i finally went to the national stadium to watch a soccer match in so many light years. The TIGER FC Causeway Challenge. yea, another singapore vs. malaysia fixture.
rui yang and i were at the kallang mcdonalds there, getting our dinner takeaways and then proceed to the stadium. the stupid loser at the counter suppose to give us our burgers, then take like 10 mins plus, still havn't give us. i think he owed us the whole ice cream machine lar. waited so long...yea ok enuff of that rubbish. then we walked to the east entrance, at first like not much pple...
we meet terence there (can u believe it, terence lim wei shan!! watching football!!), sat down there, watch the players warm up. quite cool sia, see them doing some shooting practice.
arh, finally around 8, the match started...with Indra Sahdan and Noh Alam Shah up front, looked like sinagpore can win the match comfortably one. but the starting ten minutes was very boring, no organistation , no composure. they can't seem to find any tempo in the game.
the singapore player no. 2, was totally ineffective on the right flank, any attacks that went down the right seems to have stopped because of him. he didn't run at the defence, ball control was poor, and keep passing the ball back, seeming very relunctant to attack. the long passes from midfield to indra kept getting intercepted. that tactic didn't work well cos' the two malaysian centrebacks were very organised. some time later, indra injured. couldn't continue, so "raddy" put in ahmad latiff. he seemed pretty effective, as the lions began to play with more vigour, however, until half-time, it was still nil-nil.
at this crucial moment, coach Radojko "Raddy" Avramovic called me, desperately trying to persuade me to put on the national jersey and help the lions clinch victory. however, i was already registered with the "Seleção" (brazil national team). too bad, raddy had to make do with his mediocre players..
so, the second half started, and the crap no.2 player and alam shah were substituted. there was more attacking football, and the right flank always seem to be in action. the malaysians, too, were quick in breaking away for swift counterattacks, which was a very good tactic, considering aide iskandar and mr. precious weren't fast players..malaysia's best chance was from a free kick which hit the right hand post, and left lionel lewis heaving a sigh of relief (sounds like primary sch essay). the audience was quite pissed with a )-) scoreline while lasted till full-time. everyone was leaving already, until the announcer said that got penalty shoot-out....blah blah blah...and singapore won 5-4. i bet "raddy" wasn't too happy with the result, considering the lions were at full strrength and the malysians had little international experience.
i reached home at 11:30, took a bath and called coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to apologise for missing his training session. oh ya,remember to support me during the world cup, i will perhaps appear on the semi-final match or final, if brazil is losing. theo walcott? no...watch out for addison bain. a legend will be born.
