Live India, Love Football

The group stages of the 2014 FIFA World Cup are complete – two and a half weeks of excitement, drama and disappointment. I won’t go into an analysis of the matches because there are thousands of other journalists who are currently doing that right now. I will merely spend the next few minutes explaining a personal experience which is what I typically use this blog for since I assume that only my Mother and Father actually read this, and, to be honest, I’m sure they just scroll through the pictures to make sure I’m not getting too fat. First off, I must share my excitement that the US has qualified for the round of 16.   They were selected into an extremely difficult group with Germany, Portugal and Ghana and were able to hold their own in each match, clearly earning their way to the next round.   As the former Fan Development director for Major League Soccer, I can’t even begin to describe the impact that US’ success at the world stage has on the perception of America’s ...

October 15, 2013 was one of my proudest professional moments. It was the day that we were able to officially announce the collaboration between DSK Group and Liverpool FC to establish India’s first international club branded residential football academy, a partnership that my team and I had spent about a year working hard to get done. Now, I have to say that June 3, 2014 ranks slightly above this date.  It is the day that we officially launched the Academy with Liverpool FC legend Jamie Carragher there to grace the occasion. For me, being a part of the launch is much more endearing than being a part of the announcement. Now I understand that the two go hand in hand but after almost five years in India, I’m sad to say that I’ve experienced a number of glamorous, star-studded announcements full of promise and possibility, however I’ve rarely seen many noteworthy launches. Why does this happen? For many reasons, but the main one is that most organizations or individuals who ...