Man Utd vs Fulham (3-2)

It was the first home game of the season and there were some other sweet firsts too. New boy, Robin van Persie made his first start and scored his first goal for Man Utd with a rather stunning half-volley equalizing goal. Next up other new boy, Japanese Shinji Kagawa scored the second goal for Man Utd and also his first for them. Ferguson must indeed be pleased to see his new signings returning the value paid for them. Rafael soon scored another to make it 3-1 before half time. The atmosphere was all high pre-game at Old Trafford, especially with Usain Bolt (a Man Utd fan) on the pitch showing off his Olympic wins and that famous bow and arrow signature style move. Fans were overheard shouting "Fergie, Fergie sign him up”. Lol. However the highs of the pre-game took a dent 4 minutes into the game when Damien Duff of Fulham scored the opening goal. And for a while one was worrying if this was to be another game to end badly for Utd. But to the rescue comes Boy Wonder, Robin! And with Utd scoring two more goals after that , Man Utd looked on the high as they break for half time.

I don’t know if it’s complacency or what, but after half-time Utd seems slightly at lost. They had Fulham very hard at their heels. Utd killing moves of the later half of the first-half was gone! It was also in the second-half, the weakness of the our defence was exposed. With a number of our experience defenders out on injuries, Michael Carrick is forced to played the unfamiliar role of centre-back. And his inexperience was clearly shown in the game with a number of “OMG! WTH!” defence moments. But one of the more bigger blunder came from the Skipper, Vidic who deflected the ball into his own net when De Gea failed to clear a cross from Fulham, thus giving the opponents some hope of redeeming the game.

And on the hope did Fulham run on! Throwing waves of scares, near misses and deflections that tested Utd very hard. But Utd did have a few near misses too, including form a fantastic Rafeal. De Gea was also made to work hard with a couple of saves. Rooney came on for Kagawa in the 68th minute but his play was shortened when he received an ugly gash on his thigh courtesy of Hugo Rodallega’s boots. The sight of Rooney’s open flash gash was almost puke inducing. It was nasty nasty! So nasty, it would result in Rooney sitting our for a month. Poor boy had to be taken away on a stretcher. What a horrible way to end the game! But on the hind side, we did get all three points and maybe Rooney’s out will be Robin’s opportunity to shine!

Other news: It was a draw in the game of Liverpool vesus Manchester City. I was hoping Liverpool might crushed City when they had a 2-0 lead, but atlas….. Liverpool was Liverpool. Hey, atleast City lost two points, that is still something. Arsenal drew again and Chelsea continues its winning ways.

A “could be better” start to the Season.

A “could be better” start to the Season.

Football season has started and life is back to normal.....

Last season was unreal for me. My dearest Man Utd ended the season without a trophy, and …well….ok, I will just go ahead and say it…. I am not used to seeing Man Utd not winning anything ok!!!! But true fans stick by their team win or lose and my passion for Utd burns strong as ever. Opening games for the season saw Man City fought hard against Southampton (3-2) for a win, Chelsea winning, Liverpool crushed by West Brom (3-0), Arsenal drew with Sunderland and Man Utd denied by Everton.

Playing away at Everton is never easy. The Toffees always give a strong fight.  And it was no difference last night. Everton had Man Utd playing hard for their game with many near goal scares. In the end it was a super in-form  Marouane Fellaini who scored the only goal 17 minutes after half-time to give Everton the 3 points. Robin van Persie started the game on the bench and debuted at the 66^th minute. But alas nothing was made to denied Everton their victory. A disappointing start to the season. But then, it’s only the first game and we have 37 more to go. Man Utd have previously gone on to win the league without winning their first match.  I am looking forward to more van Persie action and of course a stronger and more experienced Man Utd squad. De Gea showed this yesterday when tested hard and consistently by Everton. The man is improving and slowly filling into the super large shoes left by van der Sar.

A side note: As much as I hate Liverpool, I do regard them as a respected enemy. With its long history and tradition (just like Man Utd) it’s really sad to see them slipped through the tables.  And it’s been a few years already. I actually miss seeing Liverpool in the Champions League. They do give some classy performances over there. But yet another season goes by without Liverpool qualifying for the Champions League. Instead teams with endless pockets get to “buy” trophies. Money is fast becoming the new virtue of football greatness. For the sake of football tradition and history, I would love Liverpool will finish in the top four this season, but not higher than Man Utd of course!!!!!

Euro, Olympics and Community Shield

Euro 2012, a lesson illustrating that  history repeats itself. The Spanish won it again, the German gave a really strong performance only to be denied near the end (and by the Italians again) and England loses out on penalties AGAIN.  I am bitter that Spain won it again. I mean, come already! I’m tired of seeing the same colours at the winners’ podium. And am utterly heart-broken Germany failed to progress to the finals after such a strong performance in the early stages of the tournament.  After beating Germany in the semi-final, I wanted Italy to win the cup. But atlas the stars were in favour of the Spanish…AGAIN.  England. What can I say. Ever cursed by penalties. Even younger ones were not spared at the Olympics.

So, what does the end of Euro 2012 means for me? It means I only have 2 more years to make my dream of having my honeymoon during the World Cup in Brazil come true. How are my plans going? Well, my boyfriend is still my dog. L

Olympics 2012 in London. Amazing opening and closing ceremony, showcasing the best of British (including (in my opinion, that is) Beckham, the Spice girls and Mr James Bond). I absolutely love the James Bond-ish cameo by Queen Elizabeth. Rock on Queen! So, as we all know, nobody gives any respect to football in the Olympics. Hence, it’s the best place for non-footballing greats to win stuff here. Since the Olympics was being held in London, the UK thought it would be a great idea to send in a Great Britain team. So after much resistant and discussion, it was formed. BUT THEY LEFT BECKHAM OUT OF THE SQUAD citing reason that he has not been playing top-level football recently!  Kudos to Stuart Pearce (manager for the GB team) for making his own decision and not swaying to popular votes. But then again…. it’s Beckham ppl! My dearest Giggsy made it to the squad as one of the few old-age exceptions allowed. So, how did Team GB do anyways? Well, they crashed out in penalties of course. That damn curse! Congratulations to Mexico who took home Gold for men’s football and USA for women’s football.

On Sunday, while everybody was looking forward to the closing ceremony of the Olympics, something else very important was going on. THE COMMUNITY SHIELD. Yes, I know…. the Community Shield? It may not mean much…. but for me it football over Olympics any day!  It was the battle between Premier League Champions, Man City and FA cup winners, Chelsea. And damn it Man City beat Chelsea 3-2! Signs of thing to come? Man City to keep going strong and Chelsea to up its game? Here’s hoping Manchester United will come strong to kick Man City ass and reclaim the PL title and maybe everything else too!  Man Utd had quite a bit of youngsters last season, so hopefully they will be more seasoned this time. We don’t want to go another season without any trophy ok!

I can’t wait for football season to begin!

Glory Glory Man Utd!

Who do you support?

Champions League semi-finals 1st leg between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid is tonite.

Who do you root for when your team (i.e. Man Utd) gets kicked out so early on (I am still crying about it)? For me it’s simple, the other English team in the game (because despite being a supporter of the German national team, I am a fan of the English Premier League and I follow the EPL (properly called BPL) games) or your favourite non-English league team.

For me they are as follows:
English league: Chelsea and Arsenal. Will never support Liverpool cause it’s Liverpool. I don’t think the other English teams will ever make it to the final stages of the Champions League.
German league: Bayern Munich
Spanish league: Real Madrid (mainly cause that’s where a number of Man Utd’s star players move on to)
Italian league and others: I don’t really care actually.

So who am I supporting in this season’s Champions League semi-finals? Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

Who do I want to see win the Champions League? Bayern Munich. Maybe if Ballack was still playing for Chelsea I might cheer on Chelsea for the final win :P

Who do I think will win the Champions League? Barcelona, if Lionel Messi does not break his legs. Honestly I am praying that Barcelona (aka the Spanish national team) would end their winning streak (You’ve won everything already ok!). And I am still bitter that Man Utd lost to them two times already in the finals.

Putting it out in Public

It’s been a long while. Shits happens yea.

Ok, so there is something I need to come out of the closet. I am now a fan of the German Football Team.

Yes, I have left England for Germany. It was a secret romance that begin since World Cup 2002. For many years I have been a fervent supporter of England. This was because of the following reasons:
1) England is our former motherland (Singapore is a former colony of England);
2) EPL is huge in Asia, hence we naturally tend to support England; and
3) Because I grew up with people supporting England.

But after watching football for years, I began to form my own opinions. And in that process, I was seduced by the German football team. I use the word “seduced” because I actually really enjoy watching them play and the process of conversion happended over time. Throughout World Cup 2006 and Euro 2008, I wore the England jersey, watched all their matches and followed any football news relating to them. But lets just put it out in the open and say it. England had better drama than football. Meanwhile there was just something that really caught my attention to the German football team. I just love their style of play. And soon I caught myself enjoying the guilty pleasure of watching and following the German football team. In doing so, other things happened. I actually began to like hearing the German language spoken. I became curious about German culture too. And next thing you know, I am learning German, watching DW TV and took a whole month out to travel Germany. What started out as a guilty adulterous fling, turned into ….well…love.

I will always love England and follow them because of my history. But since World Cup 2010, I decided to follow my heart and become a Germany football team supporter.

Michael Ballack ruled out of the World Cup.

Horrendous news! Ballack is out of the World Cup. The culprit for this evil situation, a right ankle injury which Ballack received during the FA Cup final (which he won) against Porthsmouth (challenge by Boateng). Ballack has been ruled out for 8 weeks, which means he will clearly miss the world cup. Painful news as this would probably be Ballack's last World Cup appearance given his age (unless a miracle happens). Should Germany win the World Cup this year it will surely seal Ballack's reputation as the "runners up" man.

This is truly a big loss for Germany. Not only have they lost their beloved captain, they have also lost the player who at many times carried their team.

It's weird this World Cup. Many of our beloved "older" superstars will be not be starring (Beckam, van Nistelrooy, Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo (Brazil), Raul, Totti). I guess it's time for the younger ones to shine. Go Rooney!

Chelsea – FA Cup Winners

(image via BBCSports.com)

Congratulations to Chelsea for winning for FA Cup.

Chelsea won the game 1-0 with Drogba scoring the winning goal.

I was hoping Portsmouth would win this to give them a bitter sweet end to a horrible season. But I guess its Chelsea year this time. Credit to Portsmouth for making Chelsea work for the Cup.