This is the view of the world from the eyes of a Sugar Islander. It talks about Anime, Boxing, Manny Pacquiao, Team Pilipinas and Fiba Basketball. It also covers Naruto and Bleach comic books. However, serious Asian society issues and Racism against Asians, Asian achievers in Sports are also discussed. Advocacies are carried on and never forgotten.
The days of Cristiano Ronaldo, Nihat Kahveci and David Villa may be numbered. Machines will soon beat human footballers and its only a question of when, not if, scientists said Monday from the sidelines of the European robot football tournament.
Teams from across the continent - as well as some from further afield - are competing in Zurich for a berth in the tournament in Linz, Austria, later this week.
"The aim is for a robot team to beat the (human) world champions in 2050," said Rolf Pfeifer, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Zurich.
Others are more ambitious.
"I think that by 2015 or 2017 a robot team will beat the Austrian national squad," Peter Kopacek of Vienna's Technical University said. "It'll be 2025 before they beat the Brazilians."
In any case, machines have a long way to go before they master the tricks of professionals. In the two-legged category, the fastest robots take 35 seconds to complete a 2.4-meter (8-foot) sprint. Others take five minutes, fall over or get hopelessly lost on the field.
In the wheel-driven category, meanwhile, passing is unheard of and the game largely consists of pushing an orange golf ball into the opposing goal. Still, the sport has come a long way since the mid-1990s, Kopacek said.
"Spectators used to cheer if a robot crept across the field and chanced upon the ball," he said, adding that now there are shots on goal, counterattacks and even saves by the robot goalkeeper.
Three Lions or stay away from English fans for they'll beat you up I'm not kidding.
The world's greatest football team ENGLAND is missed by other Europeans. Nah, I'm only kidding. Just read the reactions below this article.
Basel - 1,637 miles travelled
And before you start, it's not my statement but that of just about every local, travelling fan and journalist I have spoken to over here.
A typical conversation might go something like this.
Me: "Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions about your team?"
Local/fan/journo: "Ok, where are you from?"
Me: "England."
Local/fan/journo: "Oh." Several seconds of silence follow. "I cannot believe England are not here. Such a disappointment"
A look of sympathy crossed with sorrow plus a dash of disbelief then follows, so I explain that England are not here because they were not good enough in qualifying, pure and simple.
The people are just being polite with the English journalist. I would. I wouldn't rub it in that is so English.
A sample reaction from the site:
On the other hand, the people you spoke to could just have thought (a) Blimey, he's an English fan, I'd better say something soothing in case he goes off, or more likely (b) they were simply being polite, and making conversation.
I don't think that the other Europeans waste a moment's thought thinking "Just imagine how much better the tournament would be if England / Scotland / Republuc of Ireland were here". Why should they? If they support one of the countries there, they just want them to do well, and want the rest of the experience to be as good in footballing terms as it can be.
For them (and too often for us too) there's more pleasure to be had from seeing a potential emerging team eg the Russians, the Spanish, or the current Dutch team, than in following the British teams, who, let's face it, have an inherent tendency to plod. If we make it to a competition, then fine, let the teams test themselves at that level. If they don't make it, as in this case, then whether they might have added (or subtracted) anything from the tournament is simply an irrelevance.
We should have a degree of humility and accept that this time, we were all not quite up to the required standard, enjoy what's on offer in this championships, and hope that we can add to the next one.
If the commentator is English much like in ESPNSTAR even an awesome effort from the opposition (say Croatia) will be automatically branded as luck or completely ignored. Their reason - it must be an English defensive mistake (partly right sometimes but more often it is a great effort from their adversary)! This arrogance only provokes hostility towards England NT.
If Germany loses or play badly in a single game of a football competition they immediately get written off. England plays one great match - they'll win the world cup. Welcome to the routine football thinking by some so-called pundits (my foot). They are so wrong again. They forgot the fact Germany improves as a tournament progresses. Don't underestimate a mentally tough team like Germany.
Germany defeated Portugal 3-2 in another classic match so unlike the Brazil-Argentina game yesterday. By the way notice Lukas Podolski's powerful strike - it would have been a great goal if it went in - man the Germans are strong kickers (I noticed it again).
Lilian Thuram and Claude Makelele announced their retirement from international football today. The two great defenders called it quits after France crashed out of the Euros via a 2-0 defeat to Italy early this morning. No thanks to their coach Raymund Domenech. The two great players ended their career in humiliation because of their joke coach. Two years ago, a rumor has it that nobody in the French NT listens to Domenech. Instead, everyone turned to the great Zinedine Zidane for guidance and instruction. I gave no credence to that talk back then but now maybe it has some truth in it! A more respectable finish would have been nice - not a first round elimination.
Lilian Thuram's only international goals
I remember Thuram and his two massive goals against Croatia in France 98. It was one of the most dramatic matches I ever saw. Thuram made a mistake which led to a Suker goal (he was the reason the Croatian was on-side). Not known as a scorer, he was determined to make up and fate gave it to him. The Frenchman scored his team's two goals to win the game. Those were the only goals in his international career.
Just look at this goal from Germany's captain Michael Ballack. It so simple but amazing. He just kicked the ball hard and straight even the goalkeeper didn't get a hand on it.German footballers are such hard kickers - Philip Lahm sent a screamer against Costa Rica in World Cup 2006. I don't know but their technique is really superb. Talk about German precision.
Philip Lahm
I love these types of goals - a combo of power and precision.
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I'm glad football can still have matches like this. The sport is being threatened by negative, purely defensive play like what Greece displayed four years ago. It is too cynical and pragmatic and I think bad for the sport even FIFA expressed apprehension about it during the last World Cup. It has been suggested that FIFA give a bonus point for a team scoring three goals or more like in rugby. In football, a win is three points and a draw one point. Surely, a bonus point is a huge help and would encourage more attacking play. FIFA should really consider the suggestion, for fans' sake.
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Gianluigi Buffon - Italy's goalkeeper - saved the day literally! The match between Italy and Romania was tied 1-1 and the Azzuri had just conceded a penalty. Romanian goal scorer Adrian Mutu took the penalty which against all odds was saved by Buffon. The Italian rescued his team from outright disaster and kept them alive in the tournament. On the other hand Mutu apologized to his countrymen for his "miss".
Croatian victory over England last November wasn't a fluke as some shameless ESPNSTAR commentators made it out to be. Early this morning, Croatia defeated the powerful German squad 2-1 in Euro 2008. You know what I could still vividly remember Croatia's victory over Germany ten years ago in France 98. Davor Suker was still playing back then. History repeated itself once again but don't count the Germans out yet. The team thrives under pressure unlike the three lions.
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Croatia eliminates England from Euro 2008. Listen closely to the commentators, objectivity is not their forte - this is not BBC Sport coverage smarty pants.
Since England didn't qualify in Euro 2008 football commentators and writers in that country are content in reminiscing the good old days (see itv sport euro page) and as one fan said on the BBC Sport webpage favoring teams with more English Premier League players - pathetic. However it is fine by me as it is their country but it is questionable when some people do that in Asia as if most of us care.
ESPN Sportscenter Asia is a misnomer it should be ESPN Sportscenter England - watch CCTV sports program. Now that's an Asian sports news program! What a useless sports channel Espnstar is...not enough coverage of North American sports action as if the entire Asia is English-sports crazy. It doesn't even cover other soccer tournaments like the South America World Cup Qualifier (it is way better than FA Classic or whatever). Worse, some self-appointed experts think Asia loves England NT and it is the best in the world (they couldn't contain their bias), I'm glad they got booted out of Euro so those jerks get doused with cold water and get back to reality. Useless, I think cable companies in our country should just cancel their subscription to that channel. Now the geniuses are profiling "soccer cities". I prefer to watch football games live much like in Fox Soccer Channel not endless blah blah.
They can't possibly tell me Asians are not interested in South American football. The network is limiting our choices! South America won nine World Cups and their players dominate Europe. Geesh.
Thank goodness Balls TV covers Copa Libertadores for ESPNSTAR is ANGLO-CENTRIC (covers British boxers only, search Manny in their website and you'll get nada. I think the network should be called ESPNSUCKAR. It would have been fine if the country is a sports superpower but it isn't.)
What is the use of a sports channel when you can't see the biggest football derby in the world: Brazil vs Argentina next week? The ESPNSTAR has no in-depth NBA Finals coverage. It doesn't cover sports that Asians excel like badminton (Star Sports used to do it). I didn't know that ASIA is actually a borough in England!
In fairness, the network is now giving Asian Football some coverage at least on the net. I think ESPNSTAR should be more Asian sports centered. It is lucky for it doesn't have competition Asian wide. I hate monopolies. The geniuses have also deprived Filipino football fans of Asian World Cup qualifying coverage (early rounds). It is only England's World Cup qualifiers that deserve attention. &^*%&%%$*^! I hope in the upcoming months the network will act like the worldwide leader in sports.
