Comments on: India’s only world cup (dis)appearance

By: Prashanth

Prashanth — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 19:38:16 +0000

Very Very old funda!! But yes…hopefully we should see an Indian team at the World Cup by 2050.

By: Ruchira Paul

Ruchira Paul — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 21:54:56 +0000

How many here think that if biggies like Zidane, Cannavaro and others don’t catch on fire, tomorrow’s match will come down to the respective goal keeping ability (or inability) of Buffon and Barthez?

By: Sahej

Sahej — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:49:41 +0000

ps if Dhorasoo scores a goal in the final i will probably pass out from euphoria

By: Sahej-dane

Sahej-dane — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 19:43:48 +0000

well, here is some unsolicited commentary on the World Cup, i hope no one takes offense at the liberty of writing commentary like this without prompting, but its the World Cup, hyperbole makes the broth.

but first; Zidane is a master of the game, the way he distributes the ball to teamates, he is like Magic Johnson except he plays on a stage of much greater scale. he is a wonderful player whose goal is to make the entire team perform well. is he the best player of our generation? it would seem so. i'm so happy to have seen him do well in this world cup

also, i thought Cannavaro's last play to win the ball against Germany and send the ball forward ultimately to create the goal by Del Pierro was inspired. To me Cannavaro is another player of great spirit.

the World Cup spirit awards for me go to Zidane, Ribary, Cannavaro, Buffon, Ricardo, the mexican keeper Sanchez, and Lennon; these players I watched and felt thrilled to see!

ps..........women and others who want to notice it, Figo and Zidane exchanged jerseys at the end of the game, i am sure it would beat the picture of the beautiful brazilian woman in one of the other posts, for you. for me, that picture was my favorite picture of the Cup, although some of the Portugease fans were amazingly beautiful

By: siddhartha

siddhartha — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 19:37:00 +0000

DJ 88 -- the other thing you could do, for the serious Italian flava, is head up to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Someone I spoke to yesterday told me it's been hopping.

peace

By: DJ 88

DJ 88 — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:34:38 +0000

For Italy, go to Little Italy or any of the hundreds of solid Italian cafes or restaurants scattered around the city. One premier spot is L'Angolo on Houston St.; get there early and be prepared to pay twenty bucks for the privilege of being there. Worth it if you've not done it before.

I can't believe I didn't think of Little Italy, but I guess it was because I was trying to think of a decent sports bar and Little Italy makes me think of small cafes and restaurants. Also, I have been seriously neglecting downtown ever since I migrated to midtown and then the upper east side from the LES.

I think I'll take your advice on finding a neutral location to watch, it'll probably be better that way. Things might get ugly for brown people if dhorasoo scores a goal.

By: Sahej

Sahej — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:30:37 +0000

but back to the penalty, ricardo almost got a hand on it. the beautiful thing about the penalty was the way zidane took it. not even two strides — a small step, followed by a longer step and right into the kick. he knew exactly what he was doing and wasn’t afraid to show it (from the position he stood in over the ball and the short distance, the probability of a low hook to the left was very high). he just did it. that’s calm and confidence. ricardo couldn’t do much more than he did… i’d still put him as goalie in my world cup starting XI.

No doubting Ricardo as a goalie although its hard to choose him over Buffon, but i was struck by how Ricardo acted during the PKs against England versus against Zidane. Zidane was not going for it, which was a contrast to the previous game in which Ricardo was almost nonchalant as the other player came to the ball. it seemed to be a piquant moment. of everyone though, no one beats Barthez, the man is pure rock solid technqiue (;-)

By: Janeofalltrades

Janeofalltrades — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:49:14 +0000

I’ve been catching my matches @ Bar XII on 34th between 2nd and 3rd. Neutral crowd. It’s open air so you get a lot of cabbies and bus drivers that will pull over to ask the score. Adds to the fun of it all. It’s huge with wall to wall TVs. You can’t miss the action all the way to the bathroom

By: Mr Kobayashi

Mr Kobayashi — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:33:50 +0000

On a sidenote, the TOI claims that many Goans were rooting for Portugal. Anyone confirm/deny?

Heh heh. I know at least one Goan who was annoyed that Portugal lost. But I can't find anything in the marriage vows that says I'm obliged to comfort her.

By: siddhartha

siddhartha — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:52:13 +0000

Manju, DJ 88,

For Italy, go to Little Italy or any of the hundreds of solid Italian cafes or restaurants scattered around the city. One premier spot is L'Angolo on Houston St.; get there early and be prepared to pay twenty bucks for the privilege of being there. Worth it if you've not done it before.

For France, try L'Orange bleue in Soho, Jolie on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn, a place (don't remember the name, sure you can find it or google it) near 57th and Lex, the French restaurants on Smith St in Brooklyn, or Red Bamboo in Ft Greene. And there are many more, just look around.

My two cents: Forget about national atmosphere, this is a WC final and anyone from any footballing country will be paying attention. Find yourself a relaxed spot with foreign ownership and neutral crowd, a good viewing situation (good quality TV), and most importantly a place where they are showing it on Univision not ABC/ESPN.

Or, get together with friends at someone's place. Remember, the final is usually not a great match, so having food beverages and friends around is a nice thing.

peace