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Heil Pele!

Yes, you are reading a soccer column. We got to be kidding, right? Hell, no! We believe here's a sublime sport which has a future, never mind the state of the sport in the country. Soccer was always rooted in our sporting consciousness. The Summer of '83 was when we lost the plot. We watched the Prudential World Cup and discovered cricket. Soon enough, rice fields where football was played in Goa and Kerala became cricket grounds overnight.

Cut to the present day sporting calendar. Let's not bury cricket, but it isn't the adrenaline shot or the fix (pardon the pun), sport bugs look forward to anymore. The state of chess, golf, weightlifting and tennis is encouraging but these sports need time to capture the popular imagination.

Our prime candidate to rival cricket for appeal is soccer. We've players of exotic pigmentation kicking around in our National League. We sincerely hope that they have trooped into the country with the explicit purpose of raising the standard of the sport. We also pray that the Bajrang Dal doesn't view it as a Christian conspiracy.

The sport sure is going places. While we make this case for football, the national side is touring England for a series of exhibition matches. As Frank Zappa once remarked, to be a real country, "It helps if you have some kind of a football team." So this space is dedicated to the cause of getting the world to take our country and the sport seriously. Just as an aside, we're ranked #115 in FIFA rankings. We believe that the only way to go is UP.

Screaming Orgasm at Euro 2000, lousy foreplay back home

With so many last gasp winners at Euro 2000, there are no prizes for guessing what all of Europe was drinking (experiencing?) during the tournament. For edge-of-the-seat action, this tournament ranks up there. Try these ingredients for a classic cocktail: Brazilian flair, scorching pace, the clash of wizards and a delicious twist at the end in equal measure.

So how do these blokes play such sublime football? The key lies in the fact that the sport is treated as an art and a science at the same time.

The art of football can be traced to our evolution. We grow up kicking ball, so we make natural football players. To become pros, we need reinforcement, which the Europeans and the Latin Americans receive in generous doses.

The science of football is the manner in which the sport is organised. Major football sides are not teams, these are corporations (translation: accountability). Corporations which speak the language of huge stakes. Stakes so huge, most teams are listed on Stock Exchanges. Now you know why players with twinkling feet are signed up for millions of dollars.

Do we hear the Venture Capitalist asking for a revenue model?

Revenue stream #1- Killing at the transfer market: For this season/financial year, Paris Saint Germain have invested in players to the tune of $60 mn. Real Madrid scraped the coffers to get Luis Figo from Barcelona for a whopping $56 mn. Moral of the story: Nurture a genius, then sell him to the highest bidder.

#2- Moolah from merchandising: In the forthcoming season, Real Madrid supporters and rabid football fans won't just wear FC Real Madrid jerseys. They'll sport a No. 7 jersey made famous by Luis Figo. Chances are that they'll drink beer with his mug plastered on assorted items. Yes, Figo is the toast of the season, so he'll be marketed like a brand.

#3- Winnings from endorsements: Brands fall over each other to endorse teams. Yes, the marketing department works overtime to rake in the moolah.

#4- Gate money: First dazzle them with your feet, then twist some arm. But when you have a legion of supporters trailing the team wherever it plays, you're justified in demanding a percentage of the gate money.

And so on and so forth...

The earlier our mandarins woke up to football reality, the better for the health of the sport. Several years ago, Libero had an interesting encounter with officialdom. Over scotch, a GFA official sidled up to an AIFF honcho and sought to be an official for the next overseas tour of the national team. It made a sad advertisement for the sport.

A timely advertisement for AIFF would read, "Wanted: People who put the sport before themselves."

Lessons in rusty Italian

The Indian team has returned from an English tour. We lost 0-2 to Fulham. We drew goalless with West Bromwich Albion. We squeezed one past Bangladesh.

Word has it that we defended resolutely at the matches. A Fulham defender remarked, "They had some very good players and individually looked very skillful."

So the moot question is did our lads play from the heart or were they instructed to defend at every cost? Did the Italian showing at Euro 2000 influence our think-tank?

There's a lesson to be learnt in how the Azzurris play ballsy football. Agreed, they tease you silly to raid their citadel. But then they've defenders built like forts. Also Maldini, Cannavaro and Nesta seize the ball even if it means crunching bone. And once they gain possession, they swing the ball to players who're well positioned, simply because they've the field and players up front well mapped in their minds.

One glance at our football team and you know our strength lies in our strikers. Our local heroes, Bhutia, IM Vijayan and Ancheri are strikers first. Bhutia was the first Indian to be signed in the English league. Gut tells Libero that the sign ups to follow are going to be forwards.

Why are these players flowering so late? It's the way we approach and promote our sport. We're already into injury time now. So let's study our football situation in the weeks to follow.

The Football Column