Euro 2008: Dutch and Italian delight

Group C: Holland and Italy advance

Holland 2-0 Romania

France 0-2 Italy

Holland did their part by winning their 3rd straight group game and knocking Romania out of Euro 2008. As expected, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar started for the Dutch and scored a goal. How much longer can he stay at Ajax? Surely a bigger club will snatch him up. Van Persie stayed on his feet and blasted in a powerful second goal to finish off an impressive first round for the Dutch. Holland won their first three games 3-0 over Italy, 4-1 over France and now 2-0 over Romania. Out of the 9 goals the Dutch have scored, seven different players have found the net -- Van Nistelrooy, Sneijder (2), Van Persie (2), Van Bronckhorst , Kuyt, Robben and Huntelaar.

Italy got a stroke of luck with their second goal when Thierry Henry deflected De Rossi's free-kick into the French net but overall, I cannot feel any sympathy for France, even though they lost Ribery to an early injury. The best chance France had was when they were 2-0 down with Benzema striking a beautiful curler but Buffon made a remarkable save. If the French Federation does not fire Raymond Domenech in the next 24 hours, then well there is no future for French soccer.

Euro 2008: Signs of life & some shock therapy

I have learned a lot of things via soccer but on Sunday, I learned something new entirely. Turkey's stunning 3-2 comeback win against the Czech Republic was just a phenomenal result but the manner of their late winner can be attributed to a footballing example of "shock therapy". Naomi Klein's excellent book The Shock Doctrine talks about how various individuals and corporations use(d) time of emergencies to sweep wide changes to take advantage of innocent citizens. The rationale behind this is(was) that when people are in an emotionally vulnerable mental state, then anything goes. Turkey were trailing 2-1 with less than 5 minutes to go when a fumble by Petr Čech allowed Turkish captain Nihat to level the game up. The Czechs were in a state of shock so much so that less than a minute later, another Turkish attack allowed Nihat to break free and curl a beautiful shot to lead Turkey into the Quarter finals.

Petr Čech is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best. This was just a rare mistake by him. Last year, he fumbled a corner against Arsenal which allowed William Gallas to head Arsenal to a 1-0 win over Chelsea. On Sunday, he stumbled yet another cross but before that, he and the entire Czech defense were busy trying to withstand wave after wave of Turkish attacks. But his mistake sent the entire Czech team into a state of disbelief. And it was then that they were most vulnerable and Turkey were full worth for their remarkable win. Another example of this "shock therapy" took place in the 1999 European Cup Final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United. Back then, Munich took an early lead and dominated United but they were unable to score a crucial second goal. With time running out, Man Utd tied the game up. Bayern were in such a state of shock that less than a minute later, they let Man Utd get another goal to win 2-1 -- two goals in 2 minutes gave Man Utd the European Cup. In the 2005 European Cup final, Milan raced to a 3-0 half-time lead against Liverpool. Milan dominated the game except for 6 second half minutes when Liverpool scored three goals to tie things up. In those 6 minutes, Milan looked completely disorganized and disoriented.

It was good to see Turkey come away with a win. Yah for attacking football! And the tournament is finally showing some signs of life. In fact, one had to wait until the 4th day for two teams to score goals in a single game. When Spain beat Russia 4-1, the lone Russian goal was the first time at this year's tournament an opponent managed to find the target. The 8 previous games had ended 1-0, 2-0, 1-0, 2-0, 0-0 & 3-0. A majority of the football has been cautious and dull but there have been some rare delightful moments. And Turkey's magical final 15 minutes stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Also, the game showed that sometimes the margin between defeat and victory is separated by a tiny fraction. Czech Republic could have made it 3-0 and finished the game off but their shot hit the post. On the other hand, Arda Turan's 75th minute goal hit the inside of the post and went in to make it 2-1. When Nihat curled his stunning shot, the ball appeared to be curving above the goal until it hit the underside of the crossbar and settled in gracefully into the net.

After Round 2, only two out of 16 were eliminated
It was good to see that after all the teams had played their first two games, only two teams were officially eliminated (Switzerland and Greece). All four groups had been won with a further 10 teams in contention for that crucial second place.

After Sunday (June 15) & Monday's (June 16) games, both Groups A & B are now decided.
Group A: Portugal and Turkey advance

Switzerland 2-0 Portugal

Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic

Group B: Croatia and Germany advance

Austria 0-1 Germany

Croatia 1-0 Poland

Day 8 -- Sat, June 14:

Group D: Spain wins group

Spain 2-1 Sweden

Greece 0-1 Russia

David Villa just keeps increasing his asking price. Villa scored a delightful last minute goal to lead Spain to a worthy 2-1 win over Sweden. Even though there were some nasty fouls in the game, both teams played a technically delightful game to watch. The first half was a real joy to observe in terms of the effort from both Spain and Sweden. However, in the second half Sweden sat back allowing Spain to play some clever balls and display some tricks. Still Sweden looked dangerous on the counter-attack and both teams tried to get a winner until the final minutes, even though both attempted to push for a winning goal within the confines of their cautious framework.

And in other news....

The NY Times has joined the list of international newspapers to talk at length about Mukesh Ambani. India is always on the news nowadays and Ambani is never far from it. But what is interesting about the article is the specific elements that it talks about the rise of the Ambani name makes it clear that Mani Ratnam's film Guru is a clear look at Ambani's life, with the addition of some songs and romance (ofcourse!).

And no news day would be complete without a look at the surging oil and food prices. Ofcourse, such news would never be truly certified unless the following lines are included: ..rising demand from China and India.

The Group of 8 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — are many of the world’s largest consumers of oil. But most have little say over production, and over drivers of oil prices like rising demand from China and India.

Yes there is rising oil demand from China and India. I think every one gets that now as it cut and paste in every article about rising oil prices. But how many of those new vehicles on the Chinese and Indian roads are gas guzzling suv's, mini-vans and hummers? Let's see now. America and Canada sucks up oil for decades in wasteful vehicles but if other nations need the same oil for their tiny cars which can't ever go over speeds of 60 Km/hr because of congested roads, well the West does not like it. I suppose Daniel Plainview put it best:

Euro 2008: Rang De Mausambi

Day 7, Friday June 13

Holland 4-1 France

Italy 1-1 Romania

Psst. Have you heard?
What?
The Dutch are back!
Really?
Yup. They beat Italy 3-0 and dispatched France 4-1. And they are playing like a team again! No more infighting.

Wait...Hang on a minute. Let us get some things clear first. This Dutch team is not like the old Dutch team of the 70's. This team is a ruthless, colder and more sinister version of the previous Dutch teams who believed in pure football. Yes the Dutch class of 2008 play like a unified group of players, which includes hunting in packs -- counter attacking together and fouling together. But they are not the creative force of the past, who took the game to their opponents as opposed to sitting back and taking their chances.

Although credit must be given where it is due. Holland were indeed clinical and took their chances well. But just like against Italy, Holland benefitted from a slice of good fortune. Against Italy on Monday, Holland scored a proper first goal but I still believe they got the call due to an initial error but it just so happened on a closer inspection, it was a correct call; that call changed the complexion of the game and Holland went on to pick apart a broken Italian team. Against France, a clear-cut penalty against Holland was denied when Ooijer handled a French shot. And that call did change the game as France pushed forward and Holland took advantage of the gaps available to them.

The Dutch started the game with a flurry of fouls (De Jong took out Ribery less than a minute into the game) and took an early lead when Kuyt stayed on his feet to smartly head home. But Holland did nothing after that until their second goal. They just sat back, fouled France whenever they got a chance, and used the burning pace of Robben to double their lead. Ooijer, Kuyt and Giovanni van Bronckhorst were quite proficient in fouling their French counter-parts (note: although Makelele was equally sinister in fouling his opponents). But I should not complain too much as this is the way European football is going -- sit back, break up the opponents play and hit them on the break. Talented players like Kuyt are an example of the way European soccer is evolving. Kuyt spends more time off the ball, making runs, fouling his opponents than spending creative time on the ball. No wonder he is such an asset to Liverpool where he fits in perfectly with Rafa's plan to play boring football. And I still cannot forget the foul that Kuyt got away with against Hleb against Arsenal in the champions league. On the other hand, Van Persie has much more talent than Kuyt but because of his injury, he has only gotten a minor role at Euro. Still it was good to see Van Persie take his chance beautifully against France. Van Persie is the player most associated with the good old Dutch attacking football not Kuyt but it is because of players like Ooijer and Kuyt that Holland are getting their results.

Still despite all my dislike about the Dutch fouling, I sincerely hope they go ahead and win Euro 2008. They have scored the most beautiful goals of any team and are the best of an average bunch of European teams this year.

When I first saw Group C, I had wondered if Holland and Romania would advance like a scenario from Euro 2000. Back then, Portugal, England, Germany and Romania were drawn in a tough group. Everyone expected England and Germany to advance but based on the technical talent Portugal & Romania had, I had expected Portugal and Romania to upset England and Germany and that is exactly what happened -- Portugal and Romania moved to the Quarters. This time however, I thought France and Italy would advance despite their problems. But as it turns out, both France and Italy are in danger of going out. If Romania beat Holland, then the result between France and Italy will not matter. Romania could have made life easier for themselves had Mutu converted their penalty and knocked Italy out on Friday but Buffon saved Italy and now the World Champions need a huge favour from the Dutch to advance. For France, I really hope this tournament is the end of Raymond Domenech's coaching days as he done nothing to improve the rot that has existed in the French team since Euro 2000.

Day 6: Lighting strikes again after a gap of 10 years

Croatia 2-1 Germany

Austria 1-1 Poland

10 years ago Slaven Bilić was a player in the Croatian team that upset Germany at the 1998 World Cup. This time around with Bilić as the coach, Croatia once again screwed up the odds to beat Germany to advance to the Quarter Finals. Germany's numerous problems were exposed and they must now regroup to avoid another embarrassment at the Euros.

Austria kept their slim hopes alive with a 1-1 tie against Poland. Both teams displayed plenty of poor football but amazingly, both teams still have a shot at the quarters. Although, neither team has an easy job -- Germany will be a handful for Austria and Croatia will atleast want a tie against Poland to avoid Portugal in the next round.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Films

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Turkish snapshots

There is plenty of beauty to be found in both of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's features Climates and Distant. Even though there isn't much dialogue in both films, one hardly notices the lack of words because the camera is so well placed that we can perfectly understand what the characters are thinking and feeling.

A relationship on the ropes: Climates (2006)

A marriage is breaking apart.



We witness intimate moments between the couple. Very early on, we can tell something is not right between the two. In the following picture the wife, Bahar (Ebru Ceylan), wakes up from a dream she had on the beach. What did she dream about? That her husband (Isa played by Nuri himself) was throwing sand on her face and suffocating her. Hmmm..



The distance between the two is growing.



Just like in Distant, the male character still finds time to take beautiful pictures.



In a cafe thinking about his life and waiting to get Bahar back.



The snow falls tenderly around Bahar, not wanting to disturb her thoughts.


The intimate scenes between the couple and their solitary moments when the characters looked into the distant horizon reminded me of Antonioni's films (L' Avventura & L' Eclisse)




Loneliness and wanting space: Distant (2002)

Mahmut (Muzaffer Özdemir) likes his solitary lifestyle.



When his cousin Yusuf (Emin Toprak) arrives in town,

Mahmut is hospitable at first. But eventually he gets bothered because Yusuf's presence disturbs his day to day activities.

So Mahmut stays out of the house late, drifting across the beautiful city that is Istanbul.



Mahmut shares a lot with Isa from Climates. Both prefer to keep to themselves and both love to capture the simple beauty of Turkey via their camera. Maybe one day the two could meet in one of the countless cafes in Turkey and discuss their lives, or even chat a bit about the state of Turkish soccer.

---

Ratings out of 10

Distant (2002, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan): 9.5

Climates (2006, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan): 9

Euro 2008: Days 4 & 5

Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia

Spain 4-1 Russia

Greece 0-2 Sweden

Both games went as per plan with Spain and Sweden winning as expected.

David Villa increased his market price with a hat-trick for Spain. Only teams such as Real Madrid and Chelsea might be able to afford Villa now and he is surely out of Arsenal's market price.

It was good to see Cesc get his first international goal for Spain, even though it was an easy effort.

Russia's poor defending made Spain look quite good. Time and time again, Russia could not pick up the Spanish forwards on their cross-cutting runs. Spain's second goal involved Iniesta's defense splitting pass for Villa, but Iniesta had tried that same pass before in the game, especially for Torres.

7 errors too many:

Sweden's second goal against Greece involved a comedy of errors from the defending Euro champs. After a Swedish goal-kick was sent upfield, a Greek player incorrectly sent his header upwards and backwards which resulted in his fellow Greek team-mate failing to control the ball and conceding a needless corner. From the resulting corner, the Greek keeper (Antonis Nikopolidis) failed to punch the ball firmly and another Greek player headed the clearance poorly on the edge of the penalty box. Now, despite all this Greece could have been fine but yet another Greek player kicked his poor clearance directly to a Spanish player. In all the chaos and confusion, no Greek players picked up Freddie Ljungberg who was left on his own. Nikopolidis saved Ljungberg's shot and the resulting save was not cleared, allowing Hansson to bundle the ball over the line with his knee. It appeared that the Greek players were still in shock from the first Swedish goal and were mentally not ready as they let in the second goal 5 minutes later. Greece's fairy tale run from Euro 2004 has finally ended.

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Group A, second round of games:

Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal

Switzerland 1-2 Turkey

Portugal booked their place in the Quarter finals and Turkey knocked out the co-hosts Switzerland, thus avenging their defeat at the hands of the Swiss in the 2006 World Cup qualifying games. The 2006 World Cup play-off games between Switzerland and Turkey were a violent affair. Even though the Euro 2008 game between the two on Wednesday was not one for the faint hearted, the blood visibly present on two Turkish players faces was the result of accidental clashes. So the final group game between Turkey-Czech Republic now becomes a one game play-off where the winner will make the quarters as both teams are currently tied with the same number of points and goal difference.

Euro 2008: Day 3

Two more games and a total of three goals again

Group C: Holland, Italy, Romania, France

Holland 3-0 Italy

France 0-0 Romania

The Dutch earned a well deserved win over Italy but the score-line is a bit deceiving. Italy were not played off the park and Holland didn't offer any beautiful football like Dutch teams of the past. Instead, Holland offered Italy a lesson in the execution of the perfect counter-attack and were aided by a huge helping hand from the referee. Holland's opening goal should not have counted. Ruud van Nistelrooy was clearly offside but this is not the first time Ruud boy has scored a goal from an offside position. In his time at Manchester United, RVN made a career out of manipulating the passive offside rule to his advantage much to the frustration of his opponents. Today, RVN did what he does best -- stick around in the 6 yard box in an offside position to score a goal. Like Inzaghi, Ruud is the master of the 6 yard box and his 26th minute opener changed the game completely.

Italy had started off decently and it took a while for the Dutch to get into the game. However, after the Dutch took the lead, Italy pushed upfield and Holland just attempted to hit them on the counter. From an Italian corner, Holland raced upfield and Dirk Kuyt headed into the path of Wesley Sneijder who finished nicely from a narrow angle to double Holland's lead after just 31 minutes. Italy had chances to score a goal but poor finishing let them down. A good free kick from Pirlo was saved nicely from Edwin van der Sar and from the resulting counter attack, Holland scored their 3rd goal in the 79th minute to wrap up the 3 points. Once again, Kuyt was the provider for the 3rd as his cross was headed home by Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

First look at Group C:

This was the group I was most looking forward to and the Holland-Italy game was probably the most enjoyable game of the tournament so far. While Holland were good in counter attacking, Italy still produced some good moments. One such moment came from Gianluca Zambrotta who turned Kuyt inside out in the 53rd minute but unfortunately Zambrotta could not fashion a goal out of his slick trickery. The Italians were poor in finishing their chances off and Di Natale, who was impressive in the Serie A last season, was especially guilty of not being sharp.

The France-Romania game was just terrible. Pathetic. Both teams should be kicked out of the tournament for being so bad. And they should take the Czech Republic and Croatia along as well.

Friday's Group C games are set up nicely. Italy take on Romania in the early game and have to win. While a win for Holland against France would send the Dutch through to the quarters. France will have to come out of their shell against Holland but based on today's evidence, they have nothing to offer. Still, this is a strange game. One incorrect call, one penalty and everything could change. But before Friday, there is the matter of Group D games on tuesday, along with the second games for Group A (Wed) and B (Thu).

Euro 2008 Day 3: The Blues are fading away

Group C: Holland, Italy, Romania, France

France 0-0 Romania

Even though I have not seen today's opening Group C game, I was expecting France to tie 0-0 with Romania. At best, I thought France might have managed a 1-0 win but given the current rot in the team, 0-0 was the way to go. Sure enough, the game ended goalless.

2002: the downfall starts..

The malaise in the current French team started during the 2002 World Cup. A lot was expected of France during that tournament but a majority of the players appeared tired and jaded. The Arsenal duo of Henry and Vieira had nothing left in them as they played themselves into the ground to win a memorable league-cup double for Arsenal, while the injuries to Zidane (just before the tournament) & Pires left them with no creative options.

2004: no improvements

France should have rebuilt after that 2002 loss as they had a great crop of young players but they turned in a dire display at Euro 2004. They were awful against England in the opening game and only salvaged a 2-1 win via two late goals from Zidane (a free-kick and penalty). A 2-2 draw against Croatia was followed by a 3-1 win over a mis-matched Swiss team. In the Quarters, France could not manage anything against an organized but talent less Greek team.

The warning signs were there but apparently no one was listening. The French Federation hired Raymond Domenech and it has been nothing but disaster since then.

The Road to 2006

These were the results that France managed in the qualifying games for the 2006 World Cup:
France 0-0 Israel
Faroe Isl. 0-2 France
France 0-0 Ireland
Cyprus 0-2 France
France 0-0 Switzerland
Israel 1-1 France
France 3-0 Faroe Islands
Ireland 0-1 France
Switzerland 1-1 France
France 4-0 Cyprus

The team had no creative ideas and produced nothing but pathetic displays in the qualifying games. But since France made the World Cup, Domenech was safe.

France's performances in the 2006 world Cup were forgettable. They began the tournament with a predictable 0-0 tie with Switzerland (I am proud to have predicated that correct result, which helped me in my soccer pool) and followed that with a muddled 1-1 tie with South Korea. A 2-0 win over Togo allowed France to make the second round where they came back from a goal down to beat Spain 3-1. Not much credit to France there as Spain once again failed to play to their potential. A 1-0 Quarter final over Brazil was seen a great result but all France had to do was stand their ground and prevent Brazil from having space to run around; they could then simply observe an ineffective Brazilian team offer nothing in terms of offense. France duly beat Portugal 1-0 in the semi's to make the final. Since France played decently in the final and only lost on penalties, all was forgiven again. Domenech was kept in charge.

The road to Euro 2008

The following are the results of France's 2008 Qualifying games:
Georgia 0-3 France
France 3-1 Italy
Scotland 1-0 France
France 5-0 Faroe Islands
Lithuania 0-1 France
France 2-0 Ukraine
France 1-0 Georgia
Italy 0-0 France
France 0-1 Scotland
Faroe Islands 0-6 France
France 2-0 Lithuania
Ukraine 2-2 France

France are truly lucky to be in Euro 2008 as their two 1-0 losses to Scotland highlighted their creative inability. Despite having some of the best players in European football, the French team cannot manage to even turn in one decent performance.

I still expect France to bundle their way into the Quarters at Euro 2008 and they may even make the semis, but this team is living on its last legs. The Federation needs to bring in a visionary manager who can get the best out of the players and even integrate some of the younger players in the team. Also, they need a manager who does not spend more time running around on personal crusades against his players while neglecting the tactical developments of the French team.

Euro 2008 Diary: Day 2

Group B: Two games, three goals

Austria 0-1 Croatia

Germany 2-0 Poland

The results of both Group B games ended up as expected but it was good to see both Austria and Poland attempt to get a good result from their opening games. Croatia took an early lead via the penalty spot (Luka Modrić) but they didn't do too much after that. To Austria's credit, they took the game to Croatia but their finishing left a lot to be desired and it is no wonder they were labeled as the tournament's worst team. On a few occasions, Austria could not keep up with the Croatian players and had to commit fouls to keep the score-line down. Besides winning the penalty, Ivica Olić was pulled back more than once otherwise he could inflicted more harm on the co-hosts.

Germany got the win everyone expected of them and they could have had more goals. Polish born Lukas Podolski got both German goals and his lack of celebration at both goals was nice to see.

First impressions of both co-hosts:
Switzerland were unlucky not to get anything from their opener against the Czechs yesterday and today Austria were unfortunate as well to not atleast score a goal. Both co-hosts tried to play football but their technical problems were apparent. The Swiss are hit quite hard because their captain and one of their best players Alexander Frei was injured on Sat and is out for the rest of the tournament.

Euro 2008 Diary: Day 1

Group A: Two games, three goals

Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic

Portugal 2-0 Turkey

The opening game was simply dull and boring. The Czechs went with a 4-5-1 formation which meant that Jan Koller was left upfield on his own, with little support. The Swiss had some decent chances but the game never sparked into life. As a result, in the second half when the Swiss defense fell asleep, Václav Svěrkoš nicked a neat goal. The Swiss to their credit pushed forward for an equalizer and could have tied the game up but Johan Vonlanthen struck the cross-bar. In the end, the Czechs did enough to get the three points.

Note: At half-time, Swiss captain Alexander Frei left the field with an injury and if his injury is serious indeed, then the Swiss will be left with no bite for their remaining two games.

The Portugal - Turkey game started off predictably -- Portugal only played with one pure striker (Nuno Gomes) and that meant Portugal's attacks came from the flanks via the experienced Simão & Cristiano Ronaldo. A fast paced first half produced little in goal mouth action with the best chance being Ronaldo's free kick expertly saved by the Turkish goal-keeper, Volkan. Pepe's header was correctly ruled for offside in the first half for Portugal.

Not much happened early in the second half even though Nuno Gomes hit the post after a nasty foul on Simão carved open the Turkish defense. However, just after the hour mark Pepe finished off a beautiful move by exchanging a pass with Nuno Gomes before Pepe's goal attempt was helped over Volkan by an on-rushing Emre. After that goal, the game went into a dull lull as Turkey could not muster any clear-cut chances. Portugal could have even had made it 2-0 but Nuno Gomes headed against the crossbar via a Ronaldo cross. Then Portugal's coach, Scolari, decided to remove their only striker Nuno Gomes to bring on another midfielder/winger in Nani, meaning the only goal-scoring threat would come from Ronaldo. But no such goal scoring threat came from Portugal as they watched the inability of the Turkish players to pick the right option in the final third of the field.

But Ronaldo did play a part in Portugal's second goal of the night -- with time winding down and Turkey having pushed everyone forward, Ronaldo's run and pass to João Moutinho enabled João to pick out an onrushing Raul Meireles who calmly slotted the ball into an empty neat to seal a Portuguese victory. Prior to that goal, there was a nasty two foot lunge on Nani, another reminder of the game's ugly side.

Overall, an average opening day. Portugal looked the best team of the bunch but their lack of strikers might cost them in the tournament. If a team wants to stop them, then all they have to do is cut off the supply line via the flanks and Portugal will be left with no creative options.

Euro 2008: preview

So Euro 2008 finally starts in less than 12 hours yet I am still not that keen on the tournament, the first time I am not looking forward to a major soccer tournament since I started following the game prior to the 1990 World Cup. I even held a personal Euro 2008 film festival a few months ago to help kick things off but two major reasons are still making me wary of the games.

The dull games in the 2002 & 2006 World Cup + an awful Euro 2004

The mediocre European soccer season that ended in May 2008

3 dull tournaments:
The 2002 World Cup has to be worst soccer tournament I have ever seen. Awful games, un-interested/tired players, negative tactics and amateur officiating all made for a painful month of soccer. Euro 2004 was no better when an average Greek team won the tournament despite not having any dribblers on their team or players with even the basic technical skills required in top flight football. The 2006 World Cup had very few good moments with the best memory being Italy fielding 4 strikers in extra-time against the hosts Germany in an exciting semi-final. Italy were not great in all their games but they were still the better team and deserved their title.

One negative aspects in the last few years has been the emergence of defensive tactics in the game. The most common form is 4-5-1, with 4 defenders, 5 midfielders and a lone striker. On top of that, one of the 5 midfielders actually sits in front of the 4 man defense resulting in sometimes 5 defenders and the lone striker dropping back in midfield. Jose Mourinho perfected this at Chelsea and Rafa Benitez used this often at Liverpool. As a result, the games became chess matches with players waiting for their opponents to make a mistake and capitalizing on any slip-ups. The brilliant writer Eduardo Galeano put this perfectly in his summary for the 2006 World Cup:
The results rewarded what is now called practical sense: high defensive walls and way up front a lone scorer, imploring God for a favor. As is usually the case in football and life, he who plays best loses while he who plays not to lose wins.

Galeano goes on to add: In professional football, the kind on television, there is little joy to be seen. We seem condemned to nostalgia for the old days when there were five forwards, and to the sad recognition that now there is just one. And at the rate we are going, not even he will remain: one day there will be only defenders.

And that is precisely what Greece did in Euro 2004: they played with 10 defenders. It is true they played themselves into the ground and were organized, but it does require less skill to break up an opponent's play as opposed to constructing an offensive plan. No wonder the defensive tactics are finding favour in teams which do not possess talented players but it is a criminal when teams such as Chelsea and Liverpool play defensive football despite having some of the best players in the world on their teams. Ofcourse, if winning is the only thing that matters at any cost, then the game's beauty will be sacrificed.

The average 2007/08 European season:

Feb 23, 2008. The day that beautiful soccer died. 3 minutes in the league game between Birmingham and Arsenal, the inept defender Martin Taylor goes in with a kick aimed to hurt Arsenal's talented Eduardo. Taylor accomplished his goal and broke Eduardo's leg in two spots. While sympathies poured in for Eduardo, it was shocking to see the number of people who jumped to Taylor's defense. Taylor was described as a "nice guy" and his tackle was deemed "not that bad". In fact, people were quick to point out that such tackles were common place in the Premier League and one should not make too much of it. But no one wanted to discuss why these tackles were common place in the Premier League. No one wanted to talk about the lack of skilful players and how average teams resorted to brutal kicking and fouling to stop attacking players and teams.

That injury to Eduardo derailed Arsenal's season. Prior to that game, Arsenal put on displays of beautiful soccer for the good part of 6 months. But after the Birmingham game, Arsenal only managed two wonderful games against AC Milan in the Champions League; in the remaining games they appeared shocked and unable to cope mentally (the exception being the 3-2 win at Bolton) in the last few months and gave up both titles. Man Utd eventually won the English league but with the exception of Ronaldo, they were an average team for most of the season. Sure they knew how to grind results out but that's all they did. Chelsea continued to play in the Jose manner -- dull, boring but effective football. Liverpool rode their luck in the Champions league until lady luck turned their back on them in the semi's.

The presence of 3 English teams in the semi's of the Champions League contributed to a dull finale to the European season. On top of that, Barcelona were a pale shadow of their former self and never woke up during the season. Madrid won the Spanish league title but they were inconsistent throughout the year, while Inter were their dull self, Milan were slow and un-interested despite the efforts of Kaka and Pato, Lyon failed to improve in Europe despite winning a 7th straight league title and their first league-cup double. Bayern Munich won 2 of the three trophies they were expected to win but they failed miserably in the UEFA Cup where the Russian team Zenit St. Petersburg surprized everyone and deservedly won the cup.

Will Euro 2008 be an improvement?

I am just hoping for some good games. My expectations are quite low but I wish I am proved wrong.

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey

Predictions: Portugal and Turkey should get through this group. But I don't expect Ronaldo to star for Portugal. Their best hope might be in Quaresma. It is shocking that Portugal do not have a talented striker and have to rely on their wingers to get them results.

The Czech Republic were strong at one point but the loss of Rosicky is a big blow and they will struggle for creativity.

Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland

Predictions: Germany and Croatia to advance. Germany got the easy group they wanted and despite missing Eduardo, Croatia should squeeze through. Austria appear to be doomed.

Group C: Holland, Italy, Romania, France

Predictions: Italy should advance despite missing their captain Cannavaro with France to follow.

With the absence of Cannavaro, Totti or Maldini, Italy have no real leaders in the team. This might work to their advantage as the team might play as a unit.

I really wonder where the goals will come for France. On top of that I have very little faith in Raymond Domenech. He still seems unable to understand how to tactically arrange his team. Plus I am not sure whey left out Sagna and Clichy from the team. Even though Sagna was injured near the end of Arsenal's season, he should have been given a chance to prove his fitness.

Holland will self-destruct again, on their own. Their worst enemies are themselves.

Romania are a good technical team but despite whatever Contra and Mutu can muster, they might fall short.

Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia

Predictions: Spain and Sweden to advance.

Spain should advance easily but I am not convinced they will do as good as the odds they are being given (Spain are the bookies second favourite to win the tournament after Germany). After Spain, both Sweden and Russia stand an equal chance of advancing. The one concern for Russia is that one of their best players, Andrei Arshavin, will miss the first two games through suspension.

Overall winner:
I feel Italy will win the tournament and defeat Germany in the final.

The four expected semi-finalists: Portugal, Germany, Italy and France.

Spotlight on France: the line-up

A healthy line-up of different genres and time periods forms a spotlight on French cinema.

Format: Film (Year, Director)

Early films: 40's-50's

La Belle et la bête/The Beauty and the Beast (1946, Jean Cocteau)

Le Salaire De La Peur/The Wages of Fear (1953, Henri - Georges Clouzot)

Rififi (1955, Jules Dassin)

Director Profile: Jacques Tati

M.Hulot's holiday (1953)

Mon Uncle (1958)

Playtime (1967)

Director Profile: Louis Malle

Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Murmurs of the Heart (1971)

Lacombe Lucien (1974)

Au revoir les enfants (1987)

Was Louis Malle part of the French New Wave or not? As I have seen articles arguing for either case, I just had to find out for myself. Although, I only picked one movie which forms a genuine contender for the New Wave: Elevator to the Gallows.

Director Profile: Catherine Breillat

Romance (1999)

Brief Crossing (2001)

Anatomy of Hell (2004)

Catherine Breillat certainly fits the bill of "New French Extremity" cinema, a term coined by James Quandt. I wanted to visit some of the films which earned her that tag. Previously, the only two Breillat films I had seen were Fat Girl and Sex is Comedy.

Newer films: Comedy, Horror, Action & some Romance

The Valet (2006, Francis Veber)

Sheitan (2006, Kim Chapiron)

OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (2006, Michel Hazanavicius)

Coeurs (2006, Alain Resnais)

A spotlight won't be the same without a dash of comedy, a pinch of romance or some horror to stir the pot up. And when all is said and done, a simple action is required to serve the dish.

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As it stands, I still have to see 4 films from the above list. So far the most satisfying films have been Elevator to the Gallows, The Wages of Fear & Rififi.

A quick stop in Singapore via Bhutan

A Tale of Two Journeys:

The clichéd statement "the grass is greener on the other side" is quite true for the two films Travellers and Magicians & Perth. In fact, one could classify the situation of the two lead characters in both films to be similar to that of the characters in Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. In the play, two men waited patiently for Godot as they expected Godot to take away their problems and bring them happiness. Similarly in Travellers and Magicians, Dondup (Tshewang Dendup) is waiting for his American visa to remove him from the boredom in Bhutan while in Perth, Harry (Kay Tong Lim) is waiting to earn enough money to move to his dream city. But the journey of these two characters branches off in different paths.

At the start of Travellers and Magicians, Dondup has decided he cannot live in the quiet village [note: correction added] anymore because there is nothing for him to do (no cinemas, no women or entertainment). He believes he will be happier cleaning dishes or picking apples in America than doing the same jobs in Bhutan. So when he learns of his friend's visa invite to America, he heads to the city to prepare for his American trip. Along the way, he meets a group of travellers, including an apple grower/seller, a monk and a pair of farmers (father & daughter). As the monk narrates an interesting tale of the dangerous consequences of restlessness and desire, Dondup view’s start to change a little bit. Besides the influence of the monk's tale, Dondup's feelings for the farmer's daughter also start to soften his dislike for things around him. By the film's end, we do get a glimmer of hope that Dondup will be a better person and won't rush to hasty decisions in the future.

When Harry loses his job at the start of Perth, he is not too worried. That is because being unemployed cuts off another tie he had with his native city and he can now freely plan a move to his dream city of Perth. Since Harry does not have enough money saved up to make the move immediately, he takes up a temporary job as a taxi driver. But his vibrant personality puts him in some tricky situations and complicates his plans for leaving Singapore. On the DVD cover of Perth, a critic is quoted as calling this film Singapore's version of Taxi Driver. And to emphasize the point, there is even a soliloquy similar to De Niro's chat with the mirror. The difference in Perth is that the camera is at ground level and looking upwards to Harry's side profile when he looks at the mirror and utters the words "what are you looking at?" as opposed to De Niro's "you talking to me?".

Universal Teenage Angst & Rebellion

The film may be set in Singapore but the teenagers in Royston Tan's 15 feel and behave just like teenagers anywhere else in the world. The characters in the film would be relieved to know their soul brothers can be found halfway around the world in Larry Clark's films.

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Ratings out of 10:

Travellers and Magicians (2003, Bhutan, Khyentse Norbu):7.5

Perth (2004, Singapore, Djinn): 6

15 (2003, Singapore, Royston Tan): 5

Asian Spotlight: Thailand

The calm & poetic cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul

I first came across Apichatpong Weerasethakul at VIFF 2006 when I passed him in the hallway before the Dragons and Tigers award was to be presented at the screening of The King and the Clown. John Torres eventually won the award and Apichatpong Weerasethakul was the only present member of the three person jury responsible for the award. Apichatpong Weerasethakul came across as a very humble and pleasant person judging by how he reacted when some fans wanted pictures of him outside the theater and how he presented himself. Upto that point, I had not seen a single film by him and that evening Tony Rayns mentioned that VIFF had shown every one of his films to date including the new film Syndromes and a Century which was also being shown in 2006. I had to finally catch-up and see what kind of films this composed person could make.

On a trip to Thailand later in Dec 2006 I managed to find a copy of his Tropical Malady but for some silly reason, I passed up on buying Blissfully Yours. Back then I did not think much of it but after I finished watching Tropical Malady as soon as I got back, I regretted not buying Blissfully Yours. This is because I enjoyed watching Tropical Malady so much that I did not want the movie to end. It was just a beautiful film to watch and it ended one with one of the most stunning shots in a film that I had ever seen -- near the film's end, there is a scene where the camera hovers over a tiger high up on a tree branch. The camera then faces the tiger head on as the tiger looks directly towards us. We can detect the tiger breathing slowly and that gaze has stayed with me. The setup of that scene was so well done that I am lost on words to describe it.

After Tropical Malady, I next saw his fictional doc Mysterious Object at Noon. The movie, shot in sumptuous black and white, appears to be a documentary but some of the questions appear to follow a predetermined line of thought. Apichatpong Weerasethakul mentioned in an interview that he had a script that he gave to untrained actors and asked them to improvise and add their own stories. The end result is a journey to remote Thai villages with a topic of myths and even some alien tales. The film ends at an appropriate point when all the stories have been told but as per Apichatpong Weerasethakul the film ended when the old camera he was using broke down.

I finally managed to see Blissfully Yours recently and once again, it was a relaxing watch -- a love story with some peaceful moments in the jungle and by the lake. But the film also has a political undertone to it yet it is so calmly tucked beneath the affairs of the three main characters. At the film's start, a woman is trying to get medicine for a man at the local hospital. The man is quiet and lets the woman do the talking for him. The doctor says that she can't give proper medicine or issue a full medical certificate to the man without proper id. A few scenes later we learn that he is an illegal Burmese citizen who has entered Thailand without proper papers. In order to forget their hassles, his girlfriend takes the man on a picnic in the jungle. As it turns out, the picnic spot is close to the Thai-Burmese border and if one listens carefully, one can detect some gun shots in the horizon. None of the characters react to the noise and continue to laze around peacefully in the sun. Like Tropical Malady, the film contains plenty of serene and beautiful shots. One memorable shot is when the picnic food gets taken over by an army of ants after the food has been left unattended for a long duration as the couple made love by the lake. Watching an army of ants cover all the food (including the satay sticks) was a memorable image.

Syndromes and a Century is a blend of Tropical Malady and Blissfully Yours. The film is broken up into two segments like Tropical Malady and like Blissfully Yours, Syndromes... starts off in a hospital. Also, in Syndromes.. a monk is shown trying to get medicine for people who are not present at the hospital, in a similar manner to the woman in Blissfully Yours wanted medicine for someone without proper id.

The two segments in Tropical Malady were part of one story, with one segment steeped in reality while the other in myth (the tale involved a tiger who could transform into a human). On the other hand, the two segments in Syndromes and a Century are either alternate realities of each other or the second segment features characters who are reincarnated from the first segment. In the first segment the story takes place in a simple village hospital while the second segment takes place in a flashy hospital in a bigger city. Both segments start off with the same interview and feature the same characters. Although there is one clue connecting both tales. In the first segment we see a Buddha statue in the playground across from the hospital while in the second segment the same Buddha statue is shown in front of the new hospital. Later in the film, a character talks about reincarnation and that might lead to a clue regarding the connection between the two segments. Also, the word "century" from the title might indicate the passage of time in between the two segments. Like his previous films, Apichatpong Weerasethakul includes plenty of poetic shots in the movie. My favourite was the pipe in the new hospital's basement which is slowing sucking the smoke in the room. The camera moves closer to the hole's mouth and we are looking directly into a black hole or a time warp of sorts. Beautiful.

If I had to describe the three features of Apichatpong Weerasethakul in two words, I would describe them as a "summer breeze". All of them are calm and relaxing to watch, while the films smoothly incorporate plenty of poetic and intelligent shots. What is interesting is that all his films reflect the kind of person Apichatpong Weerasethakul is -- a grounded and humble person.

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Basking in more calm cinematic shades

Interestingly Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, another Thai film-maker, also directs calm and leisurely films. Even though his films such as Ploy, Invisible Waves and Last Life in the Universe deal with topics of affairs, murders, kidnapings and suicide, they are presented in such a relaxed manner that it is a treat watching his films. Even though Pen-Ek Ratanaruang did not use Christopher Doyle as a cinematographer for Ploy, his film still maintains the same dreamy rhythm as that ofInvisible Waves and Last Life in the Universe. Ofcourse, in Ploy the motif of dreams is more apparent than in the other two films. It has been a few years since I saw his second feature 6ixtynin9 so I cannot recall if that movie's tone was similar to the other three flicks.

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Bright colours, multiple cuts and some CGI

Wisit Sasanatieng on the other hand employs a completely different cinematic technique from his country-men Apichatpong Weerasethakul & Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. Tears of the Black Tiger uses a bright neon pallete background to depict an over the top Thai Western. The bright colors are present in Citizen Dog as well along with some fancy graphics. I took to Citizen Dog a lot more than to Tears of the Black Tiger but both films are still unique in the vision they present, along with some quirky characters.

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Noise, chaos and gore

Chukiat Sakveerakul's 13: Game of Death is a cross between David Fincher's The Game and the Saw films. As per the title, the main character Chit has to play a game where he has to successfully complete 13 challenges which will lead to him winning plenty of money. At first, Chit is reluctant to take the challenge seriously but he is tempted because of his desperate need for money. Naturally the first two challenges are easy enough so Chit agrees. And as expected, the next few challenges get a bit messy and even disgusting.

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Ratings out of 10 for films seen as part of this spotlight

Blissfully Yours (2002): 8

Syndromes and a Century (2006): 9

13: Game of Death (2006): 5

Pregnancy in Cinema: assisted plot movement, with some clichés on the side

Out of the three pregnancy Hollywood films from 2007 (Juno, Waitress and Knocked Up), two involved the use of alcohol in order to get the lead women pregnant. In Waitress, Jenna (Keri Russell) gets pregnant by her husband after a few drinks loosen her up and in Knocked Up Alison (Katherine Heigl) has a one night stand with Ben (Seth Rogen) under the influence of alcohol. It is safe to say that neither female character would have gotten pregnant if not for some drinks – both are shown to be responsible career women and neither would have had sex with their male counterparts in sober conditions (Jenna despises her husband and Alison was a bit out of Ben’s league). If these movies had been made ten years ago, then the women would have gotten pregnant without any alcohol. Back then a night of passion, a one night stand, and pregnancy would have followed if the script called for it. In 1997’s Fools Rush In a one time fling between Matthew Perry's and Salma Hayek’s characters results in her getting pregnant. Ofcourse, in the case of Fools Rush In, Juno, Waitress and Knocked Up, the story is more concerned with what happens to the characters after pregnancy; the characters are only required to get pregnant, one way or another.

One line in the script and let us move on with the story

A few years ago, it was ok for the women to get pregnant quite easily in movies and the story could have gotten to the really interesting portions. But nowadays, one cannot get away with showing the characters engaging in unprotected sex unless one shows the character’s lack of intelligence given the awareness of sexual diseases out there. Each of the three 2007 films finds a way to excuse its characters of engaging in their unprotected sexual acts – in Juno the main character is a young teenager and is reminded by her father that she should have known better; in Waitress Jenna is quite upset at her pregnancy and is furious that she allowed her husband to get her pregnant while in Knocked Up both Alison and Ben engage in a debate about why a condom was not used. Ben had tried to put one on but when Alison shouted “just do it already”, he assumed it was ok for him to continue without one as he figured Alison was using protection of her own.

In the hilarious film Idiocracy Mike Judge pokes fun at this unprotected sex issue. In the movie, he shows that educated couples are taking too long to produce babies as they are waiting for the right time but on the other hand not so bright jocks and athletes are getting multiple women pregnant and are mass producing babies. As a result, in a distant future the planet (or only America?) will be populated by idiotic people resulting in a complete collapse of society.

All the above mentioned films are comedies (Fools Rush in is a romantic comedy) and conforms to the standard that males in such movies are stupid and are unable to handle the woman’s pregnancy. But then again, who would want to watch a movie about intelligent men getting smart women pregnant? Such a movie would not be funny and the script might never get funding in Hollywood or even Bollywood.

Bring out the clichés

Nine Months showed the woman (played by Julianne Moore) getting pregnant despite her using birth pills. The male (played by Hugh Grant) is puzzled and asks how such a thing could happen. To which Moore’s character replies that birth pills are only 98% effective. Grant’s character hilariously replies that they should put the fact that the pills are “2% bloody ineffective” on the box instead. The film based on a French film (Neuf mois) brings out all the clichés on both the male and female sides. And the Bollywood film Salaam Namastey bases its story on Nine Months and adds more relationship and pregnancy clichés.

While some people demonstrate the following characteristics, they are not the universal norm:

All males emotionally melt down when a woman gets pregnant

All males faint when witnessing birth

All women have cravings during pregnancy

All pregnant women act irrationally and make impossible requests

A woman gives birth within a few hours or minutes of her water breaking

Talking to some nurses and doctors recently, it was interesting to learn that a pregnant woman can take as much 24 hours to deliver the baby after her water breaks while in some cases, women can be in labour without their water breaking. These professional people said that one of the first things they mention to newly pregnant women is to ignore what they see on Hollywood films regarding pregnancy. Now considering that historical and scientific facts are often blurred in commercial films, it should not be a surprise that pregnancy is handled in the some clichéd and poor manner. What is irritable the most is how easily the women can get pregnant in movies. The probability of a woman or a girl getting pregnant on her first time is rare but not impossible. Yet, script writers get away with this cliché time and time again while this aspect is never questioned. On one hand, sci-fi movies are put through the strictest critiques where every scientific aspect depicted in the movie is questioned, while in these pregnancy comedies a woman’s instant pregnancy is quietly accepted while watching the male character melt down when learning of the woman’s unexpected pregnancy.

Resolving difficult situations

Santosh Sivan’s 1999 film The Terrorist posed some challenging questions for its female character of Milli (Ayesha Dharker). Milli plays a suicide bomber in training for her big day when she will get to blow up a minister while presenting the minister with flowers (note: The story echoes the real life murder of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was killed in this manner in 1991). It would have been interesting to see the moral and ethical dilemmas Milli is facing while waiting to blow her body up. But Sivan comes up with an easy way to aid her decision making. He shows Milli getting pregnant after her first and only sexual encounter (ofcourse) and that forces her to think about about life vs death issues. If that pregnancy was not going to easily resolve matters, Sivan also adds a situation with a grandmother in a coma. We are told that the woman has been in a coma for a long time but anyone watching Indian movies through the 1990's (or even 80's) would know that the woman would wake up during an appropriate time ordained by the script. Sure enough, the grandmother grabs Milli’s hand in the climatic scenes.

Now, I am letting my subjective views cloud my judgment of The Terrorist. While the film is a technical masterpiece (Sivan is one of India’s best cinematographers), I can not accept that the pregnancy is a very convenient manner to address such a difficult ethical dilemma. But that is not saying pregnancy is always an easy way to move the script along.

In Pedro Almodóvar’s wonderful film Talk to Her the situation of a coma patient and pregnancy is depicted. In the movie, the male nurse who looks after the woman repeatedly rapes the unconscious woman and his crime is only found out when the woman gets pregnant and the pregnancy wakes her from the coma. Now the movie develops the relationship between the male and silent woman naturally and shows that despite the woman being in a coma, she still continues to have her period and her body still behaves normally. Even though the pregnancy resolves the coma, it never feels like an easy way out. Instead, we are presented with a convincing case and the film ends with some worthy questions – should the male nurse be thanked for reviving the woman or blamed for his crime?

How many does it take for a pattern?

Ofcourse, three pregnancy Hollywood movies in 2007 and two of them using alcohol as an aid cannot depict a new trend. But it will be curious to see how pregnancy is shown this year? And whether more stupid male characters are shown to faint and melt down when their fling, girlfriend or wife gets pregnant after a single sexual encounter?