Arindam: - Good evening, viewers. Today in this episode of ‘Fantastic Football Fever’ program in your favorite ‘Royal Bengal Tigers (RBT)’ TV Channel, we have invited a famous Portuguese footballer whose name is Pauleta. Mr. Pauleta, welcome to our show. Your Portugal team has scored 7 goals against North Korea in this FIFA World Cup 2010. Portugal team is really looking like a great team to lift this World Cup.
Pauleta: - Yeah, of course. They have the potential to do that. I watched that match. The passing was accurate. All the players were playing ‘one-touch’ football and the shots on goals were accurate enough to beat the opponent’s goalkeeper. Moreover, a player like Ronaldo is always dangerous in the opponent’s penalty area.
Arindam: - There was one time, when you were the only striker of Portugal, who used to lead from the front! All the winning goals used to come from your legs only. Then, Ronaldo came in with his sprinting football from the left flank and you got some support in the forward line. Is it so?
Pauleta: - Ronaldo is a player, who don’t play football by using his brain! His tactics is that whenever he receives the ball, he just tries to enter the opponent’s penalty area, in such a speed, that out of tension, any opponent defender will foul him and Portugal gets a free-kick or a penalty. But, that tactics don’t work with big teams.
Arindam: - Ok, we will continue our discussion, but, before that, let us hear from Mr.ARINAN about the matches between Spain and Portugal.
Mr. ARINAN: - The Red Spanish Bulls were bull-dozing the Portuguese Matadors and the Portuguese Matadors were trying to pierce sharpened sticks on the Spanish Bulls. The entire match was full of attacking and counter-attacking football which made the match more interesting. Both the teams were able to create chances for goals, but, somehow, their finishing was not there. The Portuguese goalkeeper saved at least 3 deadly shots and even Casillas prevented 1 sure-shot header chance for a Portuguese striker. All was going well for Portugal, but, alas, the David Villa constructed another storey in the ‘Victorious Villa’ of Spain. The Portuguese goalkeeper fumbled with the ball and the Spanish Villa became a villain for the Portugal by scoring the winning goal. Spain qualified for the quarter final after defeating their neighbors.
Arindam: - Oh! No! Mr. Pauleta, your team is out of the World Cup and that too after a defeat against Spain.
Pauleta: - Spain is such a team which knows all the pros and cons of the Portugal team. Even if you go by the statistics, Spain’s record is always good against Portugal. Had it been any other team, then surely, Portugal would have beaten them. But, this Spain always plays tactics on our tactics. It is not that Portugal has played very badly against Spain. Luckily, Spain got the winning goal. That’s the difference. Otherwise, the score line could have been 3-3 also. Somehow, the rhythm among the Portugal players was not so good. Consistency in our Portugal team has always been a cause of concern. There is no guarantee that if Portugal wins a match today convincingly; then they will not experience a humiliating defeat from a weaker team in the next match. That’s why; earlier I said that they have the potential to win this World Cup. I have not said with full confidence that Portugal will lift the World Cup.
Arindam: - Ha ha ha…Well, it’s always better luck next time. But, one thing, the people of the World should appreciate that it is due to Spain and Portugal that the Latin Americans have learned to play football. If you go by the World history pages, then you will find that Spanish and the Portuguese discovered the South American territories and conquered it. Bolivia came into existence after the name of Simon Bolivar. Brazil, Argentina and Chile were totally a Spanish colony, including Bolivia. The other countries like Columbia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela were under the Portuguese rulers. USA and Russia came much later. In World history, when the Mughals were ruling in India, at that time, France and England were fighting among themselves for the conquest of Alaska and Canada region. The current USA was then barren lands only with some prairies here and there. Spanish rulers conquered Mexico. The Mayan civilization tasted modernization under Spanish Rule. Then came Portuguese rulers to counter the Spanish rulers and they conquered some portions of South America. So, at that time, there were four Super powers in Western World. They were: - England, France, Spain and Portugal.
Pauleta: - Ha ha ha…you have done too many research, dude. One thing you have missed that in those times, Portuguese traders were the richest traders of the world. Had Vasco da Gama not declared to the whole world that India is a land of rich natural resources, then England and France would have never showed interest to send their trading ships to Indian Peninsula for earning more money.
Arindam: - See the fun! At present, both India and Portugal is a poor country, he he he…anyway, we will end our show here. Mr. Pauleta, thanks for coming to our show. Viewers, just stay tuned for some minutes to hear the match analysis of Japan Vs Paraguay. Good bye and take care.
Mr. ARINAN: - It was simply a boring match. Both the teams were playing for a draw. But, in football also, the theory of ‘No Risk, No Gain’ works. Had Japan taken some risks of playing ‘all out attacking’ football, then they could have easily got at least 2 goals against Paraguay. The defense line-up of Paraguay was weaker than that of Japan. But, Japan did not capitalize on it. Rather, the Samurais played football like the Romans by playing traditional defensive football which proved to be suicidal for Japan only. In any battle, offence is always the best defense. The match went to a tie-breaker. Japanese strikers were taking powerful penalty shots except the left footed Honda who scored a penalty goal with a cool head. One Japanese striker took the penalty shot with so much power that the ball attained some elevation and ultimately the ball hit the bar post. That one mistake was more than enough for Japan to go back home. The tie-breaker ended in 5-3 score line and Paraguay reached the quarter final for the first time in FIFA World Cup history.
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