Argentina: The country of football, "Messi" world's greatest footballer From the World cup 2010

I have taken some part of a BBC blog where blog title was: Are Argentina the new Brazil?

The title of the blog seems quite biased and we can say Argentina is Argentina, It can not be the Brasil. Argentina has greatest players who have faith and life in football. Messi the greatest footballer, his life is in football, he has born to be a footballer. But the author who thinks Brazil is the only country that wins the Worldcup, could not stay without saying the truth described below. The following Piece of text are taken from the BBC blog .

In choosing six strikers who between them have plundered 170 goals in the last 12 months domestically, Maradona was sending a message to the other 31 competing nations that his team would not be afraid to play on the offensive.

The Argentine coach is lucky, because no other coach can rely on such a potent strikeforce, which includes the sublime skills of the world's greatest footballer, Lionel Messi. So often criticised for his laboured displays for his country, Messi has started the World Cup like he means to win it with two peformances of dictatorial quality.

Maradona was severely criticised for not getting the best out of Messi in qualifying, but he has given his star man a roving role in South Africa and implored him to become the leader of the team in the same way he took on the mantle so successfully in Mexico in 1986.
;
The chemistry between the two has long been a subject of fascination, but so far at this World Cup their relationship has worked to perfection, with a jubilant Maradona lifting Messi into the air and then hugging him all the way down the tunnel after the final whistle on Thursday.

It was after the Nigeria game that Maradona, ever the dreamer, gave away his feelings on how he wants his team to function: "I want Messi to be very close to the ball. As long as he has fun, then we are all going to have fun. Football wouldn't be beautiful unless Messi is touching the ball all the time."

"Two South African fans, draped in blue-and-white, told me before the game they were supporting Argentina for the rest of the tournament. When I asked why, they looked at me like I was from another planet. "Because of Maradona and Messi, why else?" they eventually replied."

Every time Messi touched the ball at Soccer City against South Korea, there was a genuine buzz of excitement among the 82,174 present, even among the South Korean journalists standing nervously to my right. When the score reached 4-1, one of them even told me he wanted Messi to score, just so he could say he'd seen it happen.

With Messi starting alongside Carlos Tevez, hat-trick hero Gonzalo Higuain and Angel di Maria, Argentina's attacking potential is frightening, especially when you consider they brought £35m-rated Sergio Aguero off the bench in the second half and left Inter Milan's treble-winning hero Diego Milito on it for the duration.

But as impressive - and most certainly as important - as their world-class quality in the final third is the astonishing work-rate of Maradona's team to close down spaces, win back possession when they lose it and panic the other team into making mistakes.

Led by the indefatigable Tevez, this was a frontline whose hard work and enterprise at times mirrored that of Messi's other team, Barcelona. They might enjoy the majority of the possession in the majority of games they play, but watch them when they don't have the ball - that's when they really kill their opposition.

That effort does not happen when a team is not playing for their manager. What is also only too clear when you watch them both on and off the pitch is that - after a difficult start during the qualifiers - these Argentina players not only adore their manager, but they trust him to make the right decisions as well.

Robinho thrives as Kaka struggles

(AFP) Friday 18 June 2010

Getty Images

Manchester City fans might not believe it, but Robinho is the toast of the Brazilian FIFA World Cup™ squad. With Kaka not firing on all cylinders after a difficult season at Real Madrid, Robinho has looked more like being key to Brazil's hopes of lifting a sixth world title.

The former Real Madrid man certainly appeared to be revelling in the role with his slide rule pass providing Elano's clinching goal in the 2-1 win over North Korea. Baby-faced Robinho is now approching the veteran stage at international level with 71 caps, having made his bow in 2003. He already has a CONMEBOL Copa America title and two FIFA Confederations Cups.

But at club level, he has blown hot and cold. Two league titles at Real were followed by an unproductive year at Manchester City. Now on loan at Santos, Pele's former club, he appears to have recharged batteries which looked semi-drained at times at Eastlands. "I am in a really good place right now and I want to carry on improving," said Robinho.

That will be music to the ears of Dunga who is unstinting in his praise of his forward. "Robinho can play in various positions and I am very pleased with how he is doing."

After the match against North Korea, Robinho told reporters that "for me there would be no problem if I had to play in a slightly more withdrawn position -- I played there before and there were no problems."

Robinho can play in various positions and I am very pleased with how he is doing.

Dunga, Brazil coach

Robinho proved his worth in the 2007 Copa America when he helped Brazil to victory in the absence of Kaka who has since taken on the number 10 shirt which holds mythical qualities owing to its association with Pele.

Robinho, who himself is wearing number 11 in the FIFA World Cup squad, hails Kaka's qualities. "He is great -- he can win a game on his own on his day," said Robinho. But he insists that "Brazil have excellent footballers who can come in in his place."

"Julio Baptista has been training really well and he can take on Kaka's role as he did at the Copa America," Robinho insisted. Others looking to force their way into the starting 11 are Michel Bastos of Lyon and Daniel Alves, who can both do a job in the middle of the park.

Having established himself as one of country's in-form players Robinho now has high ambitions. "My main objective -- and that of the group -- is to be world champion," he insisted.

Left and Right sider Drivers in a same road : How is it Possible????

Hong Kong drives on the left side of the road, mainland China on the right. So how do you prevent crashes when driving between them?


 NL Architect's Pearl River necklace Modeled in  PixelActive's 3D model

One of the most vexing aspects of traveling between mainland China and Hong Kong is the car travel: People in the former drive on the right side of the road; people in the latter drive on the left (a vestige of the British empire).

So to quell confusion at the border and, more importantly, to keep cars from smashing into each other, the Dutch firm NL Architects proposed a brilliant, simple solution, the Flipper bridge.

The bridge does exactly what the name suggests: It flips traffic around. The key here is separating the two sides of traffic, using a figure-eight shape. One side of the road dips under the other, funneling cars that were traveling on the left to the right (and vice versa), without forcing them to encounter head-on traffic at an intersection. The bridge makes what should be a disorienting switch exquisitely easy.