When stealing is a good thing

Stealing is not considered a good thing; unless ofcourse you are talking sports. Particularly, baseball, where each steal is recorded, and the more one steals, the better it is for him and his team. One might even end up as a Hall of famer just by stealing at every opportunity. Huh?

Australia humiliated in victory

Rarely does a team get humiliated after registering a vitory. Australia find themselves in this position after their Sydney test victory. Shameless appealing and claiming grounded catches do not do any good to any team's reputation. Saying lies, on top of all that. It was very obvious that Australia was looking to win 16 tests in a row at a cost. Ponting had the gumption to say that they were not even thinking about the 16th win.

How about the foolish umpires? Dravid was given out caught behind when the ball was nowhere near his bat. And guess who appealed the most? Gilchrist, the guy who thinks he is the epitome of integrity. He was the best positioned to know that the ball did not touch the bat. And Ganguly? Benson, the second foolish umpire had the nerve to ask Ponting if Clarke (Yes, the 'gentleman' who stood his ground after being cleanly caught in the slips) had taken the catch cleanly.

Indian team should withdraw from the series. Cricket is a gentleman's game, to be played with integrity and honesty. Unfortunately, this Australian team and the umpires that they employ, disagree.

Finals prediction

Australia is almost everyone's favorite to win this world cup. But, I beg to disagree. Srilanka has the players who can end the Aussie domination. One can never write off a team that has players like Jaysuriya, Jayawardene, Vaas, and Muralitharan.

Srilanka handled the pressure of semi-finals really well. Aussies have not had a chance to play Malinga and Muralitharan yet. The key for Srilanka is to get Australia's top order out cheaply. The Aussie middle order has not been tested yet.

Australia winning the world cup thrice in a row is not good for cricket. My pick for the winner is Srilanka.

Not again, South Africa

Chokers and jokers sound very similar. Either of those terms could be used to describe the South African cricketers who played the semi-final against Australia.

Imagine Kallis stepping out of the crease, making room for himself, and trying to hit a boundary? If you think that is a joke, add to it the fact that he was clean bowled in the process. That is what actually happened.

The tone for the match was set by a choking Smith who danced down the track not knowing what to do and had his off-stump knocked off. He later tried to come up with his own definition of choking to prove that they did not choke. Or, take the case of Langeveldt who tried to hit a six over mid-off, again making room for himself, and got bowled. At that point, South Africa still had more than 6 overs left, and common sense demanded that they played out those overs, rather than throw it all away.

South Africa has proved themselves to be a team that cannot perform on the big stage. Wonder if they will kind enough next time not to make it to the knock-out stage. That will give another team a chance to run the opposition close. The semi-final was one-sided and another match that was a shame for this world cup.

Srilanka is through

Srilanka produced a clinical display of cricket to reach the finals. There must a lot of people out there thanking Srilanka for ensuring that a boring team like NewZealand did not make it to the finals.

NewZealand is creating a little niche for itself. This is the fifth time that it reached the semi-finals without ever making it to the finals. That can be very frustrating, but the brand of cricket they play is frustrating as well.

Jaywardene's innings was a beauty. It has already been cited many times as the model for pacing one's innings. He started very slowly, and went into top gear towards the end. A true captain's knock.

Srilanka literally played against 14 people - the 12 Newzealand players and the two umpires. The two lbw decisions that went against them were horrendous. Looks like umpires are also prone to some nerves in big matches.

Semi-final predictions

The semi-finals are here.

Srilanka and NewZealand meet in the first semi-final on May 24th, followed by the second one between Australia and South Africa on May 25th.

It is a little unfair that something as important as a semi-final is decided based on just one match. Ideally, it should be a best of three, which will give both teams enough opportunities to iron out their issues over a span of three matches.

Given the fact that the team that plays better on a given day will take all the honors, predictions can be tricky.

All right, with so much defense as to why my predictions could turn out to be incorrect, here they are:

1) Srilanka vs. NewZealand

Srilanka looks like a more well-balanced team that NewZealand. If Jayasurya survives Shane Bond's first spell, SriLanka will thrash NewZealand. Even if Jayasurya falls cheaply, SriLanka still has the ammunition to defeat NewZealand.

My pick for the winner is SriLanka

2) Australia vs. South Africa

A lot depends on how Graeme Smith performs. Toss can also be a crucial element. If South Africa wins the toss, they MUST bat. That gives them the best chance against Australia. Australia hasn't been put under any kind of pressure so far in this tournament. The team that came closest to doing that was in fact South Africa. Not many might remember the way Graeme Smith and De Villiers launched into the Australian attack, chasing a mammoth score. South Africa is capable of applying pressure, in batting and bowling.

My pick for the winner is South Africa.

We will wait and see how the semi-finals unfold. It has been a forgettable world cup so far. Hopefully, the remaining three matches will provide enough thrills for the cricket fans.

A tense match

The world cup produced its first tense encounter today, a match between England and Srilanka. Srilanka was expected to win easily, but a determined England performance almost pulled off a miraculous win.

That England ever got to a position from which they could win was mainly due to the efforts of Nixon and Bopara. The nail-biting finish was an temporary relief from an overdose of boring games this world cup has been dishing out.

Let the world cup begin?

SA plays it safe

South Africa played it safe, taking very few risks to surpass Ireland's modest score. The Irish displayed a lot of gumption, but never really challenged the South African team.

Graeme Smith looked to be in good touch, and was unlucky to miss out on another half-century. It is good to have a captain who is aggressive, and leads from the front. Only if he can inspire his team to stop choking in the big games!

Bangladesh loses, obviously

I said it before, and am saying it again. Teams like Bangladesh and Ireland are spoiling this world cup. They are making this world cup look like a school competition. They are not to be blamed for that. They did not deserve to be there, but find themselves there thanks to one bad match played by a higher-ranked team.

Back to the match, the boring New Zealand team bowled Bangladesh out for very little, and then their captain helped himself to a century. That was game, set and match.

West Indies crumbles

West Indies lost again, this time to Sri Lanka. Once Jayasurya decided that he had done enought defending, and switched to attack, West Indies was not in the game.

The tactics of Saravan and Chanderpaul, while chasing a huge total, must have surprised many. When attack was needed, they defended. When the asking rate climbed, they threw away their wickets and left too much for the tail to accomplish.

West Indies is almost certainly out of the tournament. It will be a painful exit for Lara. Like Tendulkar, he will be remembered as a genius who was not part of any world cup winning team.

Australia is ruthless

Australia ruthlessly swept Bangladesh aside in a match of unequals. The way Australia has been playing so far must be giving night mares to the rest of the teams. They do not seem to have any weakness, whatsoever.

Australian team is a perfect example of how a winning system put into place will continuously produce winning players. Every player who joins this Australian outfit seems to perform right away. Other teams will do well to learn from the success of this Australian team.

England scrapes through

England resisted a determined Irish effort to win its Super eight match. Ireland did well in the field during most part of England innings, but conceded too many runs towards the end.

Collingwood is emerging as the backbone of this English batting. He plays to his limitations, but has been very consistent as of late. It appears as if England's fortunes in this world cup will fluctuate depend a lot on how Collingwood performs.

No close matches?

World cups are normally known for close games, nail-biting finishes. This world-cup is yet to produce a match with such characteristics. The one exception might be Ireland-Pakistan game, where the inexperienced Irish team almost threw away their victory.

To a lesser extent, Sri Lanka vs. South Africa was a nail-biting affair as well. But, if a team chokes like the way South Africa does, most victories will be narrow.

So, where are those genuine nail-biting matches? Where two teams fight hard, are evenly placed with very few overs left, and then the match enters the last over with everything to play for? Two minnows being in the world cup ensures that a lot of matches will be totally one-sided. Even the so called 'non-minnows' seem to be winning quite comfortably among themselves.

The most predictable world cup?

After India and Pakistan were eliminated in the first round, this world cup has a predictable nature. That has made this one of the most boring world cups ever. Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand are coasting to the semi-finals. That leaves one spot, which will be grabbed by Sri Lanka, West Indies or England.

Going by current form, that fourth spot will be Sri Lanka's. Can you imagine a world cup being more predictable? Just 3 games in the Super eight stage, and you know with a great deal of certainty which teams are going into the semis.

Ireland and Bangladesh may have done their countried proud by advancing to the second round. But, they are sitting ducks in the super eight stage, and this will definitely hurt the world cup.

New Zealand beat West Indies

New Zealand beat West Indies comfortably. The West Indian batting collapsed yet again. 177, batting first, was never going to be enough. The host nation seems out of sorts in this world cup. Lara recently blamed the public for not coming to the ground to support them. Well, if they continue playing like this, not many will come to watch them.

New Zealand, perhaps the most boring team in the tournament, had quietly won yet another match. They are doing pretty well for themselves, having won all their games so far.

Australia completes formality

Australia completed the formality of beating West Indies. After Gayle departed cheaply, West Indies were never really in the game. Lara got some valuable batting practice, but nothing else went right for West Indies.

West Indies can console themselves thinking that they lost to the best team in this tournament so far. But, they have to win their next match against New Zealand to ensure that they do not fall under too much pressure later on in the tournament.

South Africa continues to choke

South Africa almost spectacularly lived up to their tag of chokers. Consider this. They were 206-5 at the end of 44.4 overs, needing 4 runs to win, 6 wickets in hand. 10 balls later, they were 207-9, still needing 3 runs to win, 1 wicket in hand.

That they scarped through in the end was thanks to some solid defending by their no.11, Langeveldt. This proved that South Africa has not been able to exorcise the ghosts of their previous narrow losses. Australia can strike out one more team from their list of challengers to their crown.

Hayden in form

Hayden is back in form, with back-to-back centuries. Most of the credit or blame should go to the South African team. They let him score the fastest world cup hundred ever.

He was the mainstay in the Australian innings worth 322. West Indies will begin their chase tomorrow.

It is surprising, or even shocking, the number of times opposition captains ask Australia to bat, and then get pummelled for 300 odd runs. Lara had the option of batting first and putting up a good score.

Hopefully, West Indies batsmen will fire tomorrow. If Gayle and Lara run into form, anything can happen.

New Zealand is ugly to watch

If there is one team in this world cup that you would rather not watch, it is New Zealand. But, they have won all their games so far. Starting with the batting of their skipper cum opener Stephen Fleming, most batsmen in the New Zealand side are ugly to watch.

Do not know if it is a lack of technique or flourish, they come across as machines, rather than batsmen. Will wait to see how far a boring team like New Zealand can advance.

Super eight predictions

So, at the risk of sounding stupid later, here are my predicted winners for the Super-eight stage matches

West Indies v Australia: Australia

South Africa v Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka

West Indies v New Zealand: West Indies

England v Ireland: England

Australia v Bangladesh: Australia

West Indies v Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka

Bangladesh v New Zealand: New Zealand

Ireland v South Africa: South Africa

England v Sri Lanka: England

Bangladesh v South Africa: South Africa

Australia v England: Australia

Ireland v New Zealand: New Zealand

South Africa v West Indies: South Africa

Bangladesh v England: England

New Zealand v Sri Lanka: New Zealand

Australia v Ireland: Australia

New Zealand v South Africa: South Africa

Bangladesh v Ireland: Bangladesh

Australia v Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka

England v South Africa: South Africa

Ireland v Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka

West Indies v Bangladesh: West Indies

Australia v New Zealand: Australia

West Indies v England: West Indies

India is officially out

The Bermuda team tried harder than the Indian team to push India into the next round. But, a combination of bad weather, and inexperience ensured that they lost to Bangladesh.

Thus, India is now officially out of the world cup. There is a lot of talk about cricket taking second stage to other sports in India, now that India has been eliminated. But, going by history, a billion Indians will be cheering for their team again, come the next tour.

Bermuda's burden

Bermuda will be carrying hopes of a billion people tomorrow when they take the field against Bangladesh. The die-hard Indian cricket fans are fervently hoping that Bermuda will register an upset win against Bangladesh.

Can Bermuda deliver? We will know really soon.

Australia beats South Africa

South Africa is ranked the number 1 one-day team in the world, and they showed some glimpses why. But, moments of brilliance are not enough to beat Australia. Once Australia put up 377 on the board, few would have given South Africa any chance of chasing it down. But, boy, did they chase well? De Villiers and Smith launched a counter-attack which made the Aussie shoulders drop.

One miscalculated attempt for a second run ended De Villiers' brilliant innings. Then, Smith retired with cramps. After that, South Africa was never really in the game. If South Africa wants to go all the way in this tournament, it should be flexible with its batting order. Sending Kallis in at number 3 today was a big mistake. Gibbs would have exploited the strong foundation much better.

In the other match, England beat Kenya as expected. England is on to the Super eights. They do not look convincing at all. But, one thing you learn from big tournaments is that, a team which gradually improves has a good chance of peaking on the D-day.

Cricket is just a game?

Greg Chappell and Dravid have begun to call cricket just a game. Whoever told them that? In India, cricket is a religion. It is not just a game. People have mood swings based on how their cricket team fares. It is something that young and old have in their bloods, be it for good or bad.

When cricketers sign million-dollar endorsement contracts, they never treat cricket as a game. Cricket makes them what they are, who they are. It is easy to call it a game when you lose, that too without making a serious attempt. Who are they trying to fool?

India deserved to lose

India played like a team that did not want to win. The result was fair, just going by the attitudes of the two teams.

First of all, they made the cardinal error of bowling first after winning the toss. Granted, they did reasonably well to restrict Srilanka to 254. But, what followed was a spineless batting display.

Comparing senior players from both sides says a telling story. While Muralitharan was running aroung the field like a twenty year old, and Jayasurya was giving it all, the Indian senior players looked like lightning had just struck them. And then, two youngsters, Silva and Dilshan, displayed maturity beyond their ages.

Let us admit it, India did not deserve to win.

Jayasurya departs

India must be relieved to see Jayasurya's back. He did not exploit the wayward Indian bowling, particularly that of Zaheer.

Agarakar was the only bowler who looked like taking a wicket, but it was Zaheer who got Jayasurya caught in the deep. Agarkar has the consolation of taking that catch. India will relish the wickets, whichever way they come.

Wassup with Agarkar?

Suddenly, Agarkar is looking like a bowler. India needed that badly considering the line and length Zaheer has been resorting to. In fact, Agarkar had some close shouts for LBW.

Can someone explain why a Pakistani umpire is in every match that India plays?

Zaheer starts with a wide

It was deja vu as Zaheer sprayed the first ball of the innings wide on the leg side. He did the same against Australia in the last world cup finals. Talk about being consistent.

As if to show that it was not a fluke, he kept bowling on the leg. The batsman just had to stay there, and watch the ball go down the leg side, or help it on its way with his leg. 10 runs from the first over, trying to exploit the pitch!

India fields first, but why?

Dravid won the toss, and elected to field. I can almost hear him say post-match, "It was a good toss to lose."

When will India learn their lessons? I thought they did, after the last World cup final against Australia, where they won the toss, put Australia in, and ended up chasing over 350. Looks like they have not.

India vs Srilanka

Finally, the match that everyone has been waiting for, is upon us - India vs Srilanka.

If India wins the toss, they will be better off batting first. There is a lot of talk about the ball doing too much in the beginning. But, India needs to play to its strength, which is its batting. It has to bat first and put up a huge total on the board. On a lighter note, it might not be a bad idea to pack the side with 11 batsmen, and pray like hell that India gets to bat first. If they can repeat a score of 400, or even 325+, Srilanka will find it hard to chase.

Srilanka can advance to the super eight stage even if they lose. But, they will be aware that, if they lose, India will be the team that takes two points into the super eight stage.

Can't wait for the match to start. Hopefully, rain does not interrupt the proceedings. My money, is on Team India!

Umpiring in this world cup

Umpiring in this world cup has not made any news, which is good news. An important reason why it has not made any news is the fact that most of the first round matches are one-sided. Even the umpires know in advance which "team" is supposed to win. So, there is very little pressure on them.

Hopefully, the umpiring standards will remain high throughout the tournament. Poor umpiring is an easy way to ruin a world cup.

India: Once more

India played like champions, though one wishes they had done it against Bangladesh, a more equal competitor. Sehwag made me eat my words for breakfast. A predicted total of 400+ did materialize. Records fell on the wayside.

The real job still remains. The match against Srilanka, on March 23rd, is crucial. Indian fans will be hoping that India will bat first, and put up a huge total on board. "Once more" is the slogan!

In the other match, West Indies beat Zimbabwe, as expected. The host nation is on to the Super eight stage.

Pakistan will be missed

Pakistan has been eliminated from the World cup after two defeats in two matches. Their defeat against Ireland must have broken the hearts of their emotional fans.

Pakistan will surely be missed in the next stage of the competition. Few teams can create magic on a cricket ground the way Pakistan is capable of doing.

Ireland has a promising future. Do not be surprised if you see them get to the semi-finals.

India can still advance

Even though India lost against Bangladesh, it can still advance. They need to take one match at a time now on. First, they need to win big against Bermuda tomorrow. If India bats first tomorrow, I will not rule out a 400+ score.

Having said that, if the Indian selectors have the spine, they will do India a favor by making the following changes.

Replace Dravid with Saurav, as the captain. Replace Sehwag with Dinesh Karthik. Open with Saurav and Tendulkar with Dravid one down, and Uttappa two down.

Drastic situations demand drastic changes. When you have the resources in hand, the best results are achieved by making the best use of them.

Finally, something to write about!

All of you have already read about Gibb's sixes in an over. It was murderous, to say the least. One wonders how many runs South Africa would have scored if they had their full quota of 50 overs. All the talk about some team getting to 500 runs suddenly looked realistic.

On to the other game, which was supposed to be evenly matched. Granted, England had its moments, but New Zealand was the deserving winner. Styris and Oram buckled down to take their team to victory with plenty to spare.

India has its first match tomorrow, against Bangladesh. The result of that match is not a pre-drawn conclusion. Bangladesh is a good side, and on its day, can beat any top side.

World cup is on

The world cup got off to a low-key start with a dull affair between Pakistan and West Indies. West Indies were deserving winners after showing enough gumption to recover from a collapse, and then showing up the flaunted Pakistan batting line-up.

Dwane Smith impressed with his all round performance, but other than him, no one really made an impression.

Hopefully, the future matches will be more interesting.

Ganguly returns, can Chappell leave now?

Finally, the Indian selectors did what millions of cricket lovers in India had been clamouring for. They brought Saurav Ganguly back into the team. Ganguly proved that there was a lot of cricket left in him in both Test and One-day arenas.

His return has definitely improved India's chances at the World cup. However, less than 2 months for the world cup, and the composition of the Indian team is still uncertain. So much for the much talked about experimentation by Chappell.

Which brings us to the important question: "Would any country other than India have permitted Chappell to experiment with the most important sport in that country?". Isn't experimentation an excuse for non-performance? Whenever asked about why his experiments were not working, the standard reply was,"Well, experiments take time to succeed."

Chappell has taken Indian cricket for a ride. The sooner he is replaced by someone who cares about Indian cricket, the better it is.

Agassi's retirement

Agassi retired, finally, at the US Open. It must not have been easy for him to go down to a relatively unknown player. Though the fact that his opponent's last name was Becker might have been some consolation.

American tennis should start running some TV ads along the lines "Players Wanted". There is no American woman in the semi-finals. Andy Roddick is in the men's semis and playing well enough to reach the finals. But, guess who might be waiting for him there? Mr. Federrer.

Murphy's Law

Murphy's law is applicable in all walks of life. I recently found that it is very much applicable in the world of sports as well.

Dodgers is my favorite baseball team. I stopped following their games when they went into a rut. The next time I paid attention, they had won ten on a trot. So, I got back to watching them play.

Guess what happened? They started losing again. Yesterday, was the worst. They lost in 15 (Yes, fifteen) innings, to Diamondbacks. Can it get any worse than this? I will stop watching them again, and see what happens.

Anyways, here is Murphy's law as applied to sports: "Your favorite team loses every time you watch them play!"

The Oval Farce

Context, in case you missed it totally: The Pakistan cricket team staged a protest by not turing up after tea on the 4th day of is final cricket test against England. The reason? Umpire Hair had penalised them 5 runs for ball tampering.

C'mon, that was not cricket. Umpire's decision is final, even kids who just started playing cricket know that rule. However biased Hair might have been, the Pakistani team had no right to stage a protest in the middle of a test match. Were they pitifully unaware of the rule that if they refused to play, the match could be awarded to the opposition team? Or, were they taking on the ICC and the umpires with a "Let us see what happens" attitude?

Is Hair innocent? It does not matter, because the umpires are always right. That is the fundamental rule in this once gentleman's game. Hair will still need to explain why he deemed that the ball was tampered with. Everyone else watching the match had no reason to believe that any tampering took place. The next few days are bound to be interesting.

Tiger wins US Open

I watched Tiger Woods winning the US Open Golf Tournament today. It was an amazing performance. It was as if everyone else was playing for 2nd place and below. He literally crushed all the opposition.

Anyone who has ever been on a golf course can imagine how hard it is to concentrate even when you are playing by yourself. Imagine playing in front of thousands of spectators who are watching you from such a close distance. Imagine the pressure. But, Tiger seemed to putt as if nothing bothered him. Some of his shots were out of this world.

For all the talk about Tiger's era coming to an end, this was an awesome display by someone who was literally dictating terms in this tournament. Hats off, Tiger. You just made one more fan!

World cup: After thoughts

I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms of the world cup. I was so addicted to it the last one month, and suddenly it is over. I am sure I am not alone.

The lack of goals in this world cup is definitely a cause for worry. Is it due to the fact that teams have improved on their defensive abilities? Which means, they haven't correspondingly improved on their attack? That does not make much sense. You see so many thrilling goals in club matches. Is it because players are not motivated enough to play in the world cup? Let us get this straight, the financial gains from playing in a world cup are much less compared to playing for clubs. Ofcourse, the pride factor is more in a world cup. I am still looking for reasons for lack of goals.

Refereeing, a lot has already been said about it. This tournament produced the highest number of cards ever in a world cup. But, please do spare a thought for the referees. Can you imagine one guy running from one end to the other, making sure he is there where the action happens, for 90 minutes? Sometimes, even more because of over-time? That takes some running, when we see supposedly super stars tired to their bones in the middle of the second half.

How can FIFA improve the quality of games? One obvious thing to do is to introduce electronic means to help the referees. Along the lines of third umpire in cricket, the 4th official should be in charge of viewing replays for fouls, penalty kicks, offsides, and other decisions that can impact the result of a game. This would mean frequent stoppages, but everyone has to get used to it to make sure the result is fair. For example, how can the referees possibly differentiate a dive from a genuine foul?

Penalty shoot-outs should be banned. Come on, give me a break, two teams play for 120 minutes, and then the result is determined by 5 penalty kicks? What logic is that? In the knock-out stage, FIFA can reduce the total playing time to, say, 70 minutes. And then, they can have the first over-time of 20 minutes, followed by another of 20 minutes and so on until a result is produced. That is much more fair than a penalty shootout lottery.

My ratings for this world cup

Best team: Argentina (yeah, I know they lost in the quarter finals)
Most over-rated team: Brazil
Most under-rated team: Ghana
Best player: Zidane of France
Most over-rated player: Ronaldinho of Brazil
Most under-rated player: Ronaldo (of the Portughese variety)
Most exciting game: Argentina vs. Mexico
Best goal of the tournament: Rodriquez of Argentina vs Mexico
Best goal keeper: Ricardo of Portugal
Best coach: Scolari (for taking a two men team - Ronaldo & Ricardo - to the semi-final)
Worst coach: Pekerman of Argentina (he totally screwed up substitutions against Germany)
Best attacking move: Zidane (with his headbutt in the final)

Italy wins the world cup - yeah

Hmm, so Italy won it with a header and 5 penalty kicks. The final was easily one of the most boring games in this world cup. Once each team had a goal each, you could almost predict the penalty shootout. Italy was the main culprit, since they decided to play to their strength, which has always been defense. But, they forgot that to win games, you need to score goals as well. Luckily, they held their nerves during the shootout lottery.

It was shocking to see Zidane being sent off. It came out of nowhere. It happened away from the play, so was not even shown live. But, when we finally got to see it, it was unbelievable. I am guessing Materazzi said something really bad to Zidane that prompted such a reaction. It is funny that verbal offences are not punished, because there is no way for the referee or anyone else to keep track of what is being said between players. But, a physical offence like that gets noticed, and gets punished. On a lighter note, I thought Zidane's head butt was the best attacking move in the whole game.

Italy vs France - 2 hours away

Well, we are just two hours away from the most important soccer game for the next 4 years. It is Italy vs France. Two teams, who at the beginning of the tournament, would not have been in many shortlists for making it to the finals, are there now.

Who will win? I am going with Italy. Primarily because France relies totally on a Zidane and a Henry, but Italy is a real team - it depends on a lot of players to win. So, even if one or two of them have off days, they can still pack enough ammunition to defeat France. Combine with this the well-documented fact that Italian defense is so difficult to breach. France has its task cut out. My money is on Italy.

Good-bye, Germany

A coach who jumps around like a monkey, a captain who tackles opposing players as if he is in a wrestling match, and a player who punches an opposition player who just lost a match against his team, can only take you so far in a worldcup. Good bye, Klinsmann, you can hone your monkey-jumping skills at home now.

Italy came up with a clinical combination of air-tight defense, and calculated attack against a highly over-rated German team. Germany were lucky against Argentina, with a whole lot of factors working in their favor, including Argentina losing its number one goal keeper due to an injury. The German fans must have been hoping for another penalty shootout, in which they would have fancied their chances. That raises the question of how much a goalkeeper can move before a penalty kick is taken. The German goalkeeper was doing a salsa before every penalty kick in the shootout against Argentina, and no one seemed to complain.

Italy has quietly entered the finals. They are still to concede a goal against any oppostion. The only time a ball ended in the back of their net, it was helped en-route by their own defender. That is an awesome statistic, even considering the fact that goals have been hard to come by in this world cup.

Semi-final predictions

Hmm, here cometh..

Italy will beat Germany tomorrow. Germany has had a great run in the world cup so far. But, they were really lucky to enter the semi-finals courtesy a penalty shoot-out. Italy has the best defense seen in this world cup. They have strikers who are fresh from scoring goals. Klose will be reduced to a spectator.

France will blow Portugal away. Portugal is definitely one team in this semi-final line-up which should not be there. They have had everything working in their favor so far, but the law of averages has to catch up with them finally.

On to the semi-finals, and I have to wait and watch to see how my predictions turn up.