Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Women football is dynamite!!!

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This World Cup 2019 is absolutely phenomenal. The level of football is world class, the players themselves are fantastic athletes and the teams and tactics are a joy to watch. A lot of teams are very strong: the USA, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.

But to be honest, I am quite amazed by the USA Team and I think they are operating at another level. All the players are great but I’m particularly fan of Rose Lavelle (who is quite young yet a formidable midfielder), of Megan Rapinoe (for the decisiveness and political stance) and Alex Morgan (a pure finisher who looks like a model).

In 2015, when then President Obama welcomed them to the White House following their victory in the World Cup, he told them that they showed that girls could be badass. In 2019, this still rings true. Those girls are absolute badass and I’ve fallen in love with Women Football!!!

Looking forward to the final on Sunday between the USA and whoever will win the 2nd semi-final tonight between the Netherlands and Sweden.

Dream HiFi setup: Audiolab and Dynaudio (Take 2)

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One of the “exercises” I love doing is imaging my perfect audio setup.

Two years ago, I thought that my dream combination would be a Nad integrated amplifier and Dynaudio speakers and, since last night, I have changed my mind. I now believe that my dream setup for listening to music would be:

The amp retails at £600 and the speakers cost £500 a pair. So £1100 or about Rs 50,000 at today’s exchange rate. Quite steep but, bear in mind, that this is not an expense but more of an investment for years and years to come.

Pity I don’t travel to the UK much or else I would have got the components today itself.

Liverpool wins the UEFA Champions League 2019

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Last night, Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League 2019 after a difficult match against a valiant Tottenham. I watched the match at home with Christina and an exuberant Anya who has become a passionate Liverpool supporter.

This year, Liverpool has players such as Alisson and Van Dijk and it is clear that this changes everything: the team is stronger, technically, physically and, more importantly, mentally.

After the win against Barcelona during the semi-finals, it had (more or less) become inevitable to many that Liverpool would be crowned during the final but the players had to be mentally very strong to cope with the immense pressure of being the favourites. Fortunately, the team managed to score when needed and Alisson made the required saves at crucial times.

A few years ago, Jurgen Klopp made all Liverpool fans “believe again”. Today, it is clear that Liverpool is a formidable team, surely in the top 10 in the world. And this is just the beginning. The finances are good. The players (apart from Milner) are incredibly young and the academy players (some of them who have been successfully loaned during the year and who will return full of hunger) are very promising. With the injection of money that the Premiere League and the Champions League promise, Liverpool can now aspire to have 11 world class players. This will require the purchase of 2-3 world class players (another central defender, another central midfielder and a striker maybe) but I am confident that Klopp will do that this transfer window itself.

Last year, I said that Liverpool would win the Premiership and the team won the Champions League. For next year, I’ll say that the target will be the Premiership and Liverpool will win it superbly. The Champions League might be a bonus. Who knows?

Jurgen Klopp and his backroom staff surely have many surprises left for Liverpool fans.

Last, I have to write a few words about the Liverpool owners. John and Linda Henry are fantastic owners: they are true to their words in terms of investment and projects, they don’t put undue pressure on the manager and the players and they look honest and really nice.

Liverpool is really in good hands.

The future is phenomenally bright. Cheers. And YNWA.