www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

3 more matches to go and then we can go back to sleep properly again. Lets' take a look at the quarter-finals and we will see how each victor performed to get into the semi-finals. The teams that appeared first as in like the home team are all out of the competition. So for the semi-finals, it will be the reverse that is the teams that appear first will be in the final. On the other hand, it could well be a Spain v Denmark final. Anything goes but first let us forget just the results but more importantly to examine and dissect the remaining teams. Every team has their strengths and weaknesses.  It is now anyone's game and any team's tournament to win. Win two more games and you are in the history books of champions forever. Surely with four teams left, all of them came through on more than merit. The semi-lists' quarter-final performances:  Switzerland v Spain - Firstly you have to give credit to the Swiss for making life so difficult for Spain. As expected the Spania...

ENGLAND Ouch!! To all you England fans. Naturally, most in Singapore and this part of the world follow the England team closely due to the exposure of live TV coverage of the EPL. Now the EPL is a highly competitive league but it is made for TV soccer with a tempo different from other leagues or international soccer.  In my last article, I gave you insights that if you have read, you know I was largely correct. I could have taken half of Hodgson's salary and maybe do a better job. Haha. I got to watch only two England matches in the qualifying stages versus Russia, the second half versus Wales and some highlights versus Slovakia and read a few pages. England is out of Europe twice in a week. Wow! I told you that Joe Hart is error prone. Not sure if he had been playing his FIFA 15 or 16 on his Play Station too much and late into the night like David James once did. When I saw him in action as a young lad on loan to Birmingham, I knew this guy was very good. Hart epito...

ENGLAND Ouch!! To all you England fans. Naturally, most in Singapore and this part of the world follow the England team closely due to the exposure of live TV coverage of the EPL. Now the EPL is a highly competitive league but it is made for TV soccer with a tempo different from other leagues or international soccer.  In my last article, I gave you insights that if you have read, you know I was largely correct. I could have taken half of Hodgson's salary and maybe do a better job. Haha. I got to watch only two England matches in the qualifying stages versus Russia, the second half versus Wales and some highlights versus Slovakia and read a few pages. England is out of Europe twice in a week. Wow! I told you that Joe Hart is error prone. Not sure if he had been playing his FIFA 15 or 16 on his Play Station too much and late into the night like David James once did. When I saw him in action as a young lad on loan to Birmingham, I knew this guy was very good. Hart epito...

1966 was a long time ago but the legendary names of Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Alan Ball, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst remain etched in our memory. While Brazil was famed for their attacking play, the English were masters of defence. I am writing this article because many of us in Singapore and other Asian countries were brought on English soccer since the good old days of "Star Soccer" from the old First Division and even more so now the huge following of the EPL. Besides, being a former colony, the love of the game and the familiarity of the names of players and how they play comes in a natural bias. England have just recorded one of their worst World Cup results in 2014. What went wrong? Was Roy Hodgson the best coach? England were not wrong here but were wrong in many other areas and for a very long time now and in Roy Hodgson they have the right coach but not necessary the best one. Roy has been to many places and coached and managed success...

After watching many first round matches at ungodly hours, almost all of them save for a few, I must say that the 2014 edition in Brazil promises to be one of the best World Cup for the simple reason that teams have abandoned "park the buses" campaign and actually went for the jugular. Well, this is how soccer should be played isn't it? Why would you rather watch a drab 0-0 match? The most most intriguing stuff the 2014 World Cup has brought is the shaving foam that referees sprayed during a free kick - a small semi-circle around the ball and then a straight line across the feet of players forming a wall. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=738377642871496&set=a.339137702795494.73494.266828596693072&type=1&theater I feel that they should add more to that. They should have a yellow coloured foam to spray on the faces of players penalized for a yellow card offence so that soccer fans could see who is in danger of an impending send off. This will also inf...

What a game that morning! Congrats to Chelsea! How many teams can beat Barcelona over two legs? Yet Bayern playing on home soil has to be favourites especially with Chelsea 6th in EPL  and missing 4 players including their captain. When Muller scored in he 83rd, many would have thought it was over. Didier Drogba powered home an unstoppable header which Neuer got a hand to in the 88th but could not stop to bring it into extra-time. Then Drogba played villain when he carelessly tripped Ribery but Cech saved the penalty. When Philip Lahm scored the first penalty in sudden death and Juan Mata's got saved, again we thought it was over. To win in this situation on penalty kicks against the Germans? No way! Cech saved from Olic then Cole scored perhaps the most well taken penalty to level before Bastian Schwesteinger hit a post and Drogba hit the final nail! He was amazing when he first turned out for Marseille and continued till now. This has implication for England. Ashley Cole...