FOOTBALL: SPAIN'S NICE FLOW FOOTBALL WINS!

Germany 0-1 Spain

Viva Espana!

Well, the match we all are waiting eagerly for! The lineup for both were slightly different with Germany having Frings and Spain having Fabregas in their respective starting lineups. Spain started a bit nervous as Germany was given an early first chance. Klose was given a great opportunity in the 4th minute when Sergio Ramos' poor pass was stolen with ease but he took too long to try a shot. Just a minute later, Lahm ran down from the left yet again but sent a cross too wide. By the 7th minute, Ballack sent a cross from the left yet again but went slightly wide. Germany looked more solid with more possessions. Klose tried on the 8th minute with a shot from the left yet again but directly to Casillas. The right side of the Spanish wing was fully overloaded with German attacks.

Spain finally got their first decent chance from by the 14th minute. Xavi was the mastermind, sending a dangerous ball to Iniesta who tried a cross which hit Mertesacker and deflected towards Lehmann for a forced save for a corner. Torres was again a letdown, sending a cross to no where. To be fair to him, there was much pressure on him as he was alone in front. Xavi tried a freekick but easily stopped. Torres was again given a ball in a break but yet again was very much disappointing, losing it. By the 23rd minute, Torres hit the left post from a cross. Capdevila later shot the ball well wide on the right. A corner by Germany landed on Ballack whose volley hit Ramos.

Fernando Torres scored in the 33th minute from a great assist from Xavi. He was running between two defenders before going extreme right, outran Lahm while Lehmann ran out. He chipped the ball in for a goal. Iniesta was given a chance for a run on the left but his cross to Silva was wasted for a really bad volley. Ballack went down for treatment for blood near his right eye. He went out one more time when the blood appeared again some time later. In the 42nd minute, Ballack was involved in a tussle with Fabregas. Puyol and Marchena were objecting and Casillas just came out from the penalty box to complain too. The referee gave both Ballack and Casillas yellow cards.

Iniesta again was given a chance with a good pass from Xavi. He took too much time to decide how to best play the ball and ended up forcing just a corner. Spain wasted that corner yet again. Finally, the half ended. Overall, Spain was a bit shaky at the start of the half but soon settled down for the match. They were more convincing overall as they managed to cut off many of Germany's passes. Sergio Ramos had been excellent so far, managed to control most of the offensive attack from the left coming his way. Schweinsteiger to me was the most dangerous player for Germany for the first half as he had some decent runs to the penalty box.

When the second half started, I was surprised Lahm was substituted for Jansen. Well, Lahmn to me is much more better than him and I didn't agree substituting him just for that fault. You couldn't entirely blame him! The play went normally until Klose was down as Marchena's boot hit his sensitive area. Hehehe! Very painful indeed! By the 54th minute, Torres ran down the right, sent a shot to Xavi who hit it to the left of the goal. Lehmann managed to ge a finger on it for a corner. Silva got a chance from the corner but fired it slightly out on the left. By the 56th minute, a dejavu like the first goal with an assist from Xavi to Torres with a defender running alongside him. This time however, Lehmann ran out in time to grab it.

Kuranyi came in by the 58th minute to replace Hitzelsperger. I did agree with this change as Hitzelsperger had been playing unconvincingly so far. Sergio Ramos ran up from the right and sent in a cross which nobody was able to meet. In the 60th minute, Puyol was running too much out left and that gave them a cross in. Schweinsteiger put the ball to Ballack for a shot which went out on the left. Dangerous mistake from Puyol! Kuranyi's substitution was starting to create a lot of problem to Spain. He was involved in the offence more and almost got a header in when Casillas managed to stop it. Spain finally made the first change in the 63rd minute by bringing in Xabi Alonso over Fabregas. Silva was involved with an incident with Podolski with Silva headbutted him 'midly' to get away from the close contact when Podolski first purposely put his head close to Silva's to have some serious talks as well as provoking him. It could have been a red card for Silva in that heat of the moment. Aragones quickly substituted him for Cazorla in the 66th minute.

Xavi in the 67th minute sent in a freekick which Sergio Ramos got to but Lehmann managed to push it out over the goal. A corner was played with Iniesta shooting from the left and again was blocked off by Frings. It was rather quiet from then on until the 76th minute when Torres was given a ball running down fast with just Metzelder. He tried to put the ball past him for a fast run but it was too strong and Lehmann managed to get it. Another attack continued with Alonso crossing a ball to Torres to the right but his shot attempt was blocked by Mertesacker twice. Daniel Guiza came in on the 78th minute to replace Torres. Germany brought in Mario Gomez for Klose.

Spain was complaining in the 80th minute when Lehmann handed the ball from Guiza outside the penalty box. Soon later, a convincing run deep to the German half by Senna as he passed a ball to Cazorla set off a very dangerous offensive attack. That was probably the first time he was involved in an attack. Cazorla sent in a great cross from Xavi from the right in the 81st minute to Daniel Guiza who headed the ball for Senna to score. He slided too late as he was sightly too late to meet the potential assist. From there onwards, it was all about chasing to find the equalizer for Germany. Lehmann nearly gave Spain a free goal when he passed a ball directly to Cazorla but missed the ball with the net wide open!

Well, Spain tried their best to keep the ball and they finally won it when the whistle was blown after 3 minutes of added time. Spain finally shook off their underachievers tag by winning the EURO2008 title. This will definitely be sweet after their last major title in 1964! Spain deserves the win for their overall better performance. Their nice flow football and patience to keep the passes ongoing won them the match. The whole squad were very disciplined and consistent to keep the play firmly to their style. The only player who was playing bad to me was Puyol. He is to me their weakest link and always not very reliable in defence. Germany were very weak in the midfield while Ballack's temper to me was the main reason for causing themselves problems.

The man of the match is given to Fernando Torres. As Podolski did not add any more goals, David Villa is officially the golden boot winner with 4 goals. Casillas, the captain, of course to me is the best player in defence for the whole tournament and not to forget Senna for again another solid performance. Xavi for all the dangerous passes and surely some of the most crucial assists to bring them so far as well as winning the EURO2008. Spain got a 100% perfect record wins in the whole tournament (except the sudden death penalty shootout against Italy). Congratulations to Xavi for winning the Most Valuable Player(MVP) title! He deserves it!



CONGRATULATIONS SPAIN!

FOOTBALL: EURO2008 FINAL

Germany VS. Spain
Ernst Happel Stadion
19:45 UK

Who shall win it? Germany has experience for the big occasions. Spain are in good form. For me, the ultimate team who can perform at the highest level and in better form will win in the final. Based on the performance of the semifinal matches, Spain are stronger and have good chance to win. I am supporting Spain and I hope they will win.

Bastian Schweinsteiger is Germany's most dangerous man at the moment for me. I recalled the comentator said if he scores, Germany cannot lose! Ballack needs to play better as he was extremely quiet in the semifinal. Lahm is another man to look out for especially when he runs up to the opponent's penalty box like Torres. Podolski had been a threat in the semifinal from the left wing. His crosses should provide Germany with a lot of offensive power. Klose always score crucial goals for Germany and therefore, he is another player to keep watch. He always appear when you don't expect it the most.

Spain will be without Villa. Therefore, I suggest they bring in Fabregas and play Torres alone in front. If Aragones is brave enough, he should bring in Guiza instead of Torres. Torres is too heavily guarded in the competition and falls so easily. I don't watch much of the EPL this season but his tendecies to fall easily irritates me. It looks as if he is trying very hard to earn himself a penalty all the time. Xavi, Fabregas, Silva and Iniesta should take turns to go forward more to support the striker. Senna will again be the solid rock as the last obstacle in front of the defence. Xavi is defensely better than Fabregas, Silva and Iniesta so he can play slightly more defensive if required. Casillas is the confidence in defence and I believe his very presence is giving much advantage to Spain in defence. He will have to be in peak form against the tall Germans.

Let's have a great final to enjoy!

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AUTODESK ACQUIRED ECOTECT & GREEN BUILDING STUDIO ANALYSIS TOOLS

Autodesk Completes Acquisition of Assets of Square One Research and Green Building Studio

Autodesk basically buy everything that is related to their software. It is interesting because I was just having my conversation with a friend yesterday about Ecotect. I was complaining how slow it is updating itself and the limited file formats it supports. Suddenly, I heard this news and I believe we will have more regular updates for now.

Will Adobe ever be threatened as we feared all these years? Well, at least an article from Forbes I read last month is suggesting that they are as strong as ever. For those interested, you can check the link below:

Ubiquitous Update

FOOTBALL: WORLD CUP FIXED MATCHES?

1966 & 1974 World Cups Were Fixed - Former FIFA President

Former FIFA President Joao Havelange has made some quite sensational, and potentially damaging, allegations by claiming that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively.

FOOTBALL: SPAIN WORKED HARD TO GO THROUGH

Russia 0-3 Spain

It started quite equally but Spain began to dominate in the second half to win the match. I was expecting more of a close fight but it was not to be in the end. Spain will face Germany in the final and I hope they can beat them!

It was raining heavily and we could see lightning striking too in Wien (Vienna) in the early part of the match. I was worried the match could be suspended. Spain was playing with far more offensive tactics than when they face Italy. The urgency to score in the early part of the first half showed how serious they want to win the match. Russia slowly started to gain possessions 15 minutes into the match.

Ramos was doing far more right wing attacking runs in this match. I am always worried when defenders involved too much in attack. It could easily invite a successful counter-attack when the ball is lost too deep in the opponent's half. David Villa tried some good shots at the early part of the first half, one from the left wing and the other from the freekick.

The excessive involvement of attack from the right caused less activity from the left and centre. Hence, we saw far less action of Villa and Silva. Pavluchenko tried a shot and was slightly wide on the right. Villa was down around the 34th minute and Fabregas came in for the substitution. I do like him coming in as it will create more creativity in the middle. Pavluchenko came into the penalty box with a ball from Zhirkov and tried a dangerous shot which went wide. Marchena and Puyol were there but I believed if Pavluchenko had given himself more time to balance the ball before shooting, it could be a goal. I think it was the best chance to score for the first half for both teams.

Spain kept attacking from the right but they were all not dangerous moves. Fabregas and Silva were still very less involved in the game. Xavi however was doing great just like during the match against Italy for the whole half. The half ended without a threatening shot to get a goal. Eventhough Spain had more possessions, I would say Russia had far more pontential shots to score. Torres as always was heavily marked too. He needed to find the spaces more. Sienna was also playing very well for the whole half.

The second half started off slowly. Iniesta finally brought in a good assist from the left on the 51st minute by getting through two defenders. Xavi got the ball and his right foot shot was enough to score it. It was great to see Xavi playing deeper in front to give Torres support. Spain attacked more and Russia made their first substitution by getting in Bilyaletdinov (Alright, I agree they have easily a lot of long names in comparison with Germany's Schweinsteiger) and bringing out Semshov.

By the 60th minute, Fabregas sent a pass to the right from the centre of the penalty box for Iniesta to cross in but was forced out. Ramos sent in a ball for Torres but he shot it far right. He gave Torres another cross and he wasted it with a hit on his knee and the ball went out. It was a very good opportunity as he managed to free himself in front of goal away from Ignashevich.

As we reached the 69th minute, Xavi was substituted for Xabi Alonso. Torres was substituted for Daniel Guiza. Just a while later, Fabregas tried a shot that was tipped over by goalie Akinfeev. The resulted corner gave Xabi Alonso a good shot which was punched away by the goalie. In the 73th minute, Fabregas sent in a nice chip assist after a pass from Ramous for the latest La Liga golden boot winner (27 goals with no penalty shots at all) Daniel Guiza to score. This is his second international goal from 3 matches I believe.

Russia did not look like they wanted to fight back to equalise. There was no room to fight back as their passes were broken down easily. Iniesta sent down a ball for Fabregas to run down the left and he sent a ball over to Silva to score in the 82nd minute. It seemed like it was very hard for the Russians to have any potential comeback to the game and I could say it was more or less the end for them in the competition by then. The Russians looked tired and giving up already, playing with not much intentions anymore.

By the 89th minute, Casillas was finally called into action for the quiet second half for him by saving a dangerous header by Sychev from a Zurianov cross. Guiza was again given a good ball by Ramos but the Russian goalie, Akinfeev blocked his shot. Two minutes added but it finally ended with a convincing win to Spain.

If you compare against Germany, Spain has far more stability in defence as well as more organized in play. I love the understanding between Ramos and Casillas. It is definitely the advantage from playing together in Real Madrid. Iniesta still wasted lots of good passes and chances on goal but he played much better than the match against Italy. It is no surprise that he was voted the man of the match. If I am Aragones, I will play one more midfielder against Germany to give Fabregas some space. I will choose Villa to play upfront and drop Torres. Torres to me is just not in form and always heavily marked. I hope Spain will be able to go all the way to the end of the competition victoriously.

On another matter, I heard Lippi is back for Italy. Good for them!

Anyway, the McDonald's advertisement about eating the BigMac and fries to watch football is just so wrong. As an official sponsor of the EURO2008, they are portraying people watching live matches in McDonald's. It is very weird to watch football in McDonald's.

About the ad, the lead guy was enjoying his Big Mac while watching the match at home when his mom complained about the time he spent watching football matches late at night. She was worried about him getting a wife with his kind of lifestyle. He convinced his mom he would find one but she said that girl would have run away when she found out about his football watching habit.

Suddenly, he lost reception and so he took his car and drove to McDonald's. He stood in front of the screen and blocked the view of the lead gal. She complained and that's how they started the conversation. She confessed she is a football fan too and enjoy watching live football matches. He sat down beside her and they shared the french fries while watching the match. His potential future wife maybe? Going for dates watching live football matches to me is the coolest thing in the world!

OK, I found the ad below.

THE END OF THE CPU?

NVIDIA'S CUDA

Really? Nah, I don't think so.

FUEL PRICE HIKE

The recent fuel price hike in Malaysia had created a lot of chaos in the country. When you thought every problem has been resolved, more issues occurred. Now, they want to have separate pumps for foreign cars and with the latest strike by some petrol stations in the country to disallow the usage of credit cards. It is really a shame and big joke in the eyes of the world for a petrol exporting country to have so many issues with petrol. The government constantly reminds us that we have the cheapest fuel price in the region. However, you should compare apple with apple. You don't compare with Singapore which is not an oil exporting country. The nearest comparison you can do is perhaps Brunei and you know who has cheaper fuel price. Apart from that, you cannot do conversion of currency directly to compare as it is not making sense. You earn a certain currency and you spend a certain currency in the same country.

Anyway, with our extremely unreliable, badly maintained and inefficient public transport, we can't really compare to Singapore at all. For them, they can survive just by using the public transport. The poor in Singapore can survive without car or motorcycle but not in Malaysia. Our roads are already the worst I had ever driven in comparison with Brunei and Singapore.

The public transport in Malaysia which is available almost everywhere are buses and taxis. Taxis in Malaysia are meant to rob you in bright daylight as they will never follow the metres. In Johor Bahru, if you ask them to go far away like the airport, they ask you to pay for two ways because there is no guarantee they will get any passengers when they reach the destination. That's how it works in Johor Bahru. Their metres are for show only as they will never use it. Only once in a bluemoon when you are lucky, you will meet with one who actually follows the reading of the metre. You should go buy yourself lottery tickets as it is really a very rare chance!

Buses in Malaysia are so run down that they release so much dark smoke that a white car following behind will not require to pay for spray paint to change to black. The bell buttons are mostly not functioning. Sometimes when you are sit or stand inside, you can smell funny chemical spreading all over the place. The device for you to insert coin may be faulty. Sometimes the ticket issuing machine is not functioning. Sometimes even the doors can't shut properly. The bus is so dirty that you think it is cleaned only once a year. They are almost not on time. They can come as early as 1 minute to as late as an hour away depending on different places in Malaysia.

I was lucky I pumped the petrol one day before the announcement of fuel price hike. I was not among the crazy millions perhaps stuck in the queues all over the country to pump petrol. I also considered installing the liquid gas tank as the alternative fuel. It is used a lot in Johor Bahru by taxi drivers and they convinced you that it is a lot cheaper. Still, there are only 3 petrol stations in Johor Bahru which have services to fill the tank for you. The queues are always as long as the ones you see when the fuel price hike was announced. You also need to sacrifice some space behind to install it into your car. The good thing is you can switch between it and your conventional fuel anytime.

Nowadays, I always make sure I have the air-condition at the most highest temperature tolerable with the weakest fan speed all the time. I will not on it if it is possible but given the extreme polluted air in Johor Bahru, it is not always possible. Probably after a heavy rain perhaps.

I make sure I don't accelerate too much unless it is really necessary. I will also think twice before going to a destination especially if there are more than 1 route which do not require you to drive up the higher terrains. Johor Bahru does have some flyovers and hilly areas too. I don't mind to take a slightly longer route if the drive is mainly on flat terrains.

I went to apply the Shell Citibank credit card just for the small rebates I will get for pumping Shell petrol and buying anything else. Well, it may not be much but it is still better than nothing. When I heard about the petrol stations not accepting credit cards, I was abit irritated. It happened just after the credit card was approved. Sigh! Hope it will be fully resolved.

So, anybody else has better ideas of how to save on our transport except by suggesting that we should all use public transport in Malaysia?

Petrol stations in Penang rescind ban on credit cards

Malaysian taxis among worst in world
Thu, Jun 26, 2008
The New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Malaysian taxis are among the worst in the world, claims a survey by a local magazine.

Readers of The Expat magazine, which has a monthly circulation of 6,000 copies, gave the Malaysian taxi service a big thumbs down when compared with services in 22 other countries.

In fact, local taxis scored the lowest in almost every category polled. The survey's 200-odd respondents, comprising expatriates from 30 countries, even went so far as to brand local cabbies "a national disgrace", "a source of national shame" and "a serious threat to tourists - rude bullies and extortionists".

The most frequent complaint was of overcharging and taxi drivers refusing to take passengers who did not agree to pay a flat rate much higher than the regular fare.

The survey covered five main aspects, namely taxi quality, courtesy of drivers, availability on the street, availability by phone and driver job knowledge.

On a 10-point scale, local taxis got scores of 3.8, 4.4, 4.4, 4.8 and 5.5 for each respective aspect. This was in sharp contrast to the 8.6, 8.0, 8.1, 8.8 and 8.7 earned by taxi drivers in Singapore.

Expat Group CEO Andy Davison, whose company owns The Expat, said the high response rate combined with the absence of any really positive feedback, makes it clear people are unhappy with the current services on offer.

"In the last 10 years, we have done about 40 surveys among the resident expatriate community on many aspects of life in Malaysia.

"Most have produced very positive results, but our first survey on the taxi service has revealed a very negative picture," he said yesterday.

On suggestions on how to improve the image of local taxi drivers, Davison said that fares should be high enough that drivers would not feel the need to overcharge in order to make a living.

He also said driver training was an area that could be improved on.

When asked to comment, Taxi Operators Association chairman Datuk Aslah Abdullah said he couldn't deny the findings of the survey.

"However, you also need to check what the fares are in the other countries being compared, because that's where the problem here lies."

On training, he said drivers had undergone tutorials conducted by City Hall and taxi associations since the beginning of this year.

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

FOOTBALL: TURKEY WERE GREAT BUT UNLUCKY!

Germany 3-2 Turkey

The match was definitely far more exciting than the Spain-Italy match. Nobody will expect a 5 goal thriller from this after they were bore to death by the Spain-Italy match. Turkey started fiercely with a lot of confidence and superb, neat attacking football. They pressurized Germany as if they are the favourites. The Germans were shaky in defence, lack much marking and losing too much possessions. Kazim was the man for the earlier part of the first half. He tested Lehmann with a piledriver. Later, he had a try hitting the crossbar. Finally, another shot by Semih hit the crossbar and bounced back to the unmarked Boral's feet for an easy shot into goal.

The goal finally awaken the Germans. Germany never really had a decent chance until Schweinsteiger (man, how do you spell his name!) got an assist from Podolski from the left to score just after that. The equalizer made the Turks attack the Germans even more. Altintop tried a free kick which forced Lehmann to tip it over. Topal sent another dangerous one from the right which again was blocked by Lehmann. Sabri Sarioglu also tried a nice shot from the right but it was slightly higher.

Frings came in for the second half and Germany played much better than the first half. They had finally more authority in the match. Lahm attacked from the left and was brought down by Sabri. That should be a penalty but the refereee did not want to give. Hitzlsperger tried a shot which went abit too high. Suddenly, I lost all the coverage not long later before it was returned. Something must had happened in Switzerland.

After the coverage came back, most football was played in the middle. Boral tried one shot from the left which was stopped by Lehmann. Hitzelsperger tried another long shot from the middle and went slightly wide on the left as Rustu tried to reach it.

Soon, we lost coverage yet again! The second half so far was far more balanced than the first as both squads were attacking one after another. The news we heard later was Klose who scored the goal at the 78th minute. It is interesting to hear from him now as he was so quiet until now.

Unfortunately, I could not see the goal scored live. Sigh! What I heard was Rustu's mistake which resulted in the goal. He handled the cross very badly as he charged out but Klose leapt high enough to score a header into the empty goal. Then, I heard Turkey equalised 6 minutes later by Sabri who slotted the ball past Lehmann.

Lahm in exchange with Hitzelsperger scored the goal from the left very close to the 90th minute before the coverage was gone yet again. From a very tight angle as well as unexpected from Turkey, he managed to score that ferocious goal. Three minutes were added but I still could not see any coverage. Finally, the match ended without me seeing anything. Sigh!

Turkey deserved to go through and you can technically say the Germans are lucky! They outplayed them but yet did not managed to go through. In the second half, Turkey should have mark the Germans more. They were giving them too much space and Germany took advantage when it mattered most. Eventhough Turkey exited the tournament, we have to salute them for their great performance despite not able to field many of the first choice players in the match.

FOOTBALL: EURO2008 SEMIFINALS

Here they come. Will Germany and Spain meet in the final? Will Turkey or/and Russia upset them? The remaining matches will be definitely worth watching since it already reaching the end of the competition. I do hope we have the favourites in the final so there is still something to look forward to.

Semifinal 01
Germany VS. Turkey
25 June 2008 (Wed) 19:45 UK
St. Jakob Park

Semifinal 02
Russia VS. Spain
26 June 2008 (Thurs) 19:45 UK
Ernst Happel Stadion

FOOTBALL: CASILLAS BROKE THE CURSE

Casillas saved two goals in the penalty shoot-out from De Rossi and Di Natale while Fabregas scored the winning shot. The 88 years curse has ended in Vienna, Austria. Marchena, Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Senna and Silva to me played well for the whole match, especially Marchena and Senna. When the match went into penalty shoot-out, I knew it will be a tough shoot-out as we have the two best goalkeepers of this era going down for the match-up. Casillas probably has the advantage of a younger age against Buffon.

It was a very careful match as both sides did not want to risk losing. Both sides, especially Spain had a hard time going through as Italy played with almost 10 players when Spain reached their half all the time. Cassano and Camoranesi are to me the only two Italians worth mentioning as they played very defensive football. Cassano made a lot of nice runs from the left while Camoranesi's entrance gave more creative play in the middle. Grosso and Ambrosini to me are very cunning players who managed to get away with bad tackles. Toni really sucks in front as he missed many good chances despite his height.

Iniesta was having a bad match and I thought Xavi should not be substituted. Spain lacked some creative play which can split the tough Italian defence. At times like this, I wish Guti is around. Fabregas came very late in the match but did contribute a lot of dangerous balls into the penalty box. Senna was like Makelele to me who defensively keep most of the attacks away. He even tried a ferocious shot which almost went into the goal eventhough stopped by Buffon. It was so ferocious that it deflected from Buffon's grasp but hit the goalpost.

David Silva tried some really nice shots but his accuracy was not there. Fernando Torres and David Villa were playing like individuals upfront. They really need to improve on their partnership as there was not once in the entire match that they ever created any dangerous plays. The connection between midfield to attack was also very bad. This needs to be rectified if they are going to challenge Hiddink's Russia well next.

Russia will play Spain while Germany will play Turkey in the semifinals. Now, it seems like Germany and Spain are restored as favourites. We will see how far both can go and whether they can meet in the final. It will be hard though as Turkey and Russia especially will want to upset them.

FOOTBALL: THE DUTCH ARE OUT!

Well, Hiddink again is the man! He caused the fall of The Netherlands when they are the favourites. He again proved he is the guy who can upset the giants in the big stage. Otto Rehhagel was the person responsible for Greece's EURO2004 title. It was proven then that a coach can make the difference for capturing the title. How far will Guus Hiddink go this time? How will the Dutch react to their countryman defeating their own country out of the EURO2008 tournament?

I will definitely watch the Spain-Italy match. The winner will face Russia. Spain, like The Netherlands always fall during the knock-out stages. This time they face the Italians as underdogs.

How will they cope with Italy whom they have never beaten for 88 years? It is incredible to know that it is that long since they beat Italy! The odds are against Spain. They are the underachievers, they haven't beat Italy for almost 9 decades and 22 June is a curse date for them for exiting out of 3 major tournaments (eliminated on 22 June in a penalty shootout against Belgium in the FIFA World Cup in 1986, against England in EURO 1996 and against South Korea at the 2002 FIFA World Cup). Even an internet poll found that 60% of Spaniards still believe that Italy will beat them in the match.

Well, I am still the supporter of Spain so I hope they can do some upsets like the Russians. I do hate their coach though for his anti-football logic.

FOOTBALL: PORTUGAL'S EXIT

Germany went through and Portugal again fell short of winning anything from the big stage. Will Big Phil move on to coach Chelsea? Will Cristino Ronaldo go to Real Madrid (eventhough I very much feel that they don't need him)? Who will be Portugal's new coach if Scolari leaves?

The last World Cup very much showed that teams that played well in the group stages would not guarantee that they will perform well in the knock-out stages. France was the greatest example from the last World Cup.

Thus, I am not surprised when Germany begin to wake up. Italy may also do the same. The question that is lingering in everyone's mind is whether Holland and Spain will collapse when it is needed most to win. They always have the past records of doing that when it matters most. This time however, they were playing much more convincingly in the group stages. Upsets seem to be a far cry for this EURO2008. Whatever it is, let's sit back and enjoy the show!

Spain, how far can you go?

FOOTBALL: I WANT DECO, LAMPARD & DROGBA!

I was reading the headlines out loud from The Great One (ex Special One) and Lee Ling heard it differently to be: I want Deco (underwear in Hokkien), Lampah (family's jewel in Hokkien) and To Pa (owed to be hit in Foochow)!

It doesn't sound funny to me until she told me what she had heard instead...

Goal.com

Aragonés also said something interesting, "If Gattuso Is Vital, I Am A Priest."

"He is a workhorse, while Pirlo is something different and is important to their creative play."

THE MOST FUNNIEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

The Star

Sex VCD exposes wife’s lesbian affair

A HUSBAND suspected his wife was having an affair with another man. He was wrong. To his shock, he discovered a VCD with explicit scenes of his wife having sex with a woman.

Harian Metro reported that the woman was the wife’s office colleague and the affair had been going on for the past few months.

The paper said the man grew suspicious when his wife came home from work with love bites on her body. He thought she might be fooling around with a male colleague.

He confronted his wife, who denied having an affair with any man.

A whole new light was thrown on the affair when the husband found the hidden VCD and discovered that his rival was a woman.

FOOTBALL: FRENCH COLLAPSE

Well, my first ever two matches. Unfortunately, the Dutch were playing with nine new faces from the previous two matches which they scored in big amounts. Still, the managed to have a 2-0 victory over Romania with goals from Huntelaar and Van Persie. Huntelaar is one of the players who is highly talked about in the transfer market. This chance given to him will surely benefit his transfer prospects for the new season.

I was switching between the France-Italy and Netherlands-Romania matches back and forth. I believe most fans were doing the same thing. Whenever there was time wasted for the goalie to pick up the ball after a wild shot to execute a kick back to the match, that's the best period to switch.

As for France, it all started to go wrong when Ribery got injured. Nasri was given a chance to show his stuff but Eric Abidal's red card forced him to be substituted for Boumsong to come in. The decision to choose Abidal over Thuram was a big mistake. Well, I know Boumsong from his Newcastle United days and I can tell you he is not a reliable defender. Nasri really was not given much time to show off his skills during the EURO2008 so I guess his transfer to Arsenal could fail. Luca Toni had so many chances to score but he blew all of them. I could not stand the misses. I had wished that Cassano score a goal or two since he was given a chance too for the match.

Now, I think I can still wear the blue Italian previous World Cup t-shirt out and not get disapproval from the public. Hehe!

Italy will face Spain next without Pirlo and Gattuso because of suspension. Holland will play either Sweden or Russia for the next match. The Italy-Spain match will be the biggest test for the Spaniards to prove their worth to be among the potential winners of this tournament. A victory will more or less shake off their underachievers tag.

As for Barcelona, Guardiola had revealed that they are ready to offload Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o - the three most crucial players who helped them to the latest Double before. He said though they are willing to keep Ronaldinho if he recaptures his form. That means for sure Deco and Samuel Eto'o will leave. Let's see how will Barcelona be rebuilt and how far the young coach, Guardiola, can go.

FOOTBALL: D-DAY FOR ITALY AND FRANCE

Well, Spain and Holland, the famous underachievers of football, are making the most impact in the competition, to the surprise of even me. I guess it is time to release the first post for the EURO2008 now that it has reached a desperate point. This is of course referring to Italy and France.

I was wearing the Italy latest World Cup t-shirt the other day to a shop and the owner shaked his head and commented that I should keep the t-shirt at home. Italy have been extremely lousy so far. Well, we know they have more or less the same old squad from the previous World Cup and therefore, they are mostly old men. As for France, they don't have a very old side on average but I guess they are still struggling without Zidane. I have thought the new lads like Nasri, Malouda and Ribery should have given them enough creativity that Zizou had possessed.

To date, I have watched ZERO matches! It is an incredible achievement for me as a football fan. Well, the difficulty to find the schedule for free matches on NTV7 and TV3 is one reason. The other reason is the heavy load I have at work for the exhibition this week. I basically have little sleep, at times, just 2 hours a day.

If I can find the sources, I will definitely want to watch the Italy-France match. Will Holland lose on purpose so both will not go through the next round? If you are the Dutch coach, of course you will want the weakest opponents possible later in the knock-out stages. If you let them through, they could beat you in the finals or semifinals. You don't want that. Again, situations like these are always present in football. If you ask me before the tournament that the fates of Italy and France, who were the previous World Cup finalists, depend on Netherlands, I will not believe you at all! The underachievers are now the fate deciders!

Let's just sit back and watch the Italy-France and Netherlands-Romania matches. As for Spain, let's see how far they can go. They may not score in abundance like Holland but they have a very stable side (stronger average if you rate the defence, midfield and offence).

FRIDAY THE 13TH

Well, just hope it is just another day today.

Update: Something bad did happen.

Monkeys tore out my car's front number plate and eat down the whole plate plus the numbers. At least if they don't swallow, the chew them into bits and pieces. It costed me around RM15 to get it fixed!

THE PC SHOW 2008

Start Date : 12 June 2008
End Date : 15 June 2008

Description :
The PC Show, Singapore's Longest-running and Most Successful IT and Consumer Electronics Exhibiton is back again with its 18th presentation. Following a successful showcase in 2007 with more than 400 exhibitors chalking up on-the-spot sales of over $26 million from the 907,000 visitors, The PC Show 2008 will present another significant and exciting showcase for all exhibitors and visitors.

A ONE-STOP SHOP with the latest trends, variety of products and great offers to satisfy our IT-savvy consumers…

Don't miss out on The PC Show 2008!

Venue : Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre
Location : Level 3, 4 and 6
Organizer : Lines Exposition & Management Services Pte Ltd
Time : 12.00 pm - 9.00 pm

Will I get my goodies there? One thing is for sure, I need to buy DVD+Rs. I am in great need of them!!!

THE PC SHOW 2008

WCCI™

MasterCard Worldwide has developed the Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index™. It’s a revolutionary research program that uses seven evaluative dimensions to identify and rank the 75 most influential cities that drive the global economy.Its supplemental, in-depth reports provide unique insights to regional trends around the world, providing businesses with an inside look at markets as they evolve.

MasterCard Worldwide

The cities in the latest 2008 ranking below with the Index Value:
1. London 79.17
2. New York 72.77
3. Tokyo 66.60
4. Singapore 66.16
5. Chicago 65.24
6. Hong Kong 63.94
7. Paris 63.87
8. Frankfurt 62.34
9. Seoul 61.83
10. Amsterdam 60.06
11. Madrid 58.34
12. Sydney 58.33
13. Toronto 58.16
14. Copenhagen 57.99
15. Zurich 56.86
16. Stockholm 56.67
17. Los Angeles 55.73
18. Philadelphia 55.55
19. Osaka 54.94
20. Milan 54.73
21. Boston 54.10
22. Taipei 53.32
23. Berlin 53.22
24. Shanghai 52.89
25. Atlanta 52.86
26. Vienna 52.52
27. Munich 52.52
28. San Francisco 52.39
29. Miami 52.33
30. Brussels 52.16
31. Dublin 51.77
32. Montreal 51.60
33. Hamburg 51.53
34. Houston 51.30
35. Dallas 51.25
36. Washington D.C. 51.19
37. Vancouver 51.10
38. Barcelona 50.90
39. Dusseldorf 50.42
40. Geneva 50.13
41. Melbourne 49.93
42. Bangkok 48.23
43. Edinburg 47.79
44. Dubai 47.23
45. Tel Aviv 46.50
47. Rome 45.99
48. Mumbai 45.71
49. Prague 45.50
50. Kuala Lumpur 45.28
51. Moscow 44.99
52. Budapest 44.52
53. Santiago 44.49
54. Mexico City 43.33
55. Athens 43.25
56. Sao Paulo 42.70
57. Beijing 42.52
58. Johannesburg 42.04
59. Warsaw 41.26
60. Shenzhen 40.04
61. New Delhi 39.22
62. Bogota 38.27
63. Buenos Aires 37.76
64. Istanbul 36.14
65. Rio de Janeiro 35.91
66. Bangalore 35.78
67. St. Petersburg 35.55
68. Jakarta 35.40
69. Riyadh 35.37
70. Cairo 35.29
71. Manila 35.15
72. Chengdu 33.84
73. Chongqing 33.13
74. Lebanon 31.81
75. Caracas 26.11

46 places apart. The difference is massive.

SZECHUAN CUISINE

There are eight great cuisines of the Chinese traditions. Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandongm Szechuan and Zhejiang. I am not very familiar with the rest but many people agree that any Cantonese dish tastes good and so many people who had tasted their cuisine agreed that it is among the greatest! Apart from the ease of finding Cantonese cuisine in this region of Southeast Asia, Szechuan cuisine is also widely available.

The earthquake that occurred in Szechuan reminded me of a dinner I took at Mutiara Hotel, Johor Bahru few months back. The place is called Meisan Szechuan Restaurant. It has one of the nicest traditional Chinese interior designs I can find in Johor Bahru. There have been recommendations from friends that the food there is top class. We had the famous spicy sour soup, the Mapo dofu (beancurd and minced meat), the famous fried mantou (bun), tea smoked duck and the very interesting yutiao water chestnut dessert.

The soup gave a great starting point to the dinner as it stirs up your appetite to eat. The mixture of spiciness and sourness is just nice.

The mapo toufu is well-cooked to give it a great balance between the amount of beancurd and minced meat. Unfortunately, most hotels or perhaps all of them in Malaysia does not serve pork so this dish could not reach that peak of taste that pork can achieve.

I love the tea smoked duck dish the most. The mantou is so crispy on the outside and extremely soft inside, I am loving it! You can just eat it just like that and they smell so nice.

Just look at the details of the mantou!

The yutiao is provided separately so you can choose to add the amount you like.

The dessert is very interesting indeed. I had no idea initially how they are going to make a water chestnut and yutiao combo as a dessert dish.

By the way, those who wants to donate to the earthquake victims of Szechuan can do it via Red Cross Singapore. I did my part, I'm not bloody rich but I hope my contributions can help at least one poor kid to eat for a month.

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with Red Cross Singapore. It is just pure coincidence.

DRAGONBALL THE MOVIE!

Dragonball has a movie coming up? The casts are so wrong! I just feel that the actors don't look like the real characters at all! It is the same syndrome I had with Daniel Craig as James Bond. If they don't look like them, I won't like the movie!

IMDb

Dragonball The Movie

Dragonball (Film)

FOOTBALL: WHO HAS THE BIGGEST BALLS?

Well, Gattuso declared it is Mourinho.

“Mourinho has shown he has two massive things down below,” said Gattuso.

“He can speak better Italian than me and I was born here."

"He is a great coach and he will be good here, it's a shame he has gone to Inter."

FIRST POLL ANALYSIS

It is time to retire 4 of the polls I created. I am adding four new ones regarding EURO2008 group stage competitions. Who will top each group? Take the poll!

What is wrong with Barcelona FC this season?
12 responses
66% Dream team won't gel (Galaticos repeat),
25% Some superstars' egos,
0% Soft coach,
5% Injuries and lack of team work,
0% Fans pressure and bad luck

Well, we all know Barcelona have an extremely bad season and the way the club players are projected is very similar to how the Galaticos behave during those few years. Players don't gel and superstars given special treatments. It seems like the same thing is happening in Barcelona FC. It took Real Madrid many coaches and a change of a president to clear the problem. I don't know whether the problem will be solved in Barcelona if these stars are still maintained. That's the tough part as most of those alleged to be untouchable are still staying. It is either they are too overpriced to be afforded by others or the club is unwilling to sell. A new coach (Guardiola) is coming in but he is too inexperienced in the football coaching world. One wonders whether he can survive long.

Where should 'The Special One' go next?
11 responses
36% Barcelona FC,
27% Inter Milan,
27% Milan,
9% Sevilla,
0% Valencia

We all know the answer. It is interesting that many voted for Barcelona FC as the highest choice eventhough the assurance of Rijkaard being replaced by Josep Guardiola is very clear even before the season is over. Guess many believe that he is not ready to hold such a high profile post. He went to Inter Milan and declared himself to be The Great One! It is great to have him back to the football world so we can hear his unpredictable remarks yet again. The last favourite quote from him before he retired was, 'My Chelsea boys are naive.' Will he be able to bring them the Champions League glory? I'll watch Inter closely next season. It should be very interesting.

Where should Deco go next?
10 responses
10% Chelsea,
40% Inter Milan,
10% Juventus,
0% Liverpool,
40% Milan

Nobody knows but people are saying he could rejoin his former Porto boss at Inter Milan. To me, Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o were the main reasons for them to win their last Champions League trophy. If more than two of them leave, Barcelona must find strong candidates to replace them. We all know Inter are loaded with many players. Mourinho will need to do some spring cleaning first before he recruits more.

Based on this season, who should spend most in the transfer market?
9 responses
11% Arsenal,
11% Barcelona FC,
77% Milan,
0% Sevilla,
0% Valencia

To me, it should be Milan. They are the Bayern Munich of next season, not able to taste the Champions League matches. It is incredible that Ancelotti is still sitting pretty steady. The ageing squad must have new recruits in defence. They can't rely on the old Maldini and Nesta. They are past their prime already. It is time to change in positions that matter most. For me, they should replace the oldest first.

Who will win the EURO2008?
10 responses
50% France
0% Germany
20% Italy
0% Netherlands
30% Spain
(I will still retain this poll perhaps until the finals)

Well, it is too early to know now but the past EURO2004 reminded us that even the unknowns can be champions. Will it be the same again this year? I hope we get to enjoy a lot of exciting matches. For me, Spain and Netherlands are always strong on paper but fail on big occasions. France have some interesting and young players which will take every opportunity to show their stuffs in this big stage. Italy have virtually the same squad since the last World Cup. I believe their squad is a bit too old now. In addition, their super invincible captain for the last World Cup, Cannavaro will not be playing. For me, I will give France the best chance and put Germany as a dark horse. Spain and Netherlands need to show some consistency during the group stages to assure me. They have always fall short in the previous EUROs and World Cups.

MALAYSIA PETROL RM2.70/LITRE

OIL PRODUCING COUNTRIES:
UAE– RM1.19/litre
Eygpt– RM1.03/litre
Bahrain– RM0.87/litre
Qatar– RM0.68/litre
Kuwait– RM0.67/litre
Saudi Arabia– RM0.38/litre
Iran– RM0.35/litre
Nigeria– RM0.32/litre
Turkmenistan– RM0.25/litre
Venezuela– RM0.16/litre
MALAYSIA– RM2.70/litre
(Currency conversion based on USD1=RM3.23)

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

Dr. Mahathir said:
"In the United Kingdom one litre of petrol sells for more than one pound sterling or RM7. In the United States it is about RM5. Obviously our increase in petrol price is far less than in the United Kingdom or the United States. But our per capita income is about one-third of theirs. In purchasing power terms our increase is more than in the UK or the US.

Roughly Malaysia produces 650,000 barrels of crude per day. We consume 400,000 barrels leaving 250,000 barrels to be exported.

Three years ago the selling price of crude was about USD30 per barrel. Today it is USD130 – an increase of USD100. There is hardly any increase in the production cost so that the extra USD100 can be considered as pure profit.

Our 250,000 barrels of export should earn us 250,000 x 100 x 365 x 3 = RM27,375,000,000 (twenty seven billion Ringgit).

But Petronas made a profit of well over RM70 billion, all of which belong to the Government.

By all accounts the Government is flushed with money.

But besides petrol the prices of palm oil, rubber and tin have also increased by about 400 per cent. Plantation companies and banks now earn as much as RM3 billion in profits each. Taxes paid by them must have also increased greatly.

I feel sure that maintaining the subsidy and gradually decreasing it would not hurt the Government finances."

SHAOLIN GIRL



Shôrin shôjo (Shaolin Girl)

Shibasaki Kou, the you-owed-me-a-zillion-dollars-ice-cold-too-serious-too-fierce look girl is starring in this movie. I am a fan of hers and would be interested to see how she performs in this movie. Some of the fight scenes are like from Tekken. By the way, they are going to make a Tekken movie. No kidding!

I watched Chocolate last weekend. It is indeed a great martial arts movie! Must watch! I love the market butchers and the four stories building edge fight scenes. This gal can kick twice with ease in mid air even at a very different and wide angle. It is extremely exciting to watch her in fighting mode, especially her deadly kicks. Awesome! If she improves further from here, she will become the immortal Bruce Lee soon one day! She makes Uma Thurman and Michelle Yeoh look mediocre by her standards. Hehe!

SYNOPSIS:
Produced by Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, CJ7), Shaolin Girl tells the story of a girl by the name of Rin, who is compelled to take over her late grandfather’s kung-fu dojo. She endures 3,000 days of brutal training at the Shaolin Martial Arts School in China before returning to her native Japan. But what awaits her is a dojo that lies in tatters and students who have abandoned the true discipline of Shaolin kung-fu.

While struggling to restore her grandfather’s school to its former glory and spread a genuine Shaolin philosophy, Rin attends university where she becomes the star member of the lacrosse team. While Rin’s exceptional physical abilities being a string of victories to the team, her teammates in turn come to her aid by helping her reestablish the dojo. Just as fortune seems to smile upon her, a dark incident from a past Rin knew nothing about rears its ugly head and throws her into a fantastic showdown with tremendous evil. Is the Shaolin Girl up to the challenge?

IMDb

FOOTBALL: ANCELOTTI TO CHELSEA?

Serious or not?!!! Will he and Sheva have the reunion in Chelsea instead of Milan? It was said that Capello was consulted and he proposed Scolari to be the next coach for Chelsea. Apart from Chelsea, Manchester City are also looking for a coach after Sven-Goran Eriksson left them for a job as the Mexico national coach. Mark Hughes is the one heavily linked. Seriously, sometimes I wonder why Eriksson is given so much publicity since he has not won anything major in the football world.

What about Mourinho going to Inter Milan? His first ever speech since leaving Chelsea just make me shake my head. Well, the football world will be filled with Mourinho's unexpected remarks once again. I miss it honestly!

'I am Mourinho - period,' he said at his introductory press conference at Inter's training ground.

'I have arrived to a special club and I believe I am a great coach but I don't want to be special.'

So now we should not call him The Special One but The Great One! It is interesting to note that he went from a club in blue jerseys to the other in blue jerseys as well.

FOOTBALL: EURO2008 COMING SOON!

The EURO2008 starts on 7 June 2008. Somehow, it feels like it is too soon. I mean I was expecting it to start at least mid or end of June 2008. Some huge names already out of it are Cannavaro, Babel as well as most likely Altintop, Van Persie and Vieira.

Some nice matches to watch for me in the group stages are:
8 June 2008 19:45UK Germany VS. Poland
9 June 2008 19:45UK Netherlands VS. Italy
10 June 2008 17:00UK Spain VS. Russia
11 June 2008 17:00UK Czech Republic VS. Portugal
12 June 2008 17:00UK Croatia VS. Germany
13 June 2008 19:45UK Netherlands VS. France
14 June 2008 17:00UK Sweden VS. Spain
16 June 2008 17:00UK Austria VS. Germany
17 June 2008 19:45UK France VS. Italy

Of course, the strongest on paper are still Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Germany. Upsets may happen and we don't need to go very far to assure this when Greece won it during EURO2004 with a 1-0 win over Portugal.