More thoughts on UCL final 08

This is my personal experience watching the Champions League final at a kopitiam in Malaysia..haha..(btw, I wouldn't be sitting there watching the grand finale if not for certain decisions that I made earlier this year. So in a way, I was kinda glad..) Since street party ended around 1 am, there were quite a huge turnout of people watching the match at mamak stalls and coffee shops outside Inti. I went to one that had a giant screen with my law classmates. The area was already half filled, but we managed to get a place at the back with an quite an excellent view of the screen. There claps of cheers even at the kopitiam as the players emerge from the tunnel. The atmosphere is set as the starting whistle is blown.

The whole match is an emotional yo-yo rollercoaster for any Man Utd fan. Ronaldo's goal at the 26th minute was particularly pleasing since United drew first blood and still had chance if they were to concede one. Whenever a red shirt misses, there are sighs of frustrations and whenever a blue shirt misses, there are sighs of relieves. I was hoping that United should just park bus, hold out for the match and maybe wait for a counter attack on the second. When Chelsea pop the equalizer in through Lampard, the tensions rose. It was the Chelsea fans' turn to cheer. I had expected them to equalize but not so soon before half-time. The situation where Man Utd had one hand on the trophy already has now changed to an equal playing field instead.

In the second half, I think there were more sighs of relieves and I was beginning to worry when the game started to stretch to extra time. In such a situation, Chelsea always had a chance since they could remain concentrated for a long period of time. There were a couple of skirmishes on the field with the large one happening minutes before the final extra time whistle. Of course with Chelsea reduced to one man, I was hoping that the ball is in Man Utd's court to nick in a last minute goal. But I am equally glad with the Chelsea fans that the match went to penalties to settle the differences once and for all. Paradoxically however, moving into penalties meant the dreaded moments of unimaginable tension for both players and fans. Probably the penalty would also show how much any of team would regret for failing to score with the earlier chances. One thing on my mind was whether van der Sar could emulate his 3 consecutive saves against Chelsea in the Community shield.

I kinda foresee Ronaldo would end up shooting the ball straight at Cech especially when he hesitated for a moment. The feeling was horrible. The irony is that Carrick could convert his while Ronaldo misses his. Now, Chelsea has one hand on the cup and all they got to do is to score and if United want to win, they have to hope the unlikely probability that Chelsea would screw up twice. Nani's turn was the first point of climax since if he misses, Chelsea don't even need a 5th taker. It was a relief to see the ball hit the back of the net although Cech had guess the position right. When Terry step up to kick, I couldn't bear to watch it. I could already imagine he and his blue crew lifting the Champions League. There was a huge swell of disappointment that Ronaldo would be the villain of the night after his heroic headed goal during play time. Destiny dictates otherwise and when the ball flew off the post, the United fans screamed and punch the air with delight. At that point, I really wondered when the pinball exchange would finally end. It certainly don't look to end at the point when Anelka is the taker. As a striker, there's a 70-90% probability that he would just put it past van der Sar. It was destiny at work once again plus some great goalkeeping skills from the giant Dutch that settled the difference. The kopitiam erupted with the cheers of the Man Utd fans as they danced with joy. Strangers high-fived each other and celebrated the moment. The tables were banged in an ecstatic manner. The delighted faces of the Man Utd players as they sprint across the field to meet van der Sar is simply priceless. Outside the streets of Inti, United fans drove their cars and circled around the shops, shouting and waving the Man Utd jersey and scarves. Lol, I bet they won't cheer that loud even if Malaysia were to qualify for the World Cup!

I would say this is probably the best football match I had ever watched in my life. This match epitomises the beautiful game at its best. If any one had ever doubted the beautiful game, they clearly had not seen this match. The raw emotions run freely like mountain waters from the tears of relief in Ronaldo's eyes, the glint of jubilation in van der Sar's expression to John Terry quietly weeping in sorrow for the tragic turn of events. That night in Moscow is almost similiar to the one in Nou Camp 1999, where Man Utd won over Europe in a dramatic fashion. United fans have waited for this moment for a long time. I had witnessed Liverpool, Barcelona and AC Milan gracing the halls of victory. We came close last season but was swept aside shamefully by AC Milan in the San Siro. Nevertheless, it foretold of the sign of things to come. And that dream was realised in 2008. The feeling is just indescribable as Giggs and Ferdinand lifted the trophy together. I shall always remember that Thursday morning when I sat there to witness history in the making. Glory glory Man Utd!

Kings of Europe

Manchester United conquered Europe in 2008 on a rainy night in Moscow

Fate. That's the word to describe the events that had transpired in the Luzhniki Stadium. First, Champions of England and now, Kings of Europe. United went from heaven, to hell and further down hell again and then bursting back to glory again in a dramatic twist of events.

United's starting line up is probably the best 11 available to Fergie. There are no disputes regarding who should lead the attack or who should be at the back. The tricky selection is at the midfield, especially at the flanks, left to be precise. At this point in time, Giggs no longer starts at the left as he is used to and he is now more of a sub. Many would probably be wondering whether Park Ji Sung or Nani would be placed there instead. In the end, it looks like Fergie decided to deploy Hargreaves at his secondary role at the right since he has performed rather well in that area for the past few Champions League games. Not only that, he could help out with Brown to shut down Malouda. Ronaldo is placed on the left hand side, and it ain't a problem for him since he is versatile enough to play in any of the flanks. Hargreaves definitely has to be in the starting 11 since he is the other player other than van der Sar and Giggs to have played in a final. I'm really pleased with the way Fergie had arranged his starting 11.

Chelsea on the other hand played Drogba as the solo striker and being supported by a center midfield trio of Makalele, Ballack and Lampard. These 3 dominated the midfield extremely well with their outstanding physical strength and stamina and it's not surprising that these 3 would overrun Carrick and Scholes very easily. I was rather surprised by the inclusion of Malouda because he hasn't really played that frequently in the season, so there are some problems with his match fitness.

I would say the first 30 minutes of the game is controlled very well by Man Utd. There were some nice attempts, but just that the finishing is not there. Chelsea's control of the centre midfield is extremely overpowering and the only way United could attack is focusing on the flanks and floating the ball into the box for a header. In this game, Ronaldo really worked his socks off to provide vital crosses but it always end up with Hargreaves trying to knock it in with his head. Hargreaves is not well-known for his heading and so, these chances ended up wasted. But Hargreaves did provide a decent attacking build up in his flank too. In the 26th minute, a brilliant one-two exchange between Brown and Scholes resulted in a beautiful cross into the box in which an unmarked Ronaldo gleefully headed it past Cech. Essien was the guilty party there for ball watching and not putting the pressure onto Ronaldo. When Ronaldo is unmarked, you can be sure that the Portugese maestro would work something out of it.

Just before the half-time whistle was blown, Chelsea capitalised on some poor communication and mistake of Man Utd's defence to equalize. Van der Sar had a slight slip on the grass and was just fractionally off to stop Lampard from putting one in. Of course, Ferdinand's desperate sliding effort was futile. It's not the first time that Ferdinand and van der Sar got confused with each other..haha but still, Man Utd has the best defence in the league :) At the second half, Chelsea looked refreshed with determination and kept bringing the game to Man Utd. This is the difficult thing when playing against Chelsea cos teams really can't kill off the Blues. Dudes like Arse-nal concede defeat when they felt that their current opponents are pawning them. Not Chelsea. They can be 10 man down or 2 goals down, but they won't stop fighting until the 90 minutes is up. They are mentally resillient (even more than Man Utd at times) to the point that you'll probably ask "why can't they just die and get it over with?". Cech was fantastic between the post and it was clear that his superb handling stopped a two consecutive vicious shots chance by United. If anyone else had been at the post other than him, Chelsea would have been 0-2 down.

Both sides could not find a way past each other at the end of 90 minutes and it went to extra time and even after extra time, nobody could get the extra goal. Chelsea went close a few times and United would have certainly scored the winning goal had it not been bravely headed away by Terry. And yes, towards the end of extra time, something stupid just had to happen. It's a face off between the two biggest men on the pitch Vidic and Drogba and there is no love lost between them..lol. I was kinda worried with Vidic getting involved there because he had already picked up a yellow card. However, it was not him who gets the red marching orders. It was Drogba being sent off for a second yellow on something that is quite noob or even childish- a bitch slap on Vidic. This meant that with the match heading to penalties, Chelsea had lost a viable taker.

Like most of the previous seasons, it's difficult to separate Man Utd and Chelsea. It has to come to the dreaded penalty shootout. Tevez and Carrick (he whacked the ball well this time..yay!) converted it well for the first two. When it came to Ronaldo, I just had this shitty feeling that he'll miss or shoot straight at the keeper to box it away. And I was right. At that point of time, United fans were desperately hopeful that van der Sar could at least save one or that Chelsea make a mistake. No such opportunity and when it came down to Chelsea's 5th taker, it was 90% sure that United would definitely lose the title as the 5th taker just needs to beat the keeper to finish the game once and for all. It was in Chelsea's hands with just a few metres away. Ronaldo is already crestfallen, head hung in shame for that horrible miss and would have trouble forgiving himself for that mistake. He could only hope a miracle to redeem his mistake. Terry steps up to deliver the final blow, a symbolic gesture where many past sides have always done to put the captain there for the final kill. BUT he missed........with the ball whacking the post and away. United fans all over the world looked at disbelief at the sudden lifeline provided. A glimmer of hope has emerged and this drama just gets more interesting. 5 shots and still even at the end! It's penalty shootout sudden death style now. It was a relief for Utd fans whenever a Red Shirt converted his chance. Somebody has got to be the "bad" guy and the hero in the shootout and that unfortunate honour of bad guy fell to Anelka as van der Sar brilliantly punched and deflected the ball away. The tall Dutch has done it again! The hero of Old Trafford! What a drama! What a poetic finale yet again by Man Utd. They just had to win it the hard and special way :)

Chelsea hit the woodwork twice with van der Sar clearly beaten on that two occasions. That's really tragic and as I've said from the beginning, it's really fate. I'm very sure that Terry wasn't supposed to be on the list as the 5th taker and this was confirmed by Ten Cate in an interview. The planned script of symbolism didn't turn out well for Chelsea and they were made to pay for it. The question of course being asked is that if Drogba had still being on field, would Terry be even taking the shot? It's also tragic on Terry's part that the captain had to play as one of the bad guys in the penalty shootout. Lol, there is no doubt that Ronaldo would be so so so relieved that he got away with it and not having something to haunt him for the rest of his career. For Ronaldo, the question would be, would United fans remember him for the beautiful and vital goal that he scored in the first half or his failure to convert his chance in the penalty shootout? For me, I would rather remember and pay credit to the Portugese maestro for his goal since without it, Man Utd wouldn't even be shooting penalties.

Unlike Chelsea, Man Utd's romantic reverence for symbolism was further enhanced with this epic victory. The Busby Babes would have been proud of this United team for their European achievements. It's a fitting tribute for those that passed away in the Munich disaster 50 years ago, a proud moment for members of Busby's first European champions squad 40 years ago in 1968 and it was approximately 10 years since Fergie first tasted European victory. Paul Scholes was battered hard on his face early on in the game but the veteran was determined to remain on the field to enjoy the moment as much as possible. Ryan Giggs achieved his 759th appearance and he did his part for United's victory by scoring the last penalty kick to ensure that van der Sar's save meant something. As van der Sar punched Anelka's shot away, he screamed and raised his arms in celebration while the rest of the United team skidded across the pitch in jubilation. Under the raining sky in Moscow, Manchester United lifted Europe in their hands.

The Road to Moscow

Paul fires Manchester United into the Final

Manchester United and Chelsea face each other off for the final match of the season at the Luzhniki Stadium tomorrow. The holy grail of European Club football, the Champions League is up for grabs in the first all-English final in the tournament. United performed well in the group stages, garnering 5 wins and a draw while Chelsea had 3 wins and 3 draws. In the knockout stages, Man Utd overcame Lyon, Roma and Barcelona to seal the final spot. It was an excellent run-up to the final with Man Utd remaining undefeated for the whole course of tournament.

The greatest hurdle that United had to face was probably Barcelona in the semi-finals. The Catalans had a huge arsenal of talents at their disposal. One thing that probably gave United a slight edge is that Barca is currently undergoing through one of their most shittiest moment. Paul Scholes' screamer goal at Old Trafford and a clean sheet were enough to send United to their 3rd final in history. I think there would be some relief at Old Trafford that the penalty miss at Nou Camp did not return to haunt them. Like Giggs, Scholes is also a loyal servant of Man Utd. Much has been debated on the impact that he had on the team this season. A few of his performance had been lacklustre and recently, there's concern over some of his poor judgement on the field. These poor decision makings are usually his tendency to lunge into a player at the wrong time. It's kinda funny really cos Scholes has always being known to be a quiet guy outside the game but he could act savagely on the field at times.

Some pointed out that Scholes' time in the first team is coming to an end and that he should pass the baton to folks like Anderson and Hargreaves. However, on that semi-final night where it matters most, Scholes stood up to the task and rolled back the years to remind the fans why he is a Man Utd legend in the first place. In his younger days, his trademark scoring style and bossing the attacking midfield is like Lampard and Gerrard. Scholes' moment of brilliant in the form of the thunderbolt outside the box tells us why he deserves the midfield spot in the Final at Moscow. Paul was unfortunate in missing out from appearing in the 1999 Final through suspension. Now he can bury that ghost.

Who will get the last laugh at Europe? Will Ferguson get his 2nd Champions League title to his name or will Roman get his long lost unfulfilled wish in Chelsea? I dearly hope that Man Utd won't be mugged like in last year's FA Cup final where they virtually lost the endurance steam against Chelsea and allowed the Blues to pip one in. It seems that Chelsea loves to overexhaust their opponents and then catch them when they are not concentrating. They have peeps that could endure the physical 90 minutes plus extra time with no deficiency in performance. The United team may not be physically intimidating mammoths but I certainly believe that they have more flair and creativity compared to Chelsea.

All the best to Manchester United in Moscow. Hopefully, somebody from Old Trafford is gonna be a hero on 21st May :)

On a side note, below is a rather interesting ironic picture of Luzhniki. I bet Lenin will rise from his grave in shock to see what is happening to his former glorious red commy state.

Behold! Capitalist footie clubs right at Lenin's doorstep

Resupply Complete

I know that I'm supposed to at least start doing a little of my contract law assignment but as of now, I still hadn't get started on question 1. Oh man, slackness at its best..lol. It's hard to pick a pen and start writing when I just have the incentive to slack off and do something else. Anyways, I'm quite pleased with my resupplying activities over the weekend. I managed to get some files and Hitman Blood Money from the Popular bookstore in Bishan.

Of course, the 20% sale in Kino is not to be missed and this time, I grab the books which I failed to buy from the last trip. Btw, can somebody actually tell me where one can get a written hardcover version of the Singapore Constitution? I've tried to find in a few bookstores and even the mighty Kino does not have it except for a analytical version of it. Uhhh..isn't the constitution supposed to be available easily for the public in bookstores? It's citizens' rights to know their rights. What if the uncle don't know how to use internet? Anyways, I was quite disappointed with the variety of law books in Kino. The MPH in Mid-Valley had half a section of about 7 to 10 shelves dedicated for law while Kino had only about 3-4. I can't find Smith and Hogan Criminal Law in Kino at all. Zzzz..the biggest spaces were allocated of course to business law. Nevertheless, I still managed to pick up something useful from there; 2 quick revision books (contract and constitution) for all those last minute cheat ass learning.

It looks like I'll be carrying more load back to my hostel than I expected. I received a mini-fridge from one of my family friends and yup, this means Stan can finally can store his beloved cheese and some exclusive fridge stuff in his room..lol. Hmm..the only thing I need to consider is how to avoid large crowds on the way back..

Long weekend

Since this weekend has a public holiday attached on Monday, I've decided to pay my mama and bro a visit in Singapore. So yesterday, I shared a taxi with Vei Da and Lawrence's two friends to Seremban bus terminal. But we couldn't get any ticket at an early time slot of 2.30 pm and had to settle for a 4.30 pm bus. While waiting for our bus, me and Vei Da chill out and makan at KFC first. The bus ticket says for 4.30 pm but as usual, Malaysia time must plus 30 minutes late. We got so frustrated waiting that we had the tendency to jump into any bus that is heading to Johore. It happened once where we settled nicely at the seats only to realise that the bus is heading to Bentong and not Larkin. Anyways, the bus that we boarded was already three quarters filled with people already.

The checkpoint is not that crowded since it's already so late at night. I took public transport this time instead of taxi since I wasn't carrying anything heavy. Besides that, I'm counting my money now in terms of Malaysian Ringgit and not dividing it half in terms of Sg Dollars. Other than visitation, got a couple of things to shop but I'm just annoyed that I left my packet of Sg currencies in my room. Darn, now I have to borrow some money temporarily. Kino is having 20% discount this weekend and I may consider getting some original law books there too. Oh, and there's some important footie matches and programmes to be downloaded for archiving purposes and the super high speed in Sg is useful in getting it done within a few hours. Lol..looks like Sg is gonna be my resupply depot in the future for raw materials.

Zen Micro Obsolete

Argghh! Zen Micro doesn't work with Windows Vista. There's a way to get it to work but it's gonna involve lots of hassle. First, there's a need to upgrade a firmware but that involves wiping the entire hard drive of carefully compiled mp3s. Even after upgrading, the best thing that could happen (from what I read from the forum boards) is that the Zen Micro becomes something like a thumb drive. The Zen Media Player may not function well in uploading songs into the player. Awww, my trusty zen micro has always worked well with my XP desktop! Looks like I won't be able to upload songs into my mp3 in the future. Of course, the other option is to get a new mp3 player and that's gonna cost another bomb with my savings. If I do need to get one, I'm looking between Sandisk's Sansa and Apple's Ipod Nano.

On another note, it looks like I'm gonna have a ton of books to read up in my study of law. The seniors had a second hand book sale today and I managed to get a couple of them at a bargained price. It seems as though its a tradition in Inti for seniors to sell second hand books and if I'm not wrong, this would confirm that exams are on a module basis instead of the crazy year end A-bomb. I had a brief flip through with some of books and I would say constitution would be a very interesting read even though most of the students loath it...lol.

Prison Break Season 3

WARNING : Spoilers Ahead! The writer will not be liable for any climax bursting moment that occurred..lol. I just finished watching, so wanna input some thoughts regarding some interesting stuff in it.

Prison Break's 3rd Season was cut short to a mere 13 episodes due to the writer's strike that happened last year. Nevertheless, Season 3 still contained certain thrilling elements. This time, prison Sona in Panama is unlike Fox River in America. If one thinks that the overlord practice of Bellick and his lackeys is bad enough, they hadn't seen Sona yet. It is a place devoid of any sort of morality. The only rules available are created by a sole dictator called Lechero and enforced by his small band of gang through terror. The infamous symbolism of the chicken feet is the last thing that some unfortunate men saw in the prison. The loss of life through the trial of ring of death is considered to be legitimate.

It's interesting though to see the hunter and the hunted locked up together. Bellick and Mahone looked pale in comparison to their previous position when in captivity. One thing that struck me though, I'm not sure if the rest of the viewers realised, is that Lechero resembled Shakespeare's Othello especially in the later parts of the season. T-Bag is cast into the role of Iago to sow the seeds of distrust so as to make Lechero feel paranoid and suspicious especially of his deputy Sammy. I would say Sammy would only be a half Cassio because there ain't much being touched on the romantic side. Creativity had some part to play here in casting a subtle Desdemona. I would assume that it's the prostitute who dressed as a nun to enter the compound. Thus, the supposed chastity of "Desdemona" (as symbolised by a nun) is juxtaposed and fused ironically with the unholy image of a whore. The final scene of Lechero being smothered with a pillow by T-Bag reminisces a rather interesting twisted version of events from Shakespeare's play. The original Shakespeare Othello actually smothers innocent Desdemona to death with a pillow. And yet in here, "Othello" is (again ironically) being smothered with a pillow too by his betrayer. I would say "T-Bag Iago" completes his sinister plot even better and more vicious than the original Iago. He takes over "Lechero Othello's" general position and even gains the affection of the unholy Desdemona. Woah, that's really an interesting perspective to put into the show. Top marks to the producers and writers for the literary subtlety.

The ending of Season 3 suggests that there are more loose ends to tie up and questions to be answered of the mysterious Company. Whistler certainly didn't appear as simple as he is and I think many viewers would probably be puzzled with the dubious cooperation between Mahone and him. Will Michael get to see Sara again? What happens to Sucre in Sona? Will Lincoln join his brother in the crusade against the company or will he finally settle down for a tranquil life? Well, I think we can only find out months later..haha.