Cricket Australia (CA) have confirmed that the first of the 4-match Test series between Australia and India, scheduled to take place at Brisbane, starting December 4, has been postponed to an unconfirmed date in the aftermath of Phillip Hughes’ tragical death a couple of days ago, after being hit on the head by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match on November 25.
The cricketer’s funeral will take place in Macksville on December 3. CA believes that it will neither be feasible nor fair to begin the Test the very next day of the funeral, and it is understood that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were extremely supportive of the decision when contacted about the issue.
Not right for teams to play first Test – Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting had earlier said that it wouldn’t be right for Australia and India to go ahead and play the first Test, as the players would find it difficult to find the right frame of mind to play a 5-day game.
In his column for News Limited newspapers, Ricky Ponting writes, "It's one thing to say Phillip Hughes would have wanted the four-Test series against India to start as scheduled. It's another for 11 men to take the field at the Gabba a week after their close friend died.”
The former Australian captain added: "It's been such a tragic week for the Hughes family and the cricket community and I can't imagine how anybody can be expected to play Test cricket on Thursday. In fact I don't think it would be right.
"Even if the boys think they can play it would be a miracle if they find the right frame of mind needed for five days of cricket."
New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum now holds the record the fastest double century by a captain in Test cricket after he reached the milestone in only 186 deliveries against Pakistan in the ongoing Test match at Sharjah; he broke Michael Clarke’s record of 226-ball double against South Africa at Adelaide in 2012.
It is also the record for the fastest Test double hundred by a Kiwi player ever. Before his dismissal in the same over that he registered his double, he had put on a 297-run partnership with Kane Willamson off 317 balls, which is now the fastest 250-run partnership for any wicket in the longer format of the game.
Brendon McCullum
This is the 33-year-old’s third double hundred as a captain, all coming in the same year; only Brian Lara (5), Sir Don Bradman (4), Graeme Smith (4) and Michael Clarke (4) have more.
Into Day 3 of the third and final Test match between the two sides, the visitors are on 388/2, in reply to Pakistan’s first innings score of 351, at the time of writing this article.
Given below is the list of fastest double centurions in Test cricket:
Delhi Dynamos put in a great team performance to subdue their opponents
In a must-win match for both sides, Delhi Dynamos emerged triumphant over Mumbai City FC at home with a big win as they ran out 4-1 winners to get themselves back in contention for a semi-final spot.
Four different goal scorers found the back of the net for Delhi as they put in a superb team performance to overcome a Mumbai side struggling with injuries to key players and low on confidence.
Mumbai made three changes from the side that lost to Chennaiyin FC with Andre Moritz chiefly sitting out with injury and replaced by Freddie Ljungberg. Johan Letzelter was missing through suspension and so too Peter Costa. Sushil Kumar Singh got a start and Subhash Singh too made a return to the starting line-up. Nicolas Anelka was missing for a second straight game.
Delhi made one change more than their guests with Stijn Houben, Naoba Singh, Munmun Lugun and Mads Junker coming in for Shouvik Ghosh, Pavel Elias, Souvik Chakraborty and Bruno Herrero.
Both teams started in earnest and Sushil had a chance as early as the 2nd minute as Didika put in a good cross from the left, but the forward could not get any power behind it.
Gustavo Dos Santos went close to scoring on 8 minutes after he engineered a good move to create space by playing a back heel to Henrique Dinis who crossed it back towards the Brazilian. His shot though was blocked by a lunging Syed Rahim Nabi away for a corner.
Gustavo Dos Santos (right) was thorn in Mumbai’s flesh all night
Four minutes later, Delhi went real close again, this time Mads Junker receiving a good ball from Francis Fernandes and peeling off the defenders to slide the ball past Mumbai keeper Subrata Paul. Veteran India man Deepak Mondal however put in a last ditch slide to clear the ball off the line to keep the score level.
Mumbai were looking edgy and unorganized in defence as the hosts fashioned a few more openings with Delhi only failing to score thanks to some last minute interventions and clearances.
Sushil then had another good chance on 25 minutes when Subhash set him up with a lovely cross from the right. He got good power behind his header this time, only to see it go over the bar.
Delhi took the lead on 44 minutes courtesy of a defensive lapse from Mumbai. The ball was switched out wide to the right from where Dinis put in a cross. Manuel Friedrich failed with the first clearance and on the second put it into the path of Hans Mulder who smashed it into the net from just in front of goal.
In the one minute of added time it could have gotten worse for Mumbai as Delhi opened them up with a quick counter through the middle, but Nabi got back in time to put just enough pressure on Junker before he could pull the trigger, allowing Paul to make the save.
Needing more from his team, Peter Reid rang the changes for Mumbai replacing Ljungberg with Javi Fernandez and Subhash with Nadong Bhutia at half-time.
And they did start with more zest, looking to get to the ball quicker. However, it was Delhi who scored a second goal and knocked the stuffing out of their guests a bit. Dos Santos, causing all sorts of trouble for the Mumbai defence, played a lovely through ball to pick out Junker once again and this time the tall forward made no mistake, rolling it past Paul to extend Delhi’s lead.
A glorious goal followed soon for Delhi to make it 3-0; Dos Santos invited Fernandes to make a run down the right, and made a neat little run into the box after playing it to his winger. Nobody picked him up and Dos Santos was left all alone in the s Francis picked him out with a perfect cross and the Brazilian headed it into goal nonchalantly.
Mumbai’s defensive woes continued as they kept giving the ball away easily and were almost made to pay on 67 minutes with Fernandes once again running at the defence and delivering a cross to Junker who went for the spectacular and failed to keep it under control.
India striker Abhishek Yadav was handed his ISL debut as he came on to replace Subhash with 19 minutes to go. Delhi too made a change with Shylo Malswamatulunga replaced by Manish Bhargav.
Dos Santos broke again with fury on 75 minutes after dispossessing Mumbai at the halfway line, leading a three-on-two Delhi break and instead of taking a shot teed Francis up on his right whose shot ruffled the side netting.
The subs for Mumbai were having an impact, both Fernandes and Yadav. And Mumbai did get a goal back on 86 minutes, breaking their four game goal drought, Yadav arriving in the box to tuck away a good cross from Sushil on the left with a left-footed strike.
Abhishek Yadav (left) pulled one back for Mumbai
The goals in the beginning of the half however had done the job and Delhi rounded it off in style with Bhargav netting a goal in injury time to cap things off. Substitute Steven Dias made a lovely run to get around Mumbai’s defence on the right and centred the ball with Paul taken out, Manandeep’s effort was smothered by Paul, but the rebound fell to Bhargav, who smashed it in to become the first Indian goal scorer for the Dynamos.
The Man of the Match expectedly went to Dos Santos. The Brazilian was a livewire throughout the match and caused Friedrich and Pavel Cmovs in the centre of Mumbai’s defence all sorts of problems.
The win takes Delhi to fifth, ahead of NorthEast United FC on goal difference thanks to the emphatic scoreline. For Mumbai, another disappointing away day at the office as they found themselves on the wrong end of a heavy defeat that pushed them to the bottom of the table.
Phillip Hughes with his father, Greg, after his first Test match for Australia
Following Phillip Hughes’s tragic death yesterday, there have been doubts regarding the likelihood of the first Test between Australia and India at Brisbane taking place, with the entire cricketing world in a state of mourning after what must surely be the saddest incident to take place on a cricket field ever.
A number of the Australian players were genuinely close to Hughes, and it is going to be extremely hard for them to recover from what has happened and concentrate on cricketing matters once again.
According to South Australia Cricket Association (SACA) CEO Keith Bradshaw, however, the 25-year-old’s own family would not want the Test to be postponed or cancelled.
"In regard to the Test match, (I can) only (speak) in terms of what I've heard, which is that the Hughes family are keen for that to go ahead," he said.
"Obviously that's going to be a question for the players and we must be mindful for the players and respect the players' feelings at this time as they come to try and deal with this tragic loss."
“Phillip was a popular, loved member of the team”
Hughes had moved to South Australia from New South Wales (NSW) a couple of seasons ago, and was an extremely popular member of the team. Speaking to the media at the Adelaide Oval, Bradshaw said that the players were “devastated”, and that focus will now be on ensuring the good health of Hughes’s colleagues and family.
"There really are no words that we can use to express or feeling of loss and hurt at the moment," he said.
"The players are devastated. They are shattered.
"Phillip was a popular, loved member of the team. They are trying as best they can to come to terms with this tragic loss. We are obviously supporting them through that with professional help, and it's an hour-by-hour, day-to-day process at the moment.
"Our attention now turns of course to the care and the love of Phillip's family, but also to our staff, to the players here in South Australia and around the country, the Australian cricket team and of course the New South Wales team."
No grade matches this weekend: Bradshaw
The SACA have also decided to stop all grade matches in South Australia from taking place this weekend.
"There is just so much emotion and distress here at the moment, so grade cricket will not be going ahead this weekend," he added.
"Cricket, everything else is just secondary at the moment to caring for our players, the family, and all those people that have been involved.
"And we'll just do everything we can to care for them and love for them, and make sure that they're as OK as they possibly can be."
Swathi, Ajaz, Ramzan Muhammad, Ashique, Dilsh Prasannan - Idea D4 Dance Grand Finale contestants
Idea D4 Dance is a popular reality show in Mazhavil Manorama channel. Telecast Time of Idea D4 Dance Grand Finale - 7.00 pm on 29-11-2014. (Keep watching this page tomorrow for live results)
Finalists of 2014 Idea D4 Dance
The names of 5 finalists in Idea D4 Dance program in the Mazhavil Manorama channel are as follows,
Swathi- Ernakulam
Ajaz - Kollam
Ramzan Muhammad- Muvattupuzha
Ashique (Ashiq - Malappuram)
Dilsha Prasannan - Calicut (Kozhikkode)
Malayalam celebrity Shobana will attend this function as special guest.
Live telecast of Idea D4 Dance will be aired in channel and the video clips of this program will be soon updated. (29-11-14)
Anchor of Idea D 4 Dance Grand final is Jewel Mary (actress of Pathemari), Govind Padmasurya. Idea D4 Dance Judges and
Judges of Idea D4 Dance final are Priya Mani, Neerav Bavlech, Prasanna Master.
Winners of Idea D4 Dance
The names of winners, runnerup's of the reality show Idea D4 Dance are updated as follows,
First prize Winner -
Second prize Winner -
Third prize Winner -
Who will be the winner of Idea D 4 Dance ?
The Grand Finale episode of Idea D4 Dance will be shown on Saturday, 29th November 2014 at night 7 pm.
Television anchor Jewel who is popular for her show Idea "D4 Dance" in Mazhavil Manorama is set to make her movie debut.
JewelFacebook/ Jewel Mary
The young talent will star opposite Mammootty in his upcoming film "Pathemari", which will be directed by award winning director Salim Ahamed.
Meanwhile, Jewel is very excited to act along with the legendary actor and says this opportunity is something that came to her by luck.
"All I can say is it's all God's blessings. This opportunity was the most unexpected and I can't still believe that I will be sharing screen space with Mammootty. Salim Ahamed sir called me after seeing my anchoring in the D4 Dance show. I was selected after my screen test, and I never expected to be part of a film. Much later, I came to know about my role in the film as Nalini and everything got confirmed so soon in a span of four days," said Jewel to Manorama online
In "Pathemari", Jewel will be seen as Mammootty's wife, Nalini. Mammootty will play the role of Pallikkal Narayanan. The film tells about Narayanan and his friend Moideen, who have spent their majority life in the Gulf. The film will also give an insight into the life, struggles and hardships of Malayalees who have settled in the desert land for a better life.
"Pathemari" also has Sreenivasan, Siddique, Salim Kumar, Joy Mathew and Yavanika Gopalakrishnan in pivotal roles.
Salim and Mammootty have earlier worked together for "Kunjanandante Kada", which was the debut film of Nyla Usha.
The cinematography of "Pathemari" will be handled by Madhu Ambat and Rasool Pookutty will handle the sound recording of the film.
The shooting of "Pathemari" is expected to kick start by October and will be shot in Thrissur, Mumbai and Dubai. The Mammootty starrer will hit theatres in early 2015.
Flags were flown at half mast at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) yesterday
Melbourne, Nov 28 - Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket New South Wales (CNSW), on Friday, supported NSW Premier Mike Baird's announcement of a State Memorial Service for Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, who passed away on Thursday after being hit by a cricket ball during a Sheffield Shield match.
"We would like to thank the premier for his decision to grant a State Memorial Service for Phillip and for putting the Hughes family's views first in offering such a service to the family," CA CEO James Sutherland said in a statement.
"As the premier outlined, it will be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), giving opportunity for the entire community to pay tribute to the much-loved Australian. The SCG is a place that Phillip cherished so dearly, and it is a ground where Phillip provided cricket fans from around the world with so much joy."
Cricket NSW CEO Andrew Jones also voiced his support for the move.
"It's important for the community to be able to come together as one to remember Phillip and we thank the Premier for continuing his staunch support of cricket in NSW and giving us the ability to host this service here in Sydney," Jones said.
"Phillip made his first class debut at the SCG and we believe this is a fitting way to celebrate his life," Jones said.
Phillip Hughes’s lost his life earlier today after being hit by a bouncer on Tuesday
Australian batsman Phillip Hughes passed away in unfortunate circumstances on Thursday after he was struck on the head by a Sean Abbott bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match on Tuesday.
Explaining what exactly happened after the ball hit him, Cricket Australia (CA) doctor Peter Brukner said that one of the main arteries to his brain was compressed, and this condition can be instantly deadly. The left-hander stood for a second before collapsing face-first onto the pitch.
"Phillip took the blow at the side of the neck and as a result of that blow his vertebral artery, one of the main arteries leading to the brain, was compressed by the ball.That caused the artery to split and for bleeding to go up into the brain. He had a massive bleed into his brain. This is frequently fatal at the time,” Dr Bruknersaid.
"However, Phillip was resuscitated and then managed by, in particular, Dr John Orchard, the Cricket NSW doctor, and paramedical staff, and we were fortunate enough to have Dr Tim Stanley, an intensive care specialist from Newcastle, who was in the crowd and came and helped. They all did an excellent job of keeping Phillip alive and he was able to be transported by ambulance to hospital in reasonable condition," he further added.
Pressure off his brain had to be removed immediately
Hughes was immediately taken to the St. Vincent’s hospital in Sydney and was admitted for surgery. Dr. Tony Grabs, the doctor at the hospital, said that it was essential to release the pressure off Hughes’s brain due to the contracted artery.
"The head injury that he suffered was catastrophic.He arrived well intubated and [had been] resuscitated very well. It was our recognition that the first priority in this situation is to get an urgent CAT scan of the head to determine what we can do. This CAT scan occurred very early and it was recognised early that we had to make an intervention into the brain to actually help get the pressure down in the brain,” Dr. Grabs said.
“What sometimes happens in the brain is, if you put blood around the brain, a small amount, you will start to become a bit drowsy. If you put a lot of blood around the brain, you will become unconscious. Once we had made the diagnosis of blood around the brain, and it's a subarachnoid blood, which is under pressure from the artery, the immediate transfer to theatre was necessary. He went to theatre and had extensive surgery to remove some of the skull around his brain to help allow the brain to expand so it wasn't compressed," he explained.
The surgery lasted for 80 minutes after which the 25-year-old was taken back to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and then into an induced coma. However, all the efforts to save his life went in vain as he was declared dead on Thursday morning.
Such incidents occur very, very rarely: CA Doctor
When enquired whether Hughes’s life could’ve been saved had he been taken to the hospital faster, Dr. Brukner said that such issues were more vital only when the patient wasn't undergoing treatment.
"I think ambulance waiting time is really more relevant when the injured or sick person is not being treated. By any standard or observation he was receiving excellent quality treatment from Dr Orchard and Dr Stanley and the paramedics at the ground, and hence arrived at the hospital in excellent condition," he said.
Replying to queries about having a closer look at the way helmets are made in today’s times, Dr. Brukner said that one has to keep in mind that the incident that happened with Hughes was an extraordinarily rare one.
"This was a freakish accident, because it was an injury to the neck that caused haemorrhage in the brain. This condition is incredibly rare. It's called vertebral artery dissection, leading to subarachnoid haemorrhage - that's the medical term for it,” the CA doctor said.
“If you look in the literature there's only about 100 cases ever reported, so this is incredibly rare. Only one previous case ever reported as the result of a cricket ball. So I think it's important to realise that yes, we need to review all our procedures and equipment, but this is an incredibly rare type of injury," he further added.
Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes succumbed to his injuries on Thursday. He was 25.
25-year-old Australian batsman Phillip Hughes has passed away after battling for his life for more than 2 days at Sydney’s St. Vincent’s hospital. Hughes was hit on his head by a bouncer while playing in a Sheffield Shield match at the SCG on Tuesday.
Australian team doctor Peter Brukner released a statement on Thursday afternoon.
“It is my sad duty to inform you that a short time ago Phillip Hughes passed away. He never regained consciousness following his injury on Tuesday. He was not in pain before he passed and was surrounded by his family and close friends.
“As a cricket community we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to Phillip's family and friends at this incredibly sad time. Cricket Australia kindly asks that the privacy of the Hughes family, players and staff be respected.”
Hughes was batting for South Australia on 63 at SCG when a bouncer by New South Wales all-rounder Sean Abbott hit his head. He collapsed on the pitch and was immediately rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
Since then, he had been in induced coma and was breathing with medical help.
Steve Smith consoles Simon Katich at St Vincent's Hospital after hearing about Phillip Hughes’s death
Australian cricketers comfort each other
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called it “a very sad day for cricket and a heartbreaking day for his family.”
“What happened has touched millions of Australians,” Abbott said in a statement.
“For a young life to be cut short playing our national game seems a shocking aberration. He was loved, admired and respected by his teammates and by legions of cricket fans. Australians’ thoughts and prayers are with the Hughes family.”
Hughes started his international career in 2009 when at the age of 20, he became the youngest player ever to score two centuries in a Test.
He played 26 Tests and 25 ODIs and one T20I for Australia. He had scored 3 centuries in his Test career and was looking to make a comeback in the squad for the first Test against India in Brisbane.
The Los Angeles Lakers are 3-11 so far and are now officially at an all-time franchise low in every way possible. They fell to the Denver Nuggets in overtime on Sunday, a game they should have won given the superior roster.
After the third quarter the Lakers struggled offensively totalling just 19 points in the fourth quarter and the 5 minute overtime period, the same number of points scored in the first quarter. To make matters worse, the team missed many free throws, few of them being clutch ones which could have easily iced the game.
On the other end of the court, the defense showed why they are currently ranked last in the league. They allowed the Nuggets crucial offensive boards off their free throws and uncontested three pointers which they started knocking down after missing many early in the game.
What is going so wrong with the Lakers that they fail to beat a team that is with them below .500? From their roster to the morale of the team to the team management and finally to the head coach everything is going south.
Head coach Byron Scott
Given his history with the Lakers and superstar Bryant, fans breathed a sigh of relief when Byron Scott was appointed as the head. Yet, even to the neutral crowd this seemed like a good move for the franchise after a rough three years under head coaches that the team, fans and management never connected with.
Scott played 11 of his 15 years in the NBA with the Lakers in two installments. The first period was from 1983 to 1993 where he won three championships playing alongside Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and James Worthy. He later played one year which also happened to be Bryant’s rookie season in the NBA. It was over the course of this lone season that the relationship between Bryant and Scott began.
The head coach-superstar relationship was supposed to be the cornerstone of the team this year instead it has been a huge reason for the low team morale and the lack luster team performance as a whole. Scott has put way too much trust in Bryant alone, playing him close 36 minutes a game so early in the season giving the wrong signal to the rest of the team about how important one man is for the team to win.
Courtesy of NBA TV, we all got an opportunity to get an inside look into the Lakers Training camp at El Segundo. During the team’s traning camp it was observed that there were a lot of running and defensive drills.
When asked about the excessive defensive drills Scott mentioned the importance of defensive principles yet its his team which is at the bottom of the league in defensive efficieny, even worse than the winless Philadelphia 76ers. So despite focusing more on defense rather than offense, the Lakers are struggling on that end of the floor which speaks volumes of Scott and the team’s lack of execution.
Kobe Bryant’s massive contract led to management errors
Blame the Lakers management and not Kobe Bryant’s contract for the not so good contracts given out this summer
Around a year ago, Bryant signed a contract extension with the Lakers that was worth 48 million dollars for the next two years which means he would receive 23.5 million for the ongoing season and 25 million for the next. Whether he was worthy of the massive sum should not be up for debate since public and media opinion doesn’t matter once the contract is inked, the point that matters more is whether Bryant’s contract was the reason for the Lakers’ assembling a sub-par roster for this season.
Heading into this season other than Bryant only Steve Nash and Robert Sacre were the other players whose contracts were guaranteed and in the books for this season. In short the Lakers front office would have a busy summer just to make sure there is a roster assembled come training camp in early October.
Signing Jordan Hill and Nick Young to new contracts made complete sense considering the output both players had given the team in the distastrous last season. Picking extremely talented and versatile Julius Randle with the 7th overall pick in the NBA Draft was a smart choice for the future but every other off-season signing that the Lakers announced including the trade for Jeremy Lin is eligible to be in the Top 10 worst contracts of the league.
Based on the performances so far Roonie Price, Wesley Johnson and Ryan Kelly look like players that the team could have done without for this season and although contending for a title is the aim every year according to the Lakers front office, it was clear they weren’t in Playoff contention this season, let alone being a bonified championship contender therefore going over the salary cap would be a big no no for a year that will not see a lot of returns.
Thus with a big contract like Bryant’s, the team had very little cap space to sign a lot of players which eventually led to the signing of players like Price, Johnson and Kelly for small salaries which the Lakers could afford without paying any taxes. There’s no doubt about the fact that the constraint called the salary cap hampered the roster decisions the Lakers front office made this season.
Severly handicapped roster
In Jordan Hill and Carlos Boozer, the Lakers are at a serious height disadvantage in the frontcourt against any other team in the league.
Their roster is where they are getting hurt the most. The team has no bonified shotblocker or 7-footer which severly handicaps the team in a lot of ways. The absence of shotblockers once again requires the team to focus hugely on team defense which currently they are horrible at.
None of the big men in the roster can post up in the paint and create offense for the team by swinging the ball which means the team needs a system on offense but since the practices and much of the training camp are defensive drills there is no hope there as well.
When you have a handicapped team the importance of principles becomes that much more important. Heading into a game against any team, the Lakers have a height disadvantage at the center position which means they must box out in order to gain the rebound except that they are ranked 20th in team rebounding helping us understand how bad they are at that.
In the games so far, there seems to be no system on offense so far. A lot of time it’s just Kobe coming up the floor dribbling the ball then posting up and taking a contested jumper. In short there is a lot of me ball and less team ball which explains being ranked 23rd in the league in team assists per game. Unfortunately for the team there is nobody else who can create offense themselves more efficiently than Bryant.
The Lakers have a lot of problems but no solutions and the next couple of seasons are going to be a trying time for all Laker fans.
You could sense it was a special moment. A band of footballers, clad in stripes that could only be associated with one club, were staring up at the giant screen in the stadium. A very familiar silhouette was dancing through a procession of defenders, leaving them in his wake in a manner that had long since reminded the old timers of one of the game’s untouchable Gods.
All the cameras seemed to be focussed on a particular figure at the front of this gang of very special footballers. Lionel Messi was staring up at the screen with a frankly curious look on his face – as if he couldn’t decide what all the fuss was about. Barcelona’s prodigal son had proceeded to equal, and then break, Telmo Zarra‘s long-standing record of 251 La Liga goals.
But it is almost as if the world is tired of Messi’s exploits. Barcelona – and Messi himself – have been rocked by a number of scandals, both on and off the field. The dark cloud hanging over the Camp Nou has shifted public opinion rather dramatically, with onlookers suggesting that they knew all along that it was all too good to be true.
Even so, to seriously consider Messi’s departure would be quite premature, even as the man himself has issued a statement that was out of character. At this stage, this is a hypothetical exercise – one that is fascinating from a purely footballing perspective.
#1 How will Barcelona shape up without Messi?
Neymar and Luis Suarez – Barcelona’s mainstays?
Even the departure of their lynchpin is unlikely to effect a change in their formation. The 4-3-3 is as much a part of Barcelona’s DNA as anything else. Johan Cruyff’s influence is still very much in the air in La Masia, with teams of all age groups of the famed academy religiously adhering to the formation.
The Messi we see today has reverted to the role of the inverted winger that he excelled during his early days at Barcelona, but also playing in a deeper role as an advanced midfielder. Much like those days, there is a jet-heeled Brazilian to keep him company on the opposite flank – the peerless Ronaldinho has made way for current Brazilian captain Neymar.
Neymar is Messi’s successor
The prodigy has made a remarkable transformation to the European game since joining the Catalans a little over a year ago – slotting in seamlessly into Barcelona’s playing style right from the word go. He has sadly not been given the credit he deserves – Santos’ erstwhile Prima Donna has shown a remarkable level of emotional maturity to understand what it takes to succeed at the very top.
He has taken on the responsibility of the captaining his country in his stride. And he has shown more than just a few signs that he has the ability to take on Messi’s responsibilities in due time. He certainly looks all set to be yet another name in Barcelona’s list of Brazilian heroes.
Luis Suarez is pure quality
The addition of Luis Suarez was seen as a puzzling one last summer – the Uruguayan’s latest indiscretion at the World Cup ought to have made him an outcast. Luis Enrique’s motives were made clearer when he moved Messi deeper to function as the chief playmaker.
Suarez was brought in to share the burden of goal-scoring with Messi. And in the event of the Argentine’s departure, we should see his abilities in front of goal take centre-stage. There has been a prevalent opinion that Suarez has submitted to Messi’s will since his arrival.
It is true that the frightening directness that has characterised Suarez’s game for long now has been sacrificed for a more nuanced, balanced approach. But that may have been a conscious effort on the part of the striker to go out of his way to bed into the way things are done at Barcelona. Remember that the bite marks on Giorgio Chiellini have probably only begun to fade right about now. This is a man who desperately wants to show he belongs with the Catalans.
NorthEast United’s Massamba Lo Sambou of celebrates his goal against Chennaiyin FC at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Guwahati,
Massamba Sambou’s brace helped rock bottom side NorthEast United FC thrash table toppers Chennaiyin FC 3-0. With tonight’s victory, the John Abraham owned side climbed up to 5th position in the Hero Indian Super League table. NorthEast United performed brilliantly to secure all three points while Chennaiyin thoroughly missed the sting in the attacking zone in the absence of both Elano and John Mendoza.
NorthEast United looked hungry for goals from the start
Chennaiyin started in an attacking 4-3-3 formation where Marco Materazzi fielded Haitian international striker Jean Maurice alongside Jeje Lalpekhlua and Balwant in attack. NorthEast United on the other hand approached the game with their trademark 4-1-3-2. Massamba Sambou started as a center back and Durga Boro accompanied Seminlen Doungel in the strike force.
NorthEast, understandably, looked more desperate to bag all three points. The home team scored the opening goal in just the 10th minute. Boithang Haokip sent in a cross from the right wing which was cleared half-heartedly by Eric Djemba Djemba inside the penalty box. Local boy Durga Boro tapped in the half chance and converted smoothly.
Around the 21st minute mark, centre back Massamba Sambou scored his maiden goal in the Indian Super League with a header from Koke’s corner. Two minutes later Sambou completed his brace with yet another header, this time from Koke’s free-kick.
Eric Djemba Djemba who is predominantly a defensive midfielder never looked comfortable in the centre back position. He struggled to deal with the opponent’s series of attacks. NorthEast United never looked complacent even after a three goal lead and instead continued their attacking football. Chennaiyin, on the other hand, were forced to sit back and play on the counter-attack.
NorthEast United defended well in the second half
Marco Materazzi replaced an ineffective Bruno Pelissari with Cristian Hidalgo, who scored in the last game, with a hope of getting back in the match. Jeje too was replaced by young Indian striker Jayesh Rane. Chennaiyin dominated possession throughout the second half but never created positive goalscoring chances.
Credit must be given to the home team’s defensive composition which prevented Chennaiyin from coming back into the game. Denson Devadas had to be substituted in the 68th minute as the midfielder suffered an injury. This may add to Materazzi’s trouble as the team is already plagued with a series on injuries to key players.
NorthEast United FC climb up to 5th position with 13 points from 11 matches. Chennaiyin maintain their top position. In the first of the game the table toppers looked like mere minnows in front of the rock bottom team. NorthEast United FC combined well and finally found goals just when it was required.
The game also saw Joan Capdevila sent off and he will miss the next game.
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