Arena
da Amazônia (Amazon Arena) is the name of a football stadium in Manaus with an
all-seater capacity of 46,000…. Even before the match, England Manager Roy Hodgson criticized the
location of the stadium saying the extreme heat of Manaus would make it
difficult for players. The Mayor of Manaus later went on to claim that anyone
who criticized the stadium or the city would not receive the best welcome.
Manaus or (formerly) Lugar de Barra do
Rio Negro, is the capital city of the state of Amazonas in northern Brazil. It
is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers. The city was founded in 1693-94 as the Fort of
São José do Rio Negro. It was elevated to a town in 1832 with the name of
"Manaus", an altered spelling of the indigenous Manaós peoples, and
legally transformed into a city in 1848.
Manaus is located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, and access to the
city is primarily through boat or airplane. The culture of Manaus, more than in
any other urban area of Brazil, preserves the habits of Native Brazilian
tribes.
At Manus stadia, Italy
held out against diligent England to earn a 2-1 win, courtesy of goals from
Claudio Marchisio and Mario Balotelli, which leaves them second on goal
difference in Group D at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Daniel Sturridge had
equalised soon after the Juventus midfielder had opened the scoring, but Cesare
Prandelli's side held on to their lead for the second time following an early
goal after the break. For England, this
was a strange kind of World Cup defeat. England played well, but lost. Went for
it, but lost. Had many of the best chances, but lost.
Have
read about Neville Cardus, the famous writer and critic on Cricket – another
Neville is attracting attention as fans brand him 'dull' and 'robotic' - even
police force join the online mockery, saying his voice will calm crowds. Daily Mail reports that Neville was brought
in as co-commentator by BBC for England vs Italy – and BBC faced a backlash
over Phil Neville's commentary of England's World Cup opener last night - with
even police joining the online mockery. The former player co-commentated
alongside BBC regular Guy Mowbray as England crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Italy
in their first group match; his comments were branded 'robotic' and
'depressing' by critics on Twitter, who joked that they struggled to stay awake
during his 'monotone' coverage of the late-night game. South Warwickshire Police joined making fun of his performance during a
series of safety messages. They tweeted: 'At least we know Phil Neville won't
stir the crowds in the pubs into a frenzy. Drink sensibly.'
On the field, Mario
Balotelli headed the decisive goal as Italy emerged 2-1 winners over England in
another high quality World Cup match. Ahead of the game, Italian paper Gazzetta
Dello Sport predicted Azzurri win by 2 goals - albeit the prediction was for
the war of WAGs (the wives and girlfriends). The newspaper claimed their women outclassed the partners of the
England team in an article headlined ‘WAGs absent – Italy triumphs in the
battle of the wives.’ ~ and on-field the English stars did anything different.
Fanny
Neguesha (L), fiancee of Mario Balotelli and Carolina Marcialis (R), wife of Antonio
Cassano of Italy,
Barmy Army is a semi-organised group of
English cricket fans which arranges touring parties for some of its members to
follow the English cricket team on overseas tours. The group, then less organised, was given its
name by the Australian media during the 1994 - 1995 Test series in Australia,
reportedly for the fans' audacity in traveling to Australia in the near-certain
knowledge that their team would lose, and the fact that they kept on chanting
even when England were losing quite badly. It was co-founded by Paul Burnham
and is a limited company - claims it wants to "make watching cricket more
fun and much more popular". The group uses flags, banners, songs and
chants to encourage the team and crowd participation in their activities.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
15th June 2014.
