Author: WebDesk

-Debasis Sen Saudi Arabian winger Salem Al Dawsari has always been in the news in his country. On Tuesday the 31-year-old Al Hilal winger created headlines by scoring a stunning goal against Argentina which eventually paved the way for an upset win against the two times world champions. He was facing towards his own goal as he received the ball on the edge of Argentina box with an opponent defender blocking him. The Saudi striker turned in a tight space and then curled an absolute beauty into the top righthand corner of the net, much to the joy of the…

Herve Renard and The Biggest of Upsets   The French coach, with no CV to speak of in club football, has made a habit of over-achieving with national teams. But make no mistake, the victory over Argentina tops anything he has done before. In the end, the key figure for this shock start to Argentina’s World Cup campaign was 36. Most fans don’t need reminding that it’s been that many years since they lifted the trophy, inspired by the late Diego Maradona’s summer of magic in Mexico (1986). It was also the number of matches they had gone unbeaten…

-Anilava Chatterjee, Qatar: The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) will impose strict sanctions for any clubs found guilty of match-fixing according to Kalyan Chaubey. The AIFF President along with Secretary Shaji Prabhakaran are right now in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup 2022. In an exclusive chat, Kalyan Chaubey touched several topics related to Indian football. Here are the excerpts:   AIFF recently received a letter from CBI about alleged involvement of a few I League clubs in match fixing. Your thoughts? Kalyan Chaubey: As an ex-footballer I would only say that match-fixing is a grave offence. All India Football Federation…

-Boria Majumdar Sports and politics mix: they always have and always will. Anyone who suggests the contrary is in fact making a political statement. Each time the national anthem is played on the sports field, it is a celebration of nationalism. An acutely political act. Players with hands on their hearts singing the national anthem while standing on the medal podium is the most celebrated sight in sport. Nothing can be a more potent symbol of aggressive nationalism. And when you stand in front of the world but don’t sing with billions watching, in an act of silent resistance like…

-Debasis Sen (With inputs from Abhijit Deshmukh from Qatar) Argentine captain Lionel Messi cleared all speculations about his fitness on Monday as he declared he is feeling good physically ahead of his team’s opening fixture in FIFA World Cup 2022 against Saudi Arabia at Al Dayeen on Tuesday. “I feel very good physically, I think I’m arriving at a great moment both personally and physically and I don’t have any problems. I heard that they said that I trained differentiated. And I trained differently because I had a blow, as a precaution, but nothing strange”, Messi said in his…

-Atreyo Mukhopadhyay Is the Cup coming home? After the 50 and 20-over cricket World Cups? Early days of course, but it was a performance befitting of the dark horses for sure. Iran is not exactly a powerhouse at the world stage and yet, to hand them this kind of a thrashing was extremely commendable to say the least. Khalifa International Stadium on Monday evening witnessed a show that firmly established England as a team which will be worthy contenders for the World Cup. How often do you see a team deny the opponents a share of the ball during the…

-Boria Majumdar First day first show in Qatar When you send colleagues to cover an international event like the FIFA world cup, you want them to deliver to unreal expectations. So what if the distances are prohibitive, so what if public transport isn’t readily available, so what if things aren’t always in control, as editor, my job as it demand the stories. Without them how will the coverage work! Going by this well established practice I asked Abhijit Deshmukh, one of our colleagues in Qatar, why is he not in the stadium 2 hours ahead of the start? We needed…

-Atreyo Mukhopadhyay Unlucky 13? Yes, if you were Enner Valencia in the third minute of the opening match of a football World Cup. A goal disallowed under highly contentious circumstances, going by the VAR system. Then, you turn lucky? Well, you did if you were wearing jersey No 13 for Ecuador against Qatar at Al Bayt Stadium on a fanatic Sunday night. The captain of Ecuador dictated terms in the opening half dominated almost completely by the South American team. Scored two goals after possibly being robbed of one and made sure that his team was on top almost throughout.…

When Qatar and Ecuador kick off at the 60,000-capacity retractable-roof Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, it will make history in more ways than one. If you leave aside the initial competitions played before World War II – England and other select nations didn’t even bother to participate until 1950 – this will mark the first time that a host nation is also making its debut at the biggest sporting show on Earth. It will also be the first time since 2002, when the Teranga Lions of Senegal shocked France, the defending champions, that a team making its debut in…

The Missing An All-Star XI of talents who won’t be at the World Cup finals in Qatar   Let’s get one thing out of the way first. You don’t necessarily need to play a World Cup to be considered a football great. Alfredo Di Stefano (Argentina, Colombia and Spain) never got to play in one, and neither did the legendary George Best (Northern Ireland). The tournament never saw the best of Marco van Basten (Netherlands) or Antonin Panenka (Czechoslovakia), and the great Eusebio (Portugal) played only in 1966. There’s little doubt though that eye-catching performances on the global stage enhance…