Soccer unlimited

For those looking for more options,there are The Club Lounge in JW Marriott and The Orchid in the suburbs and the Blue Frog,Parel. At the Club Lounge,both the vegetarians and non-vegetarians can fulfill their quest of exotic delicacies from Spain,France and other football-playing countries. Two of the Orchid’s outlets,mostly Grills and Merlins will screen the matches ‘Live’. Apart from screening the matches,the Blue Frog has introduced a special bar menu. “We are showing matches from 7 pm and the one at 12 am. We have got the band to play before and after the matches,”says Ashutosh Phatak of the Blue Frog. So watch out for Sharik Hasan (France,UK) Sam Smala (France) and Nasty Peach (Israel) this month.

When too tired to step out,football-buffs can park themselves in front of the television set at home and relish on the quick eat recipes rolled out by Godrej’s Nature’s Basket which have also come up with hampers such as Spanish and Italian.

The contagious football fever has also affected garment stores. A special FIFA Apparel store is being launched by Amigo Sports in Palladium,Parel. This will stack up a wide range of jerseys,bags and caps. Calvin Klein,the largest designer underwear brand has come up with its X Global underwear line for all the sport lovers and the football fanatics. They represent different countries with their respective national colours. The high street British fashion brand,French Connection,has launched an exclusive range of World Cup tees to celebrate FIFA 2010 in absolute style. Follow your favorite team players by grabbing ‘the African unity kit’ as the German sporting brand Puma has sponsored football gear of 12 African teams. Puma offers a wide range of sweatshirts,hoodies and tee-shirts.

This month-long grand tournament has inspired Apple to come up with football applications for all the gaming addicts. More attractions for gaming addicts are FIFA World Cup by EA Sports,Football Manager Handheld 2010 by SEGA,X2 Football 2010,Penalty Soccer Free and iFooty by Jeremy Debate. Shailesh Prabhu,who has recently developed a game for Apple,says,“Football has always been big throughout the world. So it makes sense to launch these games as there are many football lovers.”

Stepping away from the usual football fever,Riyas Komu has conceptualised ‘Subrato to Cesar’—an exhibition that revisits the locker rooms and takes a fresh look at the ‘art’ of football. It opens at Warehouse on 3rd Pasta Lane in Colaba on Friday and continues till the month-long tournament does. Komu,an ardent football fan,says,“I’ll be travelling to South Africa and sending live images which will be displayed in the gallery.”