Archives For football

Goodbye Sir Alex

9 May 2013
Alex Ferguson

Can’t believe I just got the news that Sir Alex has announced his retirement at the end of this season. It’s a shocking blow. I knew it was going to come sooner or later but didn’t think that this season would be his last.

There was news this morning that he might announce something about his retirement but nothing was confirmed. But half an hour ago, news started breaking out and a statement was released by Sir Alex himself saying that he will retire at the end of this season. Sources are saying David Moyes will be the new manager and I’m happy with that. He’s got good experience with English football, done well with Everton with limited resources. Everton has finished above Liverpool in the previous season and is poised to do the same this year.

With David Gill and Sir Alex leaving end of this season, United’s leadership will have a very different look soon. Hopefully whoever takes over the realms will continue Sir Alex’s work keeping United a world class team. Still can’t believe this happened. So surreal and it’s like getting punched in the chest. The last time I felt this way was when Steve Jobs passed away.

#ThankYouSirAlex

90s Aussie Heroes of the Singapore National Football Team

3 April 2013

As a kid growing up in the 90s with a feverish passion for football, the Singapore national team playing in the Malaysian League was the pride and joy of the nation. Even though we were playing as a country, we were allowed to “purchase” foreign players during our time in the league. We had a number of notable Aussies playing for us. Craig Foster and Warren Spink in 1991, Alistair Edwards in 1993 and Abbas Saad in 1991, 1993 and 1994.

We got kicked out of the Malaysian League in 1994 after winning the Malaysian League and Cup double and things in the national team were never quite the same again. Yes we’ve won the regional championships 4 times now but the crop we had in the early 90s were a special one. They were even dubbed the “Dream Team”, a status that many believed befitted the team at that time. The team even recorded a song in 1993 and I remembered vividly I bought the cassette tape for it.

Fast forward a decade later, I moved to Melbourne in 2005. I started supporting the local club Melbourne Victory in the A-League and have fallen in love with the passion of the fans in this country for the beautiful game.

It was also pretty awesome to be seeing Craig Foster on SBS presenting football related shows and brought back a heap of emotions I had as a kid when I watched him play for Singapore.

Abbas Saad was quite the cult figure in Singaporean football. You can mention his name in the country and everyone will remember his silky skills and how potent Singapore was as an attacking force with Fandi Ahmad, V.Sundramoorthy, Alistair Edwards and him in the same team. Abbas Saad’s most memorable performance would be his hattrick against Pahang in the 1994 Malaysian Cup final where we destroyed our opponents 4-0 to bring the Malaysia Cup back to Singapore after a 14 year wait. Unfortunately, Abbas Saad was convicted of intention to match fix in Singapore after the Malaysia Cup final and was banned in football related work in Singapore. The ban was only recently lifted in 2009 after 15 years.

Finally, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks back when Perth Glory decided to appoint Alistair Edwards as interim coach (now full time) that I realized he has been the assistant coach for the Joeys (Australian U20 team) all this while. Great to see him again and like Craig Foster and Abbas Saad, Alistair brought back heaps of memories during his time in Singapore. As it turns out, his team Perth Glory is playing against Melbourne Victory this Friday in the A-League Finals elimination game. On any other occasion, I would have been behind Alistair’s back but because they’re playing against my beloved Victory, I would have to be supporting Victory and hope they kick Perth Glory out of the finals.

No hard feelings Alistair.

I’m really fortunate to have grown up in the time where these Aussie footballers were marking their mark in Singaporean football and it was an absolutely joy to be able to see them play. The fact that I’m now living in Australia and am able to keep up with their work in football makes it even more amazing for me and my Melbourne residing, football crazy Singaporean friends.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone of them for making football so special to me.

PS: I tweeted Alistair the Dream Team video and surprisingly got a reply from him on Twitter. You have no idea how happy that makes me.

Victory Wins Melbourne Derby. Singapore Wins Suzuki Cup.

24 December 2012
finkler

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Melbourne derby on Saturday between Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory and what a match it was.

Victory hasn’t done well in the derby in the last couple of occasions so it doesn’t sit well with both the supporters and players alike. It was absolutely paramount that we get a win, both for pride and to keep our position on the table to put pressure on Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United.

Something that I’ve noticed with Victory’s play was that we no longer rely heavily on long balls to our strikers. Ange came into the team this season after winning the Grand Final with Brisbane Roar last season with their slick passing game and it seems like he intended for Victory to play the same kind of football.

We played our usual passing game and Rojas and Archie were a constant menace with their running but struggled to find a break through in the first half. Heart was their usual lively self with Fred pulling the strings and they looked dangerous every time they came forward.

The second half came alive when Rojas scored a well worked goal from a deflected Milligan cross before Fred equalizing from a Marronne cross with just 8 minutes of the goal remaining.

The match looked like it was going to end in a draw until Archie Thompson popped up in stoppage time to get onto a Rojas pass to dink the ball over Clint Bolton to win the derby for Victory.

Absolutely amazing stuff. The Melbourne Victory supporters were going mad and the Heart supporters sitting around me were all dumbfounded.

This is why football is the most amazing sport to watch. The emotions you experience is almost like a roller coaster ride but when your team wins it, and in such an amazing fashion in stoppage time, it’s just indescribable.

Victory fans were singing for an least another half an hour after the game ended. Definitely the best fans in the league.

IMG_3591 IMG_3590 IMG_3593 IMG_3595 IMG_3599 IMG_3603

Coincidentally, on the same night, Singapore was playing Thailand in the 2nd leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Singapore played and beat Thailand 3-1 in the first leg of the final at the Jalan Besar Stadium and went into the second leg in Thailand in confident mood.

The Thais came out all guns blazing in the second leg and was bombarding the Singaporean goal with attack after attack and managed to score a single goal to beat Singapore.

The result wasn’t enough to overturn the 3-1 deficit in the first leg and Singapore won the coveted South East Asian title for a record 4th time.

Champions of South East Asia again! Champione!

AFF Suzuki Cup Final 1st Leg Singapore vs Thailand

AFF Suzuki Cup Final 2nd Leg Thailand vs Singapore

Where Will Luka Modric Play In Real Madrid?

28 August 2012

Modric, showing everyone just how much whiter Madrid’s socks were compared to Tottenham’s.

Nobody should be surprised by Real Madrid’s capture of Tottenham’s play maker Luka Modric when it was annouced this morning that the Croatian midfielder was moving to the Santiago Bernabeu for £33million.

I wonder where Modric is going to feature in Madrid’s line up. They have Ronaldo down the left, di Maria on the right and sitting behind Benzema (or Higuain) would definitely be Ozil. In deeper midfield roles, they have Xabi Alonso, Khedira and when needed, Concentrao can slot into that role as well. On top of that, they have Kaka, Callejon and Diarra so Madrid aren’t really lacking in midfield options.

I can’t really see Mourinho dropping Ozil to play Modric and he wouldn’t flourish in Xabi Alonso’s deeper midfield role. He doesn’t play on the flanks on Tottenham (Bale and Lennon are the danger men down the wing for Spurs) so I don’t see him taking Ronaldo or di Maria’s spots. I’m just scratching my head head as to where Modric would be most dangerous for Madrid.

Hopefully he wouldn’t be the next van der Vaart or Sneijder. Both Dutch midfielders never really made a huge impact during their time at Madrid after big money moves from Ajax Amsterdam a couple of years ago.

Personally, I would think that Madrid should be purchasing defenders (or even a more defensive minded midfielder like John Obi Mikel to help stop leaking goals) instead with the ageing Carvalho rumoured to be leaving Madrid for QPR. That leaves Ramos, Pepe, Arbeloa, Marcelo, Raul Albion and French youngster Varane as first team defenders.

Any injuries would surely put a strain on their defence but who am I to question The Special One?!

We Got Him: Robin van Persie Moves To Man United

16 August 2012

It was just like any other morning when I stepped into the office and when onto Soccernet and there it was, splashed onto the front page of the website with headlines screaming about Manchester United’s capture of Arsenal talisman, Robin van Persie.

I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs and I did. The ecstasy of knowing the transfer saga that has been dragging on for the whole of the European summer has finally come to a positive fruition was just too hard to hold back. I’m all too familiar about reading United transfer rumours and would not believe that deals have been done until United have announced it themselves.

Players like Ronaldinho, Robben, Essien and the mercurial Zidane have all almost don the red of United before been tempted by big offer moves to other clubs. When early reports suggested that Manchester City and Juventus were in the running for van Persie along with United, I didn’t think too much about it but was still secretly hoping that Alex Ferguson gets the man he thinks will challenge City for the title next season.

Not since 2001 when United signed both Juan Sebastian Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy have I gotten so excited about a big name signing. The Arsenal (ex)captain has the pedigree we so sorely lacked last season when we lost the title to Manchester City and with Rooney and van Persie leading the attack for United, it’s going to be raining goals for the red half of Manchester.

I do feel a little for Arsene Wenger though with so many star players leaving Arsenal in the last 16 years that he has managed the team. I figured I’ll write up a list of star players that have left Arsenal and wasn’t surprised that it turned out to be a pretty huge list:

PlayerLeft Arsenal ForYear
Nicolas AnelkaReal Madrid1999
Emmanuel PetitBarcelona2000
Marc OvermarsBarcelona2000
Nwankwo KanuWest Bromich Albion2004
Sylvain WiltordLyon2004
Edu GasparValencia2005
Patrick VieiraJuventus2005
Robert PiresVillarreal2006
José Antonio ReyesReal Madrid2006
Freddie LjungbergWest Ham United2007
Thiery HenryBarcelona2007
Ashley ColeChelsea2007
Gilberto SilvaPanathinaikos2008
Alexander HlebBarcelona2008
Mathieu FlaminiAC Milan2008
Emmanuel AdebayorManchester City2009
Kolo ToureManchester City2009
William GallasChelsea2010
Gaël ClichyManchester City2011
Cesc FàbregasBarcelona2011
Sami NasriManchester City2011
Robin van PersieManchester United2012

All is not lost for Arsenal though. They’ve shored up their attack with the captures of Giroud, Podolski and Carzola and even though winning the title is probably out of their reach next season, I’m sure they’ll still be fighting for a Champions League spot.

Today has really made me realized how much I’ve really missed my weekly dose of English Premier League and Champions League football. In the mean time, a montage of United’s new striker who was also last season’s top goal scorer would suffice for now.

The Ghanian Prince

15 August 2012

I was chatting with a friend last night about her dancing, found out she was doing Ghanian dance classes and without a second thought, Kevin Prince Boateng popped into my head. Kevin is a Ghanian football player plying his trade with Italian giants AC Milan and is probably the most prolific player after the great Tony Yeboah from Leeds United in the mid nineties.

Being German born, Kevin could have opted to play for the European juggernauts but chose to represent Ghana instead. His younger brother, Jerome, chose to play for Germany. In a weird twist of fate, both brothers were called up to the national squads for  their respective nations for the 2010 World Cup and their teams were drawn in the same pool. It was the first time in history that two brothers have played on opposite teams in the World Cup and Germany won the match 1-0.

Everyone was surprised when AC Milan bought Kevin from Portsmouth in the summer of 2010 but he has since established himself as one of Milan’s greatest attacking threats. His dynamic pace and the way he “dances” around opponents is my preferred kind of Ghanian dance I reckon.

And it seems like the guy CAN seriously dance.

And he can sing too. Is there anything the Prince can’t do!?

Melbourne Victory vs Port Melbourne Sharks

18 July 2012

I popped by the SS Anderson Reserve, home ground of the Port Melbourne Soccer Club, last night to catch Melbourne Victory’s first pre-season friendly against the Port Melbourne Sharks and at the same time, had a first hand look at how some of our new signings would fare against local opponents and they didn’t disappoint.

I was particularly impressed by Jonathan Bru and Jimmy Jeggo, bossing the midfield with their assured passes and spraying the ball ala Scholesy. It was also comforting to see that we didn’t resort to the long ball game and concentrated on keeping the ball even though Port Melbourne was defending well. Hopefully Ange Postecoglou has drilled it into the players to play simple passes, run into spaces and keep the ball.

New Brazilian signing Guilherme Finkler looked like he had the typical flair of a South American player. He was put through by a team mate and he finished with a deft chip with the outside of this right foot to give Melbourne Victory a 1-0 lead mid way through the first half.

Julius Davies and Matthew Foschini both looked lively on the right wing and Davies surprised me with his composure and keen eye for through passes. He was making intelligent runs and was good with both feet and the boy’s only 17 years old! What was even more impressive was that he spent 3 years at Bayern Munich and then a year with Hoffenheim before signing for Victory.

Port Melbourne did eventually equalize just before half time and it was a poor defensive lapse that caused Victory to concede a soft goal.

Ange Postecoglou made a whole heap of changes in the second half and another new signing, Theo Markelis came on for Archie Thompson and he certainly didn’t do his chances any harm with good touches on the ball and was extremely quick with his feet giving his marker lots of trouble with his fast turns. And it was his quick thinking that earned Victory a penalty when he was chopped down from behind and Danny Allsopp stepped up to dispatch the penalty confidently.

The game finished 2-1 to Victory and I think the crowd was certainly pleased with how the team was playing and with superstar Marco Flores and Mark Milligan joining up with the squad soon and with Marcos Rojas away on Olympic duty with New Zealand, the future of the club looks good with this new core batch of players.

I certainly can’t wait for the A-League to start and we can start exorcising the ghost that is Harry Kewell and get on with our winning ways again after last season’s disappointment.

Photos courtesy of the Port Melbourne Sharks Facebook Page.


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Socceroos To Make It For Brazil 2014?

10 June 2012

With the English Premier League season ending about a month ago and with the A-League not starting until October, it’s tough being a football fan in Australia. It’s an even TOUGHER task wanting to support our very own Socceroos but we have to accept the inevitable that the golden generation of Australian football is truly over.

Omani keeper Ali Al-Habsi

The World Cup qualifying match against Oman last Friday demonstrates that the Socceroos need to pull their socks up if they want to qualify for Brazil 2014. Oman was fielding a fairly young and inexperience team and we had trouble matching their pace and technical skills. We went back to our old habit of pumping the ball up field and hoping someone does something with it.

Granted Carney pull a good save out of Oman’s goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi, who ply his trade with Wigan in England’s top league, the rest of the Socceroos team was struggling to find inspiration, running around like headless chooks trying to break down an organized Omani team.

Oman had two men marking Kewell from the moment the kick off whistle blew and with Kennedy and Cahill on the bench, our crosses into the box was never really going to be effective.

And the fact that our team was complaining that the 5pm kick off in Muscat was not favourable because the heat was too much for the Aussie players was just embarrassing. It wasn’t like the heat was just going to affect the Aussie players.

We were just not good enough.

I’m no genius when it comes to football but it was clear that we need some young blood in the Socceroos camp. Why call up Archie Thompson we have Melbourne Heart youngster Eli Babalj who recently secured a move from Heart to Serbian power house Red Star Belgrade, coached by former Barcelona and Real Madrid star, Robert Prosinecki?

Kagawa and Honda

It scares me knowing that our next opponents are the Japanese in Brisbane next Thursday. With mercurial superstars like Honda and Kagawa, who famously made the swap from Borussia Dortmund to my favourite team Manchester United recently, our defence is going to have a field day making sure those two don’t run rings around our players.

The mood in the Japanese must be buoyant after beating Jodarn 6-0. Hopefully, our old guards like Sasa Ognenovski, Lucas Neil and Mark Scharwzer could save us from embarrassment and we can score on the break and frustrate the Japanese.

Fingers crossed that results will go our way because if not, the AFL buffoons will have another weapon in their anti-football arsenal.

Chelsea Finally Wins The Champions League

20 May 2012

What a season it’s been for football. First the dramas at Manchester for the English title decider and now Chelsea displays a masterclass performance full of grit and never say die attitude to finally hand Roman Abramovich his first Champions League title since taking over the club in 2002.

Bayern Munich was definitely the better team throughout and I was Whatsapping Jeremy and Sonti feverishly discussing about what’s going on in the match and I told Jeremy that for some weird reason, I think Chelsea was going to win. He was gunning for Munich to beat Chelsea so his beloved Spurs could play Champions League football next season.

And when Thomas Muller scored in the 86 minute, it seemed like all was going well for Jeremy’s Spurs and Bayern Munich. Muller was substituted off for defender Van Buyten soon after and it was clear Munich wanted to protected their lead for the last couple of minutes for the match.

By this time, Torres was brought on for Kalou by Chelsea and the 50 million pound striker did well to win a corner for the Blues.

Mata swings the corner in and Drogba powered a header past the flapping Neuer in the 88th minute. Game on!

Torres had been getting much flack since moving from Liverpool last year but his form has been improving in the last couple of months and his most telling contribution to this match was winning Chelsea’s FIRST corner in contrast to Munich’s 15 corners.

It must now seem silly of Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes to take Muller off and when the camera was on Muller looking bewildered at the turn of events, it certainly brought back memories of the 1999 final when Lothar Matthaus was substituted off and having the same look after Manchester United staged one of the greatest comebacks to snatch the title from within Munich’s grasp.

Chelsea didn’t manage quite a similar comeback but with Drogba’s goal, brought the game into extra time and boy was more drama to come.

Early in the first half of extra time, Drogba, hero for Chelsea so far, brought Ribery down in the Chelsea box and Munich was award a penalty. It seem like that was the end of the road for Chelsea but when Cech stepped up to save Robben’s penalty, a sense of self belief swept through the entire Chelsea team.

They held on through the second half of extra time and the match went into penalties.

Ivan Olic and Sebastian Schweinsteiger missed their penalties and Drogba took Chelsea’s last penalty to win the cup for the Blues and send the stadium into raptures.

I’m absolutely delight for Chelsea and even though Bayern Munich played the better football, their inefficiency with their finish definitely cost them the match.