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VIVA PORTUGAL.
It was a wonderful match last night between Portugal and England and deservingly Portugal won it in a very tense atmosphere where every player gave his best. Youngster Cristiano Ronaldo deserves more compliments for being the live wire for his team, he played a stellar role roving all around the field and moving from one end to the other without tiring. Oh my God!! What an abundant amount of stamina one requires to play such an exhaustive game and yet he was as fresh as he was in the beginning. His ball control was superb, dribbling was excellent and shooting power was second to none. Captain Luis Figo is yet another might name whose role thoughout his game was excellent though he was erratic in taking direct free kicks. Besides him, this tournament produced 3 more captains of thier national teams in this Euro 2004 all coming from one team Real Madrid. While playing their national anthem my nostalgic feelings appeared back when I heard the National Anthem of Portugal which I too as a young boy at Escola Primaria Abade de Faria � Candolim, used to sing everyday during the assembly session in front of our school. The beautiful game of soccer we Goans have inherited from Portugal and we are very much indebted for this to Portugal. Today half the number of teams playing in Indian National League Soccer Tournament are from Goa and the other half are from all over India. This shows the mighty power of tiny Goa in this sport. India is yet to produce a skillful and sharp shooter foot-baller like my Goan brother from Assagao, Neville D�Souza whose record of scoring a magnificent Hat-Trick in the Olympics Tourney is yet to overpower by any of the current days Bhutias and others. Calcutta in India spends big money to produce big foot-ball while Goa actually plays big foot-ball. A tiny Goa has produced two Arjuna Awardees while big states are still starving of this.
During the playing of National Anthem of their country I was amazed to see how nicely the English players held each other tightly, whites and blacks without any colour bar though once upon a time British had worst distinction of spreading racisms and colour bar practices amongst us in society. The beautiful game of soccer has destroyed this myth of racisms and colour bar practices.
The last time in a major soccer tournament where Portugal and England clashed with each other was in 1966 World Cup semi-final at Wembley where England had to use their reserve energies and little cunningness to beat Portugal 2-1. The great Eusebio of Portugal was their hero and also the hero of that tournament. Last night we again saw him not in his national jersey but in his suit, not as a player but as a layman encouraging Portuguese players. In 1966 he was the highest scorer and best player of the tournament. Last night we saw him laughing and enjoying over the victory of Portugal on the field along with Portuguese players and team manager while in 1966 after their loss against England we saw him coming out of the field crying like a small baby though he was 24 at that time, while he was crying on the field his wife Flora sobbing away from the stadium. Their 1966 team had great players in its rank such as Coluna the skipper, Jose Agusto and Torres in the attack besides Eusebio himself who played the game of 2 players whereas in this years team Portugal also has great players but not of the magnitude of 1966 though Gomes, Ronaldo and defender Carvalho are world class players. In English team of 1966 they had great artistes such as the late Bobby More the skipper of the team, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst and custodian Gordon Banks who made that team a dream team, such a team it is said will not easily come again in England. While in this year�s team they have Michael Owen, David Beckam, youngster W. Rooney and others but they are all pigmies compared to those of yester years Englishmen. Beckham again proved to be a big flop. He proves himself to be the celebrity only and the status of his wife as Spice Girl added to his fame but on the field he is not what he is made by the English media. His bending of free kick was a flop as he belied the expectations of his English fans. How admiring it was to see Platini and the great Maradona scoring goals thru direct free kicks!!! Beckahm�s bending of free kicks is a big joke in front of Maradona and Platini. So far what I have seen in this Euro 2004 is nothing extraordinary from any of the teams played. In 1966 the English team had a pure Englishmen in Sir Alf Ramsey as their Manager while this time they have non-Englishman Erickson as their Manager and between the two Al Ramsey stood high in all respects. Even compared to Scholarli, Erickson is still far behind. Scholarli is Scholarli, his second half substitution was a great piece of action that proved to be fatal for England. There is a big propaganda and pompousness in this tournament because big money is being spent but big soccer is up to now not displayed. Let us hope for the best in the coming matches so that Euro 2004 will come up to the expected level and this level normally comes to surface only from the stage of Semis if not from Qurters. Meantime, I congratulate Portugal for crossing the big barrier of Quarter Final and reaching into semifinal where I am sure they will display their better talent. They are European Brazilian brought to this level by their Brazilian Manager Scholarli whos tecniques are worth admiring so far. Once again VIVA PORTUGAL.
A. Veronica Fernandes, Kuwait.
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