Wednesday, July 05, 2006

France vs Italy

Ok. I must admit, i am not seer. Betting on France was pure emotional. Nothing to do with their ability, their line-up or the way they played during the initial matches.

Platini and team in 1982 won me over. The semi-finals between Germany and France is to me the game of the century. France lost that game, but i became a big sucker for France.

So when this world cup began, i was hoping France will do better than what it had done after winning the cup in 1998. Until the game last quarter-final game when it beat Brazil, France was playing just an average game. Zidane worked the magic again today to beat Portugal. Portugal had been playing a very good game, but today they simply couldnt penetrate the French defense. Although France won only from a solitary goal, and that too because of a penalty, a win is a win.

Now they meet Italy. I am keeping fingers crossed, wearing the same sock & underwear, going to sit on the same end of the sofa.... Oh !! hope i am not forgetting something else.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

When is this going to end ?

Israel has gone on the offensive again. As always its response to provokation is brutual and extreme. And as always it will learn that a gain now, will not last in the long run. Its too bad, that each step taken by Israel is matched by Hamas and other Palestine fighters.

This could go on and on and on for another 50+ years, if one of them is not going to back down. And from what it appears both sides are unwilling to make that step. Although the rest of Palestine has taken a lot of action to get the peace process moving. The rise of Hamas as an elected authority changes the dynamic. What this means is that people in Palestine has been bearing the brunt of the many different measures adopted by Israel, and have finally seem to think that Hamas is the best answer to that. Again, it appears all the calculation done by Israel has gone all wrong. I am sure no one wants a team like Hamas running a Government. But if it is elected by the people, then that is the Govt you are going to get.

So deal with it and get serious about the negotiations. How many more lives need to be destroyed before lasting peace can be found ? And the people of the world need to realise that solving the Palestine problem will mean one less issue to worry about in the middle-east. Thanks to Bush and US in Iraq, there are other things to worry about now. But i think the Israel-Palestine conflict still needs to be priority one.
CNN.com - New round of Gaza airstrikes launched - Jul 2, 2006