England thrash India

 After the defeat at Lord’s England regrouped and thrashed India at Leeds by inflicting an innings defeat. Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat on a deck that was still spongy and required application in the first couple of sessions, but England cast a spell of brilliant swing bowling that shot the visitors out for 78 – ultimately, India never recovered from that shock.

Who else but James Anderson set the tone for England on the opening day of the Test match – the man is 39 years old but the way he is still hungry for wickets and making the ball talk, it seems, he has a lot of cricket left under his belt to glorify his illustrious cricketing career.

Anderson laid traps for KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, which both of them failed to resist.

He bowled a string of inswingers at Rahul, all slightly short of a length, to get the batsman playing back slightly, defending balls in front of his stumps. Then he snuck in a full delivery outside off, which seamed slightly away off the seam, to take Rahul's edge as he reached for it.

A similar ploy worked for Pujara as well, although Pujara's was a poke rather than a big drive, the dismissal - edging an away-going delivery to the wicketkeeper.

For Kohli, Anderson plugged away in the channel, and then delivered a wobble-seam ball that pitched just outside off and moved away - Kohli venturing a big drive only to also be caught by Jos Buttler. He was out for 7 off 17, leaving India reeling while Rohit Sharma was attempting his best to save India from disgrace.

Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane played fifteen overs and gave the impression of a recovery, but it was an England attack that was in the mood to blow away the visitors.

Rahane edged Ollie Robinson behind on the penultimate ball before lunch ended what turned out to be India's best partnership by far.

After lunch, Rishabh Pant was out to Robinson - again nicking behind (this was Buttler's fifth catch out of five). A few overs later, Rohit's patience ran out and he tried to pull a short ball from Overton over the leg side but managed only to bunt it to a catching mid-on. Next ball, Mohammed Shami was squared up, and he sent a catch to third slip.

The following over, bowled by Curran, brought another double strike - Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah both out lbw, both pretty plumb. India lost four wickets while the score was 67, and were all out soon – yet another nightmare in broad daylight since that shocker at Adelaide.

After such a shocking display India lost the zeal to fight and the out of form English batting lineup cashed in. Rory Burns and his new opening partner – Haseeb Hameed batted with caution and aggression at times only to pile the agony on the Indian bowlers.

On the second day, it was up to Dawid Malan and Joe Root to rub salt on the injury by essaying commendable knocks.

Joe Root hit his third hundred of the series and sixth of the year. Dawid Malan struck a fifty.

Once Root got going after lunch, India's strategy of bowling tightly and keeping the runs down - which had been somewhat successful in a morning session in which they removed the overnight batters - was essentially torn apart. It's not that Root's innings was necessarily a counterattack - he just went into ODI mode and found ways to score off even good balls, frequently deflecting balls in the arc between point and the third man in particular. He was on 27 off his first 25 balls, 41 off 50, and reached triple figures off the 123rd ball he faced.

12 of Root's 23 centuries have come in 55 Tests as captain, the joint-most by an England player, alongside Sir Alastair Cook.

Again, it was his sixth century by Root in 2021. He is only the third England batter with six Test tons in a calendar year after Denis Compton in 1947 and Michael Vaughan in 2002.

Root's six centuries in 2021 puts him behind only Ricky Ponting in the list of most Test centuries by a captain in a calendar year, with the former Australia captain hitting seven tons in 2006. No England captain had hit more than four Test centuries in a single year before Root in 2021.

Root now shares the record for most Test centuries (8) scored against India with Sir Gary Sobers, Sir Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting and Steven Smith. His eight hundreds are also the most by anyone in Tests between England and India.

And he is not finished yet.

On day three, Headingley was the scene of a fightback.

From India in general, whose openers battled through the early overs, resisted James Anderson, and whose top order lost only the wicket of KL Rahul in the first 47 overs they faced.

From Pujara in particular, who overcame a streak of 12 innings in which he did not pass 50 once, to finish the day as his team's top-scorer, nine runs short of what would be his first century since January 2019.

The fourth day was expected to be a big showdown with two of the most experienced Indian batters in the middle – sadly, as soon as Pujara was dismissed, the collapse intervened and the Indian innings folded in no time.

They lost their last eight wickets for 63 runs; their last seven for 41. And they didn't last till lunch, going down by an innings and 76. Ollie Robinson, England's best bowler in the second innings, claimed 5 for 65 - a second career five-for in just his fourth Test. Craig Overton took two wickets to wipe out the tail and seal the match. Moeen Ali produced a big-spinning beauty to get a wicket of his own, and Anderson was unlucky to wind up with just one dismissal to his name - he'd been all over Virat Kohli in his first spell.

England have levelled the series and plenty of action is still left in this high voltage series.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 28/08/2021 England thrash India

Thank You

Faisal Caesar  

Ted Dexter: Lord Ted

“If you are going to lose, you might as well lose good and proper and try to sneak a win”

 

Ted Dexter

During my childhood, my father used to tell me stories about the cricket and football greats during his playing days. My father was a renowned footballer in the Faridpur district and he played as a centre-back. Thus, he was extremely interested in sports and despite the popularity of football in then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, cricket was another sport, that attracted him very much.

He told me the stories of Hanif Mohammad, Fazal Mahmood, Mushtaq Mohammad, Saeed Ahmad, Nasimul Gani, Alimuddin, Vijay Hazare, Lala Amarnath, Subash Gupte, Nawab Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi,  the giants of West Indian, Australian and English cricket. It was through my father I came to know about a dashing English cricketer named Ted Dexter, who was equally loved by the people in Dhaka alongside Wes Hall, Sir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai, Hanif, Mushtaq and Fazal.  

Dexter was a fan favourite back in Bangladesh during the 60s and the reason had been his dashing and charismatic nature. We Bangladeshis are addicted to dashing characters and usually don’t relishes the softer ones, no matter how much they are glorified – in the end, in our list of favourite personalities, the dashing heroes always win the race. Thus, people like Hall, Sobers, Dexter or Fazal had always been the fan favourite – my father loved Dexter and it seemed, his linking, somehow, represented the choice of the people of Bangladesh in the pre-independence period.

The 60s were a time when conservativeness was the order of the day in cricket. Most of the teams used to play more cautiously that ultimately led to the dwindling of spectatorship. But, alongside the conservative-minded cricketers – a bunch of colourful cricketers arrived in the scene to kill boredom and charm the crowd across the cricketing world.

Back in those days, few cricketers had shown the audacity with the bat against genuine quick bowlers and in that pre-helmet era, one had to be brave enough to exhibit an absolute nonchalance. If you are soft, then, Hall, Charlie Griffith or Alan Davidson would devour you in no time. Caution was needed according to the demand of the situation, but when someone mixes poetry with audacity – cricket creates a separate platform for such characters – the platform of heroes who captures the fantasy of the fans.

Certainly, Dexter captured the fantasy of the fans in Dhaka and worldwide like no one else from England back in those days.

As John Moyes wrote, “Dexter's power amazed everyone who had not had the joy of watching him in other innings in England and in Perth. He took chances – thank goodness for those who look on batting as a challenge! – but he made superb strokes, with his driving tremendous in power and placement. Sometimes, in fact, the placement didn't matter so much because the power sent the ball through men recognized as outstanding fielders. Once such stroke, a cover-drive, was through Thomas's legs just as he got his hands there. I felt glad that the ball went between his legs and that his hands were not behind it. Not even Jehu drove more furiously than Dexter, and a direct hit on the leg or hands might well have put this accomplished fieldsman out of action.”

The true nature of his batting could be witnessed during the West Indies tour in 1959-60, where he drove Hall and Griffith at will and with maximum power. He hit 132 not out in the First Test, 110 in the Fourth Test, made 526 runs (65.75), topping the England batting averages, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1961.

In the famous Fourth Test at Old Trafford, he played a spectacular innings of 76 in 84 minutes to take England to 106 runs from victory with 9 wickets in hand and the Ashes in sight, but his dismissal set off an England collapse and the series was lost.

With Trueman, Statham, Peter May and Colin Cowdrey declining to tour India and Pakistan in 1961–62 Dexter was chosen to lead the MCC team. With a weakened team, Dexter beat Pakistan 1–0 but lost to India 2–0, their first series victory over England.

He made 712 Test runs (71.20) on the tour, including his highest Test score of 205 at Karachi, and another 446 runs (89.20) when Pakistan toured England in 1962 and were beaten 4–0.

Peter May finally declared his retirement in 1962 and the selectors had to choose who would captain the English cricket team in Australia in 1962–63.

Dexter captained England in the First and Second Tests against Pakistan, winning two big victories, but Colin Cowdrey was put in charge for the Third Test.

Cowdrey had been May's affable vice-captain, had a shrewd cricket brain and was seen as his natural successor, but had inherited his cautious tactics, which did not impress the English think tank.

Dexter was made the captain of England that toured Australia and New Zealand back in 1962-63.

He made 481 runs (48.10), the most runs by an England captain in Australia, and this remains a record.

He had a quiet home Test season against South Africa, but in the First Test at Edgbaston in the 1961 Ashes series England started their second innings needing 321 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Dexter made 180, the biggest century for England against Australia since the war and studded with 31 cracking boundaries, but typically he was stumped in the last minutes of the match trying to hit Bobby Simpson for six so he could make a double century.

In the tour match between the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and an Australian XI Dexter hit 102 in 110 minutes, including 2 sixes and 13 fours. John Woodcock of The Times wrote “I doubt if it is possible to hit a cricket ball any harder than Dexter did today. Melbourne is a huge ground and no one who hits a six here is likely to forget it. Against Veivers, an off-spinner, Dexter twice cleared the sightscreen, once by a good 20 yards.”

At the Adelaide Oval Dexter included “a six from a gigantic hit onto the roof of the stand – one of the biggest hits ever seen at the ground.”

He was the main draw in the England team and over a million spectators came to see the tourists, the most since 1936–37. The tour returned a record profit for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) of £24,000, beating the £17,000 of 1946–47.

Dexter continued his good run of form to equal Patsy Hendren's England record of six consecutive Test 50s - 85 and 172 against Pakistan and 70, 99, 93 and 52 against Australia - which he soon shared with Ken Barrington and more recently Alastair Cook. His powerful innings enlivened the First and Second Tests and gave England a 1–0 lead in the series.

Ultimately Australia bounced back and drew the series which meant England would not leave the Australian shores with the urn.

The West Indies of Frank Worrell toured England in 1963 and it was a Caribbean unit at the height of their powers.

Dexter carried on facing the heat and treated Hall and Griffith like he did in 1959-6- - this time it was in a more cultured fashion.  His 70 off 75 deliveries was one of the daring knocks at Lord’s in the second Test and those who watched that knock live, felt that a warrior with a brave heart was carrying the pride of the British Flag all his own.

In the second innings Colin Cowdrey came out to bat with a broken arm with victory, defeat or a tie still possible in the last two balls, but David Allen blocked them for a draw.

England levelled the series in the Third Test thanks to Dexter’s bowling – 4 for 38 and 1 for 7 and Trueman – 5 for 75 and 7 for 44 - but lost the last two Tests and the series.

In 1964 Dexter was again in charge in the rain-soaked 1964 Ashes series.

Famously in the decisive Third Test at Headingley, he removed the off-spinner Fred Titmus after he had taken three wickets to reduce Australia to 187 for 7, still 81 runs behind England.

Dexter took the new ball and gave it to Trueman who bowled a series of bouncers which Peter Burge hooked and pulled to 160, hoisting Australia to 389 and a 7 wicket win.

From a cricketing point of view, it was a logical move because the new batsman, Neil Hawke was no one special with the bat and Trueman was expected to run riot.

But, the decision boomeranged and Dexter was heavily criticized.

In the Fourth, Test Australia made 656 for 8, but thanks to a stand of 246 between Ken Barrington (256) and Dexter (174) England reached 611 and avoided defeat.

It was the first time that two teams had made 600 runs in an innings in a Test, and the draw meant that Australia regained the Ashes.

Dexter might have come under criticism several times, but he never stepped back from taking risks.

He was the first person who revolutionized limited-overs cricket with innovative field placing and risk-taking ideas.  

As a captain, he had “more theories than Charles Darwin, “sometimes shifting fielders on a whim and was hailed as a genius if a wicket fell as a result. He was dictatorial on the field, rarely consulting with his bowlers about field placing and pulling them off by saying, “You've had enough now. Get down to third man.”

Dexter declared himself unavailable for the 1964–65 tour of South Africa as he contested Jim Callaghan's Cardiff South East seat for the Conservative Party in the 1964 General Election.

Finding himself free to tour after his defeat he was made vice-captain to M.J.K. Smith, who won the series and continued as captain.

His cricket career was virtually ended by an accident in 1965. His Jaguar car ran out of petrol in west London, and he was pushing it to safety when it pinned him to a warehouse door, breaking his leg.

He left Sussex and played occasional Sunday games with the International Cavaliers, and made 104 when they defeated the 1966 West Indians by 7 wickets.

He returned briefly in 1968, making 203 not out in his comeback match against Kent, but failing in the 1968 Ashes series. He played Sunday League games for Sussex in 1971 and 1972.

Dexter retired from cricket to concentrate on other interests in 1968, remaining a journalist, becoming a broadcaster and founding a PR company.

In the late 1980s, he joined Bob Willis to find new fast bowlers for English cricket.

In 1987, Dexter had the idea of developing a ranking system for Test cricketers. He developed the system with statisticians Gordon Vince and Rob Eastaway, and it was launched as the Deloittes Ratings. The Ratings steadily gained credibility, and were formally adopted by the International Cricket Council in 2003, and have become the official ICC Player Rankings. In an article in The Cricketer magazine in 2005, Dexter was quoted as saying: "The rankings idea was my biggest contribution to cricket. Much better than being known for hitting a couple of extra-cover drives.”

What a man!

He always had that impact factor in cricket and I am sure he would have that impact in the heavens as well.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer on 26/08/2021 Ted Dexter: Lord Ted

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Pakistan bounce back in style

 

After a hard-fought and close contest in the first test, it is very easy to suffer from a shortage of confidence in the upcoming Test at the same venue – Kingston, Jamaica. But, the cornered Tigers of the subcontinent decided to regroup and give their very best. A full day was washed out and in such cases, a draw is always a likely outcome, but the cornered Tigers gelled together and played as a unit until victory was ensured. The clinical Pakistani team bounced back and levelled the series in style.

For a Pakistan cricket follower, the fall of two or three quick wickets for naught or below double figures is nothing new. Even during the heydays of Pakistan cricket such things happened and such situations always brought the typical Pakistani character – the cornered Tigers start to claw back and hunt for their prey.

Javed Miandad and Imran Khan did it, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar did it, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq did it and at Jamaica, it was time for Fawad Alam and Babar Azam to carry the legacy of the past master, who developed a team that is known as unpredictable.

On Day 1, the first four overs were hell for Pakistan, but the day was defined by the gallant partnership between Babar Azam and Fawad Alam.

Under blisteringly hostile conditions for at least the first two sessions that saw no fewer than three players forced off the field, the duo put together a 158-run stand to drag Pakistan from the depths into a position of clear dominance.

At stumps, Pakistan were 212 for 4 from a miserable 2 for 3.

Babar looked assured in the middle session but much more cautious - He was particularly strong square of the wicket and the slightest infraction when it came to line was a candidate for a put-away boundary. His dismissal at the fag end of the day did not deter Alam from his mission.

Alam was shaky outside the offstump, but as the day progressed, he grew roots under his feet and looked confident in dealing with the hostile conditions that led to his cramps and he decided to retire hurt and return.

And he returned in a commendable fashion on Day 3.

Those fidgety outside edges that kept the slips interested were kept to a minimum. The defence was solid enough despite the unorthodox stance, and amid the flurry of wicket falls, Alam started to kick on the speed-gear to post a fighting total.

A flick of the wrists that brought him four broke the shackles, and he found himself inching towards three figures. A pull to midwicket took him to the landmark, and as the dressing room rose as one, Alam raised his bat; he had overseen a Pakistan fight back in the session and ensured they ended the innings on their terms.

Before Alam returned to bat, t was Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf, who added enough meat to the total.

Pakistan declared at 302 for 9 and when they came out to bowl, West Indies were left clueless.

At twilight, the West Indian openers and Roston Chase were already back in the pavilion, with the hosts trailing by a further 263 runs with two days to go, courtesy of Mohammad Abbas and young Shaheen Shah Afridi.

On Day 4, Afridi took over.

The 21-year-old lit up the contest with a career-best six-wicket haul in the first innings, rolling what was left of the West Indies first innings over in a little more than a session. It allowed Pakistan a lead of 152, and hurtled to 176 in 27.3 overs, ensuring West Indies would bat for 18 overs and lost an early wicket.

On Day 5, the West Indian fighting spirit was well in the minds of the visitors and they never let the pressure off, rather, always searched for wickets.

Alzarri Joseph and Kraigg Brathwaite kept the Pakistan bowlers at bay.

Each struck a boundary to get the score rolling, and with the ball losing its shine, West Indies appeared to be making progress.

The, Afridi bounced Joseph out and Pakistan started to regain their momentum.

Nkrumah Bonner played down the wrong line and was struck dead in front; Hasan Ali didn't even bother to appeal as he set off to celebrate. The umpire made Pakistan review, but there was no redemption for Bonner.

Faheem Ashraf at the other end should have seen off Brathwaite, but Abid Ali put down a dolly. To rub the point home further, when Roston Chase offered up a chance the following over, Butt dived adroitly to his right as Pakistan had another wicket.

Pakistan introduced Nauman Ali, whose variable line and length along with drift had West Indies in two minds.

Kraigg Braithwaite – who had been the symbol of resistance throughout this Test series – cut one against Nauman that bounced extra and flew towards point at the safe hands of Alam and flighted another one to draw Blackwood forward and induce an outside edge to the keeper.

It was up to Kyle Mayers and Jason Holder to save West Indies.

The runs came from time to time, but they weren't a priority, and as Nauman's effectiveness wavered while the quicks tired, West Indies were raising local hopes of taking the game deep and infusing concern among the fielding side.

Who else but Afridi returned to break the resistance!

Ann exquisite off-stump delivery that shaped away from the left-handed Mayers, who went for an expansive drive, only to see it take a feather off the outside edge and then walk for the pavilion.

Holder was still going until Nauman Ali sucked in another flighted delivery against which Holder looked to drive again but could not keep it down and Alam at extra-cover took a good, low catch.

Afridi then polished off the tail to complete the comeback.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 25/08/2021 Pakistan bounce back in style

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Manchester City strike 5 times

 

It was not the start the defending champions – Manchester City would have wished for last week, but after the hiccup in North London, City were back in full swing at Etihad as they struck five times against Norwich City and it was the signing of the season – Jack Grealish, who opened the scoring and let the floodgates open.

Jack Grealish started on the flanks rather than centrally and the most impact on the match was provided by Gabriel Jesus, who played on the wings. Jesus was accurate with his crosses and orchestrated the moves that led to goal-fest at Etihad.

Manchester City goal drought had spanned three games in as many competitions, but goals arrived in a torrent. City’s wait was ended inside six minutes, even if the last two touches came courtesy of Norwich players. Grant Hanley’s desperate intervention sent the ball in off a powerless and luckless Krul. The previous two showed more precision, the recalled Rodri chipping a pass and Jesus volleying a cross.

 Jesus delivered another cross into a corridor of uncertainty for defenders. The ball struck Grealish and bounced past Krul.

Raheem Sterling, relishing on the wings, capped his cameo with a trademark strike, sliding the ball in from Jesus’s low centre.

Jesus had been the supplier when Ferran Torres had a goal chalked off.

Tormented by Jesus, the Norwich left-back Dimitris Giannoulis was removed at half-time, a substitution doubling up as an act of mercy.

Norwich nevertheless conceded three more. Ilkay Gündogan, captain for the day, took a corner, Aymeric Laporte met it and while Pierre Lees-Melou blocked his header, the Spain international stabbed in the rebound. The other centre-back could concentrate on attack, too, with Rúben Dias chipping a pass for Mahrez to sidefoot in the fifth.

Before Sterling scored, Ederson made his only save to spare Gündogan an own goal.

The hard-working and unselfish Jesus, involved in two of the first three goals.

This result was the consequence of how many good things we have done,” said Pep.

“We are still not at the top – there are still many things to do. We trained, we were refreshed, happy for these first points.... hopefully they will not be the last!”

Guardiola was pleased with many aspects of the 5-0 win over the Canaries, but especially pleased with the display of man-of-the-match Gabriel Jesus who was involved in three of the goals against Norwich.

“He’s a player who likes to be wider than central position,” he said.

“One of the reasons why I'm a manager is when you can work with people and humans like Gabriel.

“He never complains, he plays five minutes, he plays the best five minutes he can do.

“He’s happy on left, right or centre and today the connection with Kyle was exceptional.

“I’m pleased with his performance; he was involved in three of our goals and is an Incredibly important player for us.

“He made an exceptional performance today, and I repeat, if he plays three minutes he plays the best three minutes for the club and everyone.

“The more you have in this position the better we are. When someone plays like this they deserve to play.

“He's so young, big congratulations because he deserves in life the best. He's so generous and as I say, I’m incredibly satisfied for him.”

The boss also added that he believes he can help Jack Grealish score more goals on a regular basis, citing Raheem Sterling as a similar example.

“If he gets the mentality to score goals like Raheem, yeah (he can score more),” he said.

“When Raheem was here when I first arrived he didn't have goals in his mind and we immediately changed his arrival.

“Today he scored because he arrives in the centre, he’s a machine there.

“He changed his mind and decided he was going to score. Jack has this mentality to score goals and win games as well.

“But if he has the Raheem mentality then he can do it, too.”

The Man of the Match Jesus said, “I couldn’t remember the last game with our fans because it’s been so long!” he admitted.

“They came, they pushed all the time – they sang and give everything for us – so we have to play for them as well.”

He even refused to take credit for the opening goal – his cross-shot deflecting in off Grant Hanley and then Tim Krul for City’s first of 2021-22.

“No, no!” he smiled. “I tried to cross!”

“When I played as a winger – before when I started to play football – I always crossed because the striker is there.”

“I tried to cross to Ferran and Jack. Sometimes, it’s like that – the defender touches it and goes in!”

“All of the team played so well. We are getting our rhythm.”

“Most of the players came later because we needed some holidays – last season was so tough.”

“We played so well and won the game, which was the most important thing.”

“We knew that [it was important to bounce back from defeat at Tottenham Hotspur].

“It’s going to be so tough for us because everything came back early. We had to come back as quick as possible.”

“That’s our game: play quickly, make runs in behind and try to score goals. That’s everything for us.”

One of the last to rejoin the City squad for pre-season training, following his Copa America exploits, Gabriel Jesus enjoyed a well-deserved rest over the summer but asserts he’s ready for action and raring to go.

“I’m getting back my fitness,” he added. “I think I was the last one to come back after holidays – I needed some rest.”

“After, I had to train hard like always. I didn’t lose too much power – I’m a little bit lucky because I didn’t lose too much so I can come back and train with the guys. Now I am fit."

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 21/08/2021 Manchester City strike 5 times 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

 

After Haaland, here comes Tjaaland

 

There is no need to explain who Erling Haaland is! At the moment, he is an absolute sensation in world football due to his jaw-dropping goal-scoring abilities amalgamated with power and intensity. At a very young age, Haaland hit the headlines while playing for the Norway young team and Red Bull Salzburg. After moving to Borussia Dortmund, his intensity remains the same and his move to another bigger club in Europe seems a matter of time.

While Erling Haaland creating havoc in front of the goal, his cousin Albert Braut Tjaaland displaying the same intensity at a very younger age.

Tjaaland has an impressive record at the youth level and has started off on the right foot as a professional as he notched shortly after coming on as a substitute on his first senior appearance.

Scoring goals in style and in plenty seems to run in families and Molde has been the club to witness such.

The Norwegian club may well be wishing they held on to the Borussia Dortmund superstar a little longer, considering his current valuation at more than £100million when they cashed in just £7m from his sale two years ago.

But Molde think tank will no doubt be rubbing their hands together at the prospect of holding another potential star in their ranks, after Haaland's cousin, Albert Braut Tjaaland scored on his debut for the club.

After starting football education at the local lower-league side Rosseland, Tjaaland followed in the footsteps of Haaland by joining second-division outfit Bryne in 2015, where he was immediately enrolled into the Under-13s despite being just 11 years old.

A prolific goal-scorer through his five years at the club, Tjaaland worked his way through the various age-group sides while averaging over a goal per game before making his first appearance with the senior side during a friendly against Egersunds in March 2020.

Molde became interested to sign this young prospect.

Tjaaland took just 10 minutes to register his first goal, too, firing home in a Norwegian Cup clash after coming on as a substitute in the win over Spjelkavik.

The 17-year-old was put through on goal in injury time having joined the fray off the bench on 82 minutes.

And given the chance to get his name on the score sheet, Tjaaland displayed similar composure to his better-known relative to slot the ball past the goalkeeper.

He then wheeled away in celebration as his teammates rushed to congratulate him on his first senior goal for the club.

Not that Molde would have been particularly surprised to see Tjaaland find the net.

The teenager's track record already boasts 69 goals in 37 games for Molde's youth teams, while he also bagged 40 goals in 31 games for former club Byrne FK.

It was at Byrne where Haaland started his career, and Tjaland will be dreaming of emulating his cousin in the years to come.

Naturally being related to the 21-year-old goal machine is attracting plenty of hype already, with Molde boss Erling Moe keen to keep his player's feet on the ground.

“I have seen some of it on social media,” Moe told Eurosport back in April.

“He (Tjaaland) is an exciting young boy who really has some exciting qualities, so I think it must be possible to calm down a bit, yes.”

“It's a bit like that when you post something on social media at the moment, it spreads like wildfire.”

“He has a great future ahead of him if he does the everyday things 100 percent and properly.”

“I think Erling is a few steps ahead yet.”

“It's cool what he does, but I hear about it (the comparisons) often, and it can be nice to let it go from time to time,” Tjaaland said when asked about Haaland by Jaerbladet in 2020, before going onto outline his own future plans.

“In the short term, I really want to get into the age-specific national team. In the long run, I hope to be able to make a living from playing football.”

Tjaaland is not in a rush, rather, he wishes to flourish gradually because at this age he knows how important it is to keep the feet on the ground and progress with a calm mind. 

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 21/08/2021 After Haaland, here comes Tjaaland 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

India conqure Lord's

 

After the epic Test match at Jamaica, there was no time to catch a breath because, by the time you woke up after sleeping late at night, Lord’s was buzzing and inviting each and every cricket fan for a final day full of drama. At one point, you might have assumed, it was heading towards a draw, rather, it ended up with an epic Indian victory.

Joe Root won the toss and decided to field first after looking grey skies overhead, but the team batting second had not always been successful in Lord’s and the amount of dampness present at the wicket would fade as the day progresses. The track would be ideal for the batters and on Day 4 and 5 could be a tough one to chase any sort of targets.

Still, throughout the five days, the deck maintained its trueness and never hinted of any snakes underneath – sensible batting was all needed, England tp order lacked that immensely.

In contrast, the limited over hit-man Rohit Sharma as an opener was much better than anyone could even think of.  Rohit, with the bat, is an impulsive character – he goes after the attack and loves to score runs fast. At Lord’s, he was the ideal portrait of a saint who respected the conditions, occupied the crease, left the balls and trusted his defence.

At the other end, his partner, KL Rahul’s modification in his technique and shifting of balance aided him well to get accustomed to the conditions and eke out runs with composure.

Rahul and Rohit Sharma put on India's first century partnership outside Asia for the opening wicket since 2010 - 126, to set the tone on what turned out to be a glorious day for batting.

James Anderson and Ollie Robinson shared the new ball.

But it soon turned out that Anderson was both their best attacking as well as a defensive bowler.

With Sam Curran rattled early and Mark Wood - who came in for the injured Stuart Broad - lacking consistency in the early parts of his spell, it was shaping up to be a long day in the field for England.

Anderson came back strong with a delivery where the seam was facing towards the slip but changed its trajectory after pitching on the back of the length – Rohit was castled and that brought Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease.

Pujara, at first, first survived an lbw shout, then an edge through the cordon, before eventually poking one to Bairstow in the cordon.

Kohli started reaching out to play his big cover drives and connected with a few after remaining quiet for a while, and Rahul grew more and more assured as he approached his first Test century since The Oval in 2018. He brought that up with a confident cut to the backward-point fence, and the pair added 117 for the third wicket at 3.37.

It was Robinson who eventually dismissed Kohli, with the second new ball, with just over five overs left in the day, Root taking the catch at first slip.

 Rahul, who walked off in bright sunshine, having played a part in two century stands, notched a well-composed hundred.

On Day 2, it was more ebb and flow and less one-sided on day two as England counter-punched throughout to significantly limit India's chances of running away with an early advantage in the second Test. Spearheading the bowling effort once again was James Anderson, who became the oldest man in 70 years to take a Test five-for; he was aided much better on the day by the rest of the line-up, and together they made sure that India added only 88 to their overnight score of 276 for 3.

By stumps, England were 246 behind with Joe Root looking solid after he had put up an encouraging stand with Rory Burns that came just in time as a potent spell from Mohammed Siraj threatened to put India on top once again.

Joe Root made his fourth century at Lord's on Day 3 and stretched it past 150 like he had the first three times, as a near-perfect display on Day 3 helped England take a slender lead against India. He was left stranded on 180 with England being bowled out off the last ball of the day.

The 27-run lead capped off a gradual comeback from England in the match, which had begun by first bowling India out early on Day 2 and then battling through to stumps on a difficult evening.

Almost as if it were a reward for their work in the evening, England came out to the best batting conditions of the match so far- bright sunshine and a flat pitch that they put to good use, starting with overnight batters Root and Jonny Bairstow.

The pair put up their third century stand of the year, but this one was of a different flavour, with Bairstow playing a more prominent role. His most prominent role in two years, in fact, as England's No. 5 brought up his first Test fifty since 2019.

England were striking at more than four an over at that stage and Bairstow's confident driving in the V started it all off. He then brought up boundaries through point and gully and his favoured square leg region and pretty soon India were already thinking conservatively.

That meant only two fielders in the cordon and a sweeper point fielder through most of the first session, alongside the early introduction of Ravindra Jadeja, India's go-to bowler for a defensive strategy. Every bit of that helped Root, who has been something of a one-man army for England lately.

He ambled along, solid as ever, in what would turn out to be a flawless innings offering no clear chances to India.

On Day 4, England managed to completely change the pace of the game, controlled it throughout the day, and pushed India against the wall on a gripping day's play.

Mark Wood, who began the Test struggling for discipline and recovered on the second day for two wickets, elevated himself another step as he forced India's struggling middle order into the game early by dismissing their openers before the visitors could get into the lead.

India had crawled to 181 for 6 in 82 overs by stumps, 154 ahead on a pitch that has changed flavour rapidly in favour of the bowlers.

England looked to finish things off on the final day but from nowhere, the Indian tail wagged.

Rishabh Pant was dismissed early, alright, by Ollie Robinson who also showed us he has a mean knuckleball with Ishant Sharma's wicket.

India led by about 180 at that point and England have played right into their hands since. Wood wasn't 100%, but came back on for a short burst, hurled bouncers at Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami and with about five fielders on the boundary and only one catching.

This was the plan for a good stretch of time. There was sledging, there were arguments, there were tonks on the helmet - but no clear cut wicket chances. Anderson went short at Bumrah too, a retaliation that hasn't paid off in the context of this game. An England win now is looking distant. Shami has got to his highest Test score, India have struck at more than four an over in the session.

This is the second time India's tail has shown spine this series, after the 48 runs they compiled in the first innings at Trent Bridge. And all this has been possible because the tail-enders have been spending ample time batting in the nets, facing throw-downs and working out lengths, and understanding patience. Not slogging and having a laugh, but sweating it out - leaving balls and defending.

With merely 64 overs remaining, India declared and while batting in their second innings, the English batting lineup wobbled.

Bumrah delivered a dolly on the leg side and the unusual stance of Rory Burns pinned him down while he was trying to work it on the onside – it kissed the edge and flew in the air for a catch. Then Shami produced a Dennis Lillee like 140 km/hour leg-cutter that cut Dom Sibley in halves. Haseeb Hameed was trying to prove his worth by spending time at the crease, but Ishant Shamra dished out an in-ducker that trapped Hameed lbw. Shamra produced yet another in-coming delivery to get rid of Bairstow which left Root to carry the burden of a shaky batting lineup.

Bumrah came wide on the crease, on the fuller side of good length, angled in towards off, and Root had to defend. It held its line a little, and took a healthy edge – flew straight into the hands of first slip.

With no Root available, India had their one foot on the victory line.

Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler put up a defiant resistance and, in between, Kohli dropped Buttler on 2 and then Siraj struck.

He targeted that channel of middle and leg, shaping away, Moeen defended in front of offstump, this team the movement was just right to take the edge, and Kohli made no mistake at first slip this time. In the following delivery, Curran played the line of offstump again, but Siraj got just the right amount of movement to nail him and he was on a hat-trick again.

Robinson and Buttler frustrated the Indians and a bit of verbal war took place.

But the Indians were in the mood to kill – Siraj and Bumrah polished off the tail and India emerged victorious.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 16/08/2021 India conqure Lord's 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Thriller in Jamaica

 

Two of the most colourful and dramatic teams in world cricket logged horns at Kingston, Jamaica for the Test and it turned out to be a remarkable one. Each chapter of the book consisted of twists and turn and as the book was nearing an end, the final chapter kept the readers on the edge. Jamaica would have made many of the fans nostalgic who grew up watching that a Test match between West Indies and Pakistan would always be a nail-biting thriller. Magnetism has not waned till now.

The pitch at Jamaica was all about testing the nerves of the batsmen rather than a compromising one, where the visitors would score hundreds and the home team would grind. It had everything that the pacers would relish – movement off the pitch and in the air, divination of the seam, and subtle bounce. Of course, the track would remain the same throughout the four days.

Neither the Pakistani batting lineup nor the West Indian batting lineup possessed the technique required to counter such a track – what they really possessed was the courage and passion which added yet another thrilling West Indies-Pakistan Test match in the cricketing folklore.

On Day 1, the first two sessions set up the day for a grand finale, and much of the moving happened in those final two and a half hours.

Fawad Alam and Faheem Ashraf were still getting their feet under the table in a budding little partnership of 23 as they walked out after tea, but a counterattacking knock from the allrounder saw Pakistan hurtle past 150.

On a day when the run-rate barely tiptoed past 2.25, 52 runs came off the first ten overs in that last session.

Ashraf might be at pains to insist he is a bowling allrounder, but he averages over 50 with the bat since his return to the side in December last year.

It appeared Ashraf had helped bail Pakistan out of a tight spot once more, but as the 100-run stand approached, the visitors offered West Indies a gift all wrapped up with a bow on it.

Alam and Ashraf set off for an unnecessary single, chancing the arm of Roston Chase, whose shy caught Ashraf short of his crease. The wicket gave West Indies a second wind, and despite a brief cameo from Hasan Ali, the fast bowlers found the quality that had subdued Pakistan for much of the first two sessions and blew through Alam and the tail.

Kemar Roach and Seales prowled in the morning and set jitters in the Pakistani batting lineup until Fawad Alam arrested a humiliation with his steely resolve.  Both the pacers found prodigious movement with the new ball, which they were careful not to waste. They were supported by Jason Holder, who chipped in with important wickets and stopped the further progress of Pakistan.

The West Indian reply was shaky.

Mohammad Abbas started to make the ball talk and prised out two quick wickets at stumps on Day 1 while on Day 2, Shaheen Shah Afridi left West Indies at bay, but Holder survived a review, and then, he stitched an effective partnership with Kraigg Braithwaite for the sixth wicket.

Brathwaite dominated the day, surviving almost through to the end after having to settle nerves after the frenetic finish of last night. He saw off each of Pakistan's pace bowlers, the first new ball, a dangerous middle-order collapse, the introduction of Yasir, and two full sessions.

But then it all changed as West Indies' most threatening partnership - 95 between the captain and his predecessor was broken.

Jason Holder was playing with delightful fluidity as his side pushed past 150 and bore down on Pakistan's first innings score ominously. Yasir, not nearly at his best, was dispatched to the boundary repeatedly, and soon enough, a backfoot punch off Hasan Ali got Holder to his 11th half-century. Eight runs later, though, he was gone, a victim of Faheem Ashraf's subtle seam movement.

Brathwaite, of course, remained and was even eyeing up a personal three-figure score - ideally before having to face the new ball in darkening conditions. It is hard to say if that played a role in his decision to hare back for a couple down to the fine leg, taking on Hasan, whose direct hit caught the opener well short of his ground.

With Brathwaite not at the wicket, Pakistan expected to take the important lead in such a low-scoring affair.

But wayward lines with the new ball, particularly from Shaheen Afridi, saw the lower order continue to eke out runs as Joshua Da Silva manipulated the strike intelligently. By the time the umpires began worrying about the light, West Indies already had a decent lead and on Day 3, the lead did not stretch enough, but the West Indian bowlers had Pakistan in the mud.

The West Indian pacers got rid of the struggling Imran Butt for a duck as he pushed his pad out at one that was crashing into the middle stump. Thereafter, though, Abid Ali and Azhar Ali settled down, seeing off the pace bowlers without much trouble.

Azhar was more circumspect - and less convincing - through the early part of his innings. West Indies tested his footwork and his judgment, operating steadily on a fifth-stump line and beating the outside edge on a number of occasions. When Kemar Roach finally induced the edge, Jason Holder put him down at second slip.

Roach, however, had the last laugh in the last over before lunch, bringing one back in sharply to breach Azhar's defence and crash into his leg stump. Then, Seales welcoming in the post-lunch session with a sumptuous double-strike – Abid was presented another short one with the first ball. The extra bounce extracted from the surface saw the opener slash straight to second slip, and Holder made no mistake this time.

Three balls later, Fawad Alam fell to an outside edge after lackluster footwork.

Pakistan were now in the perilous position of having lost four wickets with the lead at just 29, and it was left to Mohammad Rizwan and Azam, arguably Pakistan's two best performers over the past year, to take the sting out of the hosts' momentum.

Over the next hour or so, they did just that under blackening skies, the runs trickling along gradually. With an increasing amount of sideways movement for the pacers, it was anything but easy, and the 56 runs they managed before the heavens opened may yet be the difference between success and failure.

Two-and-a-half-hours later, though, and under clear blue skies, Holder drew Rizwan into a forward defensive push with seam movement producing the edge.

Faheem Ashraf scored just 12 runs in 79 deliveries; he happily played second fiddle to Azam, who brought up a high-quality half-century before the day was done.

Day 4 was full of drama!

Babar Azam's presence at the crease was always going to be vital, but a Mayers delivery seared up off a crack and looped up to Holder at second slip early in the day. Azam had departed for a valiant 55.

From there on, it was down to the raw pace of Seales against Pakistan's lower order. Yasir Shah and Afridi were sent back with little bother, but Hasan rode his luck as Pakistan brought up 200. Seales, though, would not be denied a maiden five-for in just his second Test and got there when Hasan's hook went straight to Roach at fine leg. In the process, he became the youngest West Indies bowler to earn a Test five-for as the hosts were set 168 to win.

On any other compromising flat decks, this total would have been a cakewalk – on this track against the likes of Abbas, Ali, Afridi, and Ashraf this would not be such.

The Afridi show began in a somewhat surreal over that had three reviews for leg before wicket by Pakistan against Kieran Powell, the third finally resulting in success. Kraigg Brathwaite didn't last long in the face of a hostile spell from Afridi, his poke at one that jagged away leading to his downfall, but only after a review. Nkrumah Bonner dragged on in Afridi's following over, and suddenly, the pre-lunch session turned into a damage-limitation exercise for West Indies.

After the mad rush of the first session came the relatively slow burn of the second. No less absorbing for its slightly slower pace, it carried with it the sensation of a building crescendo. West Indies made the early running as Chase and Jermaine Blackwood, West Indies' top scorer with 55, threatened to take it away for the hosts with a 68-run fourth-wicket partnership.

Ashraf was the man to break the partnership, constantly threatening Chase's outside edge in a probing over. When the edge came, Butt was never going to drop a low catch; and in Ashraf's next over, the same combination got rid of Kyle Mayers for a pair.

Holder decided to flex his muscle and struck boundaries that had brought the required runs down under 60. Blackwood hung his bat out at Hasan once too often, sending it straight to first slip; except Butt at second decided only he could be trusted behind the stumps, diving sensationally to his left to hold on to a stunner. On the stroke of tea, Holder found his off peg knocked back with a beauty.

The West Indian lower order was exposed, but they were not going to give up easily.

Joshua Da Silva and Roach began to knock off the runs gradually, and suddenly, with the pair looking relatively untroubled, West Indies had less than 30 left to go.

Afridi struck to give Pakistan the lifeline and crank up the tension.

Da Silva went fullish outside off and jabbed at that away from his body to get an outside edge. His front leg was in the middle while he pushed at that ball on off, as Rizwan pouched it low on his right.

Warrican was the next man to go as Rizwan ran all the way to almost the fine leg fence, before diving forward to pouch the ball into his gloves. Warrican went to pull a short delivery from Ali wide of off, but got a top edge as the ball sailed away. Four fielders gave the chase, but in the end, it belonged to Rizwan – Pakistan were one wicket away and West Indies required 15 runs.

As Kemar Roach and Seales kept batting, the nerves kept building. Finally, it all came down to a fateful Hasan Ali over, as a nick evaded a valiant dive from Mohammad Rizwan to race away for a boundary before Roach pushed one through the off side to guarantee a 1-0 series lead.

A stunning Test match – certainly, test cricket is beautiful.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 16/08/2021 Thriller in Jamaica  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

Gerd Muller: Der Bomber

 

“The penalty area was Gerd’s domain. One step forward, one back, forward, back, forward, back – and at some point, he had a few centimeters space, which was enough for him. He had the ability to react like no other center-forward in the world”

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

What is the definition of a complete strike?

The definition may vary from person to person.

One could cite the examples of Ronaldo El Fenomeno, Robert Lewandowsky, or Luis Suarez.

To be a complete striker one needs to have the pace, defence-splitting body movements, physicality, well-built, dribbling capabilities, and goal-scoring abilities of the highest quality.

If we wish to cite the example of an all-round striker then still there could not be anyone replacing Ronaldo Nazario of Brazil.

Then, there was one footballer who neither possessed the pace, physicality nor the dribbling or assisting abilities, still, relying on his uncanny instincts to score goals, he formed the league of his own – a platform, which only he shares and the name of that legend is Gerd Muller.

In his book, Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football, author David Winner writes, “Muller was short, squat, awkward-looking and not notably fast; he never fitted the conventional idea of a great footballer, but he had lethal acceleration over short distances, a remarkable aerial game, and uncanny goal-scoring instincts. His short legs gave him a strangely low center of gravity, so he could turn quickly and with perfect balance in spaces and at speeds that would cause other players to fall over. He also had a knack of scoring in unlikely situations.”

He was known as lazy. He was not interested in training. He did not wish to run.

“What he did with us was basically an insult, we thought. Sometimes Katsche Schwarzenbeck and I would say we didn’t care today, today we’ll give him a good thrashing if necessary. But we still never caught him. He kept running alone towards the goal. If I hadn’t experienced Gerd up close every day, I wouldn’t have believed it,” said Franz Beckenbauer.

Well, he scored goals.

“What have we got here”, thought Sepp Maier when Müller stood in front of him for the first time in training after the young striker had signed from Nördlingen in summer 1964. “He was well-nourished”, recalls the goalkeeping legend.

“He had thighs the size of some people’s waist. The way he looked, I thought he wouldn’t last long with us.” But Maier had already revised his opinion after that first session.

“Gerd would sidestep like a wild rabbit on the run, had a great shot from a standing position, and he was absolutely inscrutable as a striker.”

Beckenbauer said, “He had that absolute desire to score. So much so, that in his eagerness to score he’d even take out his own teammates. I still remember the opening game at the Olympiastadion in Munich against the USSR. Uli Hoeneß was completely alone in front of the goal and then suddenly Gerd flew in from behind and sent the ball and Uli over the line. It was his goal, which was the important thing for him.”

“Whenever we had concerns before a game, Gerd didn’t want to know any of it,” Beckenbauer recalls. “He’d always say in his unique dialect, 'Ah, stop it. We’ll beat them easily'. Gerd was the one who gave me the ease I needed. I was never one to have great doubts, but if I ever had concerns that something might go wrong, Gerd would wipe those thoughts away from me. ‘What could happen, Franz? We can do it!’

FIFA stated, “Muller had a stocky build and moved around comparatively little. Yet he had an uncanny knack of knowing how to be in the right place at the right time in the penalty area, and how to move to evade his man-markers – a common tactic at the time – for a decisive fraction of a second. That was when he would strike.”

“He was clinical from any position and with any part of the body you could legally score with. Muller was neither particularly fast nor imbued with a repertoire of technical tricks, but he had incredible agility, coordination skills, and explosive acceleration over the first few meters. There has arguably never been another player with such unerring finishing ability as Muller, before or since.”

He was nicknamed, Bomber der Nation (The nation's Bomber) or simply Der Bomber.

Alongside Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, and Sepp Maier, Muller is synonymous with the greatest successes of both Bayern Munich and Germany in the 1970s, and even today is still regarded as the archetypal Number 9.

Born in Nordlingen, Germany, Muller began his football career at his hometown club TSV 1861 Nördlingen.

He joined Bayern Munich in 1964, where he teamed up with future stars Franz Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier. The club, which would go on to become the most successful German club in history, was then still in the Regionalliga Süd (Regional League South), which was one level below the Bundesliga at the time.

After one season, Bayern Munich advanced to the Bundesliga and started a long string of successes. With his club, Muller amassed titles during the 1960s and 1970s: He won the German Championship four times, the DFB-Pokal four times, the European Champions' Cup three consecutive years (the first West German team to win it; Muller scored in the 1974 final replay and 1975 final), the Intercontinental Cup once, and the European Cup Winners' Cup once.

An opportunistic goal-scorer, he also became German top scorer seven times and European top scorer twice. Muller scored 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga matches for Bayern Munich, almost 100 goals over the second-most successful Bundesliga scorer, Robert Lewandowski.

He held the single-season Bundesliga record with 40 goals in season 1971–72, a record that would be held until Robert Lewandowski scored 41 goals during the 2020–21 season.

Muller averaged a goal per game or better in seven of his 14 seasons. He scored 68 goals in 62 German international games.

He held the record for most goals scored in a calendar year, striking 85 goals in 1972, until his total was surpassed 40 years later in 2012 by Lionel Messi.

Muller scored 68 goals in 62 games for former West Germany.

He was Germany's all-time leading scorer for almost 40 years until surpassed by Miroslav Klose in 2014, though Klose required over double the number of caps to do so, scoring his 69th goal in his 132nd appearance.

Muller's international career started in 1966 and ended in 1974 with victory at the 1974 World Cup at his home stadium in Munich.

He scored the winning goal for the 2–1 victory over Johan Cruyff's Netherlands in the final.

It was no coincidence that it was Muller who fired West Germany, arguably the underdogs in the World Cup Final 1974, to their second global triumph, following the first in 1954.

It was certainly no coincidence either that the goal arrived in typical Muller fashion - namely that there appeared to be little danger at all when he received the ball 10 yards from goal on the stroke of half-time. He was well marked, yet somehow managed to create a pocket of space before quickly rifling home a shot on the turn.

Before that, in Mexico, Muller exploded.

Germany arrived in Mexico for the World Cup 1970 event as one of the favourites alongside England, Italy, Soviet Union, and Uruguay whereas Brazil were dubbed as the underdogs before the event commenced.

Against Morocco, in their first game, they were trailing by 1-0 and it took an equalizer from Uwe Seeler and a late winner from Muller to secure the two points.

Muller's winner was trademark bomber stuff as he nodded in from barely a yard out after the ball rebounded off the crossbar.

The Germans were shining amid the heat of Mexico courtesy of the staggering goal-scoring abilities of Muller.

 A hat-trick including a bullet header for his third was the highlight in the next match against Bulgaria while he added another three goals in Germany's final group game against Peru - All in the space of 20 minutes!

Muller's second hat-trick of the tournament proved he wasn't just a poacher as he scored a goal with both feet and added a dipping header for his third. Seven goals already and that was just the group stage.

The quarterfinal was the repeat of 1966 final and England were well poised to claim a place in the next round.

With the match seemingly in the bag, Alf Ramsey withdrew Bobby Charlton to save his legs but the German comeback was only just getting underway.

Beckenbauer made it 2-1 before Uwe Seeler equalized with a quarter of an hour to go.

In extra-time the German winner arrived and inevitably it was Muller who was there to smash home a volley from close range.

Then came the Match of the Century at Azteca.

In the semifinal, the European Champions, Italy led before Karl Heinz Schnellinger popped up with a late equalizer. What followed was the most exciting period of extra-time in World Cup history as two tired teams gave more than a hundred percent in an epic encounter.

Muller gave Germany the lead with the deftest of touches early in the first period and later made it 3-3 with another glancing header.

Italy eventually won 4-3.

Muller said in an interview years later, “That tournament was even more important for me than 1974. We had an outstanding team then, even if many consider our 1972 European Championship team to be the best.”

Mexico 1970 produced the most attacking football of any tournament since 1966 with an average of three goals per game and a shot less than every three minutes.

Muller would win the Golden Boot for his ten strikes and he also provided three assists ensuring he makes the record books once again for the best ever individual contribution by a player in a single tournament since 1966.

 His four goals in that tournament and his ten goals at the 1970 World Cup combined made him the all-time highest World Cup goal-scorer at the time with 14 goals.

His record stood until the 2006 tournament, coincidentally held in Germany, when it was broken by Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who also required more matches than Muller to achieve his tally.

Muller also participated in the 1972 European Championship, becoming the top scorer with four goals, including two in the final against the Soviet Union and winning the Championship with the German team.

“I’m often asked about Gerd Müller’s importance for FC Bayern and German football,” Beckenbauer said.

“And my answer is that football is very much about goals. You can play well, but without goals, you won’t win. Gerd Muller was quite simply the greatest guarantee of goals in the history of football.”

According to Beckenbauer, it was Muller’s goals that “launched Bayern into the international sphere in which it finds itself today. Gerd is the origin. In my eyes, he’s the most important player in the history of FC Bayern. Sometimes you get classifications like ‘most valuable player’. He was that. Gerd was the MVP. In that respect, he was also the most important.”

Aged 34, Muller embarked on a two-year adventure in the NASL with Fort Lauderdale. Though the ample frame showed signs of aging and slowing return, the goals never dried up. Muller registered 38 goals across three seasons in America.

Before hanging the boots up for good, he returned to Munich for a farewell match against Olympiacos in 1981.

Ironically the match ended goalless and a match where Muller did not score still hit the headlines.

He was a legend and legends never die. 

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 15/07/2021 Gerd Muller: Der Bomber 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

A sad end to beautifully poised Test match

 

On the final day, England needed to defend their total with Chetehswar Pujara and Rohit Sharma at the crease and some world-class batsmen waiting in the dressing room to push for the win, the first Test at Trent Bridge was beautifully poised for a great finish. Anything could have happened on a final deck that gave evidence of bounce and movement – sadly, it was the inclement weather that won the battle in the end.

The English captain Joe Root won the toss and decided to bat first despite knowing the fact, the deck would have enough for the competent Indian pace unit, who did not bother to drop Ravi Ashwin to allocate a place for an extra-pacer and Ravi Jadeja was the lone spinner. The omission of Ashwin was surprising, but the move of the Indian think tank proved worthy enough as the pacers had their say on Day 1.

Jasprit Bumrah struck first and then what could one witness the struggle of a fragile batting line-up, apart from the classy Joe Root, against a force, which was in a mood to hunt its prey.

India took the last seven England wickets for 45 runs to bowl the hosts out for 183.

Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, the two senior bowlers in the absence of Ishant Sharma and Ashwin, took seven wickets between them in 37.4 overs. Once again, Joe Root looked like a level above his batting teammates, scoring 64 assured runs off 108 balls in an innings that went at 2.78 an over.

The Indian reply to the English total was steady – Rohit Sharma was calm and composed – something with which the cricket followers are not familiar. Rohit relied more on leaving the ball as much as possible and execute shot according to its merit while at the other end, KL Rahul - who changed his batting technique which was about backward and across trigger movement that helped for better weight distribution – countered the challenge of English new ball bowlers with authority.

Ollie Robinson was using his height very well and extracted extra-bounce.

At the stroke of lunch of Day 2, Robinson dished out short-pitch stuff towards the shoulder of Rohit, who shrugged off his composure and went for the hook and walked for the pavilion.

After lunch, the great James Anderson waved his magic!

Post lunch, Anderson and Robinson found more menace from the conditions. There seemed a shift in the attack: towards the stumps. Pujara survived an lbw decision when padding up by winning a review on height, but Anderson soon caught up with him.

In this spell, Anderson tried the inswinger more often by switching the shiny side to the outside. The one that got Pujara looked like just that: a testing inswinger, pitching full and within the stumps, making him defend, but upon pitching it assumed fangs, seaming the other way, squaring Pujara up, and taking a faint outside edge. Everything about this delivery was so good it would possibly have got him lbw had he missed the edge.

Enters Virat Kohli!

In 2014, Anderson got Kohli out four times in just nine mistakes. In 2018 he induced 58 mistakes and two catchable edges from the bat of Kohli, but couldn't dismiss him. Earlier this year, he drew the edge again, but they dropped Kohli off Anderson even in India. Four hundred and fifty-four balls since he last got Kohli out, 69 false responses and three dropped catches later, the 39-year-old Anderson ran in to resume one final contest with Kohli.

Kohli has not scored an international hundred since November 2019, but only recently has a slightly serious issue cropped up in his batting. He is possibly playing too much for the inswinger, just like he did in 2014 when he played away from the body too often, fearing that inswinger. Already this summer, Kyle Jamieson has got him out that way, but that is also the result of the lbws bowlers have been able to take off him by dragging him across.

With that in mind, Anderson chose the perfect ball to start off with. Once again he bowled with the shiny side outside, hoping this one goes in and tests how much Kohli is watching out for that inswinger. It swung in all right, and Kohli pressed forward to try to defend. It was wide enough to leave it alone, but it was also an inswinger first up, so it is not easy to judge what to leave.

Kohli had it covered it in the air, but once again the ball pitched and seamed the other way to take a healthy edge and leave a packed Trent Bridge in frenzy.

Ajinkya Rahane ran himself out for five, leaving India at 112 for 4 and bringing out Rishabh Pant – who is known for his rush for adrenaline, but this time around, on Day 3, he was out early.

KL Rahul kept ongoing and he was well aided and supported by Jadeja, who notched up a wonderful half-century and his sword-swinging-like celebration was a sight to watch. The Indian tail wagged and added more meat to the total and stretched the lead, which meant, England would need to bat very well.

England’s response was shaky.

England began Day 4 with 70 runs behind with all their wickets in hand, but it was believed they needed rain or Root to rescue their fledgling batting unit. The promised rain never arrived, but in the best batting conditions of the Test, Root batted with assured positivity to make sure England never went into a shell and put the pressure of runs on India. However, Dom Sibley, Dan Lawrence, and Jos Buttler gifted their wickets away to keep India in the contest by the time the new ball arrived. Bumrah blew them away with it.

In the morning, though, it was special bowling that brought Root to the crease. Mohammed Siraj continued his threat to left-hand batters, pitching in the blind spot on the middle and leg and then getting away movement to take the edge from Rory Burns. Bumrah then produced a beauty to Zak Crawley, pitching on a length, close to off, holding its line, taking the edge. India had taken two wickets in the first half-hour, and England were still 49 behind.

It was time for Root to show his class.

His skills were put into the greatest context during his partnership (worth 89 in 28.5 overs) with Dom Sibley. While Sibley's crease occupation was valuable, you couldn't help but admire how much easier the business of batting looked for Root. So vast is his range of stroke, so adaptable his feet and the angle of his bat, that he is rarely kept scoreless. He faced only two maidens in his entire innings - one of them during a nervous passage of play when he had 97 - and has a late cut which allows him to score from deliveries other players would look to leave well alone. Sibley made just 12 of their partnership.

But it was surely the drives, played off both front and back foot, which will linger longest in the memory. Certainly, they had a packed Trent Bridge purring in delight. The on-drive that brought the century was just a little reminiscent of the shot with which Sir Geoffrey Boycott reached his 100th first-class hundred.  

The celebration was ecstatic and hinted how badly he and his team needed.

Root’s authority helped England to take the lead which the English bowlers could defend.

Stuart Broad chipped in with the wicket of Rahul and a fascinating final was on offer until rain spoiled everything.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 09/08/2021 A sad end to beautifully poised Test match  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

Gold medal for Brazil

 

With millions of eyes witnessing the final of the greatest show on earth in Yokohama in 2002, Ronaldo O Fenomeno scored a brace and buried the ghost of Paris to lift the World Cup for Brazil for the fifth time. Nineteen years later, it was time for his followers to repeat the feat at the same venue in the Tokyo 2020  Olympics in a nervy contest against one of the best teams of the competition – Spain. Its back to back gold medals for the Selecao and at least, the pain of losing the Copa America Final would relieve a bit.  

In the major match of the event, there could be no options other than going for glory, and keeping that in mind, Andre Jardine and Luis de la Fuente Castillo, surfaced a very strong side. Brazil had Matheus Cunha back and Ricahrlison back on the left flank while Spain had the services of those hard-nut-to-crack boys, who helped Spain conquer pressure in the group and knockout stages.

Spain relied on their possession-based football, while Brazil relied on their attack-hold-counterattack-buildup-dominate-the-midfield-and-attack-again tactics.

With players like Pedri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Danil Olmo, Martin Zubimedi, Marco Asensio, Oscar Gil, and Mikel Merino at the center of the park and upfront; Spain would keep Brazil on the edge and as the match progressed, Brazil looked to disturb their possession-based football through Douglas Luiz in the middle and Bruno Guimares dictating terms from the midfield.

Cluadinho was playing more centrally and his work was to distribute skillfully to the center, right, and left where Matheus Cunha, Richarlison, and Antony would wait for the kill.

The link-up between Antony and Dani Alves was always a threat for the Spanish side while Cunha pressed hard the Spanish center-backs.    

But one man seemed to be feeling the pressure of expectation on him and he was Richarlison.

Spain started lively enough and looked to get on the front foot.

In the 16th minute, they almost opened the scoring, after Oyarzabal's header into the middle of the area, which was deflected by Diego Carlos towards his own goal. However, the defender managed to recover in time and took the ball over the line. The Selecao responded with shots from Douglas Luiz and Richarlison after half an hour mark

 In the closing stages of the first half, Spain conceded a penalty.

Cunha collided with Unai Simon when competing with a cross whipped into the box, with a free-kick initially awarded against the Brazilian.

The match officials were, however, encouraged to review the said incident on a pitchside monitor, with Australian referee Chris Beath deciding that a spot-kick should be the eventual outcome.

Richarlison stepped up to take and, after a staggering run up, blazed his effort high over the crossbar.

Brazil were, however, to get their noses in front two minutes into stoppage-time when Dani Alves kept the ball alive at the back post and Cunha produced a composed finish after slipping between two defenders with a cushioned touch off his chest.

Then, after the break,  Cunha fired Antony, who advanced and kicked low, stopping in the defence of Unai Simon - the attacker, however, was offside.

In the next minute, after a nice exchange of passes, Richarlison received inside the area, cleared the marking, and submitted. The ball touched the foot of the Spanish defender and hit the crossbar.

Before the action, at the interval, Spain made effective substitutions.

After the scares, Spain started to move the ball around and grew in the match.

On the far right, substitute Bryan Gil played for Carlos Soler, who crossed for Oyarzabal. On the back of Daniel Alves, he took the ball first, with no chance of defence for Santos. The Spaniards followed suit against an opponent who looked physically worn out and did not make any substitutions in regular time.

But, still, Brazil regained control from that point and always looked the more likely to find a winner.

After 90 minutes and more injury time, Jardine made changes.

 Malcom took the place of Cunha and not only renewed the team's breath but also started to create Brazil's main chances, at the left-wing.  

Two minutes into the second half, Malcom received an excellent pass from Antony, invaded the Spanish danger area, and took a shot with composure. The ball still touched Simon, but ended up in the back of the net. After that, the  Spanish pressure was not enough to break the Brazilian resistance and the Canarinhos were the worthy winners.

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 07/08/2021  Gold medal for Brazil

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

An Olympic Epic: Brazil Overcomes Mexican Resilience in Penalty Drama

The memories of London 2012 still linger—a moment when Brazil, the undisputed favourites, succumbed to Mexico’s indomitable spirit in the Olympic final. That defeat reshaped Brazilian football’s trajectory, triggering the dismissal of Mano Menezes and ushering in the return of Luiz Felipe Scolari. Yet, the path from promise to heartbreak would remain a Brazilian hallmark, as Scolari’s tenure culminated in a debacle on home soil two years later. Fast forward to the Tokyo Olympics semifinal, and the scars of facing Mexico—a team known for being Olympic football’s perennial nemesis—were fresh. This time, however, Brazil managed to rewrite the script. 

For the third consecutive Olympics, Brazil reached the men’s football final. Their history in the event, littered with near-misses, includes silver medals in 1984, 1988, and 2012, alongside bronzes in 1996 and 2008. Their crowning moment would finally come in Rio 2016, a golden redemption. But before contemplating further glory, they had to overcome a relentless Mexican side, that epitomized the art of defending and countering with venom. 

The Tactical Chess Match

From the outset, Mexico's strategy was transparent yet dauntingly effective. They deployed a defensive phalanx, retreating deep into their own half and committing their midfielders to auxiliary defensive duties. It was football by attrition, designed to frustrate Brazil’s creative instincts. Their intent was clear: wait patiently for transitional moments to pounce on Brazilian mistakes. 

The first half unfolded as a tense battle of wills. Brazil, missing Matheus Cunha through injury, introduced Paulinho, whose energy and pressing unsettled the Mexican backline but lacked the incisiveness of Gabriel Martinelli. Despite dominating possession, Brazil struggled to break the deadlock. Their brightest moment came from a sweeping move culminating in Claudinho’s deft touch setting up Guilherme Arana, whose strike forced a sharp save from the ever-reliable Guillermo Ochoa. 

Mexico, while largely reactive, showcased their menace on the counter. Two late first-half chances nearly tilted the balance, the most dangerous coming after Claudinho’s costly giveaway in midfield. Yet, the Brazilian defence, marshalled by Diego Carlos and the imperious Dani Alves, held firm. 

Frustrations Mount

The second half was a study in mounting pressure. Richarlison’s header crashed against the crossbar, a near-miss symbolising Brazil's growing desperation. Jardine’s tactical tweaks—bringing on Martinelli and Reinier Jesus—brought fresh impetus but failed to break Mexico’s disciplined ranks. The tension in Yokohama's humid air was palpable as the game dragged into extra time. 

Both sides had moments of promise but lacked the finishing touch. Malcolm, introduced for Antony, added pace but could not alter the trajectory. With neither team able to find a breakthrough, the dreaded penalty shootout loomed—a lottery that Brazil had learned to master. 

The Shootout Symphony

Brazil’s goalkeeper Santos emerged as the hero, diving superbly to deny Eduardo Aguirre on Mexico’s first attempt. As nerves threatened to unravel both teams, Brazil showcased clinical precision. Veterans Dani Alves and Bruno Guimarães, alongside Martinelli and Reinier, dispatched their penalties with poise. In contrast, Mexico faltered, with both Aguirre and Vásquez missing the target. Brazil triumphed 4-1, exorcising the demons of past encounters against their resilient rivals. 

The Aftermath: Resilience and Reflection

For Mexico, the defeat was a bitter pill, but their resolve remained unbroken. "We fought as a family until the end," said Uriel Antuna, embodying the team’s spirit. The bronze medal match now loomed as a chance for redemption—a testament to their enduring pride. 

Brazil, meanwhile, basked in the relief of overcoming a familiar tormentor. Captain Dani Alves, a paragon of experience, articulated the respect Brazil held for Mexico. "This is football," he mused. "We suffered when we had to but deserved to be in the final." 

Coach André Jardine echoed the sentiment, praising his team’s determination. "We tried all the time to attack, to qualify regularly. This victory crowns the effort of a team that believed in itself." 

A Glimpse Ahead

The win carried Brazil into the final, one step closer to etching another chapter in their storied Olympic saga. Yet, the journey underscored an eternal truth: football, at its core, is as much about endurance as artistry. In their hard-fought victory over Mexico, Brazil demonstrated both, ensuring that the memories of 2012, though still vivid, would not cast a shadow over their quest for gold.  

 Thank You

Faisal Caesar