Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Extract from soccernet.com"Another match I was fortunate to attend this week was the 'Battle of Nuremberg' that say Portugal and Holland share 20 cards between them, four of which were red. Portugal celebrated joyously on the pitch after their 1-0 win in what was a decidedly bad-tempered and violent second round clash, but once pulses had returned to normal the Seleccao probably did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Deco's red card means he will be suspended for the quarter-final with England and now Portugal boss Big Phil Scolari faces the almost impossible task of replacing the brilliant little Brazilian-born playmaker.
'This is very bad news indeed for us,' opined former Benfica and Portugal centre-back Humberto Coelho.
'Deco has been in tremendous form for Barcelona this season and a large percentage of our attacking play is channelled through him. He is always capable of undoing the opposition with a moment of improvisation on the ball or disguised pass. Against a team as solid in defence as the English, we will miss him hugely. He makes our play fluid and the truth is we don't have anyone to step into his shoes.
'We're not out of this contest, though, far from it. Even if Cristiano Ronaldo is not fit, we have Simao to come in on the wing and Figo, Maniche and Pauleta are all top quality. I've been particularly impressed by Maniche in this tournament. He's back to the form he showed at Euro 2004.
'Sure we'll miss Deco. He's a wonderful midfielder, but what makes me optimistic is the coaching ability of Scolari, who really is a master and the courage and togetherness shown by the team against the Dutch. Our team is mentally tough and are prepared to go through all the barriers necessary to win.'
Not only do journalists at the World Cup have to deal with deadlines and coaches and players who simply do not want to talk. There's also the none-too inconsequential matter of a virus doing the rounds at the International Broadcast Centre in Munich, the nerve centre for TV transmissions around the globe, a sort of 'mini-city' with some 5,000 people working on site around the clock.
Some forty reporters and technical staff have already gone done with the sickness bug, the effects of which last for two to three days, and needless to say the World Cup Organising committee has moved into overdrive to root out the problem, calling in city health officials.
The verdict was that toilets would have to be disinfected on the hour, while journalists are being advised to always wash their hands when they go to the loo. As if we wouldn't anyway!
No shaking hands for a while though, just in case."
PORTUGAL!!!!
Its just me and you <3 .
10:01 AM
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Every blog has its own unique feel.
Reading zj's blog makes me sentimental & wonder why is he so sad?
Ivan's blog is extremely informative cos there are lotsa reviews.
Reading huimin's blog makes me marvel at her summary skills..
Reading timo's blog gives me alot of topics to talk/niao abt..
Reading susanti's blog makes me know how "bimbo" she is... haha...
Reading huizhi's blog makes me feel like taiwanese/korean shows guru..
Reading class blog makes me feel out of touch..
Reading yinhow's blog makes me wonder how can he speak so chem...
Reading wanlin's blog makes me wonder
那个笨女人死到哪里了？！！So what do you want your blog to be like?
Its just me and you <3 .
1:37 PM
I'm having writer's block these few days. Incapable of writing anything at all. So I'm reduced to reading fanfictions these few days.
Haha, pathetic, there's really nothing else to do these days, other than watching World Cup and cursing referees. Esp over Portugal vs Netherlands match. Now, Portugal's fate is hanging by the thread. Deco & Costinha red carded. Maniche, Figo yellow carded. Ronaldo (altho he's ap) is injured. Goodness gracious...
But, thank goodness, (choi choi choi) Owen's still injured (i know someone wanna kill me if she reads this, but I'm seriously not cursing owen). Just glad that may somehow level the playing field. England's team still not performing their best yet, so there could be this slightest chance after all for Portugal.
Germany's getting better by the day, with the highest number of goals attempts and one of the teams with the highest goals scored. But it's my personal opinion: Klose's still kinda weird handling the ball with his feet. He's better in the air.
So in short, watch out for (night/morning) Friday's Germany vs Argentina, Saturday's Portugal vs England!
Its just me and you <3 .
1:27 PM
Sunday, June 11, 2006
I was just relating my Bangkok trip to Yiyun & telling her the sights there. She's, surprisingly, also going there with her friends soon, so I've got lotsa experiences to share. Then I realised how much I miss Bangkok! Hah..
Well, I went there with flu, so it's pretty much a downer. The day before I board the plane, I was raging a fever 38.5oC. By the time I was onboard the plane, I was drowsy and pretty muddled up with all those pills Doc gave me. And because of the flu, my left ear (blocked somemore) was aching terribly when the plane was descending. To top it off, I lost my voice on that first day in Bangkok. Damn!
Haha, but the good thing was I loved the tut-tut rides! Despite all the warnings against taking tut-tuts, we took it several times. Haha, I still laugh when I recall the dread on Esther's face when we were seriously thinking of taking it for the first time. What's more, 7 of us squeeze into 1 tut-tut! It's a miracle we didnt burst a tyre or flip over.
The first time was horrendrous because Esther was sitting on my legs and just beside the exit. I was so afraid she will fly out! So my hands were sort of her madeshift belt. Jiayi was even more kong bu. She sat at the small space beside the driver, but she's practically suspending in midair! When we finally reached our hotel & dropped out from the tut-tut, we were all giggling. What a sight man! All the other tut-tuts around us were giving us the thumbsup when we were driving hahaah...
The second time round, we became smarter. Because we were thinking of riding tut-tut for sight-seeing, we got 2 tut-tuts instead of 1. How can we sightsee when we're holding on to dear life and having our heads squashed to the rooftops? Haha, my driver was a shuai ge! haha jiayi agree with me lol! But the damn thing was midway during the sight-seeing, my nose got so irritated by the damn smoke that it started bleeding. The bad thing wasnt my nose bleeding. The bad thing was it scared the hell out of everyone else, including the shuai driver! hahahas...
Warning to everyone: Tut-tuts are good if they're travelling fast on the road, not when they're caught in jams and having the smoke infiltrating ur lungs! Anyway we came to Chaophraya River (Royal River sort to speak) and it's well... dirty. Haha. Then we started taking pictures in the travelling tut-tuts. I wanted to take a picture with ppl in our tut-tut (and with the driver of course), but my mother didnt want lol! Sianz... luckily we had a group photo (with the drivers of course) at the end!
Haha, for the entire trip I was voiceless. So it sorta trained my companions' interpreting skills, esp Wanlin's! haha, I think she grew smarter after this trip! haha bleahs..she's a very kind girl, i just realise... bleahs...cos she became my intepretor! (sort to speak)
Anyway we still ganna cheated by this old taxi uncle who drove us to the Palace Buddha instead of the Four-faced Buddha, cos he only understood the word Buddha. But he's a honest man that actually came to pick us up on time for the trip back to the airport. Meanwhile, for the other taxi that we got, the driver didnt know how to go to the airport and took us for some uncalled for sightseeing around Bangkok's countryside! In the end, we took twice the distance to reach the airport! Qi si ren...
I miss the tut-tuts...
Its just me and you <3 .
12:33 AM
Thursday, June 08, 2006
About Schmidt...There's really nothing about Schmidt. He's a 66 year old widower who lost his wife not long ago. He's retired. And his only daughter is getting married to a man he detest. He has nothing much left in his life & he just found out his wife cheated on him 20 years ago. The adulterer was his best friend.
Seemingly, what remain were a broken heart & soul. All around him were whirls & whirls of loneliness and the stark darkness. Like the tomb-like silence of the cemetary. The long wait for death to claim him. In a way, he's a deserter & also the deserted. How bitter & miserable... imagine you are in his shoes. I hope that day never comes.
Its just me and you <3 .
10:39 PM