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.

Cause I am a sucker

How do you get me to part with my money? Just show me something football related.

I saw these selling at 7/11 and I just could not resist. They are boxes containing Impact brand breath mints. Bravo to the marketing guys at Impact for capitalising on the World Cup fever by packaging their mints in world cup theme cases.

I bought the England one and my friend bought the Germany one. Then I gave all the mints away as I did not quite like them. Hehe. 3 bucks gone.

Umbro's World Champions Collection - Sexy much

(image via Umbro.com)

Really sexy looking collection from Umbro. Pity the England one (modelled by Abbey Clancy) is a bit blah. The crest could do with a bit more colour. Also it's a bit too big.

Like the German one the most. Simple yet elegant. (I know, I know…sleeping with the enemy. But if that enemy is Michael Ballack….)

Question: How do I wear this outside without looking like a whore? It is a bit too slumpy to wear it with a pair of jeans. Or this a bedroom restricted item?

Why can't they design a chic looking outfit for women without the need for it to look like a sex kitten? I guess this line must have been designed for the benefit of the male population.

Here's something I found rather amusing while viewing the collection online…. it talks about the models, the crest, the behind the scenes of the photo shoot and it even has wallpapers of the girls in the outfits. But there is nothing on the website that speaks about the product itself! Nothing about the material, design or sizes available. Nope nothing. So, tell me again what exactly are they selling?

Women's cut

(image via FA.com)

So I went to the sports shop today intending to splurge some moolah on the England away jersey. Unfortunately, this is what the retail assistant said to me "Got men and boys one only. Why don't you try the boys one?".

Ahhh….! Why is it that my sunny island does not import the women's cut of the England jersey? Addias and Nike have both have realized that there is market for women football fans here. When will the importers of Umbro jerseys realize this?

And no, the boy's cut simply won't do it for me. I have boobs, a waist and a hip. I am not a ruler to fit into boys' clothes. I need a jersey that will do justice to my curves. With most sports stores run by men, they simply don't get it.

Look's like it's a trip to the England website to buy it offline. This means extra money to be spent on currency conversion and freight charges.