Mario Gomez & his lucky number 3

Footballers are a superstitious lot and often believe in things which cannot be explained, but it somehow seems to work for them. Just remember "Paul the Octopus" during the 2010 FIFA World Cup or footballer who take with them their good luck charm onto the field or wear their socks and shoes in a certain ritual. Now we have the story of striker Mario Gomez.

For FC Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez the number three was his own lucky number over the weekend. The German international, who wears the number 33 jersey at his club, scored all the three goals for Bayern Munich in a 3-0 Bundesliga win against Hanover 96 at the Allianz Arena on Saturday. And Gomez scored a goal for his club in the Bundesliga after more then six month's.

You think there are too many number three's in there already? It actually isn't the end of the story, which gets even more superstitious as Gomez after the match talking to the media said he was motivated by the rescued Chilean miners, who also believed in the number three! How? There were 33 miners stuck underground and the final rescue mission started three days before the match on Saturday after 69 days and there was a miner with the exact name of Mario Gomez, also saved amongst those 33 miners. 'Mario Gomez', the miner, was brought out as the ninth miner from the shaft and nine can only be calculated as three times three.

I know it sounds somehow funny and peculiar, but often we hear of these kind of stories which just cannot be explained and they seem to happen again and again...

Patrick Sisupalan: A Foreigners point of view

British citizen Raman Patrick Sisupalan last season played for Viva Kerala in the I-League under the Players of Indian Origin quota. He has written down his views on things he saw and experienced last year in Indian football, especially on the issue of foreigners and PIO's.

I have enjoyed reading several articles recently and of course the discussion about the value of foreigners in Indian football. Such debates are not exclusive to India as many people here in England blame the poor performance in the world cup on the foreigner situation in the Premier league. Arsenal have notoriously few English players and have played Premier league matches without English players. England coach Fabio Capello claims there are not enough English players to chose from but Arsenal Coach Wenger claims English players improve by playing with better players.

In India the AIFF seems unable to make up its mind as to what restrictions on foreigners should be imposed. My point of view is in line with Wenger's thinking, that raising the standard in the I-League is important for the development of Indian players and encourages spectators too.

The argument that foreigners are restricting opportunities for Indians is weak for several reasons. Firstly, the I-League was due to have 16 teams this year which would have meant many more Indian players at the top level and further expansion to 18 teams would have increased this effect. Teams outside the I-League have little to play for. The talented young Shillong Lajong FC players will spend this season playing in local tournaments against weak opposition, waiting for the AIFF to announce the limited game 2nd division that will probably not commence till the mercury hits 40. So the AIFF needs to think about improving the second division and state leagues if they are genuinely worried about Indian players not playing enough games, before restricting foreigners.

The top foreigners earn huge amounts of money that if invested in youth football would be of far greater benefit to Indian football in the long term. I suggest a foreigner tax, say 20% of all salary spent on foreigners should be spent on a clubs youth academy. This may also make clubs more cautious when signing foreigners and hopefully we will see less of the average foreign players that seem to play only due to the fact they are foreign and earning a higher wage rather than their ability.

What is the point of having PIO's (Players of Indian Origin)?
Most I-League clubs did not recruit PIO players so restricting them makes very little difference to the league. We are not foreign mercenaries sending our cash home with no interest in the development of the game in India. I took a massive pay cut to play for Viva Kerala in India and found in Kerala, a thriving football culture that desperately needs some outside influences to take it to the next level.

Had Bob Houghton expressed any interest, I would have instantly applied for Indian nationality and I'm sure better and younger PIO's in the future would do the same and hopefully improve the national team.
I also received some media attention in England that has contributed to an increased awareness of the I-League back in the UK.

With regard to India's fascination with all things foreign, I offer no explanation except that such diffidence will evaporate as India's economic might grows. When foreign players arrived at Viva Kerala, there were always reporters and a TV camera but if an Indian arrived there was little interest. I can only commend Dempo coach Armando Colaco for not signing a third foreigner unnecessarily last season.

Finally, some highly paid foreigners have fallen in love with India and given something back. As reported in the media, Brazilians Jose Ramirez Barreto and Roberto Mendes Silva, better known as Beto, launched their own football Academy in Goa so the AIFF should think carefully when making decisions on foreigners.

123rd Durand Cup starts tomorrow

The 123rd Durand Cup will kick-off tomorrow in New Delhi with the qualifiers tomorrow with the finals slated for November 7. India's oldest football tournament, which happens to be the worlds third oldest tournament, will see 16 teams taking part in the qualifiers, while two teams would move on to the quarterfinal league group stage were eight I-League sides besides Army Red and Sporting Clube de Goa would be waiting. Goa's Churchill Brothers are the defending champions, while Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan AC have opted not to play the tournament.

Altogether 16 teams have been accommodated in the qualifying knockout rounds. They are - four teams from the Army; one team each from Indian Navy and Indian Air Force; two teams from paramilitary forces - Border Security Force and Assam Rifles; outstation teams in Uttarakhand Police; Jammu&Kashmir Bank, Srinagar; Tata Football Academy; Vasco SC and Amity United FC, Haryana; besides local sides Ahbab SC, Garhwal Heroes and Indian National FC. These teams have been divided into two groups of eight teams each with the qualifiers to be played from September 17 to 24. The winner of each group will qualify for the quarterfinal league stage to be played from October 27

Ten teams are directly seeded into the quarterfinal league. These teams are - Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers SC, Salgaocar SC, Sporting Clube de Goa, East Bengal Club, Chirag United SC, JCT, Air India, Pune FC and Army Red. The two winner teams from the qualifying knockout rounds will join these sides to make the tally of twelve teams for the Quarterfinal league. These teams have been divided into four groups of three teams each. The winner of each group will qualify for the semifinals.

The teams have been divided into following groups

Group 1: Churchill Brothers SC, Army Red, Qualifier A
Group 2: Chirag United SC, Pune FC, Qualifier B
Group 3: Dempo SC, JCT, Sporting Clube de Goa
Group 4: Salgaocar SC, East Bengal Club, Air India


All matches of the Tournament have been thrown open to the public without tickets on first come first serve basis. Matches will be played at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi.

Happy Durga Puja!

It is the festive season in India and for most Bengalis Durga Puja is the most important festivity of the year. And it starts today around the world. Born and brought-up in Germany to Bengali parents I have grown-up seeing and being part of our own Durga Puja in Cologne, which is now being organised for the 19th year at the Bezirksrathaus in Cologne-Chorweiler.

And it is something which I look forward to every year. Be it the festivities, the work around the Puja, preparing and cooking the food, organising things, moderating and being part of the cultural program plus simply getting things done. There is loads to do and I shouldn't forget one thing, meeting up with friends, whom I these days often only see once a year and that during Durga Puja.

People living close-by or even a little further away are cordially invited to visit our Durga Puja in Cologne and if you wish you can be actively involved too!

With the Durga Puja happening from Wednesday to Sunday it also means that I will be heavily involved in the organisation and running of the festivities, so my blog updates might be a little scarce in the coming days. Sorry for that in advance and I hope to be back to my usual self next week.


For more informations about our Durga Puja in Cologne go to the website at www.durgapuja.de .

India face Yemen test

India tomorrow night face Yemen in their third and final international friendly at the Balewadi sports complex in Pune as part of their preparations for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. After a loss against Hongkong in the first match, India displayed a much improved performance against Vietnam and deservingly walked away with a 3-1 win last Friday. And Bob Houghton not only will have been happy with the result, but also with the performance of his team.

Certain things are falling in place. Subrata Pal has been rock solid in goal in the five friendlies so far, in defence Gouramangi Singh has been the rock of Gibraltar at the heart of defence with mixed performances from Surkumar Singh and Anwar, while Syed Rahim Nabi has been doing a good job since moving in as left back. In midfield Anthony Pereira has been the highlight so far on the wings, be it on the left or his preferred right wing position. When playing Steven Dias was good, but is capable of more while Clifford Miranda was impressive in the last game. In the middle we have had mixed performances from Climax Lawrence and N.P. Pradeep, who haven't been able to recreate their Nehru Cup performances so far, while Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Baldeep Singh have done really well when forced to play in the first eleven. Upfront we miss Baichung Bhutia with Sunil Chhetri only showing his potential in the last game against Vietnam while Abhishek Yadav has taken a lot of load, but hasn't been getting the goals, while Mohammed Rafi and Sushil Kumar Singh still show the lack of international experience.

The match against Yemen is the last match before the team gets a break after three and a half months together, so hopefully we can expect another solid performance against the West Asians. After playing an East Asian (Hongkong) and Southeast Asian (Vietnam) side India will have to adjust to the different style of play which is prevailant in the Middle East.

In the current FIFA world rankings Yemen are 107th, 53 places above India but interestingly only a year back in the October 2009 rankings Yemen were ranked a place behind India as 139th and since then their rankings has sky-rocketed. In the recent West Asian Championships in Jordan the Yemenite team reached the semifinals only losing out to eventual champions Kuwait in a penalty shootout.

The last time the two sides met was in 2006 in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. Yemen won 3-0 away in New Delhi in March 2006 and followed it up with a 2-1 win in Sana'a in November 2006, one of the first matches in charge for Bob Houghton, who played the match with a strengthened Under-23 team as preparations for the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

The match will once more be live on television with Ten Action (formerly Zee Sports) showing the match from 19.00 IST onwards.

Indicast Podcast: World & Indian football

On Saturday I once more was part of the Indicast Podcast's Sportsbench and we discussed football after a near two month break following the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The podcast was moderated by Vikram Nanivadekar with myself the guest and we did discuss international football, but we talked more about Team India and their 2011 AFC Asian Cup preparations.



Listen Online (64 kbps) : ~ 18 mins





Here the direct link to the Indicast Podcast page: Sportsbench Podcast


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Euro2012 Qualifiers: Germany's fight against time

2012 European Championship qualifiers Group A leaders Germany tonight face Kazakhstan on the artificial pitch at the Astana Arena in the Kazakh capital, but more then their opponent the German team will be fighting against the long flight and time shift. The flight from Germany took them five hours and the time difference between Kazakhstan and Germany happens to be four hours.

Time is seen has the biggest problem for the contingent, so the German team doctor Dr. Tim Meyer has developed a system in which the players should feel minimal effects of the time different, meaning jet lag. The German players have been told to keep their watches on German time, besides training, eating and sleeping also as per the time in their home country. With the match tonight kicking off at 23.00 h local time (19.00 CET) it means that the body rhythm doesn't have to change. And the plan is only working as the overall trip is taking a little over 48 hours. If it had been of longer duration, then the body would have to adjust to the local time.

On the field coach Joachim Loew has come to Astana with a squad of only 18 players amongst them three goalkeepers. Jerome Boateng had to drop out at the last moment due to an upset stomach, while leaves Loew with only 15 field players. Star Mesut Özil is not 100% fit, but trained last night in Astana and the coach will decide if he will field him before the match. If Özil cannot start then Marko Marin could be the first alternative, but otherwise the team which beat Turkey on Friday night is set to start again.

For Kazakhstan it is one of the biggest matches since joining UEFA from the AFC in 2002. And not for the country but also for their German coach Bernd Storck, a former Borussia Dortmund player, it is a big match. But The Kazakhs are realistic against the mighty Germans, a reasonable loss would be acceptable.