yep, the roof (if there was any) came down at Kallang last night..

you'd probably read it all in the papers by now. 53000 (minus the 2000 msians) fans urging the Lions on; 53000 fans screaming as if with each decibel raised, the probability of a goal for the home team would increase; 53000 Lions' fans baying for the blood of the malaysian tigers.

the tigers drew first blood though, if only through a hopeful swing of the right boot and a shot which was parried, yet spun cruelly over the flailing Lion Lionel. The Kallang Roar seem deflated for those few minutes after that goal. I certainly was. But as we read in the publications today, the 11 Lions on the field weren't about to lose heart, shut up shop and go out of the Asean Championships with a whimper. The team credited their oft-AWOL, oft-skeptic, oft-critical "12th Lion" for giving them the extra ommph in their every stride towards the malaysian goal and ultimately the extra something to finish off the tigers in the penalty shootout..

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I rushed to the stadium from Angora's inaugural Youth Fellowship Meeting and the bbq dinner. Avoiding the traffic congestion on the ECP and the indoor stadium area (Taiwanese group S.H.E. was on), i took the nicoll highway and soon found myself stuck in a mini-jam near the mouth of the National Stadium. it was only then that i realised how daunting Kallang can be, if we Singaporeans want it to be. The ol' dame of Singapore football and its four towering stadium lights shone through the misty night as car after car after car lined up to head into the stadium.

there was to be no proper parking lot, arriving at 745pm, so i had to make do with an unofficial one across a sideroad directly under the stadium, its access already being blocked by other cars facing the same dilemma as I. Nevertheless, the parking coupons that I tore earlier in the day for that time were displayed. Not sure if the attendants would acknowledge that or not. Made a quarter-of-a-stadium run to the east entrance and snaked our way onto the terraces and into the heart of the Lions' Die-hard Supporters Fanclub section where Jeremy, Timothy and the rest were.

the first half was a bit of a bore. but i felt singapore played better then. malaysia just couldn't get started, maybe Kallang when packed to the rafters was just to much for them to take. they looked unsettled.

half time came and went without me getting my hands on the lovely curry puff. they were sold out. And so as i recorded earlier, the malaysians put themselves ahead early in the second half. It seems to me that Singapore only starts playing the game seriously when they are behind. Only then did we see Hafiz Osman rampaging down the right flank and whipping in cross after cross, to take advantage of the vertically-challenged Malaysian defence which was also not adept at dealing with highballs in the box. Many times a peach of a cross swung in from the right boot of Hafiz, many times the Lions in the box, all queuing up to head the ball in, either missed it or put the ball high and over the crossbar.

75 minutes and finally the relentless attacks on the malaysian goal yielded a return for the Lions. Again, it was a crossball in and Noh Alam Shah, scourge of the malaysians in the first leg in Shah Alam stadium, who got his head to the ball, directing it across goal. Malaysian custodian, syamsul could only parry it and the ball fell into a dangerous area just within the six-yard box. I couldn't see (some enthu fan stood up then) who toe-poked or slammed the ball in. All I saw was the net bulging and I screamed in delight.. but not before glancing over at the linesman and the referee who awarded the goal.

i honestly thought we were never going to recover from Lionel's clanger. but then, after ridhuan pulled us level, only then could one feel the full force of the Kallang Roar once again, reminiscent of the Malaysia Cup days.

The Kallang Wave went full circle time after time after time. The strains of the fans singing "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole!" rang throughout the stands. But what really reached deep into the bottom of my heart and the recesses of my memory was when the stadium rocked and i really mean ROCKED from under the feet of the "12th Man", all stomping on the ground urging the Lions for JUST one more. I have never experienced that Kallang Stomp since the Malaysia Cup days.

To all those who were there with me, and to all those who wanted to be there.. thank you and let's bring the house down once more on wednesday against the tomyam brigade that is Thailand.

but first onto extra time.. i must admit there was a little nail-biting involved as i feared the Lions conceding a goal on the backfoot against the fleet-footed counter attacking Malaysians, who were also intent on winding the clock down. The highlight of extra time (and that of Precious' entire tournament) was his 30-yard screamer which was headed for the top left corner before being narrowly tipped over by Syamsul. And so the ref blew, but definitely not before more time-wasting tactics and Hollywood-esque theatrics by the Malaysian 'keeper. I'm sure he deserved a nice yellow card for his efforts.

It was time for the mandatory penalty shootout.

Nerve wrecking? Most definitely.

More nail-biting? Certainly.

Indra stepped up and put the ball down the centre of the goal. One nil Lions.

Hardi Jaffar clinically sidefooted to draw the malaysians level.

Alam Shah.. (i thought he would miss. I could already see the headlines "Alamak! Alam Shah..") but NO. His spotkick went down the way of Indra's.

By then, the fans were cheering each goal, egging on each Lion making the brave walk from the centre circle to the penalty box, and also roundly jeering and pressuring each malaysian player. Bearing in mind that it could all turn sour, I couldn't bear to show anymore emotion than a simple pump of the fist with each singapore spotkick converted. but i found myself on rollercoaster of emotion after the malaysians equalled that of their Singaporean counterparts.

Mustafic Fahruddin stepped up next. He trudged up the half. Put the ball in place and duly answered the call to put us 3-2 up.

i don't remember who equalised for the malaysians after that and also after Fazrul Nawaz put the Lions 4-3 up. I must say Fazrul displayed tons of nerve to step up and plant the ball in the back of the net beyond the reach of the malaysian 'keeper. I also thought, that Fazrul too would be overwhelmed by the atmosphere and miss the penalty.

last taker for the lions was shi jiayi, who undoubtedly played his best game of the tournament, converting his penalty off the body of syamsul. close, but a goal nonetheless. Lions 5-4 up.

then came the moment. it seemed an eternity as the khyrill walked towards the penalty spot. his body language if i don't remember wrongly, didn't look too good. Perhaps the pressure of NEEDING to score (as the Lions have already scored the mandatory 5) and the presence of the "12th Man" screaming, jeering, slamming broke him. His feeble attempt to the right was CAUGHT, not palmed away by the reigning MVP of the tournament, Lionel Lewis. He redeemed himself.

As for me, i went delirious. i screamed with ecstacy in the face of total strangers who screamed back. i high-fived another stranger and amongst all that, started flinging crushed posters and water cups in the air. then something that i never experienced before happened. i started feeling faint, lost my bearings and started to feeling around, looking to engsoon and timothy for support to ensure i don't fall. Perhaps the flu bug that i've been fighting the past few days and the lack of sufficient food caused that. Or maybe cos' i was just seated down too long during the penalties and a sudden change of emotins proved too much for the weakened body then. But that feeling went away seconds later (thank God nothing happened!) and i was back on my seat jumping up and down waving my Singapore flag.

we made our way out of the stands.. tim and i tried to get the "ole, ole" chants going without success. And so we trooped out of the National Stadium victorious against the old-enemy Malaysia. Then, right on cue, the rain which had been threatening since the start of the evening came pouring down. Mind you, we still needed to run back to the car. after that it was supper at lau pa sat and then i dropped tim, jack and engsoon home.. reached home at 135am.. postioned myself nicely on my bed and rested for soccer at safra mount faber this morning. crazy, but definitely worth it.

And so the fairytale ending that is the National Stadium in Kallang, home to the Singapore Lions all the way back from the Malaysia Cup days, continues..

I'll be back for the final Lions game this Wednesday in the 1st leg, final of the tournament against Thailand.. I certainly hope it will be a good result for us to bring to Thailand for the second leg and to close a chapter of Singapore football at this soon-to-be former Kallang Stadium. I hope also to sink my teeth into the delicious currypuffs with chilli and nasi lemak once last time.

come on Lions.

P.S. Shebby Singh, former malaysian defender & espn starsports' lousiest pundit/biased-commentator, eat-your-own-foot as SINGAPORE WON! Please know that the role of a commentator is to be objective and unbiased in his/her assessment of the game, totally unlike the virtues you were displaying and comments you were making in the first leg in Shah Alam. Totally unprofessional you were.

drinks, nasi lemak, curry puff.. drinks, nasi lemak, curry puff..

Singapore 2-2 Indonesia: Champions advance
SINGAPORE, January 17 (Asean Football Championship) - Defending champions Singapore advanced to the semi-finals of the Asean Football Championship after holding Indonesia to a tense 2-2 draw at the National Stadium on Wednesday. (source: ESPNsoccernet)

more on that later..

school ended at 1230pm today. headed home for lunch and revisions on management accounting module.. and then packed my stuff and set off for the national stadium.

stopped by 7-eleven for some sweets, half-willing the lady across the counter to hurry my transaction, half-fearing that i would miss the number 10 bus..

boarded after like a ten minute wait.. turn off. only to be further irked when met by the driver's reply when i asked.. national stadium duo jio (how long to reach there)? "hard to say lah! got jam long lah.. no jam..". i couldn't be bothered with the rest of his statement.. i was asking how long it would roughly take to get to the stadium and he tells me about jams (cos' i wanted to confirm streetdirectory.com's estimate of 35 minutes).

went up, took a seat and took out by leadership training work to complete and then moved up front to be nearer the tv mobile screens. the arena was on. nothing really exciting they were debating about.. read a little of the bible and soon found the bus stuck in the jam that the bus driver was talking about along tanjong pagar railway station.. soon cleared it, got off and found myself with a spring in my step as i made my way towards the National Stadium.

timothy, whom i was meeting, was also stuck in a jam somewhere along the ecp.. hah. and i thought i was late.. bought some gallery tickets but was disappointed to find out that the Lions die-hard supporter fan club, who i usually seat with, were in the grandstand section. think they feared the lion mascot might get wet.. not me. nor timothy. we were there to brave the rain and cheer on the Lions. so it was raining.. drizzling actually, but this dude who was sitting in front of me, had his umbrella open.. no one watched singapore football with their umbrellas open. even with the rain pouring down. during the malaysia cup days, people would curse at you AND your open umbrella.

so we took the lead through a well-struck Alam Shah penalty and then Precious, oh Precious!! No i'm not rueing the fact we soon conceded a goal.. i'm irate at the fact that the authorities gave Nigerian-born Precious Emuejeraye fast-tracked citizenship and stumped by Raddy's preference of not-so-Precious over Baihakki Khaizan. Precious made many many many many mistakes during the match. i really think malaysia's got a good chance against us next week in the semis if precious plays. this slow, clumsy, bumbling 1.8+m giant of a man really cannot play football.

add to that, the thai referee's seeming preference and siding of the indonesian side added to my woes as halftime approached. every slight contact, the ref blew for indonesia. flicked a few yellows in singapore's faces but let off the indonesians. sick, that tom yam man.

anyway, i was looking forward to dinner at half time. dinner was a 3 buck nasi lemak, which i absolutely love.. and a 2 buck cuppa coke which was a rip off.. the fragant and "loose" nasi lemak i wolfed down as the Lions took their break.. shouts of Singapore, Singapore rang out from the stalls outside the stands of the stadium.. i suspect some minor scuffles between singaporeans and indonesians..

second half and indra put us ahead, again! don't know how it went in.. but it did.. then singapore nearly self-destructed when they allowed a soft equaliser 4 minutes later.. overall, singapore allowed indonesia the freedom and space to play their passing game.. and many times during the match, we could have conceded a third.. mind you, with Precious in there as well.. my heart was certainly in my mouth each time the ball got near him..

clock ticked away and i remember Timothy and I counting down with TWENTY minutes still to go.. that was how bad singapore was playing.. i told him, "this could be the last time we're watching a match here if singapore continues to play badly.."

anyway, fast forward and the ref finally blew for the final whistle after what seemed like 4-5 minutes of injury time. strains of "Ole, ole" rang throughout the stands.. what capped it for me was our seeing off of our opponents and their fans with "Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey, Goodbye! Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey hey hey, Goodbye!"

met zayed, daniel and mark at the match. they claimed farand was there as well..

contemplated dapao-ing a nasi lemak for breakfast tomorrow but decided against it.. bought a curry puff outside the stadium for a mere buck. that was worth it. loved the pastry and the chilli sauce.. it was certainly good.

as Tim and I made our way towards the busstop for number 10, I quipped, "Hey! We'll be back at the stadium for one more match. And one more nasi lemak. And one more curry puff." maybe 2 nasi lemaks & 3 curry puffs. :P but no coke. if i can help it.

next saturday, singapore vs malaysia 2nd leg 8pm.

now, where's my singapore flag?

Singapore 11 - 0 Laos-sy

i just love and laugh at the title of this entry. i don't mean to be rude towards the country of Laos and the Laotian people. but the journalistic and albeit cheeky and okay, yes, offensive side of me came out in the title. that's totally me lah. pun it if you can. But hey, if i was a journalist for The New Paper, i'd use the same title as my headline. I might get the boot eleven times from my bosses after that though. :P

who knows, maybe the reporter covering the match might use the same one.. but then i scooped him on that headline. that's just assuming he decides to use it.

i've just witnessed one of the highs of Singapore football. we just whooped a minnow of south-east asian football for ELEVEN. okay, so they are pushovers.. but the goal-fest would go some way towards injecting confidence in the players for indonesia on wednesday and in the local fans in the support of their national players.

my vote for the best goal, and i'm sure that of many others, would go to Noh Alam Shah, who scored 7, yes, SEVEN, and closed the match with an audacious scissors kick, which i'm sure even Fandi would have been proud of.

think the last time Singapore recorded a big win was in the Malaysia Cup when we whooped brunei 8-nil and razzler dazzler Sundramoorthy capped the win then with a spectacular bicycle kick.

I think debutants Hafiz Osman (right-back) & substitute Isa Halim (defensive midfield) played really well despite the "laos-sy" (sorry, can't resist it..) opposition. Their good performance tonight does not necessarily guarantee a distinguished national career, but it certainly augurs well for the future of Singapore football, given that first-choice right back Subramani is 35 years young and is retiring after this tournament.

For the record, here are the goalscorers for today's match:

Singapore - 11
- Ridhuan Muhd 10,
- Noh Alam Shah 11, 24, 61, 72, 76, 88, 92
- Shahril Ishak 47
- Khairul Amri 71
- Itimi Dickson 79

Laos - 0

the commentator, dez corkhill summed it up best when he said that "..there might not be enough time for highlights after the match..".

anyone up for the game on wednesday against indonesia?

(picture taken from http://www.sleague.com)

becks off to the stars..

ESPNsoccernet - Jan. 11, 2007

David Beckham will leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and join side Los Angeles Galaxy on a £128million ($250 million) five-year deal - which works out at a mere half-a-million pounds a week.

The former England captain will leave Real in June and begin his new career in Major League Soccer in August.

crap. now i won't be able to meet him face to face even if i get to go to england end of this year.. although there's always cristiano ronaldo, wayne rooney, rio ferdinand, paul scholes, steven gerrard, john terry and many others.. hopefully ronaldinho and messi too!! still, meeting becks has always been something i've wanted to do.. well, maybe, just maybe he'll be back on holiday in the UK when i'm there.

then again, if there's anyone after Pele, who would be able to raise the profile of soccer in the States, then Beckham would be the one with his marketability, superstar good looks & he ain't that bad a player afterall.. besides you've gotta admit that his wife looks good.. that'll help, along with her friendship with Mrs Cruise, Katie Holmes.. it's a long shot (not impossible for Becks, ya' know..) but they might be the next IT couple of Hollywood..

Wait. Am i'm supposed to be talking about Becks' new club and how he truly desires to raise the profile of soccer amongst the basketballing, baseballing Americans? Or the fact that he's probably moving there to boost his own profile and ensure Brand Beckham conquers the Americas.

Only then, can he unveil his plans for world domination..

okay. think i'm going crazy from not being able to meet him if i head to europe this year.

(picture taken from http://soccernet.espn.go.com)

we perceive our absence from service to be a time problem..

God sees it as a priority problem. I do, too.

disclaimer: i've only realised it in recent times. i hope you do, too. soon enough.

say what you mean;

mean what you say.

cordon bleu: moderate success.

tried to replicate the same dish from Secret Recipe. Verdict: A tad too cheesy, slightly overcooked and wrong type of bread crumbs used. Overall, not too bad for first try.

tsk. it wasn't me though who made it though. was my mum. but it was me who pushed for extra cheese. :P

2007: Ushered & Uncertain.

it was a fairly disappointing way to end the year, 2006, in more ways than one. self-serving & self-centred individuals not entirely helping the situations they're stuck/involved in. well, things can remain like that and 2007 will be like the year just past us. come '08, we'll still be addressing such issues. mark my words.

on a happier note, there are many things to thank the Lord for in '06. hopefully in '07, God will help me take my faith to a higher level in the understanding of His Word and in His ministries. And possibly in reaching out to the lost. that might be tough though.

we'll see.