Dear Diary: Drown in the Sorrow of a Horrific Football Season

Dear Diary,

If there was one thing in this world, which I could call my "Passion", it would be Football/Soccer, whatever you want to call it.

My involvement in the sport, even while watching, is quite amusing, it’s like I am standing on the sidelines, telling the players what to do, imagining how I would fair under such massive pressure and analyzing the mundane defensive tactics of mediocre La Liga sides.

But, the last season and the ongoing WC 2010, has been heart breaking. I am a diehard Red Devil aka Manchester United fan, with Real Madrid second on my list (of course, because of Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Bernabeu) and my favorite International side is, well, I'll reveal that later in this article.  

Being a Manchester United fanatic, I am used to winning. I usually get into arguments and come out on top 90 percent of the time. 

But this season has been a different story.

I mean after I give my friends/colleagues a verbal thrashing, they were actually able to get back at me following average performances by the red devils. "One-man team," "predictable tactics," "Berba-Flop," "Aging Squad & Manager," "(Satire) Carling Cup Winners," "Owner-Haters" and blah, blah, BLAH! We failed to win crucial matches, crashed out of the Champions League and failed to live up to the standards United set in the past 15 seasons or so.

It was so frustrating to see United loose to an average Bayern Munich side, losing a season defining game by conceding an offside goal against Chelsea, goal-less draws against sides like Burnley and Balckburn, getting thrashed by Fulham. I can put all this in two words - It Sucked. Really.

The story remained the same in the "Sunny" Spain. Real Madrid bought my inspiration from United, Cristiano Ronaldo, along with a Quality Player in the form of Kaka.

The future looked bright, but Real failed. Even after Ronaldo scored goals after goals, he walked off the pitch, after the game against Lyon, thinking about United and how Messi is going to destroy Arsenal. Kaka did not shine either. 

Real ended the season with no titles and staring at the hole in their pockets.

And Finally, the biggest sporting event on the planet, World Cup 2010! What happened there?

I was so sure that my team would win! I fought/argued with everyone to defend my team, I announced "This time it’s going to be my team, ftw(for the win)." 

My team failed me, time and again. Confusing tactics, in cohesive movement, "kick and rush," below average performances and the list doesn't end.

A draw against USA, a confusing performance against Algeria, an ok performance against Slovenia and finally, humiliated by pre pubescent Germany. Yes, "My Team" is the "Star-Studded" England.

What a disappointment. Most of all, Wayne Rooney. My united hero, looked like a white Emile Heskey, he just couldn't score! So much for the Barclay's Premier League Player Of The Year, the Goal Machine, Frank Lampard, and the Maestro, Steven Gerrard. 

In my opinion, Gareth Barry was the worst performer for England. He didn't look anything like a defensive midfielder. 

Be it Robert Green's "Butter Gloves" or Jamie Carraghers "two tones shoes"(because he couldn't run) or Mathew Upson's "orbital long balls" or Fabio Capello's mediocre tactics & funny team selection, everything was just sad! Yes, Sad!

Because I was sure about England's success, I now have to buy a few of my friends beer for the rest of the world cup. I'm not even going to start with the humiliation I faced because of the beating Germany gave England.

I was the only one who said "England are gonna tame Germany," and for the first time, I was the only one, who was wrong. Usually my predictions are correct, hell, I predicted Ozil (Germany) and Honda (Japan) to impress, but my predictions were wrong only about the team I cared for.

Well, I cared for Portugal too, but guess what? They crashed out to Spain last night.

My Brother-in-Law, Arjun Devgan, who I think, has tremendous knowledge about football and he's the only one who understands how frustrating it has been for me, because he suffered a similar fate.

A hardcore AC Milan fan, watched his team being outplayed week-in and week-out. The team he detests the most, of course Inter Milan, ended up winning the Treble. His favorite team, 2006 World Cup Winners, Italy, did not even make it past the Group stages! Isn't that just Fan-F***ing-tastic?

Well, I am gonna stop dwelling on my teams failures and get back to doing the work I was assigned last week. Tell me what you think, or just tell me how your season was. I think I am just going to watch the Wimbledon.

Until Next Time.