Monday, February 05, 2007
Wad an irony.
My Red
Devils was
heavenly yesterday. Man Utd 4 - 0 Spurs. That's a total laugh in the faces for whoever that was at WHL.
Giggsy,
Vidic and
Scholesy was absolutely brilliant. While of course
Ronaldo, as usual, did what we all expected of him. The press call it "diving" and "cheating". I call it "magic". =) Happy 22nd birthday btw, dear. May your birthday be blessed with many many more goals for Manchester United.
And hoo-haaa.
JOY TO THE WORLD.Yesterday, Singapore made my heart stopped. When
Amri scored that beautiful goal that left the whole Thailand supporters as still and silent as a pindrop, i jumped in exhilaration and scraped my knee in the process. (Coffee tables are dangerous. Such sharp ends they have.)
But that didn't stop me from watching my dearest Lions celebrate Amri's amazing goal. Proved to be a wise thing to do (rather than marching off to the toilet to wash my bruised knee) because i spotted
Baihakki, who was warming up behind the goalpost, ran while shouting like some mad man, evidently absolutely delighted at that late late goal. He could have jumped over that sponsors board and into the pitch if he had willed himself further, i'm sure. But what more could i ask for. Amri scored to put the Lions in the lead on aggregate, and i saw Baihakki during match play even when he wasn't in the first 11, nor the subbed in. *big grin*
But when Amri's shocking features was shown upon his goal ("Aku score! Kau nampak tak?! AKU! AKU YANG SCORE!" - well, i think that was wad he shouted to Alam Shah), the young player was caught looking flabbergasted, before he buried his face in his hands, and broke down into tears. The amazing thing is, when Amri cried, i cried too.
Okay no. Not really. But my eyes did have a stinging feeling and got all teary suddenly.
In the words of the one and only Eric Cantona, "Play from the heart, my brothers. Play beautiful football." What i saw during the AFC finals yesternight wasn't what i would call beautiful football exactly. Compared to the likes of international football squads such as Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool, Singapore is not even remotely close. Those England squads play what we call beautiful football. But knowing the standards of our Asean counterparts, what the Lions showed yesterday was our very own Asean version of
BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALL.The starting eleven didn't really compromise of the best players in the squad. Yet i'm sure Raddy has his reasons. Dickson did not showed as much as class as we expected of him, but i guess he didn't get to play so often that he kinda gets nervous at time. Aide was an absolute disaster to the defence. And yet, Thailand couldn't get through more than once. So still, i applaude captain Aide for the determination and attempts.
So many things happen.
Alam Shah forgot everything he learned at his Anger Management class and went on a tackle frenzy at the Thais. Amri got headbutted by a frivolous Thai player, but the referee let the guy off.
Ridhuan ran halfway to defend his fellow team mate, trying to show the referee that he should have gotten a yellow card. The same Thai player then stirred things up even more and got
Indra a yellow card for butting in. The star striker wasn't even playing you know.
Mani got his chance and his dreams fulfilled on international level, before he retire. Everything went well and Singapore got to keep our defending champions title.
LIONS totally roared yesterday. How i wished the match was at National Stadium instead so we can catch an actual Kallang Wave, and not those scewed-up waves the Thais tried to imitate.
Congrats to Alam Shah for winning the Golden Boot and the MVP. Your children must be proud of their dad. =) And to my two favourite players in the national squad, number 2 and number 6 -
Ridhuan and Baihakki - you were the bomb. Ridhuan, with speed like that, you can give Ronaldo a run for his money. (Or maybe not. Sorry. My Cris is world class standard okayyy). And Bai, though you didn't play, the well-being of the squad is much more important than fulfilling your own desires to play first team? Right young captain?
So many more great talents Singapore can nurture. With luck, opportunity, hard work and Allah's blessings, the champions of the AFC 2007 might just find themselves on the road to a World Cup dream. InsyaAllah.
Now Lions dear, balek Spore, kiss your wives, give your children big big hugs and sujud syukur k?
Those unmarried ones...you are welcomed to kiss me. ^_^
5:45 PM
