LOS(E) GALACTICOS!!!!

REAL MADRID----once any sport fan hears this name,he usually starts thinking about the starting line up of the world famous soccer team.Are they still the "los galacticos" or the new "lose galacticos" ??. I follow Spanish Primera Liga.I am a fan of the Los Galacticos.Their performances in the liga is much similar to the waxing and waning of the moon.

Real Madrid boasts of having some of the finest soccer players in the world.Its line up has Ronaldo,Robinho,Beckham,Zidane,Roberto Carlos,Raul and what more can they ask for???.The performances of the team has been pathetic in some matches and have sometimes been very good.The pathetic performances of the team has made the management change its coaches from time to time in regular intervals.First it was Carlos Quiroz,then Camacho,Wanderley Luxemburgo,and currently Juan Ramon Lopez Caro.Recently I read an article saying that Real Madrid are set to change their coach for the forthcoming season after the World Cup.They are targetting Carlo Ancelloti(AC Milan),Arsene Wenger(Arsenal) and not to forget Vicente del Bosque(Former Coach).

Out of the total 29 matches played in the current season they have lost 7 matches.Though this might seem ok.It is not the case.Ihey have lost to some of the teams that are trying to save themselves from relegation.This is not how such team should play.Their performances in the knockout stages of the Champions League was awful.They lost to Arsenal.Starting as favourites to win the game at the Bernabaeu ,they lost the match 0-1 to Arsenal thanks to the lone goal from Thierry Henry.This meant that they were no more in contention to win the champions league.

It does not depend on how much money they spend on buying classy players from around the world.It all depends on how they play ,that too as a team.The team has proved its marketing prowess.But it has to show its prowess on the field.The team of late has been losing to teams that are trying to save its position in the Liga
from being relegated.The team has been trying to draw matches and not to win.Against the big guns they play quite well but not upto their actual quality that they possess in reality.The team always look good on paper but on the field they are not quite upto the mark.I cant figure it out why???.

Some of the few factors i think are making this team to perform badly are:

The defence of Real Madrid has been letting down the team for a considerable amount of time since Hierro left.The presence of Hierro gave a very strong look to the team's defence.But it is not the case now,its defence has been caught open sometimes allowing the opponents to score freely.Madrid bought Jonathan Woodgate thinking that he would strengthen the defence but since his signing he has hardly played,blame it on the series of injuries he has been having.

Then the lack of ability to finish the goals.Players of late have been so ineffecient that they do not finish the goals that are well set up.Robinho,he is one such who can be blamed.He totally lacks the ability to convert the passes from Beckham into goals.If Raul had been in the team surely he would have got the team to scale new heights.Raul known for his finishes was injured for a long time.If he had been playing the earlier stages of the league Real Madrid would have retained their Number One position in the Liga and would still have been the Numero Uno.

Then the resting of key players when it came to big matches in the Liga as well as in the Champions League.I feel these factors are affecting the team's performance.

Bringing in new coaches or buying out new players will not bring cups and glory for the team .Only teamwork,concentration will help the team to relive their Golden Days.Then for sure they can be hailed as the LOS GALACTICOS and not as lose galacticos.

Australian Cricket on the Wane????

The actuating factor for me writing this blog was the shocking defeat of the mighty Australian Cricket team at the hands of South Africa...It was an hell of a thriller..As everyone knows...Lets dont deviate from the topic now...Is Australian Cricket on the wane???...Being an Australian cricket fan i would rather prefer a "no" as an answer...but sometimes i am forced to ask myself this question...its because of the recent dismal performances of the australian team...

It all started when Australia lost to then minnows Bangladesh in the Natwest Tri Series just before The Ashes in 2005..When i heard that i was so disheartened that i could not believe that such a mighty team could lose...but it was reality, i had to cope up with it...i thought then that it was the start of the Australian downfall....but they proved it wrong by sharing the Natwest Trophy with England and later winning the bilateral ODI series with England...It was then i had a ray of hope in me that the Australian Team could pull off another great whitewash in that forthcoming Ashes...

It was not the case though....England got The Ashes back after winning it 2-1....it would have been the most amazing test series of the year for a normal cricket fan....but for me it was not an amazing series at all.....what might have gone wrong???? (Cricket Australia would have also thought the same)...might be the thing that complacency crept into Punter's team....the striking fact of the series was that ,the team known for its fielding, was very much sloppy in the field..following the defeat the management dropped some of its famed players such as Michael Clarke,Damien Martyn,Jason Gillespie,Michael Kasprowicz ....the bowling attack looked depleted without two of the famous bowling quartet...

they once again proved the critics wrong by beating the "good on paper" World XI team in the Super Series...thrashing them in the one off test and also in the one dayers....

Factors i think that might cause the Australian downfall:

*Aging Players(the average age of an Australian Cricket Player is 30)
*The most controversial Rotating Policy....
*The concept behind selection of players...

Then later in the year they hosted West Indies for a 3 test match series...which they won convincingly 3-0...it was much of an one sided affair...Later in the VB series against SA and SL after some hiccups in the prelims they won the VB series finals against SL 2-1.....

In the New Year the team's first overseas tour was to that of SA....The tour started off with a 5 match ODI series with the hosts....Australia lost the first two ODIs in an unconvincing manner...But they won the next two ODIs levelling the series 2-2...the last match at Jo'Burg was the talk of the town for a week or so....it was a cracker of a contest....Australia hammered the SA bowlers all round the park....they hit a mammoth 434 for 4...it was a world record....after seeing this score on a local tv news channel i was on cloud nine... i thought the team would pull off a massive victory over SA...but it was not the case once again...Australia lost to SA by one wicket with a ball to spare...what went wrong once again????

How could a team with so much talent could not defend a massive total of 434...i was in shell shocked state for three to four days...still the score 438-9 scored by SA haunts me....what went wrong???....these series of poor performances made me to put the title of the blog as "Australian Cricket On the Wane???"...

Though i cant predict the downfall of australian cricket... i have a strong feeling that its not quite far away...lets hope for the best that there is no such downfall....Geoff Boycott once said "Australia is a Great Team with Good Players"..hope they keep up with that...through this blog one might feel that i sound anti australia, but still i am a die hard fan of the Australian Cricket Team...