FOOTBALL: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST STAGE DRAW

so e draw is finally out! how will each club perform tis year n will there b alot of surprises like last season when bayern munich exited early 2gether with liverpool?

bayern munich is drawn into group a with olympic lyon n celtic 2 b clubs dat can prevent them 2 go into e next stage. but with e signing of makaay, things should look brighter now 4 e generally old munich side.

arsenal is in group b with inter. dynamo kiev n lokomotiv moscow r both in e same group which is quite a coincidence 2 me, but these 2 r capable of providing some upsets in e champions league.

group c will c psv eindhoven, monaco n deportivo coruna 2 b e contenders dat r capable 2 reach e next stage. group d will b galatasaray, e former europe giant beaters, reak sociedad n last year's runner-up juventus. tis could b an exciting group as well.

rangers n man utd grace group e n perhaps stuttgart will b capable of providing some upsets here with panathinaikos but i think quite unlikely.

real madrid has porto, olympic marseille n partisan belgrade in their group f. e 2 countries of zidane n figo, they will have e chance 2 go home 2 pay a visit. partisan belgrade, e club dat upset newcastle will perform 4 e 1st time in e champions league.

lazio n chelsea take group g with ac milan, e champions having ajax n celta vigo in e last group. milan have 2 watch out on celta n ajax, these clubs r capable of beating any giants on their day.

so wat r ur opinions? who will go thru e 1st stage? which club will b e team 2 watch tis season? i alwiz give my opinions after e 1st stage becoz sometimes teams like ac milan n real madrid will suffer 2 even get thru e 1st stage. so i have no opinions 4 now.

as of writing tis, e uefa european football awards was oredi over. buffon is named e mvp n of coz e best goalie. roberto carlos 4 best defender, ruud van nistelrooy 4 best forward n nedved 4 best midfielder. u all should remember e incident where nedved tackled mcmanamann despite oredi almost qualifying e final last season. guess he is over-enthusiastic with e clash with real madrid. he could have played in e final if he was more careful n could b e big influence in changing e winners. juventus could have won if he was playing. buffon must have earned his mvp becoz of his penalty shootout display dat is spectacular. nistelrooy of coz 4 his quantity of goals scored.

MUSICAL N MARS

anyway, here is something not related 2 footie. i woke up yesterday morning with MediaCorp's Gold 90.5FM on n heard of e question being asked on flamingos. gold90.5fm is famous 4 playing those classic old songs, which i dun mind listening 4 a change from e contemporary music n song. e question asked about the reason why flamingos r considered illegal 2 b hunted during ancient rome. i remembered i came across tis stuff while surfing some game site forums a year back n came across tis under e game civilization 3. e reason was dat e tongue of e flamingo is a delicacy back then, with all those exotic meat dat mainly e rich people get 2 enjoy in those days. so u r allowed 2 hunt them 4 their tongues but u can't kill them. in other words, they can live tongue-less as long as u dun hurt any other part of e body, weird....i wonder wat they cook e tongue with? sambal belachan? haha! not sure they still do dat nowadays. my lecturer used 2 say dat hong kong cantonese eats anything dat has 4 legs but tables n anything dat has wings but planes. haha! while i shared with my s'porean pals dat i ate snakes, bats, rabbits, turtles, deers, wild boars, mountain boars, ant eaters and so on, they were so disgusted. hehe! i guess probably u dun have much jungles or any fit 2 b called one here dat they feel dat it is unacceptable. unlike my state, sarawak in malaysia which has vast supplies of these exotic meat.

well, e prize is 2 tickets 2 a musical play called forbidden city:portrait of an empress at e esplanade: theatres on e bay. it is about tis empress dowager cixi with singapore singer/actress kit chan acting as her. i had nvr attended anything at e esplanade, (e famous double durians here dat some called jackfruits or fly eyes or even bajahitam's(grasshopper man in those gaban days) eyes) but had visited e shops in it as well as e 'world flags made of hair' exhibition which is quite interesting. they hanged hundreds of flags made of hair all over e entrance. well, still finding a friend 2 go with me, provided i am free 2 go since uni work starts 2 pile up. if not, i may have 2 give away 2 my other friends or relatives. but still as an arki student, looking 4ward 2 e acoustics quality designed inside e durians. curious 2 know how well e sound travel in there, which is veli critical in theatre interior design.

but wat is so significant about aug 27th dat i won a prize? i didn't find anything interesting but of coz none other than mars! it marks e day mars is closest 2 earth since nearly 60,000 years ago, when the neanderthals lived. scientists claimed dat mars won't be this close again until 2287. my friends who went 2 have a look gave comments dat it is just like e size of e singaporean coins, n not even as big as e moon dat nite. i am not really interested as i had seen it around 4 e past week, kinda like a small red dot in e sky. Mars Exploration should have more insights on tis. read on if u r interested.

FOOTBALL INTRO: SEASON 2003/2004

well, football fans, do u think money is everything in football? n loyalty is no more e case nowadays. money, marketing, promotions, money again play e central role in generating a good football team? unfortunately, it seems dat way nowdays. just look at e powerhouses in europe. there was a debate dat onli e elites get 2 play in e champ league, so those less glamorous clubs from countries around europe like finland, sweden, norway, croatia, n so on dat u may even have a hard time pronouncing for us asians dun get e chance at all. even e club dat finished at e top of e table of their league.

i will like 2 focus tis season's start of coz with chelsea. n tis roman empire is building 'chelski' like no one's business. e money spent by real madrid for e past 4 seasons 2 acquire figo, zidane, ronaldo n beckham can b done in a few weeks in chelsea. dat's pretty scary, provided they can cooperate well n play dangerously. they oredi open up a golden opportunity in e multimillion champs league football by qualifying yesterday. it is still too early 2 say anything about chelsea, but so far so good. imagine u have in ur choice of 6 good quality strikers 2 field anytime.

newcastle is in deep shit not 2 qualify at all, drawing with Partizan Belgrade n lost in e penalty shoot-out. partizan become the first ever side from serbia to make the champions league group stages, thus wasted e chance 2 earn millions e competition can generate. with last weekend's lost 2 man utd, it seems dat they r still not up 2 standard with europe's elites. n 2 have alan shearer 2 miss a penalty is phenomenal! btw, e toon army better improve n win more tis season, they have 1 more enemy in chelsea tis season, n man city looks veli promising at e early stage of e season. nicholoas anelka seems 2 have a good season ahead. suddenly, there r many stars joining EPL tis season, n i was surprised many brazilians too. kleberson, jardel, elber (maybe) r some famous 1s.

btw, real madrid 2 me is starting 2 b in deep shit as well. i can c no reason of buying beckham but 4 asian market dominance. beckham 2 me does not even come close in terms of stability of passes, dribbles n shooting compared 2 figo n zidane. i watched e asian tour matches live, e 1 in hong kong n e 1 in thailand. he sux bigtime. i admit he has great deadball swirling free kicks dat is arguably great as well as great accurate crosses. but how many times can he actually get them rite 2 compensate his lousy ball passes n vision n dribbles? look at how he struggle 2 get past players, while zidane n figo dribbled past 2-3 players with ease. he may cross really great balls maximum 3-5 times a match, as well as cross really bad balls just as much or more.

i c real madrid r struggling 2 fit in beckham into e team 2 generate fan base n e whole midfield just have 2 have him playing regardless of how poor his performances will b. i may b wrong becoz e season is too young. but these r my early thoughts from e matches i watched. e whole team is revolved 2 fit him in. i think dat will bring a big damage in e long run. n with mekelele who is much more talented threatening 2 leave real, i think they have a major problem there. he is surely a much more complete player dat u can count on than beckham. beckham is not a consistent player, he performs well in 1 or 2 matches out of 10. i admit he is a good player, but not good enuf 2 fit in. e season ahead will prove whether my early opinions will b wrong.

well, e 1st leg of e supercup proved dat when they lost 1-2, but real finally won with a 3-0 scoreline with him scoring his debut competitive goal from a cross from ronaldo. it is still too early 2 say anything. i am a real madrid fan so i am pretty judgemental on their decisions. selling del bosque is another decision i find hard 2 accept, n people like houllier get 2 stay on in liverpool with much more lousy performances 1 after another.

REBLOGGING, TAKE 2!

OK, this is my 2nd attempt to blog something (the previous one failed). surely, i will not have the discipline to go on and on like those great bloggers out there. i will update whenever i have some thrash to talk about and share with. but anticipating alot of footie talking, and perhaps something about my everyday life here in Singapore. i will try 2 include in photo links relevant 2 e thrash i am talking daily so tis blog is not about words n more words. will set up a geocities account just 2 store them ASAP!