Can't say that I did not see it coming

Just last night, after spending a couple of hours following reviews of the day's action and previews of Saturday's action from the World Cup, I noticed the headline 'Federer to open against Gasquet'. Totally surprised that that could even be possible, paid a long delayed visit to www.wimbledon.org. Out there, the articles had started, the previews were in and the draw was out. Using Mozilla's text search, quickly scanned through the four quarters of the draw to find out where Agassi was. 25th seed! And slated to play Nadal in the third round. That's if his back holds.

Anyway, read through 'Agassi's Last Wimbledon Hurrah?' and reflected. This hasn't been the first year that I am seeing an article question his presence next year. In the past few years, have read quite of few of those that very confidently predicted the retirement of the man. All this, when Agassi himself has been very clear that he fully intends to be playing the next year. However, last night, I could not get myself to sneer at the article. Instead, I cursed the freak injury he suffered last year playing squash, which completely dampened the momentum from the US Open and set him back this year. So, I guess that somewhere deep down, I had realised that the rest of this year would indeed be his last hurrah. But after it surfaced last night, there was just nowhere to hide. I wondered, 'Does tennis matter anymore?'. Immediate thoughts went to my total disregard for Roland Garros until the finals. I remembered that I didn't even care to read the interviews of the players after the finals. I remembered going to sleep immediately after the last point, not even interested in the prize distribution. Not that I expected Agassi to reach the finals this year, but he wasn't even there. So, did it even matter? Only if Federer won it, I guess. And that too, due to the monumental significance of that moment, if it had happened, rather than any personal interest in the player.

With those thoughts being the last recollections from last night, I woke this morning to the sound of the shrill alarm. 10 mins before Germany took on Sweden! Hastily, dragged me, the laptop and a pillow to the couch for a morning of entertainment. Opening up BBC Sport for a quick scan, I could not believe that Agassi's distinct eyes were looking right at me from the top of the page. The headline read 'Agassi announces retirement date'!!! You would assume that having thought about the same last night, I would be better prepared to deal with it. Maybe I was. Which is probably why the laptop is intact.

Anyway, not being the very emotional sort, I proceeded to read through the contents and the tributes that were already flowing. And then, life continued....Germany scored twice early, won easily from there on, got caught up chatting with a friend and then Argentina came on and stroked the senses. Not quite vintage, but the mesmerizing ability of this entire squad on and off the ball is something to behold. Theoretically, the high from the injury time wonder strike should have lasted the entire day. Surprisingly, it didn't last much longer past the final whistle.

Unsurprising, considering that AGASSI IS GOING TO RETIRE!!!

I'm going PUBLIC

All of a sudden, without being provoked, I sent out a mail to this buddy of mine with a World Cup predictor. Why not make it public, I thought.

WINNER - Argentina

• Both HEART and MIND say so. They both can't be wrong!!!
• They would have played a brand of football that would send the world into delirium

FINALS - Argentina vs Brazil

• I thought that Carlos Tevez is just another striker. NOPE, was wrong! He will beat Lucio to score the winner from a Messi assist. Sweeeeeet!!!
• Messi would give a live tutorial to the opposing Robinho and the watching Rooney about how a 19 year old should play a World Cup Final
• The 'Hand of God' will be mentioned during the victory celebration
  

SEMI-FINALS

July 4th - Argentina vs Italy

• Messi will run circles, squares, rectangles and triangles through the Italian defense
• James Horner will be forced to take note of the Riquelme conducted orchestra
  

July 5th - Brazil vs Holland

• Two technically brilliant teams. Bound to be tight, but there will be space for those that can create it. Holland seem to be playing a little too physical though. One of their key players MIGHT miss out due to yellow card trouble
• Ronaldo would either not play or be close to his best. Cannot see him being persisted with if he cannot move or control the ball like in the first two matches
  

QUARTER-FINALS

Argentina vs Sweden

• Sweden would beat Germany in the round of 16 stage. I WISH that Germany would win though. That way, Argentina can extract PERFECT revenge for 1990 WC final.
  

England vs Holland

• My sincerest personal apology to Mr.Rooney, but I cannot accept Terry/Lampard going further
• IFFFFFFFF Holland go on to win the World Cup, they would have played Arg, Portugal, England, Brazil and Arg. MIGHTY IMPRESSIVE!!!

Italy vs XXXXX

• This one is really hard to predict. I hope that France will come through, but increasingly, that looks unlikely
  
• If France does not come through, it could be the winner of Korea vs Ukraine. Ewwww!

Brazil vs Spain

• If France finish second in their group, they would play Spain in the round of 16. And I favour France to squeak through and play Brazil in the QF. Another Ronaldinho vs Henry matchup
  

NOTABLE ROUND OF 16 GAMES

Holland vs Portugal

• Again, my apologies to Christiano Ronaldo. But the trickster cannot compensate for a fumbling bumbling Figo. Plus Robben and Van Persie look BLOODY impressive.
• Mourinho's long face will only get longer
  

Brazil vs Czech Republic

• This will be THE GAME where Ronaldinho gets the space to dance to the Samba. Even Maradona will be cheering!

FYI....As is typical, the comments section will remain empty, but this time around, updates as the games happen will be mentioned in the comments section. Both, cheers and the brickbats won't be in moderation.

Thoughts from the First Week

It comes once every four years, and when it does, the world watches in rapt attention. Unlike cricket though, the interim period does not ensure heavyweight international fights equivalent to the Ashes, India-Pak, Aus-SA etc. For instance, when was the last time Argentina played Germany? I don't know the answer to that one. But I do know that the last time Argentina played Holland was back in 1998. As you might know, 9 months of every year is taken up by the club fixtures, thus depriving the internationals of any time. Don't get me wrong, club football enthralls and holds my undivided attention. But how about working out a balance between club matches and Internationals? Anyway, this is not the time to moan, considering that there has been enough happening to spark a full-fledged celebration. So, let's talk about that...

Memory can be tricky. There are those that swear that anything past was best, while current trend is to call the latest the greatest. Not sure about my judgment either. But to my mind, the fare dished out at this WC has been nothing short of exhilarating. And I do not remember this sensation during the '94, '98 or '02 WCs.

Being a sucker for the traditional giants, I did not appreciate the sensational runs of South Korea and Senegal last time around. As I write, we are mid-way through the second round of group matches and but for France, all the heavyweights have won their matches and look poised to take their place in the second round. Ivory Coast, Ghana have shown a lot of skill and fight and can consider themselves unlucky to be going out at the group stage. But the way I see it, their duty is to come to the party, make it interesting and fly back at the end of the second week. 270 minutes of glory should be good enough for teams with 1 or 2 stars.

Check this out. If things go according to plan (my plan, that is), a possible list of second round matches look like this..

England vs Germany
Argentina/Nederlands vs Portugal
Italy/Czech Republic vs Brazil
France vs Spain

And before that happens, we have Argentina vs Nederlands and Czech Republic vs Italy coming up from the final round of the group stage. Enough matchups there to make me seriously consider giving up my carefully saved up India vacation time for a visit to an English pub to watch the games. And I might as well have done so if my colleagues/managers weren't exactly watching all the games at work.

Exhilarating is good. Big names are great. Open football is even better. But without quality goals, football would not be the five course meal at Caesar's Palace that it is meant to be. Happily, ever since Lahm started the deluge 6 minutes after the World Cup started, by cutting in from the left flank, and placing the ball at the top right corner of the goal, the wonder strikes have rained incessantly. What about Frings' thunderbolt in the same match....or, the Riquelme conducted orchestra aided and abetted by Saviola...or, Tevez wrongfooting one defender and then nutmegging the next before slotting one home against Serbia....or, Rosicky's couple of blinders against the USA. We are only 1 week into the tournament and I can vouch that atleast a couple of these will rank above the best from '02. And I am not even talking about the one that Argentina scored, or should I say composed today against Serbia. To compare it to a goal from recent memory is travesty. As a BEAUTIFUL goal, to my amateur and prejudiced mind, it ranks above the 1970 classic scored by the Brazilians. 25 passes!!! That's right. 25 passes in the Serb half, slowly working the ball around, treading it through non-existent spaces, building up momentum, a delightful breakthrough pass by Saviola, a magnificient one-two between Cambiasso and Crespo and then an elegantly simple finish!!! 'Beautiful goal' does not do justice and neither does my football parlance.

Which leads me nicely to the form of the Argentines. Thanks to the aforementioned reason about a lack of Internationals between World Cups, I am watching them in action for the first time since 2002, and if you know what happened there, you can be sure that there are no pleasant memories from then. So, to go from that to what the world is witnessing now, is a quantum shift in ability, elegance and more importantly, results (thus far). Two rounds into the group of death, the qualifiers are set and their order to be determined coming Wednesday (Argentina vs Nederlands - the final before the final). Can't wait!!!

Transcript of two of the GREATEST speeches of all time

#2 ---> Bill Pullman addressing the US soldiers before taking on the ALIENS

In less than an hour, aircrafts from here, will join those from around the world, and you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. (pause) Mankind huh? (pause) The word should have new meaning for all of us today. We cannot be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We are fighting for our right to live....to survive. Not from tyranny or persecution, but from annihilation. And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday. But is the day when the world declared in one voice "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on!! We're going to survive!! The day, we celebrate our INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!" (applause, more applause, some more applause, lot more applause......followed by the greatest salute in the history of cinema)

#################################################################

#1 ---> ME addressing the Argentine Football Team before WORLD CUP 2006

In less than 12 hours, teams from here, will join those from around the world, and you will be fighting the largest football battle in the history of sports. (pause) Sports huh?! (pause) The word should have new meaning for all of us today. We cannot be consumed by petty basketball, cricket and tennis anymore. We are continuing the legacy of Argentina.....of Maradona. Not against Cruyff or Di Stefano....but against Pele and Brazil! And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but is the day when the Argentinians declared in one voice, "We will not concede a goal that night! We will score THREE in the big fight! We're going to play on July 9th!! We're going to win on July 9th!!! The day we celebrate our SEMIFINAL victory day!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

GO ARGENTINA!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL ARGENTINAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!