Spain wins FIFA, Netherlands deseRvED ignominious defeat

Spain – the “Masters of midfield” dominated the FIFA 2010 Cup final towards a well “fought” victory over Netherlands in a battle of cards. Iniesta scored a well deserved goal as he was the main tormentor of the Netherlands midfield and defense as he repeatedly made forays into danger territory. Netherlands played a typical game similar to tbeir victory over Uruguay and Brazil.

The game

The game started with character, both teams trying to control possession and start the attacks. Ramoes came through well for Spain with a couple of great runs and close attacks. Alas the attacks also drew fire (foot) from the Netherlands and the card games began. Netherlands drew 2 cautions while spain drew level very quickly. The possessions were close while the “Orange” defense was pretty strong. The Netherlands players seem to magically materialize at both ends of the ground very quickly. It felt like there were more orange shirts than black. Netherlands were pushing spain to pass and make mistakes and were also trying to kick them down. One particular kick by ”Nigel De Jong” landed on Xabi Alanso’s chest. Should have been a direct Red card, but he was left off with a caution. At the end of first half the card score was 3-2 with Netherlands in the lead, while the goal score was 0-0.

The second half saw more action and attacks on the goals. Netherlands also started attacking and creating chances. Holes in both defenses were exploited repeatedly, only to be thwarted by goal keepers at the last moment. (Robben and Fabregas had wonderful opportunities in front of the goal post by some excellent saves by the Goal keepers denied the scores).

The 2nd half ended with many more shots at the goal, but score line as 0=0. But Netherlands was a clear victor in the card game with many more cards in its pocket.

Extra time & the Goal

The first area of extra time also went scoreless. Torres was brought it from Spain for the 2nd half of the extra time. Heitinga was cautioned the 2nd time against Iniesta and was packed off the game. It was only 4 minutes before going for penalty shoot-outs when Fabregas who found iniesta. Iniesta has been making breaks repeatedly into the Netherlands territory and was fouled and floored repeatedly by the Orange. He found a good angle and bounce that beat Maarten stekelenburg to the one and only goal of the match. Glory to Spain!!!!

The vanquished

For Netherlands, the mistake lay in their approach to the game. I had been a fan of the Netherlands team in earlier times with Gullit and Marco Van Basten showed much promise. But the current team seems concentrating much on physical attacks and histrionics to win. Robben plays a well rehearsed routine of falling at convenient locations for free-kicks and the team could have made a better impact if as a whole they had concentrated more on the game rather than the attacks. Netherlands had committed 28 fouls in this single match and got 7 yellow cards and 1 Red. Even after fouls and cards they still continue to play the same game of deception, cheating and acting. That they can force teams like Spain to attack back in defense is telling on the impact of such notoriety on the game.

The worst part is the pride they show in playing nasty. Shame on them and Shame on their coach!!!

The Winners

Congrats to Spain for bringing back beauty to the game. They won the FIFA fair play award. Vicente Del Bosque is so composed and well mannered and was encouraging his players even as they missed the goal posts at the fag end of the game. Great guy and the team reflects the good approach with clean takes.
May their tribe grow!!

And oh!. Paul proved he is the best sooth sayer by getting one more right (of course, he was right on the Germany-Uruguay Semi finals too). In fact he has got 8 out of 8 in this world cup.!

Green auto rickshaws to the fore in Indian Cities

New green autos in Bangalore. Seems they are eco-friendly.

More than that, the best part is that all of them have electronic meters. These days I reject autos with non-electronic meters. The new green makes it easy for me to find the right ones

From Citi Notes

Chennai Queen Mary’s MRTS station – For Trains or Trash?

People and Trash compete for Space in the “Queen Mary’s” MRTS stations in Chennai (and trash has an upper hand at this point).

Wanted to go to the beach the other day and got down in the Queen Mary’s MRTS station.
Man! It is awful, the way out towards the beach is filled with all kinds of trash. First there is encroachment on both sides of the road and is filled with junk, trash, people making it dirty in all possible ways.

From Citi Notes

While coming back, came through the temple arch and took right to get into the station. That road again is awful. No concept of even dirtying the edges of the road. One needs to hop,skip and jump to keep away from dirt all the while holding your breath.

Inside the station is filled with garbage in all possible places. Stink is spread well by the fans. All garbage cans were overflowing. Check out below.

From Citi Notes

Who is responsible for keeping this place clean – The corporation or Southern railway?

Can’t QMC or QMC Volunteers do something to keep this place clean for QMC students at least ?

Karnataka Lokayukta takes back resignation

Good sense prevailed for once and the BJP lived up to its slogan of "Party with a difference" and managed to convince the Karnataka Lokayukta to take back his resignation submitted a few days earlier.
Senior Leader L.K. Advani and BJP heads got together to convince Mr. Santhosh Hegde to continue on the post.
The Lokayukta is one (maybe only one) good organization trying to find out corruption and bring out corrupt government officials. It works against many odds including Government apathy, seeing many of the culprits going unpunished etc.

It is a good move by the BJP. Hopefully this time around the culprits get booked and get the required punishments.

Spaniards “Pass” their way through Germans and onto Finals in a clean game

Spain – The team of “one thousand passes”, passed their way nicely through the stoic German defense and onto the finals for the first time.

Spain with Torres rested, dominated the game from the beginning – at one point having as much as 70% possession. They held the ball and moved it all around until the box area. There they had to contend with the German “wall”. Seemed like Germany had planned to defend more than attack. They allowed the Spanish team to move the ball freely up to the box and executed very less offensive runs – in fact Only one run in the first half.

Spain had multiple shots at the goal, but they were poorly executed – Alonso had 3 shots that went away from the goal post in varying degrees. A wonderful header by Puyol went over the crossbar while a sliding attempt earlier by Villa was stopped by the Goal keeper few feet ahead of the goal post. On the other hand, Germany made only one attempt which was more accurate and saved by a Whisker. First half ended with no goals for either team.

Spain dominated the 2nd half in similar fashion, but brought the ball to the goal post more frequently. Finally in the 73rd Puyol rose above ordinary to head a wonderful goal from a corner shot. Great aim, Great Finish. The German team suddenly woke up and changed their play from defense to attack, taking more possession and moving bravely into the Spain area – as if they had nothing to lose. This was what was missing in the first half and the earlier part of the 2nd one.

Torres coming as substitute, missed a wonderful chance at opening his account, when Pedro failed to pass to him in front of the goal post with only the Goalie to cover. The final few minutes saw some aggressive and good attempts by Germany, but all ended well for the Spanish team to ensure their first foray into the Finals!

Appreciation for both the teams for a clean and entertaining game of football (No Yellow cards from either side). Gives hope for clean football after seeing the likes of Chile, Ivory coast and even Netherlands to an extent , going more for the foot than the ball.

If Spain learns a thing or two from Germans on shot accuracy, they should have no problem in getting a score of 5-x in the finals.

Paul was correct once again.

Dozen Stock Market tips for Starters

Here are my dozen tips for thos who start on the stock market - One of the important investment vehicles for urbanites. Not that I have had great success on the Street, but after seeing multiple highs and lows, I think this is what it boils down to.

1. Invest only the surplus amount (i.e. that you are ready to lose or wait for long time)

2. Never invest borrowed amount or any amount that is essential.

3. No one can time the market to perfection. Believe this to save lot of stress, pressure and disappointment.

4. Don’t try to time the market, Know that market is always volatile and wait and ride the waves – up and down. Don't fret over lost opportunities. Remember the Market is volatile and will keep testing lows and highs.

5. Buy and Sell in parts rather than whole.

6. Be prepared to wait through cycles.

7. Be ready to sell at a loss in order to get money to invest and make profit.

8. Track trends not specific stocks or news

9. If you read in newspaper it is already too late to buy or sell.

10. Expect an average of 15-20% over a couple of years’ time – Do not expect 50% or 100% as a trend. Don’t believe exorbitant return stories – They may hide a lot of losses. Devil is in the details.

11. Capitalization based parameters

Capitalization	Risk/Volatility	Returns	Time/Analysis Required	Importance of acting quickly	Liquidity/sale ability)
Large-Cap/Blue-Chip	Less	Less	Low	Low	Good – Almost always sellable
Mid-Cap	Medium	Medium	Medium	High (Mainly during drops)	Medium – Sellable at a loss
Small-Cap	Highly Volatile	High	High (Lot of Analysis, Track daily for triggers)	High (Mainly during drops)	Low – Might even get de-listed

Decide your portfolio/stocks based on your needs and your plans. Also note that the definision of large,mid and small caps differ among analysts. Safe way is to go with the stocks that are part of Mid cap/Small-cap Indices.

12. Spend time to review, Re-plan and Re-organize.

Important: The only way to learn is to invest and try out. No amount of books/literature/blogs can provide you with the learning that comes with getting successes and seeing losses.

Netherlands’ players good Actors. Fake their way to a European finals.

Uruguay-Netherlands match ended with a 2-3 win for the latter, effectively snubbing out the last South American team from the tournament. The brazil-defeaters kept up their reputation as tormentors of South American teams and continued their winning streak in this world cup – winning all their matches till now.

The score line does not give the complete picture though. For the first 20 minutes, Netherlands dominated the match with possession and good attacks. Their dynamic plays resulted in a wonderful goal in the 18th minute from skipper Van Bronckhorst. Around the 30th minute, Uruguay suddenly started coming back strongly by making plays and creating chances. Forlan’s left footer was a beauty to have found its mark in the 41st minute.

In the second half, although Uruguay had good possession of the ball in the midfield – in fact they were getting the ball at will from the Netherlands players, many times the throw-ins from Netherlands were directly picked up by Uruguay players, they were not able to dominate the box on either side. Their attacks seem to lose steam as they reach the goal area and their defense was slow to react. Uruguay even got a wonderful chance to equalize in the last 10 secs of injury time - Would have pulled the match into overtime, but the lacked strike to convert.

Of course, Netherlands had another ace up its sleeve. Netherlands had to give a lot of credit to its star actors – Robben, Mark Van Bommel played the lead roles while Persie and Wesley Sneijder provded to be good supporting actors. In fact the first Netherlands goal itself could have been disallowed for an unwanted “attack” on an Uruguay defender. Persie and Robben were so ready to fall, squirm, and fake just to start running again in seconds. Mark Van Bommel hit an Uruguay defender and rolled over and started clutching his own waist, all to limp for a few seconds and then to be back in action, truly the work of a genius – Shame on them.

Uruguay did fail to convert its chances, but Netherlands did not play as a team worthy of even being in the Finals on 11th.

12 member Netherlands beats 10 member Brazil

World cup becomes that much less important for many many fans as Brazil is beaten by Netherlands 2-1.

After a super quick pass in the 10th minute that Robinho converted, Brazil was coasting nicely during half time. Kaka was getting his foot on the ball and had some nice shots on the goal.
The game after half time was a completely different story, a self goal and later another header from Sneijder put Brazil behind.

But what kept them behind was some very physical play by the Netherlands and convenient Referreeing. Referee "Yuichi NISHIMURA" of Japan was consistently partial towards Netherlands players. Of course Brazil's Melos "earned" the Red card, but by the same token, Netherlands should have gotten atleast 5 more cards. In many instances, Brazil players had to play the ball and pull one or sometimes two opponents. Kaka was marked, and repeatedly fouled against and many Netherland players -mainly Persie, Robben adn Sneijder can easily earn some Oscars for very good acting.

Fifa should start making the games stricter in order to preserve the beauty of the game that is getting tarnished by physical attacks and Fake moves.

Brazil lost, but not purely to better football.

Brazil marches ahead..

With Kaka and Robinho back in the attack, Brazil did a good job of marching ahead towards quarter finals, beating Chile 3-0.

Chile looked promising during the initial periods, having good possession and even executing some runs towards the goal, but once Juan Headed a regulation corner shot into the goal, Chile seemed to fall apart.

Brazil showed some glimpses of their famous/quick counter attacks that have taken teams by surprise. Both the goals - by Fabiano and by Robinho were very quick moves that left the opponents with little time to react.

Kaka could not shine much, hope he does so in the quarters and later.