The World Cup Countdown... The Best Posts

So, collected over the last 18 days of cyber-dribbling, I have put together the best posts / articles on football in general and the WC in specific. The intent was to get to ten posts but my interest waned dramatically after the Selecao exit! Sigh...
They are in no particular order and have been numbered only for my own convenience.

Caveat: Would be particularly appealing to 30+ Bengali males. Mad Momma and The Pope would do well to avoid!

1. Dipanjan Chattopdhyay's post on the death of Indian football. He has managed to mix personal anecodotes with history, with just the right amount of dramatic license.

2. Udayan Chakrabarti's (long overdue) post on World Cup memories... 1982 onwards. He claims to be a Brazil fan but his sympathetic attitude towards Italy is very suspicious! But his elephantine memory is quite unparalleled.

3. Greatbong a.k.a Arnab Ray mixes all his vices (Bongdom, movies, dark humour) in this post on India's quest for a World Cup berth. Specially recommended for the photos used!
3a. Scroll down the same page to the comment about Bengalis at the World Cup... will make it a separate entry the moment I locate the source... for the time being, it is an anonymous entry!

4. In a minute-by-minute coverage of the Brazil-Ghana match, Paul Doyle (of the Guardian) is sometimes partisan, sometimes funny, sometimes incisive - and mostly all three! Great fun... even his Ronaldo jibes!

5. Jorge Valdano a.k.a The Man Who Was Closest to El Diego in 1986 writes about his memories of Falklands War II with amazing clarity. And is disarmingly modest. (BTW, it was the 20th Anniversary of that miracle.)