Dutch Soup

The Dutch team, until today, my favourites to win the Euro 2008 were outplayed by the Russians.
The following were the reasons they lost
- Arjen Robben didn't play (I am not sure whether he was out injured)
- Robin Van Persie didn't start. The Dutch as a result played like a crippled team making attacks only down the right side. The moment he came on, there was some action on both fronts.
- Nistelrooy should have been replaced. Bouhlarouz got substituted when he was playing well
- The Russians marked their men perfectly except for the solitary goal they conceded and the Dutch seemed to have no clue how to react
- The Russians also played their own version of Total Football by having only 2 men manning their D for most of the time, while the Dutch had as many as 7 men at one point in time handling the mercurial strikers Andrei Arshavin & Pavlyuchenko who toyed with the Dutch defence especially after the exit of Khalid Bouhlarouz

Tragedy. But the Dutch have only themselves to blame. The young Dutch team also looked deflated from the beginning as if they were coming off a viral attack while they were supposed to have had an extra day's rest. Am sure there must have been something wrong in planning as well :(

I guess I will now watch only the highlights and goals

Sunday Loot

Calcium Made Interesting by Graham Chapman (of Monty Python fame)
The Films in My Life by Francois Truffaut
From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple

After a long time also bought a packet of (Glitz - from Faber Castell) pencils (triangular shaped pencils).

Woo hoo!

God bless quizzing and good luck to us ;)

ACE 2008

Came 3rd in the 4th edition of the ASHA ACE quiz organized at Hyd today. Got more dough and book coupons for efforts :)

got royally beaten by Irevna (with Anil and Vinod G) who had more than the 2nd (Satyam with Priyambad and co) and 3rd teams put together!

More t'row when I plan to redeem them at the local Odyssey store.

All in a day's work

Euro 2008: Italy vs. Netherlands

What a demonstration of good football!
Only sore point of the match was the extremely obvious (to everyone but the linesman) offside. Time for the equivalent of the 3rd umpire?

Anyways, Italy's fate was sealed by the statistic of more than half the squad being over 30. The Dutch, by contrast had enough fresh blood to make a blue whale feel rejuvenated. Until Del Piero appeared, the absence of fine talent was painfully visible to anyone watching. Luca Toni didn't get enough passes and Dinatale despite trying hard was alone in his efforts. Other than Del Piero, Zambrotta was the only one who was trying hard and looking threatening. The rest were as if they were nursing hangovers.

And the likes of Materazzi and the rest of the defence played like schoolkids learning to play football. When was the last time you saw 6 guys chasing 2?!

The Dutch with new, young players demonstrated a fantastic brand of football - fast accurate passes and incredibly quick counter attacks - 1 of which yielded the best goal of Euro 2008, so far. Both Wesley Sneijder & Ibrahim Afellay demonstrated energy, skill and speed. The Italians demonstrated lack of coordination, old age and sluggishness. Hope they recover from this. Maybe Buffon should rest. He has been speaking too much and working too little. After the defence failed on the 1st 2 goals, the attack left more Italians in the Dutch half for more time than in theirs in a rush to attack, resulting in a silly lapse and another goal.

Where art thou Paulo?!

Isaac Newton

Bought the book Isaac Newton by James Gleick today from Book Worm after hunting for over 6 months for the book. It is one of those beautiful editions from Harper Perennial which has something called "P.S. More than a Paperback" label (which means the book has insights, interviews with the author (incl. his 10 favourite books!, reviews of the book, etc). This is almost like a wiki inside the book which leads me to more books and some generally interesting reading. Super fun

Monsoon Madness

Thanks to the prize money from y'day, the following were added today

1) Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves
2) Right-Ho, Jeeves
3) Piccadilly Jim
4) The Clicking of Cuthbert
5) Jeeves in the Offing
6) Ring For Jeeves
7) Big Money
8) Aunts Aren't Gentlemen
9) The Girl in Blue
10) The Inimitable Jeeves
11) Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson
12) The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
13) Our Films Their Films by Satyajit Ray
14) Mahabharata (the complete series from Amar Chitra Katha)

1 to 10 form a collection called Jeeves and Chums from Penguin. All the above were purchased shortly after a coffee induced high at Indian Coffee House, from BookWorm