There is an old proverb in English that says:”Its not over until the fat lady sings.”
UEFA Champions League 2008 final at Moscow bears testimony to the above
mentioned fact.The match also bears testimony to the fact that how things change so quickly in life.As the match moved on to the penalty shoot out,three minutes into it we all knew Chelsea are going to be the winner but three minutes after that the blues landed up on the other side of the Bridge.That’s how life is.That’s how sport is.In the end only one can take the Trophy home and this time Red Devils lifted their 3rd Champions League trophy in the Luzhniki stadium of Moscow and as they lifted the most coveted crown in the European football the stadium seemed like the second Red Square of Russia with thr Red English Battalion rejoicing.

Things happens in the game and you need to live on with it.Remember the Champions League Final 2005 that pitted AC Milan against Liverpool.AC Milan lead 3-0 at the end of the first half but the Liverpool side spearheaded by its inspirational Captain Steven Gerrard & master tactitian Rafa Benitaz equalized within the 15 minutes of the second half and then some superb save by Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek in the penalty shoot out did the trick for Liverpool as they lifted the cup for the fifth time.After the first half of that match we thought it was AC Milan’s night at Turkey but that match showed how quickly things can change in sport.Another example that comes to my mind is the Formula One Season 2007 where Lewis Hamilton didn’t put a foot wrong until the last two races in China & Brazil respectively.The last two races was an absolute disaster for him & that fetched the world Championship to Kimi Raikkonen as he won the Drivers championship by a single point.

Coming into this match Manchester United had the psychological edge over Chelsea as they have won the maximum encounters against them this season and not to forget the Premier League.Chelsea on the other hand was disturbed by the injuries of their players as both Drogba & Terry was nursing an injury coming into this match & Ashley Cole also picked up a small injury when his teammate Claude Makelele made a harsh tackle on him during the training session before the match day.But Chelsea players were all determined to play & win the most coveted crown in the European Football.The fans from both the clubs should thank UEFA & Russian President Vladimir Putin for passing the resolution so that fans can enter the Russian territory without a visa.Instead of a visa,fans are ordered to use the tickets as a substitute from May 19-23 & not to dispose them until they leave the country.The move was made as the Russian Government believed that the backlog of processing thousands of visas could lead to some fans missing the final.

1st half
Manchester United fielded a 4-4-2 formation compared to that of Chelsea’s 4-4-3.
Chelsea started the proceedings.Prior to the start of the match it was said in every newspaper & sports channels that the Luzhniki pitch is not in the best of shape & Van der Sar slipping twice in the first half bears testimony to the fact.The first half of the match was a superb display of top class European football.In the 20th minute of the match Paul Scholes & Claude Makelele collided with each other that left the English man bloodied and with a yellow card.In 22nd Minute Cristiano Ronaldo started his magical proceedings and scored the goal in 26th minute thanks to a superb assist by Scholes & then Brown gave a flying cross to unmarked Cristiano Ronaldo in the box & the magic man headed it to the net scoring his 42nd goal of the season & first career goal against Chelsea giving United an early lead in the match.United continued their onslaught and in 34th minute we saw a superb flowing move as Rooney passed a long ball to Ronaldo who in turn passed it to Tevez who strikes it in fury but was saved twice by Petr Cech as Carrick also tries to put it into the net.Chelsea were determined to fight back as Malouda set the pace in the midfield and also not to forget Michael Ballack who nearly headed the ball into the net in 33rd minute after a small mistake was committed by Rio Ferdinand.But Frank Lampard was the cream of the crop as he scored the equalizer for the Blues in the dying minutes of the first half when the ball deflected of Vidic & Ferdinand found his feet.The first half belongs to Manchester United as they dominated the half completely.Owen Hargreaves was superb in the midfield as he created a lot of chances & along with Ronaldo set the pace for the Red Devils in the midfield.Chelsea manager Avram Grant was wrong with his strategy as Makelele was a total flop in the midfield in the above mentioned half on the other hand Essien who might have played better in Makelele’s position was not upto the mark in Right-back position.

2nd Half
As the match started on level terms the second half saw Chelsea coming back into the match.Malouda again set the pace with help of Lampard,Ballack & Joe Cole.The Chelsea defence did a fair amount of job & succeeded to stop the Red Devils from finding the net.Seeing the match late at night I felt a bit sleepy but in 78th minute Drogba’s shot that bursted out into the right framework of the post like a thunderbolt made all those sleepy ones awake including me.In 87th minute of the match history was created when Paul Scholes was substituted by Ryan Giggs & the welshman surpassed Bobby Charlton’s record of most number of appearances for United.

Extra Time
In the first half of extra time substitutions were made as Kalou came on for Malouda,Nani for Rooney & Anelka for Joe Cole.But in the 10th minute Patrice Evra who had a good match assisted Ryan Giggs to find the net but the danger was cleared away by the Chelsea’s captain fantastic John Terry.In the second half of extra time Drogba was shown a red card after he flickered his fingers over Nemanja Vidic’s face which according to me change the course of the game.If Drogba was present in the Penalty shoot out for Chelsea things could have been different.It was a shameful exit for Drogba & this may proved to be his last game for Chelsea after all the controversy that he created with the issue of staying with the club.In the mean time Belletti came in for Makelele who had a better 2nd half than the first one & Anderson came in for Brown.

Penalties
As the match went on to the penalties we knew it was anyone’s game.The team with a greater luck will win the Trophy.Both the teams where level on scoring penalties until Cristiano Ronaldo made a blunder as his shot was saved by Petr Cech.Ronaldo suddenly stopped in the middle while running to take the penalties as Petr Cech got aware where he will put the ball and saved it.As Terry stepped in to take the penalty we all thought its Roman’s army who will be creating history in the red square but again the Luzhniki pitch has something else in store for us as Terry slipped across the rain drenched field sending the ball wide of the goal post and bringing back the past memories from UEFA EURO 2004 where David Beckham missed a penalty against Portugal in quarter final that actually costed England the game.Ironically John Terry was the part of that team.As it went down to sudden death United had a better luck than Chelsea as Nicolas Anelka’s shot was saved by Edwin Van Der sar,United where crowned the European Champions for 2007-08.In the end it was fate & luck that made the difference.Sir.Alex after the match said that it was fate that made them Champions just like fate made them champions in 1999 against FC Bayern Munich.Most of the people who watched that match said Bayern was a better team until the injury time.You feel bad for the blues and for John Terry & Lampard who have overcome all the odds in the last two weeks to be there in Luzhniki.But in the end it’s all luck.Chelsea should remember John Arnie Riise’s blunder in the First leg of Semi-final clash that blunder actually costed Liverpool a place in the Champions League Final 2008.Hope the blues come bigger & better next year to achieve their Holy Grail & hopefully with Avram Grant & Henk Ten Cate who has done a good job for the club this season.Till then let us sing for United as they are the reigning European Champions.

Source: http://www.uefa.com

Czech Republic,Portugal,Russia,Sweden,Turkey & Co-host Switzerland have announced their UEFA EURO 2008 squad.

Czech Republic Coach Karel Bruckner has announced his team leaving out Pavel Nedved from his squad.The Juventus Midfielder who has announced his retirement after 2006 Fifa World cup was rumoured to make a comeback after Czech captain Tomas Rosicky was ruled out of the competition due to a knee Surgery.The 23 member squad are as follows:

Goalkeepers:Petr Čech (Chelsea FC), Jaromír Blažek(1. FC Nürnberg), Daniel ZítkaRSC Anderlecht).

Defenders: Marek Jankulovski(AC Milan),David Rozehnal(S.S. Lazio), Tomáš Ujfaluši(ACF Fiorentina),Zdeněk Pospěch(FC København),Zdeněk Grygera(Juventus),Michal Kadlec(AC Sparta Praha),Tomáš Sivok (AC Sparta Praha),Radoslav Kováč(FC Spartak Moskva).

Midfielders: Tomáš Galásek (1. FC Nürnberg), David Jarolím (Hamburger SV), Jaroslav Plašil (CA Osasuna), Jan Polák (RSC Anderlecht), Marek Matějovský (Reading FC), Libor Sionko (FC København), Daniel Pudil (SK Slavia Praha), Stanislav Vlček (RSC Anderlecht).

Forwards: Jan Koller (1. FC Nürnberg), Milan Baroš (Porsmouth FC), Martin Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt), Václav Svěrkoš (FC Baník Ostrava).

Meanwhile Russian boss Guss Hiddink has also announced his squad and has included the experienced midfielder Sergei Semak who has been a driving force for this years Russian Premier Liga leaders FC Rubin Kazan.Here is the Russian squad for you:

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (PFC CSKA Moskva), Vladimir Gabulov (FC Amkar Perm), Vyacheslav Malafeev (FC Zenit St. Petersburg).

Defenders: Aleksandr Anyukov (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Aleksei Berezutski (PFC CSKA Moskva), Vasili Berezutski (PFC CSKA Moskva), Sergei Ignashevich (PFC CSKA Moskva), Denis Kolodin (FC Dinamo Moskva), Roman Shirokov (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Renat Yanbayev (FC Lokomotiv Moskva).

Midfielders: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Dmitri Torbinskiy (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Vladimir Bystrov (FC Spartak Moskva), Aleksandr Pavlenko (FC Spartak Moskva), Yuri Zhirkov (PFC CSKA Moskva), Konstantin Zyrianov (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Igor Semshov (FC Dinamo Moskva), Oleg Ivanov (FC Krylya Sovetov Samara), Sergei Semak (FC Rubin Kazan).

Forwards: Roman Adamov (FC Moskva), Roman Pavlyuchenko (FC Spartak Moskva), Dmitri Sychev (FC Lokomotiv Moskva), Pavel Pogrebnyak (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Andrei Arshavin (FC Zenit St. Petersburg), Ivan Saenko (1. FC Nürnberg).

Swedish Coach Lars Lagerback has also announced his battalion and guess what Henrik Larsson is back in the squad.The call was a inevitable one for Larsson as he was performing well for his club Helsingborgs IF.Larsson retired after Fifa World Cup 2006 but was on Lagerbacks mind and so here is on his road to chase European Glory.After the selection the journalists were given a oppurtunity to talk with the man himself in a mobile conference and he said:”When I said I was retiring, I was in a disappointed frame of mind. I wasn’t happy with our performance in that match against Germany, and I wasn’t happy with my own performance either. At that point I didn’t know that I’d keep playing football for as long as this – or that I would enjoy it as much as I am right now.
Lars Lagerbäck phoned me yesterday while I was out playing golf. When I checked my voicemail I made a quick decision to say ‘yes’.”
On the other hand dark clouds looms over Linderoth’s Selection.Though he is selected but will be replaced by Kennedy Bakircioglu if he fails to prove his fitness at a pre-finals training camp.Here is the full squad for you:

Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson (Manchester City FC),Rami Shaaban (Hammarby), Johan Wiland (IF Elfsborg).

Defenders: Mikael Dorsin (CFR 1907 Cluj), Petter Hansson (Stade Rennais FC), Daniel Majstorovic (FC Basel 1893), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa FC), Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos FC), Andreas Granqvist (Wigan Athletic FC), Fredrik Stoor (Rosenborg BK).

Midfielders: Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Göteborg), Daniel Andersson (Malmö FF), Kim Källström (Olympique Lyonnais), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City FC), Fredrik Ljungberg (West Ham United FC), Tobias Linderoth (Galatasaray AS), Christian Wilhelmsson (RC Deportivo La Coruña), Anders Svensson (IF Elfsborg).

Forwards: Marcus Allbäck (FC København), Henrik Larsson (Helsingborgs IF), Johan Elmander (Toulouse FC), Zlatan Ibrahimović (FC Internazionale Milano), Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen).

Switzerland has also announced their squad and here is the the list for you:

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (VfL Wolfsburg), Pascal Zuberbühler (Neuchâtel Xamax FC), Fabio Coltorti (Real Racing Club Santander).

Defenders: Philipp Degen (BV Borussia Dortmund), Johan Djourou (Arsenal FC), Mario Eggimann (Karlsruher SC), Stéphane Grichting (AJ Auxerre), Stephan Lichtsteiner (LOSC Lille Métropole), Ludovic Magnin (VfB Stuttgart), Patrick Müller (Olympique Lyonnais), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal FC), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt), Steve von Bergen (Hertha BSC Berlin).

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Valon Behrami (S.S. Lazio), Ricardo Cabanas (Grasshopper-Club), Gelson Fernandes (Manchester City FC), Daniel Gygax (FC Metz), Benjamin Huggel (FC Basel 1893), Gökhan Inler (Udinese Calcio), Johan Vonlanthen (FC Salzburg), Hakan Yakin (BSC Young Boys).

Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (FC Basel 1893), Alexander Frei (BV Borussia Dortmund), Blaise Nkufo (FC Twente), Marco Streller (FC Basel 1893).

Turkey’s Manager Fatih Terim has surprisingly left out Hakan Sukur from the Euro Squad. Hamit Altintop is retained in the squad though he is nursing a broken foot.Here is the squad for you:

Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe SK), Rüştü Reçber (Beşiktaş JK), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor).
Defenders: Gökhan Gönül (Fenerbahçe SK), Sabri Sarıoğlu (Galatasaray AŞ), Gökhan Zan (Beşiktaş JK), İbrahim Kaş (Beşiktaş JK), Emre Aşık (Galatasaray AŞ), Servet Çetin (Galatasaray AŞ), Hakan Balta (Galatasaray AŞ), Uğur Boral (Fenerbahçe SK).
Midfielders: Mehmet Aurélio (Fenerbahçe SK), Mehmet Topal (Galatasaray AŞ), Emre Belözoğlu (Newcastle United FC), Tümer Metin (Larissa FC), Yıldıray Baştürk (VfB Stuttgart), Hamit Altıntop (FC Bayern München), Ayhan Akman (Galatasaray AŞ), Arda Turan (Galatasaray AŞ), Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough FC), Kazım Kazım (Fenerbahçe SK), Gökdeniz Karadeniz (FC Rubin Kazan).
Forwards: Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal CF), Halil Altıntop (FC Schalke 04), Semih Şentürk (Fenerbahçe SK), Mevlüt Erding (FC Sochaux-Montbéliard).

Lius Felipe Scolari on the other hand has left out Maniche from the Portugal team.Maniche’s brother Jorge Ribeiro(Boavista) has made into the squad.

Goalkeepers: Ricardo (Real Betis Balompié), Quim (SL Benfica), Rui Patrício (Sporting Clube de Portugal).
Defenders: Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea FC), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC), Bosingwa (FC Porto), Bruno Alves (FC Porto), Jorge Ribeiro (Boavista FC), Miguel (Valencia CF), Fernando Meira (VfB Stuttgart), Pepe (Real Madrid CF).

Midfielders: Petit (SL Benfica), Deco (FC Barcelona), Raul Meireles (FC Porto), Miguel Veloso (Sporting Clube de Portugal), João Moutinho (Sporting Clube de Portugal).

Forwards: Nuno Gomes (SL Benfica), Simão Sabrosa (Club Atlético de Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United FC), Nani (Manchester United FC), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto), Hélder Postiga (Panathinaikos FC).

But the shocker of a news came out when Clarence Seedorf took back his name from the Oranje provisional 30 man Squad.Seedorf said he is not happy with the playing condition within the team as promised to him.So he has decided not to take part in this years competition but hope to be the part of the team in near future after the new manager Bert van Marwijk takes over.Manager Marco Van Bastem has expressed his diappointment on this news. This leaves the Netherlands team with a 29 member provisional squad.

Goalkeepers: Sander Boschker (FC Twente), Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United FC), Maarten Stekelenburg (AFC Ajax), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord).
Defenders: Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa FC), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), Urby Emanuelson (AFC Ajax), John Heitinga (AFC Ajax), Kew Jaliens (AZ Alkmaar), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburger SV), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic FC), André Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers FC).
Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Orlando Engelaar (FC Twente), Nigel de Jong (Hamburger SV), Denny Landzaat (Feyenoord), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia CF), Clarence Seedorf (AC Milan), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid CF), Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburger SV), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar).
Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool FC), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (AFC Ajax), Danny Koevermans (PSV Eindhoven), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool FC), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid CF), Robin van Persie (Arsenal FC), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid CF), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic FC).

Source:http://www.uefa.com

FC Bayern coming:
It was 11th March,2008 when FC Bayern’s official website reported that FC Bayern will take on Mohun Bagan on may 27th,2008 in a friendly match as a part of their Asia tour.We the Indian Football fans were delighted to hear that news then.The Bayern team will be spearheaded by Captain fantastic Oliver Kahn who will be playing his 2nd last farewell match ending a prosperous career that existed for more than 25 years.Belgium International Daniel Van Buyten, Brazilian International Lucio,Ze Roberto,Argentine defender Martin Demechelis,,Sosa,German Andreas Ottl & the Dutch magician Mark Van Bommel will be playing in this match.Kolkata football fans will be missing the likes of Luca Toni, Franck Ribery, Miroslav Klose, Philip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger,Lukas Podolski,Willy Sagnol & Hamit Altintop as they will be busy on chasing European glory for their country in UEFA Euro 2008.Mohun Bagan will be missing it fringe players like Baichung Bhutia & others as they will be called up for the national camp.Mohun Bagan will be managed by their assistant coach Satyajit Chatterjee for this match as their newly appointed Morrocan Coach Karim Bencherifa will take charge from June,2008.

Pele & Kolkata:
Its been 31 years since Kolkata saw a big team like Bayern playing in the city of joy. Though teams like Bochum,Sao Paulo,FC Santos(RSA) & junior teams of FC Bayern & AC Milan have visited the city.But it was last in 1977 when Pele & Newyork Cosmos came to the city to take on Mohun Bagan and the Result was a 2-2 draw thanks to two brilliant goals courtesy Shyam Thapa & Habib & some superb defending by Goutom”Beckenbauer” Sorkar did the trick for us.There was a time when Bagan led 2-1 but the Cosmos team which was spearheaded by then Brazilian Captain Alberto,Cinnalia,Miffin, Roth,Keith Eddie,Tonyfield helped their team to end the match on level terms.After the match Pele praised the courageous performances of the Bagan players.So we hope that with the visit of the Bavarian team on May 27th our football will boosted though not like China who will be hugely boosted Economically & Politically for hosting the Olympics,2008.

History in the Making:
Coming back to FC Bayern.Bayern Munich(nicknamed Die Bayern) was founded in 1900 by members of a Munich gymnastics club. The club played its first games in the regional Bayern league. Bayern’s first success came in 1926 in the form of the championship of southern Germany.Their first national honour was gained in 1932, winning the German championship by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in the final.Bayern Munich
is one of the most successful clubs in football history with 2 Intercontinental Cups, 4 European Champions League titles, 1 UEFA Cup title, 1 Cup Winners’ Cup title, 21 national championships, and 14 German Cups.Bayern is a membership based club and with more than 140,000 members, the third largest in the world after SL Benfica and FC Barcelona. Bayern’s main local rival is TSV 1860 Munich.The rivalry has lost importance over the last decade as 1860 Munich has been relegated from the top divisions & struggled to come back to Bundesliga.The President of FC Bayern is the legendary Franz Beckenbauer.The Chairman of the executive board is Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, also a great former player of the club.Uli Hoeness is the general manager.of the club.Their home stadia is the Allianz Arena.
Players like Klinsmaan,Lothar Matthaus,Mario Basler,Scholl,Ballack, Owen Hargreaves,Kovac Brothers,Sebastian Diesler & many other great players have represented the club in the recent past years.In 2005 during the opening of the Allianz Arena the Club announced the results of its online poll for the “Bayern’s Greatest Ever” squad. 66,000 fans voted .
The Chosen squad:Sepp Maier(Gk). Defenders: Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Klaus Augenthaler,Paul Breitner.Midfielders:Stephan Effenberg,Mehmet Scholl,Lothar Matthaus.Forwards:Karl Heinz-Rummenigge,Gerd Muller & Giovane Elber.

Achievements:
In 1963 Bundesliga was introduced as the national league.Bayern gained promotion two years later, fielding a team with young talents like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Sepp Maier who would later be collectively referred to as “The Axis”. In their first Bundesliga season Bayern finished third and also won the German Cup.Next year they won European Cup Winners Cup against Scottish club Rangers, when Franz “the Bull” Roth scored the decider in a 1-0 extra time victory.In 1974 European Champions Cup final against Atlético Madrid, Bayern won 4-0 after a replay. In the following season the team defended their European title by defeating Leeds United in the final when Roth and Müller secured victory with their late goals. A year later in Glasgow, AS Saint-Étienne were defeated by another Franz Roth goal and Bayern became the third club to win the trophy in 3 consecutive years.They again won the Bundesliga title in 1980 and 1981.They had a prosperous time in the 80’s winning domestic titles mostly.When Franz Beckenbauer took over for the 2nd half of 1993-94 season, winning the Bundesliga again after a 3 year gap.He also led the team to victory in the 1996 UEFA Cup, beating Bordeaux in the final.From 1998-2004 Bayern were coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld, who became the most successful Bayern coach of all time. In Hitzfeld’s first stint as Bayern Manager he won 4 Bundesliga titles, 2 German Cups,1 Champions league & 1 Intercontinental title and came agonisingly close to winning the Champions League in 1999, losing 2-1 to Manchester United.Bayern’s most important victory came under his reign when they won the Champions League for the fourth time after a 25 year gap, defeating Valencia on penalties.

Season 2007-2008:
Ottomar “the general” Hitzfeld returned as manager in Season 2007 after the clubs dismal performance previous season under Felix Magath who was sacked.They fielded a destructive team with the likes of Captain Oliver Kahn,Luca Toni, Franck Ribery,Miroslav Klose,Philip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger,Lukas Podolski,Willy Sagnol, Daniel Van Buyten, Lucio,Ze Roberto, Martin Demechelis,Hamit Altintop,Sosa, Andreas Ottl,Mark Van Bommel,Christian Lell & others.They gave a commanding performance throughout the season winning the German Cup,German Bundesliga but missed out a chance to score the treble when they lost to Dick Advocaat’s Zenit St.Petersburg in the UEFA Cup Semi-Final.The season marked the end of team’s goalkeeper & Captain Oliver Kahn & also for manager Ottomar Hitzfeld who will be leaving the club at the end of the season and will become the manager of Switzerland from July,2008.He will replaced by the former player of the club & the former manager of German National side Juergen Klinsmaan.

Oliver Kahn:
Our feature on Bayern Munich cannot be completed without giving a special mention for “The Titan”. He started his career at Karlsruher SC and in 1994 was transferred to FC Bayern Munich.He is one of the most successful German players in recent history, having won seven German championships, six German cups, the UEFA Cup (1996), the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup (both 2001). His individual contributions have earned him four consecutive UEFA Best European Goalkeeper awards and two German “Footballer of the Year” trophies. He played for the German national team from 1994 to 2006,where he was starting goalkeeper of the 2002 World Cup squad which reached the Finals. He won the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball for his performance.In 2006 Fifa World Cup he played only one match against Portugal for 3rd place play off & helped the team to finish 3rd in the competition.

Sources:Official website of FC Bayern,Mohun Bagan & Wikipedia.

Felipe Massa secured his 2nd victory of the season & completed his hattrick of winning the Turkish Gp 3 times in a row from Pole position.Massa was lightning fast in the qualifying.One thing has to be said about Ferrari is that they have made an significant improvement over the last couple of months & that can be seen in qualifying & also in race.The two Mclaren Drivers followed Massa behind-Kovalanien & Hamilton respectively & World Champion Kimi Raikkonen 4th in qualifying.

When the Race started no one would have thought that Mclaren would match the Ferrari as Mclaren was struggling to get a proper balance
& psychological edge over the Scarlett cars but they did courtesy Lewis Hamilton.Lewis pulled up a brilliant manouvre in lap-24 on Felipe Massa went past him & we thought that at last the Mclaren’s have found the pace to beat the Tifosi’s but sadly Lewis was on a three-pitstop strategy and had to settle for a 2nd spot finish at the end of the race but the Briton did well to hold Kimi Raikkonen till the end of the race who had to be happy with a 3rd place finish.But Sadly Lewis’s teammate Heikki who was coming back from a horrendous race accident in Spain & had a difficult race as he had a tyre puncture during the start of the race as Kimi clipped his left rear tyre & he had to pit for a tyre change.The BMW drivers Robet Kubica & Nick Heidfeld were 4th & 5th respectively.Fernando “El Nano” Alonso finished in a solid sixth position & which is an vindication for him after a horrible ending in the last race.Mark Webber & Nico Rosberg completed the last two points scoring position.Massa by winning this race is back in the title hunt as the Brazilian is just seven points behind the Leader & World Champion Kimi Raikkonen.Lewis Hamilton revived his title hopes with todays race as he is equal in points with Massa.Meanwhile Force India have another bad day at the office Fisico was unable to comlete the reace after his car hit the back of Kazuki Nakajima’s car & Sutil finished lowly 16th.
Formula One now moves to Monaco in two weeks time & i can promise you one thing that it is going to be a one hell of a race.

Source: http://www.Formula1.com

When we thought that the fairy tale story of Lewis Hamilton will come true it just didn’t happen. His inability to win the title this year taught me onething that its not all about talent or having the best thing in life. Its all about luck.

Yes. Kimi Raikkonen had the best of luck in this race and that’s why he is the World Champion. Also not to forget the great teamwork of Ferrari. Mclaren lost everything just because the people of the team was busy in fighting with each other.

Felipe Massa took pole in qualifying followed by Lewis, Kimi & Alonso. But the script was still not completed until the race day. When the race started both the Ferrari’s had a good start Massa easily went ahead but Lewis was not only overtaken by Kimi but even Alonso made a move and was able to pass him. Lewis tried to fight back but lost momentum in the second corner when he braked late and went out of the track but he rejoined the race again in 8th position and when we thought we are going to see Lewis magic his World championships hopes where marred by a gear shift problem. Ten cars went past him in that time of the race and he went down to 18th. Mclaren had to change their strategy and Lewis had a 3 pit stop strategy and that costed him the championship.
In the middle part of the race we saw the genius brain of Ferrari’s Ceo John Todt working. He handled the situation very well. He worked on well with his team that fetched Raikkonen the World championship of this year.
Lewis finished in 7th position and his teammate Alonso in 3rd where Raikkonen won the World Championship with 110.Just a single point ahead of Lewis & Alonso who where tied with 109 points but Lewis became the runner-up just because he had five 2nd position finish than that of the spaniard’s four. It has happened in the past that when two teammates like Ruetamann & Alan Jones fought hard Nelson Piquet clinched the world title, when Mansell & Piquet fought hard then Alain Prost took the championship & it happened again.

The tyre grainning was a major concern this weekend but the Ferrari’s simply did a great job to clinch all the titles this year. I salute the Ferrari for their great teamwork. Well that’s why Ferrari won the titles for 5 consecutive years in the past. It simply shows that how good they are as a team. They follow the simple theory of having a distinctive driver 1 as they had in the great Micheal Schumacher.

In the end I feel bad for Lewis but he didn’t had the luck and Kimi had it. But someday luck would also favour Lewis and needs to wait for that.But still there is an outside chance for Lewis to take the title if the Bmw’s & Williams of Rosberg are stripped of their race position as they where found to have some fuel irregularities in their car.If FIA punish them then Lewis still can have the title but i just hope this doesn’t happen this time because Kimi had a superb performance in this race & i dont want to see that thing getting marred.I hope that atleast one title would be decided outside the court room & inside the track.

Season Review

1)Ferrari: They started with a bang and even finished it with an explosion. At the end of the season 2006, their great driver Micheal Schumacher retired from the game. The technical genius Ross Brawn also decided to leave and they went on to have a change in their management. John Todt was promoted to the position of CEO and Stephano Domencaeli the former team manager became the Head of the F1 team.
They won the season opener in Australia courtesy Kimi Raikkonen followed by Massa winning it in Spain & Bahrain. They lost a lot of momentum in the middle part of the season due to their unreliable machinery but with spygate scandal and all the controversy surrounding them & Mclaren put them in an advantageous position and as Mclaren where stripped of this year’s championship they became the constructors champion. In the end it was down to the drivers to perform in the track to clinch the Drivers title and Kimi Raikkonen with six wins and an consistent performance did the job for himself & his team.Also not to forget the supporting role played by Felipe Massa. Massa seems to come up a long way.He may not be have same natural talent like the Kimi’s, Lewis’s & Alonso’s but still he is a man to watch out for next season.

2)Mclaren: The best car, the best drivers but the end result is nothing. Why? Blame it on the team, blame it on Fernando Alonso. They had the most reliable engine,they had the best of the setup but they lost it all over spygate scandal where FIA & its WMSC was not even able to prove that the team cheated or not. Just with the E-mail that the drivers exchanged the team was charged guilty. I feel bad for Hamilton. After all the hard work he did after all those odds that he overcame he just lost it due to an on going fight inside his team. Mclaren, I would also say is a bad strateigist. Lewis could have easily won the championship in China but with all the tyre problem and the late call by the team costed it all for the young british rookie. But still Lewis should be congratulated for whatever he did this year. As a Rookie when you start your career with a car like spyker then you have less tention coz you know its not the best of the car in the grid and even if you try hard you are not going to get into points. But when you are driving a Mclaren you know you need to perform well as all are looking at you.The so called Driver 1 Mr.Alonso must rethink how he wants to play the game. Coz his cry child approach towards the World Championship did no great things for him.It may be possible that he move to Renault next year after what has happened between the team & him where he even try to blackmail Ron Dennis.

3)BMW Sauber: I would love to congratulate Dr. Mario Theissen & the team for doing such a good job. They are working as a great team and their drivers Nick Heidfeld & Robert Kubica has done a extremely good job.They knew there limitation and they have performed pretty well within that limitation.Only four race retirements including the massive crash of Kubica in Montreal. So three cheers for Bmw.

4)WILLIAMS: A pretty good season. They also had limited resources but they also performed well. Alex Wurz recorded the best finish for them in this season in Montreal finishing 3rd .Nico Rosberg seems to have developed a lot and in near future I believe he is going to make it big like his father Keke. If Alonso leaves then Nico will be my ideal replacement in team Mclaren.

5)Renault: After winning the back to championship no one would have thought that there performance would go down like this. The setup of their car was so bad they didn’t got the proper balance. Giancarlo Fisichella had a poor season in the cockpit. But their driver no.2 Heikki Kovaleinien, former World series Champion did a great job and even finished second in the tricky conditions in Fuji speedway.They can take only one positive thing from this season and that is their reliable machinery.I don’t remember any race retirements due to a mechanical failure.

6)Red Bull:Well they struggled throughout the season with their gear box technology (Zero shift).But still with an experience team of Adrian Newey(Chief Designer), David Coulthard & Mark Webber they still posted some good finishes and even Webber finished 3rd in Nurburgring.

7)Toyota:Tim Scott,the editor of F1 racing Magazine was telling in the commentary booth during the race in turkey that the actual management of Toyota is based on Japan and the workshop is based on Colonge. So until & unless the bosses from Japan take any decisions the people of cologne can’t work. In one word the engineers cant work independently and that’s why they are lacking.They had the most awful setup this season. Ralf Schumacher strugglrd through out this season and also left it in the end. Jarno Trulli still seems to manage a better performance then his teammate.

8)Honda:Well nothing much to report about this team coz they came up as an independent team this year after breaking their tie up with Brackleys and even they where without a sponsor.They didn’t had the pace,they didn’t had the setup everything seems to have gone wrong for them. Jenson Button was superb in three races. Nurburgring, Monza & Japan.Driver2 Rubens didn’t scored any points this
year.

9)Torro Rosso: Well nothing much to report. Only I would like to thank them for giving
a chance to Sebastian Vettel. What an eventful season he had.Raced in the US gp for Bmw as replacement for Kubica who was adviced by the doctor to rest due to the heavy accident he had in Montreal. Vettel qualified well in 6th and finished 8th.Then in Japan in Torro Rosso he was doing well under the wet conditions until he got crashed out after colliding with Red Bull’s Mark Webber. But he came back strong & finished 5th in China again a rain interrupted race. Vitantonio Luizzi was also quite ok but he has thrown away many races and that’s why he will be replaced by the 4 time Champ car champion Sebastian Bourdais who will be joining forces with Vettel. Also not to forget Scott Speed who was asked to leave as his performance was not up to the mark.

10)Super Aguri: The team powered by Honda engines did performed well in the middle season with Sato scoring at Spain & Canada. They even seemed to perform better than Honda until the latter surpassed them in Japan.

11) Spyker: Lastly the team that every Indian would like to talk about. The team doesn’t seems to have a great performance until Adrian Sutil finished 12th in Belgium and even scored a point in Japan. after Luizzi was disqualified. Sutil had a decent rookie season.
Albers was said to leave the team after his prime sponsor was not able to pay the sponsorship money. Albers was replaced by Markus Winkelhock who lead his first grandprix in rain interrupted Nurburgring. Sakon Yamamoto of Japan was appointed as Driver2 for the last six races and even he failed to perform. The big news is that the team is now owned by Indian Businessman Vijay Mallya & Micheal Mol. It costed them 88 million euros.But still Indian can rejoice for having a team like this. The team would be called Force India F1 team after the name was officially approved by FIA & other F1 teams.The driver line-up for next season probably would be Ralf Schumacher & Narain Karthikeyan.

So that’s the end of this year. Lets hope that next year we will have an another exciting season like this but I hope it will be without another spuygate scandal and I also hope to see a race uner flood lights & some great fights in the track again.Especially Alonso vs Hamilton.Till then Ciao.

The Circuit is said to be bumpy and has a lot of tyre issue as graining is a big concern in this circuit.The setup of the car is also a matter of concern as car seems to slides around a lot giving a hint of Understeer and also not to forget that the circuit was a bit slippery.But still at last those who are born champions came out with flying colours.

South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg took pole for Sprint race followed by Newzeland’s Johnny Reid and Great Britain’s Robby Kerr.While Team Netherland’s Jereon Bleekemolen who qualified well in 5th in Sprint Q1 failed to capitalise in Sprint Q2 as his car spun off in the last corner but he came back strong to take pole for Feature race followed by Adrian Zaugg of South Africa in 2nd position and “Mr.Consistent” Robby Kerr of Great Britain in third for sunday’s race.

India’s Narain Karthikeyan qualified 12th & 11th for sprint & feature race respectively.

After Round 1 of A1 Gp South Africa leads the championship by 28 points followed by Great Britain at 19 points and France in 18 points.

Against this backdrop, one if forced to ask if the country is ready to commit the resources needed to host an F1 race? The chasm between a letter-of-intent from Bernie Ecclestone and IOA signing on the dotted line of the contract with FOA is huge.
Lastly, The Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain,the home of Seikh Maktoum,the Founder of A1 Gp is the last addition to the Formula One circus. Here’s what went into putting it on track .

Project completed in 2 years: Construction began in 2002, first race was held in 2004
Cost: $150m approx
Workforce: 3,000 plus at peak time
Total man hours: 82,65,000 hrs

The circuit has been ingeniously designed with six separate track layouts including a test oval and a drag strip incorporated into the design, of which two can be in operation at any one time

SIX TRACKS

2.55 km Inner track with a width varying between 14m-15m (8 turns)

3.664 km Outer track with a width varying between 14m-17m (10 turns)

5.411 km Grand Prix track with a width varying between 14m-22m width

6.4 km Full circuit with a width varying between 14m-22m

1.2 km Drag strip with a width of 18.5m

2.0 km Test oval

3.7 km Paddock circuit (9 turns) 14-22m width

GP TRACK

15 turns (9 right & 6 left)
Forecast lap time for a 2.4-litre F1 car: 1min 31secs

CAPACITY: Total seating capacity for 45,000 spectators

OTHER FACILITIES

* An 8-storey VIP tower (Sakhir Tower) with roof terrace, VIP suites, restaurant and administration offices

* Main grandstand for 10,500 spectators and first class hospitality suites 47 VIP hospitality suites in the main and Oasis grandstands

* State of the art pit & paddock complex for 11 GP teams, their cars, equipment and support staff

* A complex that includes 3,000 seat grandstand and a second pit building for support race and vehicle testing technical support

* Race control centre with the latest technology including a nerve centre with 41 remote controlled security cameras with zoom capability to enable race officials to monitor every aspect of the race track from a central point

* Dedicated buildings for 18 international racing teams

* Media centre for 500 journalists with 260 television sets

* Photographers centre for 120 international and regional photographers

* Parking facilities for 13,000 cars

* Helicopter landing facilitates

GP PERSONNEL

600 race track marshals

750 TV technicians & commentators

700 cleaners, electricians and technicians

97 medical staff, 25 of which are doctors

60 circuit administration staff

700 catering & merchandising staff

800 security staff

1000 policemen

Ticket Rates:

Grandstand 3 Days Race Day
All prices are in Bahrainian currency
Main Grandstand 150 120
Batelco Grandstand 120 100
Turn1 Grandstand 80 65
Univ.Grandstand-S1 60 50
Univ.Grandstand-S2 60 50
Univ.Grandstand-S3 60 50
VictoryGrandstand-S1 30 25
VictoryGrandstand-S2 30 25

Sources: Indiatimesracing.com,Orkut.com,
bahraingp.com.bh,Corner of a Foreign Feild by Rama Chandra Guha(Cricketing History)