Saturday, February 03, 2007

Hello readers.

This week has been pretty bad.


I just can't keep up the pretence that I'm okay anymore.



Well.

Let me start blogging about that fateful Wednesday. A great day though.


Wednesday 31st January 2007


Fucking average day, that day. In school, nothing much really happened. I just tried to steal some more peeks at someone whom I'm supposed to have forgotten already. Guess it's really hard to do that when you see that someone daily.

After that, another game of football against the Sec 4Ns. I must say, blisters arent' a good thing.
Went home and changed into my Manchester United jersey, and headed out for the National Stadium.

It was about a quarter filled when I reached there. The 5N ppl were already there waiting for me to arrive. Gosh how royal I was. Then Fang Yi and Co' arrived within minutes. Well. I just couldnt' stop eating. I guess stuffing myself is a method that Shi Yuan has taught me really well. It makes you full, thus you dont' feel empty anymore! Lol.

Then I tattooed my face with a Singapore flag, and there we go. Match start!

There were chants of Oleh and that Singapore song which I've forgotten the name of.

A penalty by Mustafic Fahrudin seven minutes from time gave Singapore a 2-1 win over Thailand in the first leg of the Asean Football Championship final at the National Stadium.

And while the result means that the Lions go into the Sunday’s second leg with a one-goal advantage, the match will unfortunately be remembered for the farcical scenes in the closing stages when referee C Ravichandran – and there is no other way of saying this – lost the proverbial plot.

For the Malaysian allowed the whole Thai team to walk off the pitch in protest at his decision to award the penalty in the 83rd minute, which held the game hostage for a quarter of an hour.

A cool finish from Noh Alam Shah in the 17th minute gave the hosts the lead, which the Thais cancelled out through Pipat Thonkanya’s equalizer just after the break.

In team news, Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic made three changes from the side that started against Malaysia on Saturday.

Mohd Noh Rahman started in place of Hafiz Osman, while skipper Aide Iskandar - back from suspension - replaced Baihakki Khaizan to partner Precious Emuejeraye in the middle of defence. The third change saw Fazrul Nawaz - and not Khairul Amri - on the left side of midfield.

The Lions started the match the better of the two sides, with the midfield trio of Muhd Ridhuan, Shi Jia Yi and Mustafic looking particularly lively.

Then came the goal that got the crowd on their feet.

Off a Singapore throw-in on the right flank, the Thai defence made things difficult for themselves as they struggled to clear two attempts in quick succession by Indra Sahdan and Mustafic Fahrudin.

In the ensuing chaos in the box, Niweat Siriwong was struck in the face by the ball and stayed down.

And as goalkeeper Kittisak Rawangpa led the call for play to stop for treatment to Niweat, Alam Shah reacted quickest to bring the loose ball down before turning skilfully in the box to shoot into the bottom left corner from 10 yards.

Singapore tried to take the game by the scruff of the neck, but a combination of poor passes and scrappy attempts at defending by Thailand prevented any sort of flow in the contest.

The second half was only five minutes old when Pipat lost his marker just outside the box and latched onto Nirut Surasiang’s slide-rule pass.

With Daniel Bennett playing the Thai No.23 onside, the latter had the simple task to dribble past Lionel Lewis and then walking the ball into the unguarded net.

The defending champions had what looked like a legitimate call for a penalty turned down when substitute Khairul Amri was tripped in the box by Jetsada Jitsawad in the 55th minute.

As the second half wore on, it seemed that the visitors had finally got their gamesmanship over and done and actually managed to play some decent football.

The intensity of the game was reflected in the card count: Singapore had three while Thailand had four. For the Lions, Fazrul Nawaz’s booking in the 25th minute rules him out for the return game.

Five minutes past the hour mark, Lionel did well to punch away Nirut’s stinging effort away for a corner and was also equal to Datsakorn Thonglao’s speculative attempt in the 77th minute.

By this stage it appeared the Thais were content to sit back and hit on the break whilst it looked like the team in blue were feeling the pressure of adding to their tally.

But seven minutes from time, it was the team in red that had the proverbial blues, walking off the pitch en masse in protest after referee Ravichandran awarded a contentious penalty to Singapore.

There appeared little in the aerial challenge between Niweat and Alam Shah but the referee stunned everyone, including the partisan home crowd when he pointed to the spot just as Kittisak was preparing to take a goal kick.

Thai coach Chanvit Phalajivin, who appeared to instigate the mass walkout from the touchline, kept his players on the sidelines for 15 minutes.

When the dust settled, up stepped Mustafic to slam the penalty kick into the top left hand corner for Singapore to take a slender lead into Sunday's (Feb 4) second leg in Bangkok.

It was the last competitive game to be played at the 33-year-old National Stadium before it makes way for the sports hub. And it will certainly be a game to be remembered.

But sadly for the wrong reasons.

After that, some Thai fans wanted to start trouble by waiting for us at the East Stand, we didn't take the bait. Mostly because we were still in school and there were many Ciscos' around.



Another photo for good measure. Owned by the Singapore National Team as the Thailand Team boo hoos to a defeat.

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Well. Let me try and sum the week up.


It was pretty bad and boring. Handphone scares again. Had to hide my phone somewhere which I shan't divulge.

Football-wise it has been pretty bad too. I can't get back the dude I used to be.

Well. You can never be the guy you used to be. You just have to improve^^

Besides stealing glances, there was nothing much I could do. The iceblock seems to be much bigger now and it's giving me frostbites every single day. It's like.. I dont' know how to explain..

I'll fail Amaths, Emaths, English and Chemistry.


That's all folks

I'm heading off to a chalet btw.

See you guys back here on Sunday.

Good bye.






One more try.
SiYuan at 1:13 AM