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

Passion My passion for soccer was stoked at a time I thought the planets aligned themselves. I went to a soccer-crazy school and started playing soccer . The school teams of all A, B and C divisions were often in the district or national finals. That made it more exciting.  Even when we had little time and space, different groups of people gathered at the basketball court and played with a plastic ball. From afar, you could just see many people running around a packed court. It was amazing to even figure out how we did play as there must have been at least ten teams there. As a result, those who trained there had good skills and great instincts. That was how often in the past great players developed their skills especially Latin players by playing in the streets, etc. That was also the time where the English League was the old First Division and you get to watch only highlights of the previous week's matches in an one hour programme called Star Soccer on Sunday. It ...

At the beginning of 2009/2010 EPL soccer season, I wrote about why Manchester United may not retain their title and selected Chelsea and Arsenal as possible candidates. Well, chickens should not be counted before they hatch but it is Chelsea's title to lose and when affirmative, Manchester United should come in second and Arsenal third. Chelsea need a home win over Wigan to seal their fate while Manchester United will be at home to Stoke City. So, two out of three ain't bad.  Great salutations must be given to Harry Redknapp who transformed Tottenham Hotspurs who went fourth and qualified for UEFA and Roy Hodgson whose Fulham is the only English outfit that is going to a European Final and that is better than even Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. In previous articles I have hailed the records of both Redknapp and Hodgson and in my opinion they are good enough to be made England manager after the tenure of Fabio Capello considering the troubles they faced an...

If the 2010 World Cup were to be like these, how would they work out? There are five teams that could win this World Cup and they will all still be here - Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Spain and England. Top players to watch in this World Cup - Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Wayne Rooney. Quarter-Finals - Netherlands v Brazil, France v England, Argentina v Germany, Italy v Spain. Netherlands v Brazil Rinus Michels was the man responsible for "totaalvoetbal' or total football made famous by the Flying Dutchman of the Johan Cruyff led 1974 World Cup. They were said to be the strongest team ever not to win it together with the Mighty Magyars of Ference Puskas led Hungary in 1954. Their greatest moment was when they won the European crown in 1988 with stars like Marco van Basten (to me one of the greatest strikers ever), Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. In 1974, the Dutch led only after two minutes when Neeskens converted a penalty. Before that, not a singl...

The Ball The most important thing at the 19th World Cup soccer tournament held for the first time on African soil is the ball. At every World Cup held once every four year, a new ball is usually unveil and players would fret about them especially the goalkeepers because although the ball will be within specification, some slight changes in characteristics like feel, weight, bounce and even the wicked swerve imparted from side spin can cause anguish and pain to one party and delight and joy for another. Scientists have been develping the 2010 World Cup ball since the end of the last one in 2006. They envisioned a ball that does not absorb energy, that has accuracy in flight, that applied all of the kicking force applied to the ball, has soft feel, is safe for the head - in short the optimum soccer ball but it must adhere to strict specification of the USGA. Er no, I mean FI FA. Hey, I wasn't talking about a golf ball. The name of the FIFA World Cup 2010 soccer ball is named...

I don't quite remember a thing about the World Cup until just before the 1974 event in the then West Germany. The extravaganza caught my attention as I was bemused by the mish-mesh clashes of cultural style from the different continents. After West Germany's triumph over the Flying Dutchmen (the Netherlands), Football Made In Germany hosted by Toby Charles (think Telematch - Achtung! Eins, Zwei, Drei, pee phreeeee!). I could even rattle off some names which at the time sounded so exotic to me - Sepp Maier, Bertie Vogts, Paul Breitner, Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Jurgen Grabowski, Gunter Netzer, Jupp Heynckes, Wolfgang Overath, Gerd Muller, Uli Hoeness, Rainer Bonhof. Then from the Netherlands - Arie Haan, van Hanegem, Jan Jongbloed, Rene and Willy van de Kerkhof, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens, Johan Cruyff, Robbie Resenbrink, Johnny Rep, Wim Rijsbergen. Third placed Poland had Jan Tomazewski, Grzegorz Lato, Deyna. That is quite a mouthful. This was a time where England...