FOOTBALL: LAST 8

Here we are in the quarters! After some rest, it is time to watch the remaining matches. I will try to watch all 3 matches and not the Italy VS. Ukraine match since it looks like there will not be an upset.

Germany VS. Argentina 0-1

The host has the upper hand and homeground advantage but I really wish Messi and gang go through! I want Argentina to win because I am supporting them through! I wish the coach will bring Messi down to play attacking midfielder just behind Saviola and Crespo. This will give more options in attack and more headache to the Germans.

The Germans as always have a very organized team and I can only see their defence as being shaky from the previous matches. Argentina can exploit that but their own defence is no better. They need to beef up! In terms of attack, both should have the lethal attacking options as they are equally strong. Argentina will need the creativity of their South American football skills to beat the Germans.

Italy VS. Ukraine 1-0

The Italians are rather frustrated for being labelled as lucky to win their previous match against the Australians. Well, everyone swears that the last minute winner was not a penalty. Well, I heard the referee who gave that call against Italy while playing the South Koreans during the previous World Cup was badly abused by the mafia. This referee knows the consequences and won't repeat the same mistake. Or else, he will not leave Germany in one piece.

That aside, how true it is, Ukraine only has Shevchenko as everyone in the world been telling me. Well, they are truly the only darkhorse left in the competition. The underdog tag will be there even if they play to the finals. I am not going to think Ukraine will create an upset based on their nervous display against the Swiss the other time.

England VS. Portugal 1-0

The English has been underperforming for all the vast talents they have in the squad. Is it not time to show your true abilities? If not, when? More underpar performances? Still, they are the favourites to go through with Portugal heavily carded from the Dutch match. This handicap gives England the edge to win this clash.

England should consider pulling more midfielders closer to their forward if they still want to play with just one upfront. Rooney requires more support. Why not put Gerrard just behind him? Lampard should not keep trying if he can't score. Assist more scoring chances to others if he detects that the night is not his and there is no wind going his way. As for the captain, he should do what he does best - crosses after crosses and freekicks after freekicks.

Brazil VS. France 1-0

Nostalgic. Brings back memories of France '98! Everyone has been blaming Zidane for their slow pace in midfield. I don't understand, I saw France in their first match and I saw how many great passes Zidane executed into the penalty box for the forwards to score. I don't know why people say France will be much powerful without him because he slows the whole team down. If nothing goes wrong, I will see Brazil snatching a slim victory. A defeat will be shocking but will silent all the critics who complained the tournament is too predictable until now.

Ronaldo should be more mobile and keep up his play like when playing against Ghana. Adriano too should follow the same. Ronaldinho should be given more chances to go into the box more. Let the dude score some goals please. He is really deserving some! Still, this is a battle between the creative minds so I am looking forward to this as much as anybody!

BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALL PLEASE!

SUPERMAN RETURNS (THE IMAX EXPERIENCE)

This is my first movie watched at the Imax. It is also the most expensive film I ever watched. I thought we will be given those 3D glasses/goggles for the movie.

WARNING*spoilers*WARNING

First of all, Superman has a son?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on man! Are you serious? There was a debate going on between my friends and I about how Lois Lane married a guy and the son was Superman's. My friend had an answer.

He has supersperms. Off we died straight!

Then, he thought a little big further and said that how can the ovum take it? We resurrected and died again!

Then the debate raged on with the question of how can a normal human ovum take the massive attacks of the supersperms? Are they with wings? Do they fly instead of swimming? If all the sperms are so super, won't she conceive like millions of them and get alot of babies at the same time? Oh whatever....................

Overall, I like the film. The experience of watching at the upper decks of the IMAX theatre is abit difficult to get used to. First, the screen is too wide for both your eyes. You need to turn your head left or right sometimes to find the object of focus. After the show, we went to the last row and felt that it is the best seats for full coverage of the wideness of the screen. However, the experience could be different. The wide screen also forced you to spend some time focusing the screen. This is especially when the images are moving at fast pace and you need time to adjust your eyes to the speedy scenes. The sound system is not that outstanding but good enough to give you enough real time effects.

The guy who plays Superman is the best guy they could find. He looks exactly perfect for the role. I don't like Lois Lane though, she is to me lack the charisma and the sparkle as well as the curly hair just kill her off. Lois Lane with curly hair is just not right in my dictionary and she is abit short and plump. Lois Lane should be slimmer and taller.

The storyline is good and I very much enjoyed the movie. The speed of Superman going through sonic boom speed was a great effect too! I love that. The idea of having a son was abit shocking to me. In the old days, we used to speculate that if Lois Lane marries Superman, the baby will be flying (floating) around the house. Hehe! Lex Luthor was played well too. He looked just like him and acted just like him.

The ability for the superkid to resist the kryptonite is also very puzzling. Is the superbreed of Superman and human the reason? Haha! I wonder. The scene when he was a boy and running around and jumping in the farm reminds me of the scene of The Hulk! Exactly the same kind of movements. The use of computer renderings and effects really help brings up the speed, strength and impact of Superman as well as the damages and the extent of the destructions to greater heights. This gave us the audience more ability to feel the magnitude of his super powers.

I recommend you all to catch it eventhough you hate Superman.

FOOTBALL: BRAZIL 3-0 GHANA

Ronaldo broke the record for the highest scorer in World Cup finals history. It is not a free wide open shot or a good assist that require no effort or a bounced ball that drops in front of him to just tap in. It is a world class goal with a good dummy to deny the keeper and later to score with the pressure of a defender. That goal was worthy of the historic account! He proved his critics wrong for an automatic place in the first team.

Without Essien, Ghana still played extremely well, good flow of football with passes and some really nice assists into the penalty box. The lack of finishing, luck and the abundance of luck and good form of the defence and goalie Dida means Ghana play Brazil on the wrong day. The second goal scored by Adriano definitely looked like an offside goal. The Ghana players protested but it was useless. The referee also seems to be giving more decisions to the Brazilians. Tough luck! Still, Ghana played extremely well and the scoreline did not justify their performance and effort in the match.

The third goal came from a good run by Ze Roberto one on one with the goalkeeper after Ghana were 1 player down. There were many great chances for Brazil to increase the scoreline but I guess it was more than enough. It could be 4-0 or 5-0. I love the scene where Ronaldinho was open wide and the person who had the ball could just assist to him to score into the empty net. However, he decided to try himself and left Ronaldinho extremely frustrated, like a 8 year old boy denied his Transformer toys kind of expression. Haha!

The game was played beautifully in good will and spirit so it was a nice match. I hope Essien was playing. What a pity!

Was commenting about the England match with the friends here and they told me they vomitted blood seeing how England played in the World Cup. Many told me England were lucky to meet weak oppositions and they went through matches with all the lucky goals. I guess Teg you are too bias in your comments on England. Many people are shooting them down as extremely pathetic. The captain does not perform his duty as a leader on the field, he is basically minding his own business, there is no teamwork, each other playing their own game and playing Rooney alone up there is a tragic choice! These are some comments given by people who blasted their performance thus far. Will they ever improve? However, they are already given a great handicapped match against Portugal with so many players suspended. Lady luck again?

Spain were defeated by the experienced French. Not at all shocking to me since the Spainish are still clueless who they will put in their best midfield line-up. The always underperformers tag is there again alive.

Two days rest and the last 8 will start.

Germany VS. Argentina
Italy VS. Ukraine
England VS. Portugal
Brazil VS. France

Who you want to get through for all the matchups? I am going to support Argentina from now onwards as Spain are out.

I am in Johor with minimum Net access so I will reply all comments as soon as I get home in 2-3 days time. See you guys!

FOOTBALL: ARGENTINA 2-1 MEXICO

I went down 30 minutes earlier to find the reception in the tv room to be extremely bad. I went to the next block and found the same problem. I manually adjusted the channel for both and failed to get a decent graphic. The sound is crystal clear though.

I gave up, sat there with my computer on and do my CAD assignments as I hear a LIVE broadcast on TV! This is in black and white, super heavy thunderstorm rain with kick-ass tsunami attack, you are basically seeing lines and dots on television! Therefore, it is literally a radio broadcast for me! Haha!

Here is the interesting account of my live radio broadcast experience on tv!

1. the security guard was making his rounds and came in and sat down and watch the lines on tv with clear commentators commenting on the match and still can settle down to hear the progress. He got fed up and left to continue his rounds.

2. a Vietnamese came in shortly after to watch with me and also gave up. This was like near half time.

3. I slept almost the whole 2nd half and woke up in extra time.

4. 3 German guys came back from clubbing and was asking me about the scoreline and tried again to put in all the effort to adust the tv. Only two stayed back to hear the LIVE radio broadcast until the end because all failed to get a clear graphic in the end after putting in so much effort sitting in front of the tv. Haha!

This is the most exciting football match I ever heard on tv! This is how sad my World Cup experience this year is!

Somebody sponsor me some free football live matches to watch!

Every Tom, Dick and Harry has been telling me how super incredible the extra time winning goal by Maxi Rodriguez was scored! Did you guys see it? Go to YouTube if you haven't. It is cool!

England just won the match against Ecuador. No live on tv so I was following ESPN Soccernet Gamecast. The last comment of the match was harsh on England. How did the match really go?

92 mins - FULL-TIME: One of the worst matches, not only of this World Cup, but of any World Cup throughout history. Ever. England stumble through thanks to Beckham's second half free kick, the highlight of a thoroughly uninspiring performance.

Goal.com headlines read:
Tedious England Lumber On
Boring England Plough Through

Haha! Is the match really that bad?

FOOTBALL: LAST 16

First of all, goodbye all hot Korean and Japanese chicks. さようなら! 안녕!





June 24 Germany VS. Sweden
June 24 Argentina VS. Mexico

June 25 England VS. Ecuador
June 25 Portugal VS. Netherlands

June 26 Italy VS. Australia
June 26 Switzerland VS. Ukraine

June 27 Brazil VS. Ghana
June 27 Spain VS. France

Now, we are at the elimination stage! Who do you think will survive from all those matchups?

As for now, I go for:
Germany
Argentina
50-50 (England VS. Ecuador)
50-50 (Portugal VS. Netherlands)
Italy
Switzerland
Brazil
50-50 (Spain VS. France)





Will Klose score again tonight and be in a better position to win the golden boot? Argentina will have a stern test tonight with Mexico but I believe in the capabilities of the talents of theirs to shine through!

COWS EVERYWHERE!

How will you react when you see flowery cows in different colours wondering around in empty glass lands around Singapore? Hehe!







Probably some advertisements or art festival promotion. This is like a month ago. Just one comment though, a cow without any teat or udder just won't make it complete! Haha!

FOOTBALL: SAUDI ARABIA 0-1 SPAIN

Spain played well in the first half but were miserably in the second half. The only player worth mentioning is Joaquin with his great skills on the ball. Raul again disappoint while Reyes is again the player who gets on my nerves with his attitude. This player really has attitude problem. He deserves the yellow card. Saudi Arabia for all the effort they put in, should get a goal. They were just bad with finishing. The Spainish defence was not very strong. The Saudi Arabia goalie also did his part to keep out some great shots on goal. Their hardwork maintained the scoreline low.

FOOTBALL: CZECH REPUBLIC 0-2 ITALY

The Czechs have been really hardworking, deserving some goals scored but the Italians have some really good defending in the final moments of every offensive force to kill the chances. Cannavaro to me was so damn rock solid in front of the goal it is just not right not to mention his outstanding performance. Buffon too for his great reflexes denying some dangerous shots none other than the best Czech player on the field, Nedved.

The lucky corner kick header goal scored by Materazzi and an early red card of Polak really swung all the efforts of the Czechs to the dumps. The early substitution of Baros too made me wonder why they need another person when he truthfully played well and putting in alot of effort. The coach probably wanted a fresh player when Baros just can't deliver the goals.

With the bad news from bad home in Italy and until now we have not got a very clear verdict, it will surely affect them one way or another. This is especially for the Juventus and Milan players as their futures are at stake. Still Italy showed alot of patience in the game, alot of great passings and calming themselves well as they went to search for the goals.

The Czechs looked more urgent from the very first whistle as they know they must win to assure them of some chances to go through to the next round. Eventhough they failed to get the goals, they really played hard and made the whole match really exciting. Both teams play well and clean to give the game alot of smooth flow of attacking, defending and great passes. I enjoyed the match and I really hope Italy can keep up with their style. I also like Totti's new haircut, much cleaner and neat. He went for some shots on goal which were extremely tame. Apart from some midfield mistakes of retaining possessions, Italy should be strong enough for the last 16. Ghana will follow them through after the win against the United States.

BTW, don't you think Italy has some words that rhyme? Totti, Moggi, Lippi? Hehe!

FOOTBALL: BRING ON THE MESSI AND TEVEZ SHOW!

Michael Owen out for 5 months? Good luck England! Sorry Newcastle! Bring on Walcott and let the world see what he is capable of after all the rumours of his greatness which he never have the chance to demonstrate by sitting at the substitute's bench. Let him show off his skills!

My WILD predictions for tonight! Who cares about the scores, I just want to watch the Messi and Tevez show! Bring them on! I hope Holland give them a strong challenge. Come on Robben! The most anticipated matchup so far! I hope the players mentioned below will not be rested!

BRING ON THE BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALL!

Messi, Tevez, Riquelme, Saviola, Rodriguez, Robben and Van Persie are the reasons for that!

Ivory Coast VS. Serbia & Montenegro 2-0
Netherlands VS. Argentina 0-2
Iran VS. Angola 0-1
Portugal VS. Mexico 1-1
Czech Republic VS. Italy 0-1
Ghana VS. United States 1-0
Croatia VS. Australia 0-1
Japan VS. Brazil 0-2
Switzerland VS. South Korea 1-0
Togo VS. France 0-2
Saudi Arabia VS. Spain 0-4
Ukraine VS. Tunisia 2-0

So far, the news I heard is that 4 teams will be in deep shit next season in Italy. Juventus might end up playing in Serie C instead of Serie B. Fiorentina and Lazio will get heavy points deduction but will still be eligible to play in Serie A. Milan will go to Serie B with heavy points deduction too. Imagine you play Football Manager or Championship Manager next season and you get to play Juventus in Serie C! Wahlau eh! However, the transfers of players and managers will be interesting to watch! It is time Real Madrid seize the opportunity!

Just think of the sponsorships and the tv revenues. How can they now even pay world class players when all these are no longer possibly reach Serie A value? Will you see jerseys with no advertisements like Barcelona? They won't afford to pay players and coaches. The players also will have their reputations ruined if they play in Serie B or C. No more Champions League football too!

On the other hand, one wonders why Juventus and Milan need to involve in the whole scandal. I mean they are all the while strong clubs in Serie A. Why take such risks? They are not Chelsea, an average club who suddenly become one of the superpowers. They are all the while the superpowers of Italy and European football. Makes you wonder. The greed of men? I wonder.

THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO

*WARNING*spoilers*WARNING*

Thanks to youth.sg, I got two free tickets to watch this movie. I went with my friend Mares and later dined in Kenny Rogers! It has been years since I ate there! This is the first time I watch a movie in Marina Square and my oh my, how small the screen is! It has big cineplex room size but the size of the screen is pathetic! OK, back to the movie.

This drama + documentary combo movie was the story about 3 Pakistan friends who were in Afghanistan after the aftermaths of 9/11. They went through the bombing phases from the Americans to the overpowering of Afghanistan until their capture in the camp and final destination in Guantanamo, Cuba for interrogations of any relations to Al-Qaeda. The movie shows some footages of the real scene in Afghanistan at that time as well as interviews going on with this 3 British-Pakistani friends.

Half of the movie is spent in the American camp. How they were tested for years to force those who are linked or related to Al-Qaeda to come out and confess. The innocent ones suffered the most in the ordeal as they are accussed in different ways to get them to confess. It is basically to force those related to come out finally from all the different methods of treatment. My Singaporean friend told me the treatment is considered appropriate since the main objective is to instill discipline and fear in the detainees.

One wonders whether the state of mind, the emotional breakdown and the depression state of mind may force some of them to admit something they don't do at all. Not everyone can stand the long suffering to find the possible links to Al-Qaeda. Some may just go wild like someone dying of thirst in the desert who are easily swayed by the imaginations of an oasis in front of them! They could just reach their limits and admit defeat by getting the easy way out! It is basically the survival of the fittest! Think Survivor.

Are people to be detained for years if there are no evidences against them? There are no official charges too. They are just at the wrong place at the wrong time and because they can speak English! What are the human rights?

The first half of the movie shows the scenery in Pakistan and Afghanistan and the aftermaths of the bombings in Afghanistan by the United States. The life in the streets and the atmosphere in their towns show us some pictures of one of the most restricted countries in the world. The chaos when the war starts, the deaths from the bombings, the mistreatments of captives and so on are all documented in the movie.

Overall, the documentary-drama movie is alright for me. It shows the tension at that time in Afghanistan after September 11 and how the world, especially the British and the American view the Middle East very suspiciously. It shows how the unlucky are being punished and those who are still undergoing the process even until today in Guantanamo. Moral of the story? Being at the wrong place at the wrong time can really bring bad consequences to your life and change it forever. I am sure this movie will get 100% approval to be shown in a Muslim country like Malaysia!

This whole terrorist thing has shifted the trust so much that most of the people from the Middle East come to visit and study in this part of the world far more now. Middle Eastern cuisines just keep on mushrooming all over the region and I even ate in a Middle Eastern buffet in Genting Highlands!!! I even get to meet some Middle Eastern in university.

FOOTBALL: ASIANS DREW, BRAZIL UNCONVINCING

Well, Japan were involved in a goalless draw while the Koreans held the French 1-1 with a very late goal. It seems like the French will have to win the last match to have the best possibilities of going to the next round. Brazil were still very unconvincing with their display of football, hardly look like the most likely winner for the World Cup this time around. The decision to play Ronaldo again and again puzzled me.

My predictions for the next few matches:

Togo VS. Switzerland 0-2
Saudi Arabia VS. Ukraine 0-3
Spain VS. Tunisia 2-0
Costa Rica VS. Poland 1-1
Ecuador VS. Germany 1-0
Sweden VS. England 1-1
Paraguay VS. Trinidad & Tobago 1-1

The last round of matches of the group stage will be harder to predict since some will decide to rest players for fear of injuries and suspensions as well as some are willing to go all out to secure a win to qualify. Some want to secure first place in the group so they can meet weaker opponents in the knock-out stages! Therefore, the predictions will change to the last minute before the match because I need to know who are going to play!

I will be too ambitious to give dark horses some wins so it will not be true to the real fair prediction so don't bet on them! I repeat, these are extreme wild guesses!

FOOTBALL: GHANA UPSET, ITALY DRAWN

It seems more and more to me that you have an alternate days of high scoring and low scoring matches. It means tonight we will have high scoring matches!!! Haha! I wish! Michael Essien's Ghana had upset Czech Republic after my friend kept complaining that this World Cup is getting too predictable. We were having discussions before the Portugal match when he asked me about the scoreline. I told him the score will be 2-0 as reflected in my blog. I agreed, telling him that my predictions are quite close with 3 scores that were accurate so far.

This World Cup is more predictable than the previous one in Korea-Japan. At least, we have less controversial matches for this one and we got to see plenty of beautiful football. That to me is more important than the predictability of the matches.

One puzzling matter we had seen in the latest Dutch match as well as the French match was whether to play on when a player is down and possibly injured and require treatment. There seem to be alot of confusion and the best part was that a Swiss player was even given a yellow card for not kicking the ball out to stop play. If the player is going to be treated outside the field, why do they need to stop play? I am confused as anybody. However, if the player is down and seems injured and is inside the field, it is of course sensible to kick the ball out to stop play.

The Brazilian and French have alot to prove tonight. They better score alot or else, they will lose their reputations! The two individuals who will be under the most pressure tonight is Ronaldo (if he plays) and Henry!

On another matter, my friend Miss Liza Cheng just visited me and brought some pineapple tarts from Malacca. Malacca is famous for having the best pineapple tarts in Malaysia! They tasted great, YUUUUUUMMMMMMYYYYYY! Thanks Liza!





On another other matter, hehe! I got 4 free tickets to go watch some live bands performance for the Singapore Arts Festival 2006 called Rock D'Fort. I don't feel like going as well as busy with some shopping chores. Therefore, I decided to put them all into an envelope and paste it beside the most busiest lift in the whole hostel. Haha! Whoever got it, hope that they enjoy themselves.

FOOTBALL: NETHERLANDS 2-1 IVORY COAST

Ivory Coast deserve a draw for their really good performance. I pity Ivory Coast and I would say the goalkeeper was a very nervous dude down there, which almost cost his team more goals scored against them. He loves to pass the ball to his defenders eventhough the strikers are so dangerously close!

Van Persie freekick opener was a nice one although a defender almost managed to deflect it. The second by Robben's assist to van Nistelrooy was a good vision for the unmarked striker to go in 1 on 1 to beat the goalie. The 3rd goal by the small man Bakari Kone was another screamer with a speedy run over 4-5 players before executing a superb kick. Romaric, Zokora, Eboue and Kolo Toure have all impressed for the Ivory Coast. In fact, the whole team played well with good set pieces and passes to break open the Holland defence. They managed alot of shots but just lack that last finishing touch to score.

Van Persie was doing more defending in the second half with the rest of the Dutch as they were pressured in their own half with the great passings of the Ivory Coast. Robben was probably the first person in the tournament to be booked for diving. He would be fined I heard. Van Bommel was another player whom to me went down too easily as well. There were many yellow cards given as well, which is 7! The stadium was full of orange and you wonder where have all the Ivory Coast supporters gone to. Well, this match adds to a truly great night of football watching.

The prediction of mine for the next set of matches:
Portugal VS. Iran 2-0
Czech Republic VS. Ghana 1-0
Italy VS. United States 2-0
Japan VS. Croatia 0-2
Brazil VS. Australia 2-0
France VS. South Korea 1-0

FOOTBALL: ARGENTINA RUN RIOT!

Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Montenegro!

Move over Spain, Argentina scored far more! Now, I want to move them above England as a better contender to win the World Cup. England already disappoint for the first two matches, I will view Brazil's next match to think over the their chances. I will also observe Spain as well as Italy. The forms of teams should settle down more by the last 16 stage. I will reaffirm my top 3 choices by then. Now, let me watch the Dutch match!

By the way, the teamwork that ended with a Crespo back heel assist for Cambiasso to score was a great goal man! Riquelme should be the best performing Argentina on the field. He deserves the man of the match eventhough he didn't score a single goal. Tevez goal was beautiful too!

Finally, I want to say that
Leo Messi is GOD!

Move over Walcott, move over Rooney, move over Robinho, Messi rulez! He came in in the 74th minute. In 16 minutes, he assisted one, built up one and scored one himself!

FOOTBALL: GO SPANISH ARMADA!

Spain 4-0 Ukraine!

Cool result man! The biggest winning margin from the first round of matches in the group stages. They are much better than my expectations. Unfortunately, I gone out with a friend and missed the match. At least the Spanish still perform under the tremendous heat. This is probably because they are closer to the mediterranean zone than Ukraine so they were more accustomed to the heat. I hope they keep up their performance and improve further to give the tournament more things to cheer for! This definitely helps to forget the lousy French and Brazilian matches the day before.

I am glad Raul was dropped for the Villa-Torres partnership! It is time Brazil have the same courage to drop Ronaldo and put in a more deserving player like Robinho. Those two are really pathetic in form for the past 3 years. Raul especially probably is as miserable as Crouch for his 18 matches no goal record. To me, it is simple. A striker who cannot score goals is not doing his job and is not worthy of a place in the team. If they are not performing, they should be substituted as soon as possible.

I am glad Fabregas was given some part to play in the match but grow tremendously sad that Joaquin was discarded on the bench. I guess the Spanish has many good choices in the midfield area so I cannot blame the coach. There is still Albelda, Reyes and Iniesta apart from Joaquin. The team has a good balance of choices with Reina and Canizares as worthy subs for Casillas. They are probably just short at the defence and attack departments.

As for the England team, I read about the remarks of the Trinidad & Tobago coach. Leo Beenhakker insists England are little more than a dead-ball team.

'On paper England have more talent than us,' said Beenhakker.

'But in the last two matches England played they scored six times against Jamaica and once against Paraguay and five of those goals were from dead balls.'

'It's part of the game but it means they are struggling at beating opponents at playing football and creating chances.'

Germany managed a late goal from Oliver Neuville (haven't seen him for ages!) to get a win and qualify for the knock-out stages. Let's have more high scoring matches! Now comes the next few predictions:

Ecuador VS. Costa Rica 1-1
England VS. Trinidad & Tobago 1-0
Sweden VS. Paraguay 1-0
Argentina VS. Serbia & Montenegro 2-0
Netherlands VS. Ivory Coast 1-0
Mexico VS. Angola 1-0

FOOTBALL: BRAZIL 1-0 CROATIA

I am unable to give a detailed review as the channel was in bad shape and I am watching in black and white! The reception of TV1 (Malaysian TV) was not so nice so I had a nightmare watching this match at 3am! I think I just was trying my best to catch what came by when they focused in! Haha! In addition, I am really sleepy dudes!

Many attacks from both side but Croatia impressed alot. They should have scored couple of goals. Ronaldo was wasting Brazil's offense in front as he was not in form again. Kaka's goal was enough for a win but we expected more goals! Ronaldinho had balls stolen from him many times in the match. Brazil spent quite alot of time defending from the confident attacks by Croatia. Robinho was brought in late to replace Ronaldo but could not contribute any more goals. After this, they will have to improve when facing Australia and Japan.

FOOTBALL: FRANCE 0-0 SWITZERLAND

The French lacked the finishing, the referee was extremely weird, the Swiss were very dangerous but the score ended 0-0. Thierrry Henry again underperformed for France as he always did and the finishing was never there to get the goals. He looked pretty undecided, tame and not confident in front of the goal. The Swiss had not once but at least twice came extremely close to score a goal, one hit the post and then was kicked to the heavens eventhough Barthez was well beaten and sitting on the ground.

The chances were not taken well and the French really wasted many of great potential assists by Zidane. He had a good night for his age and at times, we can see how frustrated he was with their performance. I was surprised when Saha was brought in instead of Trezeguet. Both countries played very well defensively to deny each other. The referee was very inconsistent in giving cards away but overall was trigger happy giving away a total of 8 yellow cards with 5 to Switzerland.

Zidane was carded for kicking the freekick before the whistle was blown and Sagnol was given one for pushing around the penalty box. A card was given for a Swiss for not kicking the ball out when Henry was down, a card was given but no free kick (weird one) and another for a handball (trying to score the goal from it). I know many cards were given controversially. I guess this is probably what the match will be remembered.

FOOTBALL: LET THE SAMBA DANCE BEGIN!

I will skip the South Korean match but I will watch both France and Brazil matches. More sleepless nights await! Sleep daytime lah! Haha! I hope both matches will be explosive tonight!

So far, only 2 matches were predicted correctly by me. England and Italy matches. I need to improve! Haha!

NO FOOTBALL DAY

I am extremely exhausted as I have some work to do and didn't have enough sleep for the few nights of football watching. I am declaring no football watching tonight so I can recharge for the 3 giant matches of Brazil, France and Spain! Here are my predictions for the next few matches. I need to rest! You guys enjoy!

Brazil VS. Croatia 3-0
South Korea VS. Togo 1-1
France VS. Switzerland 2-0
Spain VS. Ukraine 1-0
Tunisia VS. Saudi Arabia 1-0
Germany VS. Poland 2-0

FOOTBALL: ANGOLA 0-1 PORTUGAL

I wanted to watch the S&M VS. Holland match but a lady was earlier at the TV room watching some serial so I had no choice but to miss it. Well, that's how it is with TV rooms, there are of course more in other blocks but I was also tired to go from block to block to check. Still, I read that Robben scored and was the biggest performer for the Dutch so that's good! I always love his skills on the field and enjoy watching him display them.

I managed to watch the second half of the Angola Vs. Portugal match. It was a 3am match here and I just needed more sleep. It is like having to wake up to watch Champions League everyday! Haha! I have to conclude that so far, the African teams have shown they are really hard to beat and really played well. Luis Figo's assist to Pauletta in the 4th minute made the difference. Apart from that, C.Ronaldo was substituted early probably to protect him from getting a red for all you know about his volatile character. The presence of Hugo Viana brought back memories of his years in Newcastle United. How he was among the few who was not favoured by the coach and was forced out of the squad reminded me of the sad story that destroyed one of Newcastle's talents.

The play was good but Portugal at times seemed to be wasting time and got their own fans booing them for not trying harder to score more. Angola passed well till the penalty box but never have a good shot at goal. Luis Figo was a hardworking left winger, running around trying to open up the defense of Angola. However, as he aged now, he lost possession much easier and was not as fast to recover once he went down. Still, he was the person who seemed most potentially possible in feeding the balls into the penalty box to give the strikers the sniff of goals.

Well, so far so good but just want to share that the Africans are proven to be good. The Asians should also have the same fighting spirit.

FOOTBALL: ARGENTINA 2-1 IVORY COAST

This is a much better match than the previous match with more set pieces, good passes, less brutal tackles and good flow of football. Riquelme was the man who assisted both goals so he was good. The first half saw a controversial goal that was not given to Argentina when it was clearly off the line. The anticipation of seeing Leo Messi playing did not come true.

The first half was great and Ivory Coast were really unlucky not to score for all the nice set pieces and good runs into the box. Drogba kept on 'dropping' so we decided to keep track how many times he 'drops'. It was quite plentiful so we decided to forget about it. The game was played with great spirit as the passes are clean and neat. The chances fall more to Ivory Coast but it was the Argentinian who took their chances well.

Argentina just sat back and defended for the second half, much of my disappointment. They seemed comfortable with the scoreline and did not threaten to go for more. While Costa Rica was less effective in the second half but I was glad they got 1 goal back. It was turning into a boring half where Argentina were reluctant to attack. It was a wake up call so both sides were playing with far more urgency in the last 10 minutes. The score stayed until the end.

Esteban Cambiasso is to me the worst player for Argentina as he gave away alot of balls to the opponents. Gneri Yaya Toure is my pick for the best player for Ivory Coast. Glad to see Saviola perform again after those great years in Barcelona. His built is totally like Michael Owen but this guy is a much better dribbler.

My predictions for the next few matches:
Serbia & Montenegro VS. Netherlands 1-2
Mexico VS. Iran 3-0
Angola VS. Portugal 0-2
Italy VS. Ghana 2-0
United States VS. Czech Republic 1-2
Australia VS. Japan 2-1

FOOTBALL: ENGLAND 1-0 PARAGUAY

Ha! For once my prediction comes through. I thought there will be a goal galore too for this one but I forgot England have no strikers. One just came back from a long injury while the other is a funny built. Both squads were toothless in attack, so many fouls, such a rough play from both sides, bad tacklings, no rhythm, it is a total contrast to the Germany-Costa Rica match last night. Most of the match was spent with high balls kicked here and there, headers meeting the ball here and there and the ball was going aimlessly everywhere. Could the heat affect the performance?

The first half saw a very nervous Paraguay start where they were contained in their own half. They were pretty unlucky to lose their keeper very early just after the own goal being scored. Jol Cole is my opinion the best English player while Ashley Cole is the worst. Ashley Cole gave away some possessions and bad tacklings. Crouch was spending more time given fouls for the headers because of his tall built. I guess he was just at a disadvantage for his height which proned the referee to blow against him almost all the time.

Who is this Downing that they put in? He spent time running aimlessly down the left flank for no reasons. I will bring Crouch out instead of Owen but then again, both were not dangerous in front. Why substitute Jol Cole? I don't get some of the decisions made. Cole, Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard were playing well for the first half but the second half only seen Cole doing some occassionally good runs and Lampard as the most probable person to be able to score for two good tries. Gerrard shot some wild shots in the first and spent most of the second half as a defender instead.

England should definitely improve from now on. This kind of showing and they are in the media everyday claiming they already won the World Cup? Please, we are not kids. They should think of how to push their goal scoring midfielders abit more forward because I don't think Crouch will score much and Owen is still not fully ready and sharp yet. Rooney? I don't know but I think he is rushed into the squad and history tells us that rushing normally will turn out to be a disaster.

Well, this match will be remembered for the 3 funny moments. One is when Paul Robinson took a goal kick and the ball hit the tv at the top of the centre of the stadium! I was like, wtf! Haha! It feels like the NBA stadiums. Then, Beckham was about to take the corner kick when the referee blown the whistle and he was halfway and tried to avoid kicking the ball! Finally, a ball challenge where Gerrard tried to get while I think it was Valdez who headbutted at the side of his thigh close to the knee! Gerrard ended up in pain on the floor while Valdez head was painless!

By the way, I almost miss this match as my friend who has cable was not back yet from his church activities. I rushed over to the university staff club as they do offer coverage there with a projector. When I arrived, the match just started and there were about 100 people over there. The atmosphere was great then. I really miss my home satellite tv. I wish I am at home right now. Really didn't expect Singapore to be so stingy to show only 4 matches on public tv. I will have the comfort to watch all the matches back home. I really regret not going home this time around.

I am missing the Trinidad & Tobago VS. Sweden match but I will try to watch Argentina VS. Ivory Coast later. Messi, Riquelme and Drogba, Toure. Who wants to miss this match?

Donny Ginola has joined the fantasy league. Here is his team:

FOOTBALL: GERMANY 4-2 COSTA RICA

Well, the goals should put a smile on everybody. It is better to have a goal fest than a careful 0-0 draw that bores everyone to death. Klose continued his scoring touch from the previous World Cup while Frings scored a superb goal that might never be matched for the whole tournament. Germany decided to shoot from outside, bombing the goal with some pretty scary shots that were quite close and accurate. The first goal itself by Lahm was beautifully shot at that exact top left corner of the goal before moving in nicely with a curling shot.

Costa Rica were on the other hand, trying to catch Germany with their offside furious runs with the speedy and magnificent Wanchope who scored both the goals and Ronald Gomez. Schweinsteiger (ok, I have difficulty spelling this name!) and Schneider (half as difficult) were doing alot of good runs, especially Schneider who is everywhere! Many attacks by Germany were from the wings as they either ran or passed the ball into the box.

However, the defense was pretty shaky and hence, Costa Rica were able to penetrate through with their super speedy front attacks. Klinsmann should really think of how to better coordinate the defensive wall, especially dealing with fast opponents in the games to come. Overall, the goals were beautiful, the game was played well with the tempo nicely executed and we are enjoying! I hope this is the start of a great World Cup which will leave behind the lousy memories sucked so much when it was in KoreaJapan.

I did not watch the Poland-Ecuador match.

FOOTBALL: MY PREDICTIONS PART 1

I just registered my starting 11 in the ESPN Soccernet Fantasy Challenge. Play and see how much you can manage the best 11 for the competition. You can only have two players from each country and you can only play with 4-4-2. You are allowed 12 transfers in the whole competition.



ESPN Soccernet World Cup Fantasy Challenge

My wildest predictions based on nothing:

Germany Vs. Costa Rica 4-1
Poland Vs. Ecuador 1-2
England Vs. Paraguay 1-0
Trinidad & Tobago Vs. Sweden 0-3
Argentina Vs. Ivory Coast 3-1

By the way, this is my challenger, my gf's team!



By the way, it is FREE and you have PRIZES to win too! Register now, still have time before the giants of Brazil, Argentina, England, Italy, France and Spain start playing!

Those Interested to join, here is the info.
Germany2006
League PIN: 4871

FOOTBALL: HERE IT COMES!

Are you ready for the big one?!!!

FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY 2006

What are we expecting in this world cup? Surely alot! This time around, most of the stars of the planet are having much more plenty of rest and they are playing in Europe which is very familiar in terms of weather, food, culture and all that which were used as excuses for many to underperform in the previous one.

Who are my predicted favourites? Here they are from the strongest to the weakest best 3 of my choice.
1. Brazil
(Let's face it, they are such a complete side this time around for any department, how can they possibly be not the best? To me, this squad is twice more scary than the previous one.)
2. England
(I have to admit this is England's most strongest squad in many, many years. They have to grab this opportunity well!)
3. Argentina
(Argentina is always very consistent and always up there among the strongest in the world. They have less stars than England so I push them to no.3)

Who will I be supporting? Spain of course but they are on par with Holland for their ability to underperform in the big stage. Will it happen again? Oh well, why not? Haha!

Players to watch? Let's talk about the young guns who may shine.
Cesc Fabregas
Robin van Persie
Robinho
Lionel Messi
Theo Walcott
Wayne Rooney
Sergio Ramos
Cristino Ronaldo
Philippe Senderos
Assimiou Toure
Marcell Jansen
Lukas Podolski

Now, what about the old veterans? Those who goes for probably their last one.
Oliver Kahn
Cafu
Roberto Carlos
Hernan Crespo
Andriy Shevchenko
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Luis Figo
Zinedine Zidane
Pavel Nedved
Jan Koller
Karel Poborsky
David Beckham
Patrick Vieira
Gary Neville
Sol Campbell
Sylvain Wiltord
Raul
Fabio Cannavaro
Alessandro Nesta
Alessandro del Piero
Franscesco Totti
Claude Makelele
Michael Ballack
Lilian Thuram

Finally, who will be expected to conquer the tournament and become the best?
Ronaldinho
Frank Lampard
Michael Ballack
Arjen Robben
Thierry Henry
Juan Riquelme
Steven Gerrard
Kaka
Joe Cole
Luca Toni
Alberto Gilardino
Adriano

Let us all enjoy a month of football! Yeah!

MIRI BEACH



Miri is a coastal city. Therefore, it has alot of beachfront. The beach here is blue, unlike the green ones in Kota Kinabalu. The sand is extremely lousy so you don't expect yourself to fall in love and play with it. It feels like those construction site quality of sand, not those white sand in Sabah!



The beach is also quite dirty. Either nobody maintain it much or the citizens are just rubbish trigger happy! I remember my earlier visits to Miri in my teenage years and I already have seen all these rubbish collection around the beach.



Well, they grill corn here so that's the good thing to try out. The thing I love about the corn sellers here is that they are extremely generous with their butter. Some sellers elsewhere probably will calculate the amount of brushes they apply! The corn also has the natural sweetness so it was good! We ended up buying another one!



Eat it while it is hot. Yummy!



OK, I did not give my gf an empty corn. She ate so fast by the time I focused and took the shot, it was all gone! Really!



We dined at the seaside. They have the timber foodcourt facing the sea. It was quite nice to dine beside the sea.



Cockles.....can make it lah!



The sarawak fern fried with red wine. Nice! Any vege fried with red wine won't go wrong!



The asam curry fish! Nice one too! Fresh too!



We wondered around and enjoyed the sunset before leaving the place. Sarawak is never famous for her beaches anyway. They are just not clear, clean and beautiful.

THREE MOVIES REVIEW

I went to watch three movies in the last 3 weeks. The movies I am planning to watch are Superman Returns, Over the Hedge and Pirates of the Carribean 2. Here are my own reviews of the three movies.

Mission Impossible 3

Apart from Tom Cruise and the other two guys in his squad, all the rest are expressionless and stone-like actresses. All of them are too unnatural. Lawrence Fishburne is good though. The story starts to get very predictable when the higher authority guy managed to detect the call into Tom Cruise's phone. One will wonder why the person knows when another person will call unless they agreed of the time to call. So the plot is very much expected from then onwards and nothing is surprising. There are unnecessary scenes like the part where the phone signal cannot be found in Shanghai. The only most unexpected thing is when the wife was killed. I thought it was her! That really surprised me! The plot is good, I love the storyline.

Honestly, I did not watch the first and second but I grew up watching the serials when I was younger. I think this movie is worth your money to watch in the cinema.

X-Men 3

X-Men 3 is watched again without much background from the first two. I did buy the second but the second disc was faulty. Hehe! I watched it halfway. I don't really watch the comics or cartoon. I did however play x-men games in the PS2. Honestly, I have very bad impression on all the characters because they fall short of the resemblance of the cartoon characters. I also feel they will look much better in their own suits. The movie chose to show them in normal human clothing which does not give them the image which I think will make them cooler.

I know millions of people told me the first two were better than this one. I think this one is done well, there are plenty of fighting scenes to satisfy me as the expectations of a cartoon converted movie. However, I wish there will be more fighting scenes. The plot is quite predictable too, no surprises apart from the deaths which was not expected since they never die in the cartoon. I think this movie is again watchable.

The Da Vinci Code

Now, there are millions who say this movie fall short of what the book had. I read the book 2 years back and I think it is very well documented. I mean with such limited time available, they are able to bring the most important parts of the book into the movie. It is more of a summary but it is good enough for me. I went with some friends who have not read the book so I realized that people will be lost if they have not had the background. I guess this movie will be more meaningful if you had read the book. If not, you will not be able to follow the whole plot with much understanding.

Honestly, the lead actress who plays Sophie is very beautiful and she acted well. I love her! Audrey Tautou, a French actress whose most starred movies are French I think. Remember her as Amélie Poulain in the movie called Amelie from Montmartre? Hanks was ok, he played his role as Langdon well. He must be swearing that he was not able to give the French lady a 'french kiss', haha!

I think the storyline is very faithful to the storyline in the book and I won't think of a better way to document it than what they had done. I think it was well done and I think the critics had been too harsh. I guess if you give another director to make this movie, it may be even worse. This one is definitely worth my every single cent!

SONY'S FIRST DIGITAL SLR - ALPHA DSLR-A100



Yes, I saw the pre-production model already. Could this make or break for Sony? They are betting on the PS3 with their blue ray technology next generation DVD and now betting on the digital SLR market which is mostly dominated by Canon and Nikon. Can they survive?

First, we have Konica and Minolta, then they became Konica Minolta and finally Sony bought the whole camera business over in 2005. As a result, you have a hybrid Minolta-Sony camera here.

Will this be a good investment to challenge in the digital SLR camera world? Time will tell! Definitely, it will provide more competition to Nikon and Canon. This is good for the industry! I am always a big fan of Sony products and I will watch this camera real closely! Hope it will be splendid for the competition!

For those of you who has no faith in Minolta lenses, well, no worries, Carl Zeiss will also be creating two for starters so this is an interesting wait to see how this baby will fair in the competition! This is like an alliance of 4 building a camera.

Some features of this camera:
-10.2 Megapixel APS-C-sized CCD sensor
-Setting (Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, Lo 80, Hi 200)
-Resolution: 3872 x 2592, 2896 x 1936, 1920 x 1280
-Dimensions: 5.2 (W) x 3.7 (H) x 2.8 in. (D)
-Weight: 545g

DPreview

DCRP

FOOTBALL: ARE YOU WORLD CUP READY?



Are you guys ready for the big one? I just got myself the official 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany guidebook (Singapore version). Here are the matches for this week. I will try to give a preview for matches I have things to say and a review for every match I manage to watch. That is if I can find the channels on the television. So much attention is given to England these past few days you thought they will win the world cup. Brazil and Argentina are not even given much publicity. It is always the case as expected everytime. England this, England that, Beckham this, Beckham that, Rooney here, Crouch there. I still believe it is a Brazilian World Cup if they play to their true colours.

To be World Cup ready, my days and nights will be adjusted according to Germany time. Everything has to go upside down. Timezone change for a month! Haha! I hope I can adjust well and won't have 'jetlag'! Technically I am adjusting my body across several timezones but not by flying high speed there. Hehe!

9 June 2006 (Friday)

Germany VS. Costa Rica
Poland VS. Ecuador

10 June 2006 (Saturday)

England VS. Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago VS. Sweden
Argentina VS. Ivory Coast

PETROLEUM MUSEUM



Sarawak is the richest state in Malaysia because of the timber, gas and petrol supply it is blessed with. At one time, Bau (a small town) even had gold! However, by joining Malaysia, the wealth will be divided among the states. Sabah and Sarawak are probably two of the richest states in the country combined with our natural minerals and tourist attractions but we ended up among the poorest and underdeveloped.

Anyway, because Sarawak is a petroleum state, we have this Petroleum Museum built in Miri, the oil city of the country. The museum is situated at the top of a hill overlooking the city. When I was in Miri in mid April, the museum had just opened to public. Within days however, there are reports of many items being spoilt by some reckless visitors. The Grand Old Lady you see above is the oldest and first of its kind in Miri.

The building itself uses very modern claddings of aluminium and alot of glass. Miri is already a very hot city because of fuel burning but they built this building with alot of glass.

There are many things on display from the process of mining petroleum to the finished products to some scientific stuffs.

The solar panel and the hyperbolic slot look like cool stuffs. They even use a car to simulate the conditions when a earthquake occurs as you adjust the intensity inside.

I love this laser sensitive to touch things. I remember when I was a kid, we used to have a crystal ball that did the same thing. Now, they come in cylinders.

The model was very well done. I went for a closer look and the workmanship was very neat and tidy.

They have this section where they show examples of all the end products from petroleum which we have in the market. We decided to take a shot at the reflections from the mirrors attached on the ceiling.

There are other things which are more for educational purposes. There was even a human internal body organs 3D jigsaw puzzle! I tried out these twisted metal stuffs where your aim is to separate them both out.

I went to try this device which is able to calculate the amount of charge your body has. I tried so hard and always have less charge than my girlfriend! She got like a full reading while I barely made it to the half!

There is a section to glorify the advancement of science of the Islamic religion. Malaysia is an Islamic country so it is a requirement I guess.

Overall, I think the museum is a good place for students to learn and understand more things related to petroleum. They really need people to monitor the things inside from getting more damage. The last shot was taken behind the museum overlooking Miri city.