Game The World Plays: What after Bob Houghton?

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Game The World Plays: What after Bob Houghton?

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Mohammad Farid: Hyderabad's last top star

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At a wedding reception in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, nearly a decade ago, one of the guests struck up a conversation with me. “You’re from Calcutta, so you must know Mohammad Farid,” he said. “He’s my first cousin—and he was a footballer.” When I told him that Farid, now 58, had been among the most popular footballers of the 1980s and early ’90s, he looked genuinely surprised.  He admitted that the family had never really followed Farid’s career, largely because there wasn’t much interest in football at home. "We really didn't know about his achievements and, that he also played for India," he added.  Not just him—in fact, most people outside Calcutta either never knew or have long forgotten this unassuming former attacking midfielder.   One reason is the near absence of material about him online, barring a few yellowed pages of old Bengali football magazines. Farid began his senior career with Hyderabad City Police in 1974 and played there until 1977 before moving t...
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Messi, you're just a Barca brand

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By the time the next World Cup takes place in Qatar, Lionel Messi would be 35. Logically, the Argentinian has played his last World Cup at the Kazan Arena on Saturday. But why did the entire world rooted for the Barcelona star at all these World Cups, knowing that he is only good in his club shirt? Comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo over these years have fuelled the expectations of fans across the globe, but Messi had deprived them of further celebrations in Moscow and elsewhere. He may have ignited hopes for his countrymen in the last group match against Nigeria in Saint Petersburg last week, but that wasn’t enough. World Cup is a big tournament and that’s where a player like him should’ve dazzled. In the last one decade since his debut with Barcelona in 2005, Messi enjoyed a near demi-God status across the various continents and also drew comparisons with compatriot Diego Maradona following that epic goal against Villa Real in La Liga. From journalis...
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Why African teams couldn’t become a Croatia or Iceland

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MOSCOW: There’s something about the African football teams. Hugely talented, but still remain success-starved at the sports biggest platform. During an informal chat with Moustapha Hadji in Doha few years back, the Morocco legend and 1998 World Cup hero said that ‘it’s always difficult to handle a bundle of talents’. Quite rightly so. When you’ve an entire team of excellent footballers, there’ll bound to have ego clashes in the locker room so much so that it becomes difficult for the coaches to handle each of them. Nigeria’s Super Eagles has always been a fantastic squad since the days we’ve started watching Nwanku Kanu, Finidi George and others at the 1994 World Cup. All five of Nigeria’s World Cup finals victories out of their 18 matches have been against European opposition. The Super Eagles beat Bulgaria 3-0 and Greece 2-0 in 1994, Spain 3-2 and Bulgaria 1-0 in 1998, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 in 2014. At this year’s edition, Nigeria has come with one of ...
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