Journey to the top : After half time

Group stage is over. The results are somewhat I expected. Group E and G turned out to be the most interesting group in the end. Italy and Ghana qualified peacefully from group E while biggest upset was Czech going out. Czech started well but they wouldnt have done better with four key players on bench. Hard luck!. Swiss qualified as a leader of group G, France finally came to their senses and made it to the final 16. Ghana and Ecuador surprised everyone and they truly deserved to qualify for the next round. Lets see how they perform now.

Journey to the top : The crucial four days

Some team are going to pack up and fly back home, while some teams are going to show their class on the pitch in the knockout stages. These team will qualify in that order.


Group 1
1)Germany
2)Ecuador

Group 2
1)England
2)Sweden

Group3
1)Argentina
2)Netherland

Group4
1)Portugal
2)Mexico

Group5
(I dont know)

Group6
1)Brazil
2)Australia

Group7
1)Korea
2)France

Group8
1)Spain
2)Ukraine

Journey to the top : Bravo!

What a finish by England...finally..huuhh!! After 82' battle they finally managed to score. Great ball by beckham. He surely is a great player. One goal scored against Paraguay was by him only :). Crouch would have been cooked, fried and eaten if he wouldnt have scored that goal. Bloody he is so tall no defender can stop him frm taking header. And goal by Gerrard was not a surprise for me. I was expecting something like that from him. I have seen him in the past, he is expert in those long drive blasts :-). You can expect a goal frm him in every 2-3 matches. It was good to see Rooney on pitch. Though we didnt see much from him but he just recovered from injury. His game will improve with each outing. World Cup its getting more and more exciting.

Out of the blues : Ecuador

Back on their feet and sprinting : Argentina and Italy

Flying high : England

Most over-rated : Brazil (They suck!)

Men in black : Czech, Spain

On the verge of retirement : France

The home advantage : Germany

Journey to the top : The outcome

The situation after group stages and 1st knockout round

Journey to the top : part 1

Hours away from the kick off of world cup of one the most popular sport on this planet..Soccer. In India too people are very excited. Restaurants have changed their menu, pubs have made arrangement for screening matches, people have bought new televisions :D. Well I am not going to talk about whats happening, I am going to talk about whats gonna happen in world cup :-).

Group A

Germany: The host nation will start its journey with match against Costa Rica. Though Ballack is injured, it should be easy win for Germans. It should be a piece of cake for Germany to top the group and walk into next round.

Poland: They had a great run in qualifying. Fans have loads of expectation from them Should qualify for next round.

Costa Rica: Coasta Rica doesnt look promising to enter into top 16 teams.

Ecuador: Dont know. No comments.

Group B

England: My favourite. With Rooney returning to team, their chances are now amplified. Amazing team with great defence, midfield and attack. They should win it this time.

Sweden: With larsson, ljungberg and Ibrahimovic on attack, they should atleast secure 2nd place in the group.

Trinidad and tobago: Qualifying for the first time. Cant say. Very slim chances of qualifing y for the next round

Paraguay: This team qualified from South American Zone where teams like Argentina, Brazil qualified. It looks promising but England and Sweden will not allow them to qualify for the next round.

Group C

: The group of death

Argentina : Good team, player to watch Messi (Second Maradona in making), Crespo, Saviola, Tevez, Messi, Riquelme and decent defense. They are expected to finish first in the group.

Netherlands : Should finish 2nd but they are in such a grp that its extremely to difficult to predict. So no comments on 2nd position in this grp. Players to watch are Van der saar, Van Nistelrroy, Persie.

Serbia and Montenegro : Their defense is the most talked about in world cup. Having conceded only single goal during the wc qualifying, other teams will have hard time breaking their wall.

Ivory Coast : People are saying they can do miracle. Remember Senegal in 1998.

Group D

Portugal : Placed in one of the easiest group. They are expected to qualify with the help of Ronaldo, Sabrosa, Figo, Deco, Ferraria.

Mexico : Should qualify but Mexico v/s Portugal will be interesting

Iran : Crap

Angola : Waste of time

Group E :

Italy : Will finish first.

USA : Will give good fight to Czech

Ghana : Leave it.

Czech : Strong chances of 2nd position but chances are blurry with Baros having injury problem

Group F :

Brazil : World Cup favorites. Do I need to say anything about them.

Croatia : I cant guess who will get 2nd place in this group. But Croatia, leveling with Sweden in qualifying, have a good chance.

Australia : Dont know

Japan : Dont know. A chinky team surprised all of us in the last world cup. They might b the next in line.

Group G :

France : They were aghast in the last world when they couldnt make it to the next round. I think it wont happen this time as they are placed in a very easy group.

Switzerland : No way

Korea : Good chance of going into next round

Togo : No comments

Group H :

Spain : I wont b surprise if they finish on top of the group. Player to watch Casillas, Puyol, Pablo, Iniesta, Alonso, Fabregas, Raul, Garcia. Very good team. I would count them in top teams who can win world cup.

Ukraine : Lets c whether AC Milan's ace, Schevchenko, can drive his country to the next round or not.

Tunisia : Leave it

Saudi Arabia : Not expecting anything great from them

iLe Maurice (Pics)

iLe Maurice

Awesome place, awesome beaches, definitely not the place to with your parents. You can just go and relax under the warmth of the sun or you can be wild and try some of the water sports. Dont forget to catch a glimpse of the sun sinking in the ocean. Its the most beautiful sight I came across :). Spent one week there, its good place to relax and sink in the thoughts while staring at the endless, wild and beautiful ocean. While living in Mumbai, I couldnt discover that ocean is so beautiful :D