Operation Graduation

Germany is alive and kicking, all they needed was to win the game to go through the next round. They tried and tried and tried and eventually got their just reward. Neuville scoring in injury time which leaves poland almost out of the world cup.

More than 300 people are in police custody after a World Cup match between Germany and Poland sparked clashes. Violence flared ahead of the game in Dortmund, which Germany won 1-0 and organisers had long identified as a high-risk fixture. About half of those arrested were German and half Polish, police said, with a handful of Dutch also held.They include some 70 known hooligans arrested earlier in the day with the help of Polish police.All those arrested will be held for up to 24 hours, and then may face police charges.

German police spokeswoman Saskia Schneider told the BBC officers were initially sent to the Alter Markt to deal with troublemakers.”It started when the police were about to arrest a number of violent hooligans in the city centre. This situation led to attacks on the police,” she said.

German and Polish hooligans have a history of violence
“Then it spilled over and different fan groups started attacking each other.”

About 120 fans threw bottles and chairs at police. Officers were then seen chasing some fans through the main square, the Hansa-Platz. Earlier, liaison between German and Polish officers had led to dozens of arrests.

Polish police captain Rafal Wasaik said: “We have arrested people who we believed could cause trouble. They were recognised by my Polish colleagues.”

Germany , my love has played outstanding football in the first game, they played truly attacking football. Goals from Lahm and Frings made the day for Germany.

Cech also played one heck of the game. They slaughtered USA 3-0 . Rosicky’s goal was awesome. They are a team to reckon in the world cup and will go far.

Italy played attacking football which is not their traditional way. However i like the new look of their team with Luca Toni and Giolardino taking the role of Del Piero and Christian Vieri. Italy’s defence was shaky at times with no Maldini in the back. They surely need him back.

The World Cup ball being used in Germany 2006 is different from the English Premier League ball, England Training ball and Kids soccer ball.

The WC ball when passed through the wind tunnel started moving sideways when a force on the ball started to get decreased, so as the player hit the ball , firstly the ball will go straight (if no bend is applied by the player himself) and then as the force decreases on the ball, the ball will itself bend creating a lot of trouble for the goal keeper to judge the trajectory/line of motion of the ball.

The English Premier League and England Training ball dint bend much when passed through the wind tunnel, however the kids soccer ball as expected bent alot.

So in germany 2006, expect some great goals. You have already seen some long range efforts in the goal and that too if you look closely , the ball stated to go in a curved trajectory after going straight and beating the goalie comfortably.

Torsten Frings shot in the match Germany vs Costa Rica, Thomas Rosicky shot in the match Cech rep. vs USA, Andre Pirlo shot in the match Italy vs Ghana, Cahill shot in the match Australia vs Japan.

I wonder how many more to come! Great World cup so far!

I managed to cross 5th line in the swimming pool. I am learning swimming these days, go once in a week though because of the timing constraints. The swimming pool of Aga Khan Sports Complex is quite big not too deep though. One pool is of 4 and a half feet and the other pool is 6 feet but a very wide pool. The first step assigned by the trainer and my brother (cool swimmer MashaAllah) to me was to move the feet straigt in the water for 5 mins which i did after some time…infact 10 mins i reached easily after two three sessions of swimming. Now the second step assigned to me was to cross the entire pool by moving just the legs , not to make use of hands and keep the eyes open in the water. The pool is 20-25 meters long (lenght wise) and is divided with 8 lines (drawn at the bottom) with each two lines 2.2-2.5 meters apart. I first at the start was able to cross only 7 meters (3 lines) but however i kept tryin and tryin and managed to cross the 5th line. However i couldnt stop the breath after that, i tried hard but couldnt cross the 6th. The elusive other end of the pool always waited for me. God willing i will cross that next time.

However one thing i find quite unusual there, during the timings of men, women/girls can stay around the pool (not in the pool) and can do anything but during the timings of women, no man, no kids are allowed. I mean why girls/women are allowed to stay outside the pool during the timing of men?, they keep distracting us! …frankly it becomes a lot harder to swim then!

The new stadium will be the home ground of rivals TSV 1860 München and FC Bayern München, who now play their home games in the aging and somewhat atmosphere-lacking Olympicstadion.
Different coloured lights can turn the walls red (Bayern) or blue (1860) depending on which team is playing.

Gross Seating Capacity: 66000
Total Seating Capacity:59000

What a great stadium indeed! …