La Galaxia de Estrellas

Its sometime in the 2003-04 season. Vasuman, me and Aparaajit. Lunch period. An argument. This time its about who the best young footballer at that time is. Aparaajit and I give out our opinion, I don't remember as to whose name we gave out. But I clearly remember whom Lord Vasuman said is the best young talent at that time. His name was Aron Winter, an Ajax and Dutch player. Aparaajit and I did not know who that guy was. Vasuman praised him as if he was Mr.Winter's personal trainer! We had to believe him at that point and we did. But recently I checked up about who that guy really is and I found this out.....
I have highlighted the important points you have to note while reading....

Aron Winter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aron Mohamed Winter (born March 1, 1967 in Paramaribo, Suriname) is a retired Dutch footballer. He broke Ruud Krol's record for appearances for the Dutch national team when he got his 83rd cap at the Euro 2000 competition co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.
He began his career by playing for amateur club SV Lelystad before he joined Ajax Amsterdam when he was only 19 years of age. His first game for Ajax was the match against FC Utrecht on 6 April 1986 which his team won 3-0. Winter achieved two Dutch cups (1987 and 1988), the Eredivisie title (1990), the Cup Winners' Cup (1987) and the UEFA Cup (1992) for the club before moving on to Italy where he played for SS Lazio in 1992. His first international game was against Greece on 25 March 1987 which ended in a 1-1 draw.
His midfield role at Lazio was to replace the 'enfant terrible' Paul Gascoigne of England and he dominated the defensive midfielder position for many years in the Serie A. He was among the handful of Dutch footballers to survive in the fiercely competitive Serie A alongside the likes of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he scored a goal against Brazil in the quarter-finals.
Despite his tenure at Lazio for 3 years, he was unable to win any titles and he sought a new challenge. In 1996, he joined Inter Milan where he got the consolation of winning the UEFA Cup in 1998. It was also a great challenge for Winter as he played alongside many great players like Roberto Baggio, Giuseppe Bergomi and Gianluca Pagliuca at Internazionale. Further, he was selected for the national team for the Euro 96 as well as the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France where he was to play a minor role at both tournaments in a squad packed with talented individuals like Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids and Philip Cocu.
His age showed after the brilliant 1998 World Cup which ended in disappointment for the Dutch and he left Inter for his old club Ajax in 1999. Frank Rijkaard who was then appointed the head coach of the Netherlands even informed him after the World Cup that his chances for the 'Oranje' are limited as they have many similar players in that position who are younger than him. True to his pedigree for hard work, he maintained a fine form for Ajax and enough to earn a place in Rijkaard's Euro 2000 squad where although he played a bit part, was also one of the better players of the tournament.
In 2001, he was loaned out to Sparta Rotterdam after a high-profile dispute with then Ajax coach Co Adriaanse where he played 32 games and scored a goal before finishing his career at Ajax where he also chose to retire. His international career statistics stand at 83 caps with 6 goals and is the fifth most-capped player in the Netherlands.

LoL... I even found a stamp of his which was released before the 1994 World Cup, USA.

Football, as you all would have known, is my favourite sport. I play the game almost every other day at the so called "Gandhi Nagar Ground" (Named after the locality) which I prefer to call The Riverside Stadium. I feel that this sounds more logical as the ground itself lies on the banks of the River Adyar. This post is about how a match at the Riverside goes, atleast how I feel it goes generally.

Here are a few pictures of the Riverside Stadium....


The Other side of the Riverside....



THE GAME BEGINS...

4:30 p.m to 4:45 p.m

The players arrive. Due to the unavailability of team buses or any other form of common transport, the players have to make their own arrangements to arrive at the riverside. It takes atleast 15 minutes for the whole squad to be present.

4:45 p.m to 5:15 p.m

The players get into their footballing attire in the 'pavilion' which is nothing but a small gallery. Players who get ready go off to warm-up, surely not in the true sense. Warm up here means taking a shot one after the other. Sometimes they settle for a game of "MONKEY".

5:15 p.m to 5:25 p.m

Now comes the toughest job. Its time to split teams. But before splitting the teams itself, there is a fight as to who will split the teams, not because everyone wants to but its just because no one wants to. Finally two nice guys pop up and they start splitting the whole squad into two teams. Now comes the tougher part. Who makes the first choice, which'll obviously be the best player around. That takes about 5 minutes to solve, and the others are divided after several rounds of consultation. It takes another 5-7 minutes to summon the team members to one side. And another 5 minutes to allocate a position to each member which usually the best player does. Unfortunately, the position which the player is allocated would be the only position in which he does not play in.

5:25

Its all said and done. Its time for kick-off. No whistle. No Referee. No toss to decide which team takes the ball first. One team starts and the other team agrees. The game is on. To start with the game would be a bit dry, and suddenly out of the blue there would be a goal from one team which mostly would be a result of sloppy defending and very rarely out of the quality of the goal scorer. Invariably in 5-10 minutes we will have an equalizer. And maybe a goal more from each side.

5:45

Some of the players get tired. They happily just walk off the field and into the pavilion to have a sip of water. Suddenly there would be gaps in the field!!!!!!!

5:47

The others walk out as well. While walking in the topic of discussion would either be a controversial off side or a foul which was never given or a wonder which has never happened before.



5:55

When The best player is satisfied with the arguments he had put up he will summon the rest of the squad into the field. They come one after the other.

6:00

The second half begins! The teams will be lesser in strength due to the departures of a few members in each side. If the sides are uneven, the transfer market opens up and the trades begin. This supposively evens up the sides and we have kick-off. If there is a goal in the second half it would be from the side which was leading. Else finding the goal would be a rare sight. Some more players leave during the course of the half

6:20 to 6:35

Both the teams are tired. This takes the seriousness out of most of the players. And the game ends. The remaining players walk back into the pavilion querying about the availabilty of the best medicine for tiredness - H₂O. They again have a sip.

6:35 to 6:45

The Goalkeepers are not tired. And there are few people who prefer taking shots at any point of the day. So these "shooting enthusiasts" take time off in shooting.

6:45 to 7:00

It gets dark. No one can see the ball. So even the very little people who are still playing stop. And then slowly one by one depart. By 7:00 hardly one or two are there. And they too leave ASAP. After a "hard game" of football the players depart and the ground is empty again.


Whatever has been written here is just a general trend as to what happens there generally. There are many green days when we really have a great game and superb quality of football. So I request all the readers to not imagine a game at the Riverside to be really boring or dry or one-sided. Its really good fun.

'TiTi' as his teammates call him has matured into one of the world's greatest strikers after initially playing on the wings. His speed and balance is exceptional. His ball control is something which every forward in the world should be envious of!!!!



Profile

He started his professional career at AS Monaco, given his début by then Monaco manager Arsène Wenger at the age of 17. At Monaco, Wenger put Henry on the wing.
Having impressed in the French national team's triumph in the 1998 World Cup, Henry left Monaco and moved to Italian club Juventus in January 1999 for £14 million. There, he was made to play on the wing, and in an unfamiliar position was unable to cope with Italian defensive discipline, scoring just three goals while starting only 12 games
Unsettled in Italy, he transferred from Juventus in August 1999 to Arsenal for £10.5 million, reuniting with his former mentor, Wenger. At Arsenal, Wenger converted Henry into a striker, where he has flourished ever since. He has scored 214 goals for Arsenal in 6 full seasons - an amazing record.

What they say about TiTi??

He's the best player in the world and already one of the all time greats

- Ruud Van Nistelrooy

The last player you want the ball to go to is the best player on the planet.

- Liverpool's inspirational captain Steven Gerrard, after his backpass to Henry, gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory at Highbury.

I've seen everything in this league for the past 25 years. I've never seen anything like him. I said he was special, but he's irreplacable.

- Sky Sports own football pundit, Andy Gray

He's a wizard with his feet and is blessed with a gift for scoring goals. His best quality is his speed while the ball is at his feet. He may be the fastest man ever to lace up a football boot. No defender in the world can keep up with him.

- Lilian Thuram

I tell my kids in the Academy at Newcastle to watch Henry. He plays with such a swagger, not an arrogance, and that is a great quality. He always looks so comfortable. You talk about cars going from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds, and he is like that. He just explodes. I could sit there for hours and watch him.

- Peter Beardsley

If you look at the whole package, with everything Henry has, I don't think you can find that anywhere else. You give him the ball in the right place and his acceleration will take him past any defender in the world.

- Dennis Bergkamp

When I was at Spain I thought Zinedine Zidane was the best in the world, but playing alongside Thierry made me realise that I was playing alongside the best footballer in the planet.

- Jose Antonio Reyes

Ronaldinho is a special player, but Thierry Henry is probably technically the most gifted footballer ever to play the beautiful game.

- Zinedine Zidane

When he's on fire, he is impossible to stop. He dribbles like a winger, but is still able to score 20 goals a year in the Premiership.

- Fabio Capello

Sometimes when I see the speed Henry moves on the pitch he looks like he's bought a motorbike. If I have to mark him on Wednesday, I will just have to get myself one as well.

- Alessio Tacchinardi

Germany are light years away from having a player like him.

- Franz Beckenbauer

He is my favorite player. I wanted to say Steven Gerrard but it was just impossible for me to ignore this guy

- Bala Vidya Mandir Footballing Legend, Aparaajit



Henry's Famous Quotes

Being seen as the best striker in Europe doesn't spur me on—it's helping my team to success. That's my only aim.

I'm not a machine.

- after being unduly critised over his alleged poor form

I would love this place to be my garden.

- on Arsenal's old stadium, Highbury

You can never have enough trophies. If there were ten to be won a year I'd want to win them all! That's not being greedy, it's just a natural thing.

It's not about me, it's about how I can help my team to achieve more. And I do that through scoring goals.

I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football. I'm not mad, I'm just passionate. There's nothing I'm scared of in football.

Sometimes in football you have to score goals.

Will he stay or wont he???

Arsenal have qualified for the UEFA champions league final for the first time in the club's history. But rumours are still be spread that Thierry Henry, who lead them to this final, wouldn't stay with Arsenal next season. He has been linked with Arsenal's final opponent FC Barcelona. The question is every gunner's mind is now whether TiTi will stay or won't he.



PROFILE:

Full name: Thierry Daniel Henry
DOB: August 17, 1977
Birthplace: Les Ulis, France
Nationality: French
Other nationality: Martiniquais
EU passport: Yes
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 83 kg
Club: Arsenal FC
Position: Striker [C]
Number: 14
Contract Expires: June 2010
Previous Clubs: Monaco > Juventus > (€17m) Arsenal
International debut: October 1997, v South Africa
Caps: 83
Goals: 36
World Cups: France 1998, Japan-Korea 2002, Germany 2006
Palmares:

• FIFA World Cup (98)
  
• Euro Cup (00)
  
• Confederations Cup (03)
  
• French Ligue 1 (97)
  
• English FA Cup (02, 03, 05)
  
• English Premier League (02, 04)
  
• French Young Footballer of the Year (97)
  
• French Footballer of the Year (00)
  
• English Premier League Top Scorer (02, 04, 05, 06)
  
• EPL Footballer of the Year (03, 04, 06)
  
• Confederations Cup Top Scorer (03)
  
• Confederations Cup MVP (03)
  

Profile and quotes from Aparaajit