Pride and Glory at stake as Mexico take on Cameroon

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Cameroon and Mexico take the field in the second televised match at the World Cup at the Arena das Dunas in Natal, Brazil. After yesterday’s match between Brazil and Croatia, fans would be looking forward to another entertaining 90 minutes between two sides that are not considered favorites.

Cameroon reportedly arrived to Brazil four days later due to issues on bonuses within the squad. Two of their important players, the talented captain Samuel Eto’o and Oribe Peralta have injury concerns. Eto’o had a decent season with North London side Chelsea under Jose Mourinho scoring nine goals in 21 appearances. He is also Cameroon’s top goal-scorer and has previously played in the 1998,2002, and 2010 World Cups.

The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker is currently looking for a club and is hoping to impress some potential suitors, reportedly Everton and Arsenal, with his performances in this summer’s tournament. However, it may not be the best start if he is unable to play against Mexico due to injury.

Mexico possesses a relatively stronger side but manager Miguel Herrera cannot take anything for granted considering how Brazil conceded an own-goal against underdogs Croatia in their opener. Brazil eventually won by 2 goals due to the quality of their attack.

Villarreal forward Giovani dos Santos will be leading the line instead of Manchester United forward Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez who has been out of form going goal-less in nine games. The Mexico side has not been the same since their 2012 London Olympics gold medal and is hoping to use the World Cup as an opportunity to re-establish themselves in world football.

Mexico did not win their pre-tournament friendly matches but will be looking to have a winning start against Cameroon. It should be an interesting match between two sides looking to prove themselves and may the best team win!

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Spider-Man returns to screens in 'Amazing' action-packed 3D sequel! *may contain spoilers*

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Rating: 8/10

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone return to Marvel’s rebooted ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ franchise with high expectations. Filmed in 3D by director Marc Webb, it takes you inside the web-slinger’s world unlike ever before.

Garfield finally looks comfortable playing the lead role and gets very close to erasing Tobey Maguire’s memorable role as the ‘Amazing’ hero. Emma Stone is brilliant as Gwen Stacy, his love interest. Their love story is one of the highlights of this action packed 3D adventure.

The wall-crawler faces multiple villains this time around. Unlike Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man 3’, the villains do not feel overwhelming. Garfield is the star and every time he is on screen, he shines as both Peter Parker and Spidey.

The film kicks off with Spider-Man swinging the skies of New York looking for trouble. He tackles Russian criminal Aleksei Sytsevich in a get-away truck holding flammable liquids. Sytsevich is portrayed by Paul Giamatti who looks like he is really enjoying the role. He later gets his own super-villian moment as ‘Rhino’.

Spidey eventually succeeds taking down Sytsevich and makes it to his high school graduation as Peter, missing girlfriend Gwen’s speech. The primary antagonist in the film is surprisingly a good guy turned bad. 

Versatile talent Jamie Foxx plays nerdy Spider-Man obsessed engineer Max Dillon working at Oscorp. Having been saved by Spider-Man in the beginning, he becomes his fan-boy. 

Poor Max stumbles into a tub full of electric eels and gets transformed into electric-powered being later known as ‘Electro’. Electro turns against his hero when he blames him for not protecting him from the cops.

The web-swinger succeeds in restraining him with water. In the midst of all this chaos, as both Peter and Spider-Man, he has to deal with his relationship with Gwen and also tackle a returning Electro and former best-friend turned super villain Harry Osborne who becomes the Green Goblin. At the same time, he discovers the mystery behind his parents leaving him as a child.

Dane DeHaan’s portrayal as Harry Osborne is lot more sinister than James Franco’s in Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ films. Franco edges out Dehaan and the relationship between Peter and Harry as buddies was better played out relatively.

The film ends on a bittersweet note that leaves you in tears with some hope for the future. Spider-Man according to Peter is all about hope and you really believe it coming from Garfield, especially when he shows emotions.

The film is great entertainment. The 3D scenes are brilliantly done with spectacular scenes as you follow the friendly neighborhood web-head swinging around the city. They come to life especially during the epic action sequences. There is even a sneak preview to a future Marvel film during the credits not to be missed.

‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ is an entertaining super-hero film with lot of heart worthy of another sequel!

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Spanish lions collide: Showdown in Camp Nou as Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid for La Liga title!

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This season, we have seen domestic competitions like the Barclays Premier League go down to the wire with the winner being decided on the last day of the season. In similar fashion, one of the biggest leagues of the world, La Liga (LIGA BBVA), sees the top two teams, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid go head to head for 90 minutes in the quest to clinch the title and its happening tonight at the Camp Nou!

This is more than just a title decider. One the one hand, Barcelona want to retain their league title and their supremacy while Atletico are looking for their second title after an 18 year wait. This will give Atletico the momentum going into the UEFA Champions League final against derby rivals Real Madrid in Lisbon on the 24^th of May.

Barcelona may look the stronger side on paper, but face a stiff opposition in a team that knocked them out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals earlier this year. At the same time Barcelona has had one of their roughest seasons. The Spanish giants had to cope with the loss of former beloved manager Tito Vilanova, UEFA sanctions and Argentine sensation Lionel Messi’s mixed form, among other issues. Messi, arguably the best player in the world, recently signed a lucrative contract extension making him the highest paid footballer in the world overtaking Real Madrid’s Portugese icon Cristiano Ronaldo.

Fortunately for the Catalans, the UEFA sanctions prohibiting them from transfer business for the next two windows have been suspended. Since this is the only title silverware left to fight for, they will be looking to attack the Atletico defence, retain the title and wrap up their relatively turbulent season with a celebration.

Atletico, on the other hand, can win the title even with a draw as they are three points ahead of the defending champions. Barcelona would equal on points with a win, but will lift the title based on relatively better head-to-head record as well as goal difference.

Barcelona’s 36-year-old long-serving defender Carles Puyol will not be part of the historic match ending his 15 year association with the club as the season wraps up. However, after being sidelined due to injuries, their talented Brazilian forward Neymar, defenders Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba are expected to return to the starting line-up.

Atletico manager Diego Simeone is fortunate to have his strongest offence, Diego Costa, back after nursing a hamstring strain. He would be the key to breaking down the rejuvenated Barca defence. Simeone knows by winning tonight, they would be the first club to break the two horse title race between Real Madrid and Barcelona dominating Spanish football for years.

To their credit, going toe to toe with the two biggest clubs in Spain is no easy feat. It will be a deserved victory for Atletico Madrid who are this season’s underdogs. Similarly, Barcelona are hoping to extend their superiority and snatch a huge victory on the final day of the season.

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Wii like to Move your Kinect

I know the title does not make sense, but for anyone familiar with videogaming, they would instantly recognize that I am speaking of the new motion control gaming fad that has exploded in the last few years. It was in 2006, when Nintendo launced the Wii to great critical acclaim and the sales proved it was possibly the company's biggest hit console since the Nintendo 64 launched in 1996. Wii brought back the classic gaming of yesteryear where it was all about family entertainment. It was the 1980s and early 1990s, where the family would always get together to play video games. Anyone remeber Duck Hunt? the classic shooter, in which one would aim a light gun to shoot virtual ducks. The Wii brought all that back with their new take on motion controlled gaming, where with just an infra red device that corresponds with your motion controlled remotes: Wii-mote, you can become a golf player, bowler, Pete Sampras and even a Jedi Knight. The remote could basically be used for any thing like a golf club, tennis racket or a light saber. The idea behind the name was simply "We" because it brought back party gaming for all ages. It did not require big HDTV sets like the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 to utilize its full potential.

The Wii became a phenomenal success upon its launch, eclipsing Microsoft and Sony's next gen game console powerhouses in sales and popularity. The rival consoles were more powerful and could show the best graphics if you had a HDTV at home. Realizing the popularity of motion gaming, Sony and Microsoft decided to bring out their own rival consoles to compete with the Wii. However, these would simply be add on devices to their current consoles. It was news that Sony had apparently been working on similar technology before the Wii launched and it was even highlighted in the new PS3 dual shock 3 controller, which was known as Sixaxis initially because for certain games, one can tilt the controller using it as a steering wheel or a fighter jet throttle. Eventually in 2010, Sony launched the Move add-on to their PS3 console, which basically used similar Wii-mote styled motion controllers with a glowing ball that corresponded to a webcam set on top of your television set. It was said to be more accurate than the Wii backed by the awesome power and graphics of the PS3. Move was followed by Microsoft's X360 add-on device codenamed Project Natal launced as simply Kinect. This took motion gaming one step further. It made the gamer, the controller. A rod style attachment on top of your TV would accurately via a digital camera and possibly infra red would capture all your movements, similar to motion capturing in movie and video games. Basically there would be no controller, but your own body and hands would be used to play Kinect games. It allowed the use of voice commands, as well as the ability of using one's hands to change menus in the XBOX 360's main menu/ GUI interface.

At this point, Wii has also improved their own console with the addition of Wii Motion Plus controller. The Wii still leads the motion gaming market because of an established library  of games since 2006, while their rivals have launched their add - ons only less than a year ago. At this time, we will need to wait for newer titles from Nintendo's rivals and see an eventual winner of the new console wars. It is also important to note that Nintendo has announced the new WiiU to be launched next year which would improve on motion controlled gaming and include the capabilities to show high definition graphics that would rival the PS3 and X360. It is an exciting time for gaming, especially for me since I have literally grown up with a  joystick. Clearly, a gaming revolution is about to happen, and its definitely going to be for the best. 

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Cornered Tigers roaring back in 2011!

I had previously written on the 1992 world cup in this same blog, the post Knight Memories. We  are a day before the big semi final clash of Pakistan and India. This has been called the mother of all finals, and the final that really matters. Fans from both sides of the border want their teams to win, knowing that a victory in the final is the world cup victory. Simply put, the world cup final does not matter, but the semi final matters most. We can equate this  match to the big semi final clash in the 1999 world cup between Australia and South Africa, which ended in a suspense filled draw, putting the Aussies in the final. This semi final also brings back memories of previous Pakistan- India world cup clashes, which were won by India. In the famous 1992 world cup, Pakistan lost to India but won the cup under Imran Khan's captaincy.

The media has been hyping up the match and now the premiers of both nations will be watching the match together. Call it cricket diplomacy. This certainly is a big match, so big, that there may be an official holiday. If not, people will simply make it one. If we look at history, the curse on the Pakistan team is that India has always beaten them. This world cup is the right time to lift that curse. Many reasons why this can happen. Pakistan has perfomed formidably better than previous world cup encounters, and in my opinion, better than their 1999 campaign which took them to the final the second time after 1992. Captain Shahid "Boom Boom" Afridi may do what Wasim Akram failed to do in 1999 and erase the horrible memory of the final against Australia in which Pakistan were favorites. Pakistan's bowling and batting both have worked well at the right time. Also I must mention Shoaib Akhtar needs to play the semi final, this may very well be his last world cup semi final as he is retiring after the world cup. He has had plenty of experience against the mighty Indian batting and his pace will be deadly on the Mohali pitch that is said to be well suited for pace bowling.

Pakistan has what it takes to win this game, but the pressure is tremendously high on them. Afridi's eleven  are playing in India's home ground, giving their opponents a significant edge and home ground advantage. As I write, I am watching the first semi final between the Kiwis and Sri Lankans in which Sri Lankans showed a strong bowling performance restricting the Kiwis to 217 all out. I am neutral, because both teams are strong. Pakistan has lost to the Kiwis and beaten the Sri Lankans in this world cup, but that does not matter. Every game is different. In 1999, Pakistan were favorites to win the final since they had beaten Australia in a tough group game, but they lost the final. Lets hope we dont see a repeat of past mistakes, such as the one Aamir Sohail made in the quarter final against India in 1996, when we were world champions.

In the end, best of luck to Afridi and the boys, and win or lose, play your hearts out and be positive. Pakistan can win, if they focus and play the same team game they have been playing. Boom Boom! Let the fireworks begin. I surely cant wait. Its gonna be an epic match.

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Knight Returns

Just a heads up to the knight readers out there, more stuff is on its way. I have a few unpublished articles to post on the blog, which I am currently reviewing. I know I have been way for some time because of personal commitments that took me away from regularly writing on the blog. I am also a contributing writer at suite101.com and have an article published there. I will be writing more articles for both the blog and suite101.com soon.Thanks for the patronage. Hope you like the upcoming stuff on this blog as well. Thanks!

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Knight Memories

I remember I was only ten years old when the 1992 World Cup was on. I remember everyone being glued to their television sets. This was going to be skipper Imran Khan's last world cup. He wanted to go out with a bang. This was the tournament that gave our team of eleven future national heroes the "cornered tigers". Imran Khan was known to lead from the front. He had the intelligence, charisma and leadership to take his men to the top. It was his vision and determination that would take us to the final. I remember watching the semi final against New Zealand and the classic final against England. We all had goosebumps. My mom was praying so hard for our victory. before that day, I did not know what it meant to be Pakistani. There was a time in the final, when we thought the English were going strong, until a trailblazer came in the form of the great sultan of swing, Wasim Akram. Akram took out Lamb and Lewis in quick succession. It was Imran's brilliant captaincy that made the decision to bring Akram at this time.It seemed like he knew it all along. It was when Ramiz Raja took that catch which sealed the deal, I was all green and white. The entire nation rejoiced, it was possibly one of the biggest moments of my life. I remember jumping on the bed, when we won the cup. My mother had tears of joy. Imran Khan's smile just said it: he knew his destiny all along. The cornered tigers roared and destroyed the union jacks. It was that day my country was on top of the world. In front of 87000 people, we won the cricket world cup. If that does not make you feel proud of your country, I wonder what does. It is unfortunate, that until today this is the one and only time we came on top of the world. We got very close in 1999 under Wasim Akram's leadership. It was Akram's dream to emulate the lion Imran Khan. We lost a poorly contested final, but we realized there will be another day.

Even though we have won the 20/20 world cup in recent years, and that brought back memories of 1992, that day can never be replaced in history. Imran's cornered tigers are a symbol of determination of the spirit of Pakistan and its citizens to have courage in the face of any challenge, big or small. With good leadership and teamwork, the cornered tiger, our country Pakistan, will rise to be one of the greatest nations in the world Godwilling one day. Back to cricket, that day in 1992 is perhaps one of my greatest childhood memories ever, and it will be remembered forever by all Pakistani cricket fans alike who witnessed that day and rejoiced in celebration and we still do celebrate the memory of that day every time the new world cup rolls around, 1992 will always be special for the cornered tigers, the crystal trophy, the heroics of Wasim, Inzi and company and the brilliant leadership of Imran Khan. I hope that next year, we can try to relive the greatness of 1992 once again or at least try to. Here's to the future: game on!

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