HOPES AND DREAMS IN FOOTBALL

I WAS FULL OF HOPE EVEN THOUGH I KNOW DEEP IN MY MIND, TIME WAS RUNNING OUT FOR THE BABY SCORPIONS WHILE THEY FOUGHT SPIRITEDLY TO GET BACK ON LEVEL TERMS WITH THE FIREBRAND IRANIAN YOUTH FOOTBALLERS.

THE DAY TURNED OUT TO A SAD DAY FOR A NUMBER OF GAMBIANS IN BANJUL. CRIES OF 'BOY, BOYEE, BOYEE' GROW EVEN LOUDER IN OUR MINDS AS ANOTHER DAY PASSED.

As I leave home this morning looking for a car to come to work, the radio stations were broadcasting it - the high expectations of the craziness that we call our love for football is a serious malady. On West Coast Radio, series of callers predicted that the baby scorpions will beat Holland this afternoon when the two sides meet for the first time in their second games in the Under 17 FIFA World Cup.

It is a game that is crucial as well for the Netherlands simply because their coach told some Nigerian journalists recently that his team is NOT in Nigeria for a holiday, he said his mind is on the trophy.

Loosing today's match would send the oranje boys crashing out of the Championship, thus ending any dreams nurtured by the coach. On the otherhand, Gambians may not take it if the baby scorpion loose this afternoon's match for the second time. As African Champions, the boys need to go all the way to defend the trophy triumphantly by all means necessary. The Baby Scorpions should also reflect on the team that beat Brazil and Qatar in 2005 in Peru.

Unfortunately it was the oranje boys that sent them packing,so today's match is expected to be another one with high optimism. Revenge or Fear?

We will know.

DESPITE TIMES FOR GAMBIA,AND NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands and Gambia will collide on Group C's matchday two at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar on 28 October, both needing points after opening-day defeats. Gambia - champions of Africa - looked impressive in their 0-2 loss to Iran, with only two moments of madness and a pair of red cards spoiling their hopes. On the other hand, the Dutch looked largely lifeless and lacked spark in their 1-2 reverse to Colombia.

The game
Netherlands-Gambia, Calabar Tuesday 28 October, 16:00 (local time)

The stat
2 - The number of red cards Gambia were shown in their loss to Iran. Substitute Dembah Janneh was only on the pitch for five minutes before being given his marching orders in the 87th minute!

The stakes
With both side having dropped their respective openers, anything less than a win in their second outing could well spell disaster and an early flight home. Gambia will be without the suspended Buba Sama and usual substitute Janneh, both sent off against Iran. And facing a final group game against the impressive Colombians, the Africans will need to take their points now to be on the safe side of things. The Dutch, for their part, travel to Enugu for their last match in the group against Iran and could likely find themselves on a road too far by then.

The words
"Sure, it will not be easy in our second game against Holland, especially with two players missing through suspensions. Even so, we are a good team and we have good players. We have come here to do well and to make our country proud. The Dutch should know that about us." Ebrima Bojang, Gambia captain

"The first game is over now and we must put it behind us. We can play much better than we did against Colombia and we will try to show it against Gambia. The heat is difficult to adjust to here, and so is the pitch. But that's OK, we will be ready to go." Oguzhan Ozyakup, Netherlands captain

Source: FIFA.COM

A bumper harvest

Gambian farmers are optimistic that this year's season will produce a bumper harvest in various food crops. The heavydown of rain witnessed during the past two months in the country has rendered some people homeless mostly those who are residing in flood-prone areas.

The government through the National Disaster Committee has provided some assistance to a number of families severely hit by the torrential rains during the month of August.

Not everyone is complaining, rice farmers in rural Gambia beleive if the recent rains are anything to go by, their fields are expected to produce a bumper harvest. Initially, Buba Samura, a rice farmer in the Upper River of the country thought they were going to witness a drought.
'In the beginning, I thought the rains were not going to come, but now Mother Nature has shown us that no one can predict the vagaries of the weather'

The only thing is that farmers are now praying so that the heavens will not open again. Enough, is enough, they told me.

Biggest controversy or the biggest prize?

(CNN President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Less than nine months into his presidency, Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

The first African-American to win the White House, Obama was praised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee said. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

The committee also said Obama has “created a new climate in international politics.”

The announcement came as a surprise — Obama’s name had not been mentioned among front-runners — and the roomful of reporters in Oslo, Norway, gasped when he was named.

In his short time in office, Obama has acted on a wide range of issues from the economy to terrorism and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Obama also lobbied unsuccessfully to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago, Illinois. After returning from Denmark, Obama expressed no regret about his trip, saying it is “always a worthwhile endeavor to promote and boost the United States.

Remembering Bapuji and Nehru

Indians call him differents names, depending on whom you talk to some people beleive Mahatma Gandhi was a man of extraordinary character,some one who was naturally gifted to inspire the whole world, but this did not in anyway stop a thirty-nine year old Hindu call Nathuram Godse from killing him.

There are some indications that Godse probably kill the 'Great Soul' because he thought Gandhi was harming the Hindus by being friendly to muslims. But whatever case, like any decent human being, Gandhi's life was NOT supposed to end the way it ended - brutally.

One cannot help but imagine the solemn funeral announcement made by Pandit Jawarhalal Nehru on the 30th January 1948, he told a panic striken Indian state 'Friends and Comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we call him, the Father of the Nation is no more.'

Millions around the world is seems have been inspired by the powerful words of Gandhi and Gandhism. And it happened that people from around the world would later take the message seriously. Martin Luther King in the United States took it but like Gandhi he was gunned down.

Now the United Nations have decided to declare October 2nd as non-violence day.