I 'm really not in right mood to write this post but I had to congrate Arsenal for their late game bounce back from 1-0 at the first half. I only want to say that every players on the pitch are equally great and I 'm very looking forward to the 2nd leg which will be held at Camp Nou on 8 March. I will not say Barca surely can win the match but I believe they can show something different after this lost. Barca has win too much and they started to forget the feeling of losing. Meanwhile , Arsenal had not won any major silverware for 6 years and they showed strong mental and desire to win in this match. That is why I love football. It's always unpredictable and the strongest may not always the winner. The winners belong to those who played with strong mentality , confidence and never-say-die attitude. Thank you ARSENAL as I think this lost may be the turning point of FC Barcelona.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
AC Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur
AC Milan
Tottenham Hotspur
AC Milan will be hosting Tottenham Hotspur at San Siro on this coming Tuesday. Hmm....... Tottenham is running out of luck as most of their core players are injured especially their star winger , Gareth Bale is going to miss the clash with Milan after he sustained a back injury at Newcastle. I 'm impressed with his performance against Internazionale Milano during the group stage. His lightning pace , deathly crossing and skillful dribbling technique made him a dangerous winger. Too bad that he remained unfit but I hope he will be back in time so that the showdown will not be dull and lifeless. Besides , they lost quite a number of midfielders such as Huddlestone , Modric and Jenas while only Palacios and inexperience Sandro are fully fit for the match. Tottenham hust unlucky for this clash. However , AC Milan has more advantages than Tottenham as they 're to start their attacking trio - Pato , Ibrahimovic and Robinho which is too much for Hotspurs.
In the absence of star player Steven Pienaar and Niko Kranjcar are going to play an important role against Milan. Kranjcar had did well in his last two matches to replace injured Bale.
This time , Raul will go back to Spain to aim to strike more goals to overtake Filippo Inzaghi as the all time top scorer in European competitions. I hope he will succeed to find a net against Valencia while Valencia need to prepare for Schalke incredible goalkeeper - Manuel Neuer.
Wish You Good Luck Raul !!!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
FC Barcelona Vs Sporting Gijon
Well ! Barca finally dropped point at El Molinon but they remained the 1st place in La Liga.
This match was epic as Barca almost lost to Sporting Gijon due to the early goal by David Barral. I admitted it was a fantastic goal but Pique and Milito should do something about it and we could not blame Valdes for conceding the goal. Soon , they changed into defensive formation - ten man formed a formidable wall in their territory. Barca tried to pierce through their defence and finally David Villa equalised it with a marvelous chip over the keeper at 80 th minutes. I had great confidence on FC Barcelona that they will eventually win the La Liga and the upcoming UCL match against Arsenal.
After this match , it shows that FC Barcelona is not unbeatable but they are really hard to beat. Even you play defensively such as forming a human wall , they 're still able to find a way to crumble the wall. Today , Afellay didn't do well so as Pique and Milito. Mascherano's performance was not very convincing but I was glad that he began to be able to follow the pace of Barca 's system. However , I think Sergio Busquets as holding midfielder was more reliable because he was the product of the youth academy of Barca so he fitted well into their system as he linked well with Xavi and Iniesta. He was one of the tallest guy in Barca ( most of Barca players are short ) and his stamina was incredible. Next match , Busquets going to be in the starting lineup.
Barcelona vs Arsenal
Pinto
Keita
Mascherano
Adriano
Milito
Bojan
Afellay
Friday, February 11, 2011
International friendlies
Sorry if you think I was crazy enough to keep awake for whole night to watch these matches. I was beginning to feel amazingly sleepy around 9 p.m. so I decided to sleep much earlier than usual. ( Totally give up my Math )
Zzz... I woke up around 4 a.m. to watch Argentina vs Portugal. This match was really exciting and both team were superb but the difference is their ace player - Messi and Ronaldo. For me , Messi was far more superior than Ronaldo as he not only could set plays for his teammates while he himself was a terrific scorer.
However , Argentina's midfielders struggled a lot tonight and unable to function normally especially Esteban Cambiasso who was dominated by Raul Mereiles , Banega was also not his usual self and Mascherano gave away a lot of possession. Messi stepped in the battle of midfield and he able to produce tons of good passes , create more opportunity for attacking and displayed his excellent dribbling skill. I believe Argentina would become even ferocious with the return of Higua'in and Tevez.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Messi HATTRICK !!!
First , I would like to mention that this post is going to be a short one as I could not find a suitable way to describe the supremacy of Lionel Messi. I'm glad to be Barca fan.
Excellent and accurate passing led to Messi 's fantastic finishing
Messi passed to Villa but his shot blocked by David De Gea so he finished the mess
I believed FC Barcelona can achieve treble this year.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Boin ... Boin... Bounce back
Recently , Liverpool had bounced back from their poor form during the early season. Although their biggest star Fernando Torres left to their rival - Chelsea , they bought young and talented forward like Andy Caroll and Luis Suarez. Suarez just scored an amazing goal during his debut against Stoke City.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Copa del Rey Final - FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid CF
I was quite impressed with FC Barcelona as they managed to win Almeria easily by fielding mostly second string players like Bojan , Afellay , Nolito , Adriano , Thiago , Keita , Mascherano , Milito & Pinto. However , their performance were world class and this already showing the depth of Barca 's bench. Even without relying on their star players , Barca was still a fantastic team. The starting lineup was shown as below.
Nolito Bojan Afellay
Keita Thiago Mascherano
Adriano Busquets Milito (c) Alves
Pinto
They managed to control the pace of the game like usual.(Thanks to Thiago , Keita and Mascherano for their work-rate and persistence) At 34 minutes , Adriano went on a nice run and pass through 2 defenders ....... OMG He netted his first goal for Barca !!! This was a vital goal which boasted their confidence to score again. 1-0 was not enough for Barca
The second goal was stunning as well. At 55 or 56 minutes , Thiago firstly passed the ball to unmarked Dani Alves on the right flank and quickly ran into the box to receive a superb crossing from Dani. Then , Thiago sent the ball on the left side of goal area with a header. The ball flew so high till Esteban had no chance to deny it. What a goal !!!
Ibrahim Afellay , the new signing from PSV scored the third goal of Barca which was his first one as Los Blaugrana 's player. Keita passed the ball to Afellay and Afellay immediately drived into the box and blasted a low shot which sleek past Esteban. Barca reached the final with an impressive 8-0 aggregated victory and their opponent was Real Madrid. Let us crush them in the final.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Red Devil
Manchester United still remained unbeaten after they grabbed 3 points easily from Aston Villa despite Darren Bent 's single effort was not enough to save them from losing to the ''invincible'' Man Utd. Although I'm not a big fan of Man Utd , I admit that they 're the top team in EPL and one of the contender to win the UEFA Champion League title.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The January 2011 transfer
Well ! Everyone knew that Fernando Torres a.k.a El Niño had left Anfield and headed to Stamford Bridge. This is going to be the transfer of year as Chelsea spent € 58.5 m on Torres & another € 23 m on David Luiz. This time , Manchester City spent less than Chelsea.
Phew ...... by the way , what made me so excited is Chelsea will face Liverpool on 7 Feb. What a coincidence ! Torres 're wearing in Blue uniform to face his former team but what formation will be used by Carlo Ancelotti ? I personally predicted they 're going to use 4-4-2 as shown as below. Why ? The combination of Torres and Drogba are very formiable with the support of Lampard and Malouda which made them a very great attacking team.
Florent Malouda Frank Lampard Essien Ramires
Ashley Cole John Terry(c) David Luiz Branislav Ivanovic
Petr Cech
I think both team has equal chance against each other but I just can't imagine Torres will face Liverpool so early. I 'm expecting Luis Suarez & Andy Carroll will going to rock Chelsea during their debut.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thank You Camuñas
First , I predicted Osasuna will have zero chance against Real Madrid as I admitted Real Madrid was strong but Osasuna displayed a stunning win over Real Madrid.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
My football jersey collection ( Stilll noob)
Since I was a football maniac , my passion to collect football jersey grew stronger and I only bought a few jersey.
FOOTBALL !!!
I left this blog for such a long time and I suddenly have a feeling to share something on this blog.
FOOTBALL
First of all , I would like to thank Joan Gamper as he found the FC Barcelona. What is so special about this football club ? I love Barca because of their unique identity. Unlike their archrival - Real Madrid , they 're really emphasise on youth academy - La Masia. Most of their players are promoted from their youth system including Messi , Xavi , Iniesta , Busquets , Pedro , Puyol , Pique , Valdes , Bojan , Cesc Fabregas ( Arsenal ) , Mikel Arteta ( Everton ) , Pepe Reina ( Liverpool ) , Thago Motta ( Inter Milan ) & many others.
Some videos which mostly consists of FC Barcelona top matches
FC Barcelona vs Hercules
I almost fall asleep last night but I forced myself to stay awake in order to watch my FC Barcelona took their revenge on Hercules which beat them earlier in the campaign. Phew ! I was happy that I managed to witness Barca avenge their first loss in Liga BBVA.
Hmm... this match was not the best of Barca but they still managed to win this battle with a 3-point margin and thank to a goal fom Pedro and a brace from Messi .
His second goal showed his instinct to score even just a simple tap-in. A great assist from Alves.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
My trip to Sibu 4/4 - 6/4
I took three days off in order to accompany my father to Sibu for Qingming Festival. I actually hated going to Sibu because the road trip was pretty long and boring. However , I was the eldest son so I should visit my ancestor's tomb as I never swept my ancestor's grave before. However , my mum and sister didn't follow us in order to look after the house.
The First Day :
My youngest uncle suddenly telephoned my dad that he was going to follow my dad's car so we had to wait him to come to our house. After 20 minutes , he arrived and we started our road journey to Sibu. It took us about 6 hours to reach Sibu. We actually decided to having our lunch at a famous ''鼎边糊'' store but it already closed. So , we just bought some Kompia (kaya filling & butter filling) to fill up our hungry stomach. Then , we went to my second elder uncle 's house. I slept around 10 p.m. on that night as I had to woke up very early the next morning.
The Second Day :
I woke up around 3.45 a.m. on that morning. Although I felt sleepy , I forced myself to stay awake as we had to leave before 4 a.m. Then , we went to fetch my third elder uncle in inner part of Sungai Bidut. We reached the town area of Sibu around 5 a.m. Then , we having our breakfast at a nearby hawker stall . I ordered a bowl of ''八珍粿汁'' (Kway Chap). It was way more delicious than Miri one but it was cheaper. Oh my God ! Sibu folks took the Qingming festival seriously. You could not avoid traffic jam even you went to the grave site early in the morning. Everyone went to the grave site early in the morning! There were some traffic polices on duty to maintain the order of traffic at the roads around grave site. Wow ! I could not imagine that there thousands of people who were doing their grave site veneration. We had to walk to the grave site as we could not find an ideal parking site and most probably due to our late arrival (5.30a.m.).
There were flower vendors everywhere. The grave sites were huge. It took us more than 25 minutes to reach my great grandfather 's tomb. My great-uncle and his family already arrived there. Then , my cousins and uncles started to burn paper money and paper replicas of some material good such a car, maid, clothes, shoes and others. My family didn't burn as we were Christian as well as my eldest uncle and his family.
Next , I went to my grandmother's tomb which located at another grave sites. The second trip became even tough as the sun was burning hot. This trip took us about 30 minutes. Besides , I also paying respect to my deceased cousin.
Then , we were having dim sum as lunch at Good Happiness Restaurant (旺喜楼). The dim sum was quite nice and the price was reasonable. After that , we went to my uncle's house. My father was playing '' mahjong'' with my uncles and cousin-in-law. I played the PSP for the whole afternoon.
The Third Day :
I was frustrated as I missed the chance to try ''kampua'' at Rasa Sayang (famous kampua foodstall) but I tried kampua at another stall. I personally thought this one was also very delicious.Bla..... I went back to my hometown ~ Miri.
During this trip , my bond with cousins were tightened.
Me , my brother and my niece.
Friday, April 2, 2010
~ Rising NBA Young Team ~
I'm really enjoy watching NBA but a lot of things change in this season. Could we all agree than LeBron James is the best player in the league ? Maybe he is not but I could said that he is currently the best player in the best team. That doesn't matter to me because I know he could easily become the best player with his freaking basketball talent. What most impresses me is the rising of young , talented NBA team.
The West representative ~ OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
Kevin Durant is undoubtedly the leader of Oklahoma City Thunder. He is a 6'9 small forward who is capable to play power forward. Although he has a slender build , he often used it as a lethal weapon to outplay his opponents by posting up bigger player while shooting over smaller guard.
Durantula is getting better and better each year. His individual statistic of this year is outstanding. He averages 29.7 p.p.g , 7.6 r.p.g. and 2.7 a.p.g. His 7 consecutive games scoring 30 or more points is really impressive. Besides , he has the most 30 + point games in one season through 74 games in 2009-2010 season.( 40 ) and 29 consecutive games scoring 25 or more points.
Oklahoma City Thunder crushed La Lakers and ended their seven straight win by 91 - 75. Kobe was held to 11 point of 4-of-11 shooting with 9 turnovers while Kevin Durant poured 26 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.
"[Oklahoma City] did a great job defensively," Bryant said. "It's disappointing we didn't respond to the challenge." ( Kobe was really disappointed that they could not keep up with the young OKC. )
"Kobe had nine turnovers and you can't do that," Jackson said. "You can't have a game like that and expect to have success especially this late in the season."
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
My New Interest
Recently , I'm really enjoy watching mixed martial art ( MMA ). Maybe most of you probably never heard about it before ?
What is MMA ?
It is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting technique which included the usage of striking and grappling skills , both while standing and on the ground. So , MMA allows fighters from different fighting backgrounds to compete but with certain rules such as biting , eye-gouging , strike to groin , fish-hooking and small joint manipulation are banned.
What's so interesting about it ?
In MMA , a martial artist must cross train in a variety of styles in order to counter their opponent's strength. If he is focus on a particular aspect of style , it is almost imposible for him to overcome another fighter which have perfertly mastered different styles. For instance , a stand-up fighter has least chance to defeat a submission fighter who has trained in takedown (grappling) or they have greater chance to end up with severe injury. So , MMA matches are usually nasty and barbaric. ( Exciting )
A submission fighter will easily overcome stand-up fighter such as boxer , muay thai or karate which more focus on striking techniques.
A stand-up fighter is unable to compete with martial artist which is excel in ground fighting.
MMA can be brutal and bloody as shown as above if you 're not a well-around fighter or even turned up like this.
What is stand-up fighting ?
A stand-up fighter is usually excel in striking techniques such as punching , kicking , kneeing , elbowing and footwork. The combatants are more adapting in hand-to-hand combat which takes place while they 're in standing position. They are more proficient when they're at punching and kicking distance but extremely weak at clinching zone as they couldn't throw their punches or swing their kick properly. Boxing , muay thai , full-contact karate and taekwando are popular types of stand-up fighting.
Cliching fighting is a part of stand-up fighting where the fighters are grappling in a clinch , usually using a clinch hold. Though clinching , the user is able to eliminate the usage of striking skills and can be used to switch from stand-up fighting into ground fighting by using sweep kicks , throws and takedowns. Sometimes , submission techniques can be applied effectively from the clinch without engaging a ground fighting. Judo , sambo and wrestling are examples of combat sport which greatly emphasized on clinching.
Guillotine choke is the most well-known submission hold which turned out to be an extremely effective way to defeat opponent.
Ground fighting is a type of nasty hand-to-hand combat which takes place while the combatants are on the ground, generally involving a degree of grappling. Ground fighting experts will easily overpower their opponent by using grappling hold. Brazillian Jiu jit su (BJJ) is one of the most ideal ground fighting which utilizing ground fighting techniques and submission holds involving joint locks and chokeholds. The premise is that most of the advantage of a larger, stronger opponent comes from superior reach and more powerful strikes, both of which are somehow negated when grappling on the ground.
So far I think BJJ is the most interesting combat sport as smaller and weaker guy can successfully defend themself against a bigger, stronger fighter by using leverage and proper technique by grappling.
Striking on the ground is also an important aspect of ground fighting. Typically , a top position is better for various strikes than a bottom position , simply because the combatant in the top position can generate the distance and movement needed for effective strikes, while the bottom combatant is restricted by the ground and by the combatant on top.
Hmmm.... I think it is enough for me to write such a long post about MMA and most of you are probably feel bored. Me too...... but anyways hope all of you would enjoy this combat sport.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I was on a horrible bad luck spree
I just had really bad luck yesterday ...... I was quite disappointed with my previous company and I met a horrible family. I spent half an hour to do a simple demonstration because they were not satisfied and they kept asking me a lot of questions. Yeah ! Stupid questions.
'' Can I adjust the brightness of this computerized dictionary ? ''
I replied them whether if the brightness setting was not bright enough or you prefer other brighter theme?
'' No ...... I'm just asking. ''
WTF ! Then , they kept asking a lot of weird questions until they felt satisfied.( around 30 minutes )
''Can I write the chinese character on the screen ? '' ( Hey ! Do you know what the meaning of touchscreen. )
I asked them whether they prefer to purchase by cash or credit card. They said by credit card.
'' Hmm..... Ok ! '' ( I did as usual and inserted the card into the machine)
However ...
'' Didi...... '' and that card was declined. ''
'' Sorry ! your card was declined.Do you have another card or you can pay by cash ? ''
'' This is my only card. Maybe your machine got problem.'' His wife started to provoke me and asking me whether you know how to use the machine.
His wife asked me to try again and again. ( I think I had tried over 20 times until he finally willing to pick up his Nokia 5800 and telephoned the bank. I didn't know about their conversation and just hoping my bad night could end soon. )
'' Sorry ah ! I forgot I just paid the debt this morning so I only can use my card tomorrow. ''
'' Ok Sir ... I help you to keep your dictionary first and you can come here tomorrow yo get it when your card can be used. ''
'' No ...... I take it back first and I come back to pay tomorrow.'' ( WTF ? You thought our company are charity or you thought I am that stupid until to give you an item over RM 1500 before you pay. )
After they failed to convince me to give them the dictionary , they went away and I sat down with a sigh of relief. Phew ...... What a troublesome family and I hope I would never meet this kind of customer again.
Suddenly , the man came back and he asked me whether he could paid by cheque. WTF ? He again......
'' Sorry ! Our company do not accept cheque.'' Now , he really went back and I finally could breathed a sigh of relief. Then , I went to San Francisco Coffee to buy a slice of cheese cake because all cakes were deducted 50 % at night. RM 7.95 for the cake was out of my expectation as I didn't knew that the promotion was not valid on that night. I wanted to save my money but the barista at SF Coffee already packed up the cake and gave me a ''wicked '' smile so I had being forced to buy it. What a bad day for me ?
However , my bad luck spree hadn't ended yet. That customer came today before 10 a.m. and he telephoned my boss and said there was nobody at my counter. That meant he told the boss that I was late to work. WTF ! Why you came so early ? Of course there was no people at the counter because our business hour started from 10.00 a.m. but you came around 9.50 a.m. Damn ! Why there was such an asshole appear on this world ? Even you are a customer but I think you should respect the promoter that serve you. Now , I 'm just hope my bad luck would ended as soon as possible. I felt want to hit that bastard so hard just like Manny Pacquiao did to his opponent.
Sorry for the violence photos but I do enjoy watching boxing and I 'm really want to release my anger.
Monday, March 29, 2010
What a fxxking day
Today , I went to work as usual and I was satisfied with my early sale. I managed to sell a product in the morning so I felt delighted over my performance. I thought today was going to be a pleasant day until I received my salary from my previous company. I was shocked and frustrated as my half-month salary only just RM 35.25. What happened ? Even a housemaid 's salary was higher than me. My salary equaled to RM 35.25 /12 = RM 2.94 per day while I worked from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m. So that meant my salary for an hour was RM 0.29.
WTF ? Could you all imagine that 29 cent for an hour ? This was totally bullshit and I was freaking annoyed with that company. I hope they would give me a good explanation while I hadn't get my paid slip. However , I felt glad that I made a right decision as I resigned at the end of February. Nothing would erase my anger except......
I wish I could throw a powerful left hook towards her face until her jaw broken. I was pretty pissed off . So , I was prepared to play Fight Night Round 4 tonight.
