[tacho]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Braziillllll....la la la la la la la la...Brazil

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Again.. Brazil...la la la la la la la la.....Brazil....

Originally Posted by anku94

Me too rooting for Brazil. 'la la la la la la la la la'

I think you two will like this

lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

[anku94]

Originally Posted by tacho

I think you two will like this

lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

Funnily enough, most of the comments in there are from Brazil. Maybe, Brazil national football team is planning to make it it's Official Song. But I don't think the referee will find Kaka dancing like those dinos very amusing.

'la la la la la la la la la la la la'

[naveenroy]

Guys, came across these schedules that will help you keep track of the matches. The .pdf file (from the official FIFA site) has the matches in local timings whereas the .xls file (from excely.com) allows you to set the timings to local timings. And moreover, it auto-populates all the matches and keeps a tab on the group standings et al automatically! Aaaasome.

Have fun guys and hope we can discuss the matches as they happen in this post.

I can't wait - camaan the enjaaiment!

[lloydofcochin]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Guys, came across these schedules that will help you keep track of the matches. The .pdf file (from the official FIFA site) has the matches in local timings whereas the .xls file (from excely.com) allows you to set the timings to local timings. And moreover, it auto-populates all the matches and keeps a tab on the group standings et al automatically! Aaaasome.

Have fun guys and hope we can discuss the matches as they happen in this post.

I can't wait - camaan the enjaaiment!

That's a nice Excel sheet there Naveenroy.

I'm attaching a Pdf file with Match Timings in IST.

[JVH]

Guys - Sorry for the noob qquestion but which channel is this being aired?

[Latheesh]

ESPN/Star Sports

brazillllllll la la la la la la la.......brazil

[TaureanBull]

Well I am so close yet so far. I am in the same continent (well SA is pretty far from Cairo though) and just cannt make it even for a single match. Work commitments.
Only satisfaction is that I am in the same time zone. (reason to cheer??)

[issigonis]

Originally Posted by lloydofcochin

That's a nice Excel sheet there Naveenroy.

I'm attaching a Pdf file with Match Timings in IST.

>>> lloydofcochin,

Thank you for the pdf in IST. Today's HT ( Bombay ed.) carries the entire schedule too. I am sure most dailies will be doing that as 11th June approaches.

This time, I will be rooting for three teams :

With my heart - Netherlands ( because of '74-'78 and total football)
With my head - Argentina & Spain ( very skillful teams, plus we have Messi - almost as good as Cryuff in his ball handling skills; Xavi & Iniesta)

Regards

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

Well I am so close yet so far. I am in the same continent (well SA is pretty far from Cairo though) and just cannt make it even for a single match. Work commitments.
Only satisfaction is that I am in the same time zone. (reason to cheer??)

Haha, reason to cheer - unless your work commitments don't even let you watch them. Guess the atmosphere in Egypt must be amazing for the world cup!!. Have fun!

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Haha, reason to cheer - unless your work commitments don't even let you watch them. Guess the atmosphere in Egypt must be amazing for the world cup!!. Have fun!

Yes the atmosphere is a mixed actually. Egypt missed out on making it to the finals by virtue of their loss to Algeria by a "controversial" goal and there were lots of agitations (I was not here that time). They went on to win the African Cup this year beginning. So the disappointment is there.

Else, Egypt is a football loving nation. People love football like we do cricket .

[kaushik_s]

Check this app for the timetable of the FIFA World Cup. Very neatly done.
Calendar World Cup 2010 by MARCA.com

[naveenroy]

@ kaushik - yeah a friend had sent me the link too, very neatly done.

[Sprucegoose]

Originally Posted by anku94

EDIT : Just wondering, does India have a football team ? If yes, does it even participate in FIFA qualification matches ?

India does have a national football team.
We are 134th or so in the rankings.
At this rate, India will never qualify for the World Cup.
India is progressing, but other countries are progressing faster.

we used to have the second oldest Football cup in the world as well second only to the FA cup.
Used to be called the Nehru Cup.
It was renamed a couple of years ago.

Originally Posted by anekho

I guess lack of motivation also factors in... Thousands of eyes watching you, expecting you to perform well can bring a sea of change in the way the team plays it's game! If it had a larger fan following they would play better.

Originally Posted by benbsb29

As other mentioned, infrastructure is an important aspect we just cannot ignore. If we look at how countries such as Korea and even the Chinese have built up their teams, the infrastructure is built right from grassroots level and training programs to nurture talent are launched. We are however more satisfied with just watching EPL on TV.

Originally Posted by anku94

The simple reason for Indian Football Failure is, IMO, that no one cares, neither the people, nor the government.

There are several other reasons as well.
There is no science or thought behind the way players are trained in India, at least at the grassroot level.
I've trained [never played for though] with some professional teams.
There is no science, thought or technique behind the physical training.
abroad, the physical training is tailored for each individual player.

I've been told that drinking water is bad for stamina.
where as you are actually supposed to keep yourself hydrated while you are playing for several reasons.

There are a thousand reasons like this.

[TaureanBull]

Originally Posted by Sprucegoose

India does have a national football team.
We are 134th or so in the rankings.
At this rate, India will never qualify for the World Cup.
India is progressing, but other countries are progressing faster.

we used to have the second oldest Football cup in the world as well second only to the FA cup.
Used to be called the Nehru Cup.
It was renamed a couple of years ago.

What I am going to tell you is most people are not aware of and its really shocking too.

India did qualify for final round of FIFA World Cup 1950!!! Now this world cup was after 1938. Due to WWII not conducted in 1942 and 1946. India was in Group 10 along with Burma, Indonesia and Philippines. Only one team was to qualify amongst them. All the countries less India withdrew due to several reasons. Hence, India qualified without even the ball kicked in Group 10.

Now, whats coming up is really shocking. India finally DID NOT play the final tournament because Indian Players did not have enough money to buy football shoes and as per FIFA bare foot playing was not permitted. Have heard anything more than this about neglect of sports in India?

Since then India is waiting to make it to the final tournament. It does take part in the qualifiers.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

India finally DID NOT play the final tournament because Indian Players did not have enough money to buy football shoes

This has been a myth for long. There was no money to send them to Brazil forget the shoes.

And Indian team used to play barefoot, they werent used to playing with shoes. But that was secondary.