangover part. The game was nice, ecstatic, okay really cool. But after the game I played a few crosses and after I was done, I knew I was screwed, and I was. Bigtime. After changing, I couldn’t walk properly without complaining like a hag. I limped slightly. My knee hurt like shit. I came home, rubbed some ice to it, that relieved it a bit, but I had fucked myself over playing that game. I couldn’t sleep all night because my knee hurt. And when I stepped out of bed in the morning, I could hardly move, cramps all over – hips, thighs, abdomen. So today I’m going to see a different doctor and I’ll get two things cleared up – WHAT is wrong with my knee? WHEN will it be fine again?

Inter won their first European title since 1965, and Mourinho his second as two Diego Milito goals on the swiftest of counters saw the Portuguese get the better of his mentor from Barcelona. Bayern, who missed the suspended Frank Ribery, dominated possession but failed to create any clear chances. Inter were superior only on two aspects – their defence and their counter attack, and this won them the Champions League final. Hats off to Mourinho as he definitely deserves most of the credit for Inter success. He will probably be on his way of to Madrid but he will leave a mark as one of Italy’s and the worlds best manager.

Arjen Robben was the heart of Bayern’s attack as van Gaal’s boys did everything right till they got to the final third. Praise for this goes to the Inter defence as the likes of Walter Samuel, Maicon and Lucio did well to deny the Bayern players any sort of space around the D. With Zanetti and even Eto’o falling back sometimes, Robben and co. couldn’t complete any of their movements. Philipp Lahm had a good game, as he defended well and supported the attacks too. But Inter’s quick outbursts totally caught the German’s by surprise as two of them led to the winning goals. The first one came in the 35th minute and involved only 3 players – Julio Cesar struck the ball all the way into the Bayern half to Milito, who exchanged it with a lovely flick with Sneijder and finished wonderfully with his instep giving Butt no chance to get to it. The only other significant chances in the first half were two on-target freekicks from Sneijder, the first one causing a dive from Butt.

Bayern started the second half on a high as they burst into Inter’s box and Olic found Mueller free, and the German’s finish was saved by the legs of Julio Cesar but he should have done better with what was Bayern’s best opportunity of the game. The next chance to equalize fell to Robben, or he created it rather, when he cut in from the right and produced a curler that was finding its way to the back of the net, till Julio Cesar denied it with a great save. After Bayern had spurned their chances, Inter punished them with yet another counter-attack as Eto’o played it to Milito again in the edge of the box, and the Argentinian beat Van Buyten with a perfectly executed drop of the shoulder and put it past the keeper with a similar finish to the first.

Bayern had seen their chances and hadn’t taken better advantage of them and Inter had punished them on the counter-attack. 20 minutes was too much for van Gaal’s side to do anything about the 2-0 deficit, and Mourinho eventually lifted his second Champions League cup.

When I was done with my exams in March end, I had my whole holidays planned. I hadn’t really performed well in my exams, and I got 77%, and was promoted. But those were the least of my worries as I had a big summer to look ahead to. Climax of the football season, two sessions of football per day for myself, hopefully begin studying for the SAT and IELTS exams, the Athletes in Action camp and of course, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. I had IIT classes in the summer till mid-May, though that didn’t keep me from training everyday. After about three weeks of football training, I decided it was time for me to start training twice a day. I decided I’d do all the fitness in the morning – jogging, sprints, skipping, gyming, etc. and play after a little warm up in the evening. But on the first day of my evening sessions, in the end of a pretty decent game, I encountered with, what turned out to be my first ever real time injury. And it was sort of clumsy.

I was receiving a long ball with my left foot, I was trying to keep it in. I jumped for the ball and stopped it with the instep of my left foot, and while landing (this is the funny part), the studs on my left foot landed on my right knee while I was in the air, rather too quickly. There was a nasty jerk, and I had to shake it off for quite sometime, but I did continue playing though I felt an uneasy discomfort on my knee. But that was almost the end of the game, and I went back home normally and went to bed. But the next day when I woke up and put my feet on the ground, I could hardly walk straight!

For someone who has been bruised a hundred times while playing, the best treatment to which has been some water to wash it off maybe, this was an unpleasant surprise. I had played through swellings, cuts, muscle pulls and what not. But this was a totally different feeling. It was like my knee would give in beneath me.  I just couldn’t play however hard I tried. I did try once or twice in between but I could feel my knee was only getting worse. I waited for two weeks, thinking it would proabably heal on its own. When there was no improvement, I saw a doctor – an orthopaedist.

Tablets, pain relief sprays, bone scans, physiotherapy sessions – I had them all in the last two and a half months. And finally, after all of them failed, today, I lay down on the movable table, watching it slide into the huge circular scanner and bore all the loud buzzing and knocking sounds, as the MRI of my knee was taken. The result is due this afternoon and I’ll finally know what exactly is up with my leg.

It might turn out to be a normal knee sprain that’ll gradually heal, but I really am worried now. Initially, I thought it was just a knock, that would probably heal in 2-3 weeks maximum. I gave it one month, and now almost two and with people telling me to stop worrying about football and start concentrating on my studies, it gets a little bit scary sometimes.

My dad told me his story of how he sprained his knee, something which I had no idea about. He used to play football a lot, not professionally of course, when he was younger. When he was preparing for some tournament of his, when he was about 28, someone knocked his knee with his boot and it turned out to be a serious ligament tear. He had surgery done on it and his doctor told him he could never play football again. He still plays cricket, and on some occasions some light football, when he is 50 years old, which I really respect about him. But the idea of never being to play proper football again is some sort of an impossibility for me. Only I know how much I love playing football and how happy it makes me.

About 3-4 years ago, when I had started playing serious football, I had made up my mind that I was going to play professionalfootball at some level, which would keep me happy whether it earned my huge paychecks or not, and my mind is still made up. Injuries are a part and of the game, and I’ve just had my first bitter taste of them. I am sure I will get through this however sour a phase it is. Bad as it is, the biggest advantage of this injury is that, now, I have realized the importance of football. I have realized how happy it makes me and how empty my life is without football (no kidding!). Everytime I was upset or sad, I would start kicking around a ball, juggling or shooting at a wall, and it would make me feel so much better. It is the best friend I ever had. My football was always there for me. It makes me happy and there is no other life for me. Everytime I put my foot through that ball with proper connection or when I ran down the grass at full speed with the ball at my feet, it gave me ecstasy and delight, and I miss that feeling now. My parents probably think that this is just one of those teen obsessions everybody has, and that I’ll probably get over it soon. In fact, I can find a million other people who think that way. But only I know how happy football makes me.

I wake up early every morning and go to the ground, do about 3 kms of jogging, sprints and shuttle running, followed by cardios, gym and stretching before I get my first kick of the ball. And it doesn’t seem like a pain. Its not like sitting and studying for an exam, but it is hard work nevertheless. But I’d rather not call it hard work, because I love doing it. It gives me happiness. I know that football is meant for me, and now, I have realized how much important it is for me. I’ve had all the freedom I could probably need in the last two months. I had the computer, internet, TV, Premier League football, friends, alcohol, all that I could ask for. You can tell me about unfortunate people all around the world who are worse off than me. But my life was nothing but hell in the last two months. Without football, everything else I talked about was useless. I’d go to bed unsatisfied and wake up sad person. Some people can probably relate to me or sympathize with me but nobody, I repeat NOBODY, knows how I feel.

So here I am, on the 22nd of May, waiting for my MRI scan result to come out, when I have the Athletes In Action camp, one of the best coaching experiences I have ever had till now in exactly 9 days. The chances of me making it to camp look grim, but one thing I’m sure of. Once I’m on my feet again and 100% fit to play, I will devote myself to football. Obviously, I’ll have to study a lot too, because my board exams are coming up at the end of this term, but I will train harder than ever and work on all aspects of my game once I’m fit to do so. I know how much this means to me now, and I know that there is no life for me without football.

I end by quoting Eric Cantona to make my point more clear -
“If you have only one passion in life – football – and you pursue it to the exclusion of everything else, it becomes very dangerous. When you stop doing this activity it is as though you are dying. The death of that activity is a death in itself.”

A Didier Drogba freekick was the only difference between an already relegated Pompey and the champions of England, Chelsea, in an enthralling FA Cup final.

Chelsea failed to take the lead in an eventful first half despite striking the woodwork 5 times, and keeping David James on his toes on plenty of occasions. Frank Lampard struck the outside of the post from 35-odd yards, but Portsmouth gave an immediate reply through a close range chance for Piquionne to divert Boateng’s shot. Petr Cech got to it but the Portsmouth front man should’ve made better of what could be called a sitter. We did have a better definition of a sitter on the other end, as Cole did well to tee it up to Kalou who hit the cross bar from right infront of the goal! No keeper to block his shot from about 2-3 yards but somehow, he missed! Next, John Terry’s header went off the bar from Malouda’s freekick, and it was beginning to look like the ‘the Cup Magic’ spell for Portsmouth.

35 minutes into the game, after a tussle with Michael Ballack, Kevin Boateng came right back at him with a nasty challenge on his ankle, which would keep the German captain from playing in South Africa. Ballack was eventually subbed off for Belletiti and no action was taken on Boateng. But the resulting freekick almost punished Portsmouth as Didier Drogba saw his amazingly struck freekick from disance tipped to the bar by David James. The Ivorian hit the woodwork once more as his shot from an acute angle on the left beat James, but not the near post.

That was the end to an exciting first half of Chelsea dominance, but the first chance of the second came to Pompey and what a chance it was! Ten minutes into the half, Dindane was brought down by Belletti from behind in the box and Boateng took the resulting penalty. And a terrible effort it was, as he put it straight down the middle without enough pace, and Petr Cech got a leg to it despite diving to his right. About two minutes later, the young German-born Ghanaian was punished for missing his chance, as Didier Drogba beautifully converted his freekick to beat David James. His freekick beat the wall and beautifully dipped to the right bottom corner, and the sixth time Chelsea hit the woodwork, they got lucky.

Nadir Belhadj came on for Hayden Mullins some 10 minutes before time, and a good substitution it was. The Algerian, who’s set to meet England in the World Cup campaign, got immediately involved in the game and sent in some dangerous crosses to threaten the Chelsea defence. Chelsea did get a chance to put the game to bed as Lampard went down in the box as his path was blocked by Brown. Lampard took the resulting penalty but surprisingly, he put it wide! But that was not enough for Portsmouth as the game ended 1-0 and Pompey and their loyal fans had to settle for the silver medals as the controversy struck club had this to add to their woes. They had actually put up a decent performance, some constructive work by the defence and midfield, but the men upfront just couldn’t finish off their chances. David James had been amazing between the sticks and Aaron Makoena, the South African captain had a really good game, blocking off shots from Chelsea players and fighting for his team. He’ll look forward to a good tournament back at home. But Chelsea were definitely the better team, threatening in the first half and getting their result in the second. Drogba’s freekick had just won them their first domestic double and it was all celebrations for the Londoners.

Roma, under the leadership of Claudio Ranieri, put up a great fight right till the end of the season, but it was Jose’s Internazionale who prevailed as Champions of Italy. Roma had done all that they could by taking a 2-0 lead in their first half through s Vucinic volley and a De Rossi belter from distance, and as things stood at half time they could just pip Inter for the title if the scoreline remained 0-0 at Siena. But Diego Milito, who had been outstanding all season scoring 21 goals upto date, scored his 22nd and probably the most important one as he tapped in Zanetti’s through ball past the keeper. It was sad for Roma as they had come out of nowhere and beaten AC Milan and Juventus to give a totally different outlook to the title race in Italy, but Jose’s Inter have won the title and are one match away from securing a treble for the Italian side.

Bayern, on the other hand had won two parts of what could be their treble as they beat a relegated Hertha 3-1 a weak earlier to secure the Bundesliga title. The key players to their campaign were top scorer Arjen Robben, inform striker Ivaca Olic and ofcourse evergreen right back Philipp Lahm. Louis van Gaal will be looking to win the treble for them and reinstill their historic pride by beating Mourinho’s Inter in the Bernabeu. So it will be a mouth watering final in Madrid as we have non-English and non-Spanish finalists after quite a long time. It will be a good change, and for once I can watch the Champions League final without worrying myself about who’s going to win, no pressure.

Now over to Spain, where, Barcelona with over 60% of possession and two Lionel Messi goals, secured another typical 4-0 win and the Spanish title itself, as Real Madrid themselves lost points on a 1-1 draw to Malaga. The Barcelona – Valladolid game was like any other Barca game as the Spanish champions dominated the relegation threatened team and conceded some threat themselves only in the first and last 10 minutes of the game. They opened their scoring through a horrendous own goal, as Pedro’s ball in from the touch line to a D-box full of Vallodolid players was turned into the goal by Valladolid defender Prieto. After 5 minutes, the youngster scored himself as Messi was the architect, bringing the ball all the way from halfline and playing it to him near the edge. Little Pedrito made no mistake by slotting it through the keeper’s feet for 2-0. The rest was a Lionel Messi show as the little Argentinian tapped in Toure’s wonderful ball into the area for the first. Toure did a wonderful job by beating two players down the right and pulling it back for Messi from the corner of the box. Messi’s second goal was a solo effort as he cut around two defenders and finished it quick and simple into the bottom corner, from the edge of the box. That was goal number 47 of the campaign for little Leo as he equalled Ronaldo’s (the fat one) record for the club.

Real Madrid on the other hand, threw away all their chances of clinching the title from Barca on the last day bay conceding an early first half goal from Duda. They did equalise through a fantastic finish from Van der Vaart but even a win, which they didn’t get, couldn’t have won them the title. It was meant to be right from the beginning of the season, when president Perez was spending all his bucks on big names like Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema, Alonso, etc. I’ve been watching the last few games of Real Madrid’s campaign and it is clearly evident that it’s a bunch of stars playing in a team, not a team brought together through experience and hardwork. You can clearly see that players like Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, etc. have no fear of anybody. They have taken their position in their team for granted and aren’t scared of anybody. Well not the manager atleast. Manuel Pelligrini is clearly a puppet in Real, living in the fear of losing his job rather than concentrating on the team’s performance. As a matter of fact, I think that has been the case since Fabio Capello was boss. Real Madrid clearly need commitment from their players and illogical as it sounds, they have to offload some of their stars to reduce ego and actually build a team. We have heard about so many disputes over the season, Higuain – Ronaldo, Guti – Pelligrini, etc. The only players I can see actually commited to the club are the home grown ones – Raul, Guti and Casillas – two of which are on their way out. So even though Real managed to stay on the chase till the end of the season, they are far from being one of the best teams in Europe.

Instead, just look at the Barcelona squad. 14 out of 23 are home grown players, and Gaurdiola has done extremely well in bringing up players like Bojan, Pedro, Busquets and Jeffren from the academy into the mainteam limelight. There is a huge difference between buying stars and making them. That is why I like Barcelona and Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United so much. Big names are made here and good football is created. True, Barcelona have spent a lot themselves, bringing in Ibrahimovich and Henry, but neither of them have played a major part in the season as a whole, though they have had their share of football. This season too, Barcelona are going big on the market and they are close to signing David Villa and Cesc Fabregas and they are also being linked to Fernando Torres as they look to send Henry and Ibra away from Camp Nou. Those are some of the world’s best players and there will be lot of money spent on all of them, but Barcelona are following a particular style of play here. Gaurdiola is clearly a supporter of total football, attractive and good looking football and he’s trying to build an invincible, slick-passing team. Its like the Spanish national team and we all saw what they can do in Euro 2008, only this time they have the world’s best striker, Lionel Messi to score the goals for them. So Barcelona, for me, is one of the world’s best team in Europe or the world despite failing to make it to the finals of the Champions League.

Its been a season of ups and downs, surprises and thrills but overall it has been very unpredictable. It was heartbreaking to watch Manchester United finish it with nothing but the League Cup, when, at one point, it looked like they were heading for a treble themselves. Lot of my predictions have gone wrong and I’ve been heartbroken at many instances, so I’ve made a big decision for myself now.  I never make predictions and I never will, the great Paul Gascoigne once said, and this I am going to follow as a motto starting today.