MESSI CONSIDERS CASILLAS TO BE THE BEST GOALIE IN THE WORLD

Argentine soccer great Lionel Messi who has won the prestigious Ballon Di Or award three times, considers Iker Casillas, the Real Madrid and Spanish international to be the best goalkeeper in the world. Casillas is also the captain of the Spanish national team and his club side Real Madrid. Having due respect for the Spaniard, Messi says that he is surprised at the number of goals that Casillas has conceded. Messi has also commended the 31 year old Casillas for his efficient captaincy of both the national team and his club team. He says "I feel very proud to have been able to score against him in the El Classico, because the El Classico matches are always very exciting. I am really happy, because he (Casillas) is an extra-ordinary goalkeeper. He is one of the best goalies in the world. Sometimes I tell myself at the beginning of the match that I will have to score against Casillas." Recently in the first El Classico of the season Real Madrid and Barcelona played to a 2-2 draw with the two key players of the two teams-Messi of Barca and Christiano Ronaldo of Real scoring twice each for their respective teams. As a result of this draw, the Catalans are still atop the points table with 19 points, whereas Real are 8 points adrift Barcelona. Do you think Real would be able to overtake Barcelona and retain their title ? God knows.

WEST INDIES COMING TO BANGLADESH 5 NOVEMBER

Good news, the West Indians are coming to Bangladesh on November 5 on a 36-day tour to Bangladesh. The Caribbeans have recently won the t20 world cup cricket tournament held in Sri Lanka. Bangladesh will play two test matches, five one day matches and one t20 match against Chris Gayle’s team. BCB sources have informed that the first ever test match in Khulna venue is going to be held during this tour of the West Indians. ICC match referee ex-Sri Lankan opening batsman Roushan Mahanama has already visited the Khulna venue. The BCB officials have informed that Khulna’s recognition as a test venue is almost certain. The two tests, five ODIs and one t20 matches will be held in Dhaka and Khulna venues. In order to accustom themselves to the Bangladeshi conditions, the Windies will play a 3-day preparatory match in Savar before the first test match. No preparatory match will be played before the second test in Khulna. One test, three one day matches and the only t20 match will be held in Dhaka, while the other test and the other two one day matches are scheduled to be held in Khulna. According to the schedule received from the BCB sources, the visitors will arrive in Dhaka on November 5 and will practice on November 6 and 7 at Mirpur. The three day preparatory match will be held on November 8, 9 and 10 at BKSP at Savar. But it has not been decided yet who will face the visitors in the three day preparatory match. After two days, the first test match will be held at Mirpur from 13 to 17 November. The two teams will leave Dhaka for Khulna the next day (18 November). Practice will be held on November 19 and 20 November at Khulna venue. The second and final test will be held in Khulna from 21 o25 November. This will be followed by a single day practice on November 26. Now the two teams will have to get prepared for the one day matches. For ODI preparations, the BCB has arranged two preparatory matches for both the teams. In the first preparatory match, the Bangladeshis will play against the BCB eleven on November 27. The following day the Caribbeans will face the same BCB eleven in the second and final preparatory match. Both these matches will of 50 overs. This is going to be followed by a single day practice on 29 November. Then the first of the five one day internationals will be played on November 30. After this, there will be a single day practice on December 1. The second ODI will be played on December 2. The two teams will then return to Dhaka on December 3. This will be followed by practice on December 4. The third ODI will be played on December 5. Then practice again on December 6. After this the fourth ODI will be played on December 7. Then there will be practice for the final one day match the next day (December 8). And the final one day match is scheduled to be played on December 9. The following day (December 10) the only t20 match of the tour will be played at Mirpur in Dhaka. And the visitors will leave Dhaka on December 10. I hope that Bangladesh will play well against the t20 world champions. Good luck, Bangladesh

HEY BRAZILIANS, LOOK WHO'S COMING

Brazilians, know who's coming to your country? Serbian tennis superstar Novac Djokovic is coming to Brazil to play a match  Gustavo Querten, the retired tennis superstar of Brazil. It will be an exhibition match. The match will be held next November in Brazil. Djokovic and the 3 times French Open champion Querten will take part in that match on the occasion of inauguration of a tennis in Rochinho city, one of the biggest densely populated regions of Latin America. Besides, Djokovic is scheduled to play in an exhibition football match before the start of the Brazilian football league. At this time he will join his Serbian country mate Dejan Petkovic. Petkovic played for a number of Brazilian clubs in the last decade. Gustavo Querten was the world number one tennis player in 2000 and 2001. He wso9n the French Open in 1997, 2000 and 2001.The name of this Brazilian tennis ace has got place in the Hall Of Fame of international tennis last July. And this is not all, more excitement is waiting to come, because Querten may face another tennis king Switzerland's Roger Federer next December in another exhibition match after facing Djokovic in November.

LONDON OLYMPICS FILE THEFT: 10 OFFICIALS OF 2016 OLYMPICS DISMISSED

Ten officials of the 2016 Olympics organizing committee have been dismissed on charge of theft of computer files related to the recently concluded 2012 London Olympics. What a scandal! A spokesman of the 2016 Rio Di Janeiro Olympics organizing committee told this to AFP. The Rio officials who were working with the staff of the London Olympics downloaded those internal documents without taking permission of the concerned authorities when the London Olympics was going on. The spokesman further informed that these Brazilian officials had worked at the London Olympics 2012 in London on partnership basis & although they did have permission to access the archives, they did not have permission to download documents. The Rio Olympics 2016 organizing committee informed in a statement that the attitude of these officials was contrary to the main basis of relationship between the two organizations-mutual faith and trust. It was further informed in the statement that the perpetrators of this criminal act have been identified & the London Olympics 2012 organizing committee & the Rio Olympics 2016 organizing committee have jointly brought the situation under control instantaneously. The downloaded documents have been returned & the officials involved have been fired from the committee. Terming it as a discrete incident, the Rio officials have said that ten of their staff worked at the London Olympics & that, as soon as the head of the London Olympics committee (Sebastian Coe) came to know about the incident from published news, he informed it to his Brazilian counterpart Carlos Thuman by phone & asked him to take instant measures. We hope there would be no repeat of such a heinous incident in the future.

                                                                                       

LARA DEDICATES AWARD TO DAD

West Indian cricket legend Brian Lara has been elected ICC’s Hall of Fame cricketer this year. He was awarded in Colombo last Saturday in ICC’s Annual Award Distribution ceremony. Becoming an ICC Hall of Fame cricketer is considered a great achievement, and Lara is also delighted to have achieved it. So he has dedicated this award to his late father Bunty Lara. Brian Lara is a legend not only to the Caribbean but also to the whole world of cricket. He is an inspiration to cricketers. But unfortunately his dad did not live to see his son’s achievement, because he passed away before Lara’s debut in international cricket. Lara attended the ICC gala program at a local hotel in Colombo accompanied by his brother Winston and sister Agones. There, he said that it was a great moment and a great achievement in his life. He further said that at this momentous moment he was missing his father a lot. He said that he had to work very hard to have come this far and lamented that it was painful for him to think that his father did not live to see his performance in international cricket. Lara was an indispensable part of West Indies’ cricket in his heyday. He played 131 test matches in his 17-year international career. He scored a record 11,953 runs in test cricket, at an average of 52.89 runs. He scored 34 centuries and 48 half-centuries in his test career. Lara’s performance was outstanding not only in test cricket but also in one-day cricket. He scored 10,405 runs in 299 one day matches at an average of 40.48. He scored 19 centuries and 63 half-centuries.  He holds 2 world records at present. One is the highest test score in an innings, (against England in 2004 where he was unbeaten for 400 runs). The other one is highest individual score in first class cricket (599 runs). At the ceremony he mentioned his sister and brother’s contribution in enabling him to become a world class cricketer. He said that his sister Agones was his first coach of cricket and that he learned a lot of things from his sister when he was only 6 years old. His brother Winston was a model of batting style to him. Therefore, these two are very special to him. Lara expressed his satisfaction at being able to have spent 17 years in the West Indies squad. He captained the West Indies team for a long period. We wish him well for the future.     

ARGENTINA'S DEPENDENCE ON MESSI

The Argentine soccer team is centering round Lionel Andres Messi, who is the captain of the Argentine national team. He is the lifeblood of the Argentine team. The whole team is dependent on mainly this player, something which is not beneficial to the national team. Soccer is a team game. A team has 11 players. But it appears to me that Argentina plays with only man, Messi. I believe Argentina should reduce this dependence on Messi. Football is not a one man show. It is a team work. Other players of the national team should help Messi in order to make their team victorious. But the team cannot afford to play only one man. To become a formidable opponent, other players have to click. Argentina beat Paraguay 3-1 last Friday in a world cup qualifying match. 25-year old Messi scored a goal in that match. Before that, Messi had scored thrice in a hard fought 4-3 win against Brazil in a friendly match. At first, there was a criticism of Messi that he was playing superb for Barcelona but he was equally unimpressive for the national team. But his recent performances for the national team have been excellent. This is a befitting reply to his critics, no doubt. Still, dependence on one man is not good. I think, this should change for the sake of the team.                         

INIESTA: THE BEST IN EUROPE

Andres Iniesta has been voted the best footballer of the year of Europe. He is a Spanish midfielder. The journalists voted him ahead of Messi & Ronaldo. This is an addition to Iniesta’s achievements as a professional footballer. He was also elected the best player in the recently concluded European Cup in which the Spaniards won. He played a key role in Spain’s triumph. He was elected the best player by newsmen on the sidelines of the European Champions’ League group stage draw. The 28 year old Spaniard earned the highest number of votes exceeding all others. He won 19 votes out of total of 53. Messi & Ronaldo got 17 each. While receiving the award from the President of the UEFA Iniesta said, “I am very happy to have won this award. I am dedicating this award to my teammates of Barcelona & the Spanish national team.”Iniesta made a huge contribution to the successes of Barcelona & Spain in the last 4 years. He scored the decisive goal in extra time in the final of the South Africa world cup in 2010 against Holland.