It was one of those rare weekends that I avoid schmoozing with strangers or acquaintances in the city’s social circle. So I stayed home in front of cable TV for the Saturday night three soccer games marathon followed with two more games on Sunday evening. To my further enjoyment, my two favorite teams won. Perak defeated Public Bank by 3-0 at the Selayang Stadium, whilst Arsenal clinched their second victory in the second game of Premiership, 4-0 against Middlesborough.
[1] Manchester United 2 – Newcastle United 1
[2] Chelsea 2 – Leicester City 1
[3] Perak 3 – Selangor Public Bank 0
[4] Liverpool 0 – Aston Villa 0
[5] Arsenal 4 – Middlesborough 0
Decided not to join my clans at the Selayang stadium, I waited eagerly for weekend fixtures on the ESPN right after John Dykes program made way for Martin Tyler and Andy Graham commenting, in anticipation that I could watch MU loss to Newcastle United. Shearer scored the first goal of the game. And it was awesome. Newcastle later on looked promising, but not threatening enough to MU. In a game where Ferguson was asked to leave after protesting against referee Uriah Rennie decision not to award free kick to Giggs; MU controlled most of the second half of the game. MU won 2-1.
Chelsea, desprite thier second victory that made Roman Abramovich, David Ranieri, and some fans who had paid 120 pound for the game, happy; had much to improve. Great individual skills displayed by Adrian Mutu (wonderful goal), Jaime Floyd Hasselbaink, Damien Duff, and Juan Veron; but teamplaywise, they are yet convincing.
Yes, now here comes Perak, where the Selayang Stadium management had cheated the Perak fans for charging 15 bucks instead of regular imposed price of 10 bucks. It was probably a conspiracy with the Pubic Bank to gain from the Perak fans flocking the stadium. The neighborhood and traders nearby the stadium has never seen crowd in the numbers of thousands Perak fans coming from Ipoh, Tapah, etc, and those fans living in Klang Valley.
The anticipation towards the game was clouded over media blast that “Perak Nyaris Tersungkur” in the opening match of the Group D, the Bhutia transfer blunder from East Bengals, as well as the injury news of Indra Putra, Chan Weng Hong, and Natha Kumar. Yet, as TV3 later that night showed the delayed game on TV, Indra Putra, Chan Weng Hong, and Nantha Kumar names appeared in the first eleven, while Bhutia name was in the reserve, surprising everyone who weren't at the stadium.
The game was pretty much controlled by Perak. Although Ivan Zenga in few attempts had some chances, he was easily denied by the best defenders in the country, Shamsol Saad and Faizal Zainal. Seator proved that he is at the peak of performance with the new team, scoring the first goal for Perak at the brink of half time break. Yusri Che Lah and Indra completed the victory with a goal each. Bhutia debut was a big joy to the fans through his impressive display of creating scoring chances for Indra and Seator.
The Liverpool and Aston Villa game was full of attacking, yet disappointingly goalless, only to have O’Leary and Houlier sharing one point each. And I thought Arsenal would have a goal fest after Henri shot an easy goal in the third minute. Arsenal won 4-0.
I know my days to be a sport writer like Raymond [in Everybody Loves Raymond] is a long way to go, but as the saying goes 'if you want to win the game, you gotta in the game'!
Today, I can't wait to start following all the excitement of US Open. My take this year's final will be Roddick vs. Federer and Capriati vs. Serena. Man, is this the best summer or what?
Sorry.. no Williams sisters this time around.. it'll be Belgian Girl Power
Posted by: Roslan | Friday, August 29, 2003 at 04:23 PM
Egad.. the US Open? When will I ever get any work done!
Posted by: Idlan | Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 01:04 PM