well i still faintly remember the date july 17th, 1994. The date of 1994 world cup football's final
action between brazil and italy. and what i remember most significantly is the penalty miss by Baggio. don't remember any thing about soccer before that.....or do i?
it was that day and then there was the 1998 world cup, the event that would prove to be just too remarkable in changing the course of my life...and then there were the likes of bergkemp, ronaldo , rivaldo and a few more familier names and faces and then there were my gods who became so only then..like beckham , zidane, henry.....and new sensations who could never impress me like davor suker(obviously the golden boot winner).......................
the best part was that the important matches were being telecast on tv or say national channel coz other channels were too indian to show the matches. and no one could take the risk of deviating from Cricket which would soon see an exit from my sporting carrier....
And it would be so much ingratitude of me not to mention two people here..........
one is nishant bhaiya and second is jayendra( i dunno how many of my friends even know him)
these two people lightened my path to football glory(ultimately it would become).
and as i must tell the present condition .....manchester united is my religion..and beckham my god.....and not to say all this is due to my maximum involvement in initial stages during the 99 season which was to be "THE SEASON" of the red devils...and the most invincible united team ever as people say...acheiving "the treble" , the most remarkable acheivement in english soccer...winning premiership, fa cup and uefa champions league....
and so I glued my eyes to my TV , the year 1999, the team Manchester United and the love SOCCER.....
How was i to know that sooner my eyes would bear spectacular spectacles which would be a part of my life then onwards...and then kicked off "Euro 2000" in France...
before that there were no favourites, except the sympathatic support to the minnows and moral support to the african nations like Cameroon and Nigeria.
but now i had Beckham on my mind so my obvious support went to England; Shearer and his men.
here i must mention that watching and listening are the two best ways to know, learn or even understand something. so in meagre 1 year I had already accumulated copious amount of knowledge of the footballing world..
but still soccer was not life coz the cricket world cup 1999 had just finished and how was I to miss a moment of it. Sachin tendulkar was man of the time.....invincible..still is.
anyway i was telling about watching and listenin and the likes of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray had imparted serious knowledge of soccer in my mind.
and it was then that i came to know what basically clubs were and how does Ronaldo despite being a Brazillian plays in Italy..
it meant i knew many a new things like in England we call it EPL(English Premie League), in Spain called La Liga and in Italy, serie A.
so it was Euro 2000 and i had my favourites for the first time ever..
and it was disappointing for my men to crash out of the competetion again on shootout which soon would become the most famous mean of losing out in knock outs for the English team.the competetion also saw exit of some of the best in England like Shearer,Sheringham, Southgate, David Batty and Paul Gascoine..and few more like Stuart Pearce.
so French won the Euro two tears after winning the World Cup..a remarkable achievement..and again the man "Zizou". calm and classy. decent yet god..yeah you know him..everyone does..who wouldn't after an absolute gem of a World Cup in 2006. again his majesty overpowering dreams of Brazil, Spain and Portugal.....
so FIFA player for three times now, once for 1998 World Cup, then for winning Euro in 2000 and then again in 2003 for exceptional Uefa Champions League. got transferred from juventus on a record transfer fee following the transfer of Luis Figo from Barcelona, both to Real madrid. so they were forming "las galacticos"or the invincible collection of stars..with addition of Ronaldo, Beckham and Owen and Robinho and many more..i can't even count.......
elsewhere in england...things were beginning to change. the unconditional supremacy of Manu was being challenged by hardworking Gunners..whom i hated from the word go..i really dunno why...so the title shifted a little southwards to north London at Highbury. and why not they had "the guy" called Thierry Henry who would soon become best in England before turning out to be one of the all time best. this frenchman was supported by another frenchman Arsene Wenger..the manager who could bring out the best in any footballer. the man who could modify an average hardworking player to a great player and the man who could dare to snatch Premier league away from Red Devils. Henry and Wenger were supported by the likes of Denis Bergkemp, Patrick Viera, Robert Pires, Wiltord, Ljunberg and Martin Keown. but the big question was that if it could match the likes of Giggs, Scholes, Keane and Beckham, perhaps 4 of the best midfielders in the world and strikers like Yorke , Cole, Sheringham, Nistelrooy and Solskjaer. and the answer was yes and it was in the air soon.
where in England the tide was turning in Italy the battle was much mor fierce than anywhere else and skudeto kept moving from Milan to Roma to Inter to Juventus. but milan and juve proved to ba a little more class act than the rest. players like Totti, Del piero, Maldini, and quite a few world class players kept the Serie A more intriguing than ever. perhaps much more quality was prevailing in Italy than in England or Spain.
elsewhere on International level Brazil were just too difficult to catch and match.
they won the WC 2002 too comfortably for my liking by beating Germany and knocking out my favourites again in the quarter finals. disappointment again!!!!!
and the world welcomes a new genius Ronaldinho who would soon be te best in the business and impossible to keep pace with. winning two consecutive FIFA player of the year awards in 2004 and 2005. so again a Brazillian best in the world after Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
the exit of Rivaldo from Barca saw the no 10 jersey vacant for a few days only to be replaced by another gem Ronaldinho, who was transferred from PSG. and how valueable will he prove to be with two consecutive La Liga titles and Champions League in 2006.
and as always the likes of England, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, CZech and Portugal kept soccer in Europe off and running. while South Korea were the new sensations in Asia reaching WC 2002 semifinals.
