Sunday, July 30, 2006

Guitar Snapshots


I decided to do something different such as photographing and this is my guitar. A Valencia CG160 Classical. I need a little help from Picasa in this.
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Another snapshot of my guitar Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Back To Retro Style









This is the new 2006/2007 Man Utd jersey. First glimpse, I thought it's not nice. But it's actually quite ok. It's very retro.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Hit Me, Zidane!!


"Wow...what a headbutt by Zidane!! It's like watching wrestling.. But you can't do that in football."

Well, it all happened when Zidane suddenly gave Marco Materazzi a headbutt in the final 10 minutes of the extra time in the 2006 World Cup final match against Italy. How dramatic!! It is also said that game was the last profesional game for Zidane as he is now retired from profesional football. Italy won the game, of course, by penalties. David Trezeguet missed his penalty kick and unwillingly helped Italy won the World Cup. I really felt what in the French players' mind especially Fabian Barthez and David Trezeguet after they lost. They were so close to win their second World Cup and it's painful to lose it in the final. I think it is a bitter sweet experience for them. They were pretty lucky in the group stage but were really unlucky in the final.

Well, about Zidane's headbutt.... what can I say more? The referee did not hesitate to give Zidane a red card after talking to his assistant. It was a good decision. I expected that to happened in football but not by Zidane. He should be wise and experienced enough to know that being aggresive like that is not a good idea. Marco Materazzi was wrong to provoke Zidane's action by insulting Zidane's mother and sister. He admitted it himself. But, Zidane should use his head to think first and not to use his head to hit someone. He said it was his last game and he's going something to relieve himself after Materazzi continueously provoking him. So what? It is his last game and he could just finished the game well and leave every admirer of Zidane a smile on their face (no matter France win or not).

Friday, July 07, 2006

C.Ronaldo : Stay or Go?

Rooney's sent off in the quarter finals match between England and Portugal caused some stir between the English fans. Rooney got in a tangle between a few Portugal players. Rooney had no place to move and accidentally stepped on Carvalho. The referee stopped the game. C.Ronaldo run from about 40 meters away to complain about Rooney's 'foul'. Rooney was furious about Ronaldo's involvement. Rooney pushed Ronaldo away from the referee. And Rooney was red-carded.

First thing first, about the referee's decision to sent off Rooney. People claimed that Ronaldo run to the referee to demand a card for Rooney. Before the match, C. Ronaldo had sent a text message to Rooney. He said he will get Rooney sent off. That's why the English fans had thought that Ronaldo had demanded a card for Rooney. In my opinion, it is a prank gone wrong. Ronaldo didn't expected that to really happened. By the way, what can he do? I don't believe the referee easily accepted Ronaldo's complain. Rooney pushed Ronaldo away from the referee because he was disappointed that Ronaldo chose to get involve. I was disappointed that Ronaldo chose to get involve. The referee sent Rooney off because of the earlier incident. Rooney accidentally stepped on Carvalho and the referee thought that it was dangerous and intentional.
Even the England manager accepted the reason. But with video replay, I believe Rooney was innocent. Video replay shows that Rooney had no way to move and he unintentionally stepped on Carvalho. Besides, Rooney should get a freekick for the bad tackle made by the Portugal player. Bad judgement by the referee.

The question is what would happened when C. Ronaldo goes back to England to Manchester United? Will he return to England or will he leave Manchester United for another club? His career in Manchester United is in jeopardy. I heard that he is ambitious to join Real Madrid. Besides, I think the English fans (even Manchester United fans) will launch a hate campaign against Ronaldo. I think he will do fine with his teammates (it is not really a problem) in Manchester United. C. Ronaldo had an attitude problem and Rooney had anger problems. I believe Ronaldo sometimes think that he's too good. His egoistic can drives people crazy. Rooney, on the other hand, needs to control his temper. He easily gets angry. Ronaldo and Rooney are assets of Manchester United. They still had a bright future in Manchester United. So everyone, just stuck up your head and forget about all the craziness that had happened.

As a Manchester United fan, I think that C.Ronaldo should stay in Manchester United. He was found and well- trained by Manchester United. If not, he may still be in Sporting. Be loyal. It's all about loyalty (like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville). I think going to Real Madrid is a mistake. There are so many top players in Real Madrid and he might find it hard to get a place in the first team. It's all about the money. Real Madrid may offers a lot of money but what's the point of moving there just to sit on the bench. But if he really moved, Beckham will had to work hard too. His position in Real Madrid will be in danger.

A Game of Madness

Everyone knew that England crashed out of the World Cup in the most pitiful way. England was up against Portugal. The match started well for both teams throughout the first half. Both teams got wonderful chances but were unable to break the deadlock. Soon it was half time. The interesting part begins in the second half. As usual, both teams did well. David Beckham got a knocked and was replaced by fast Aaron Lennon. He got a couple of chances himself too. Now we get into the interesting part. Wayne Rooney was controlling the ball when a few players came in and fight for the ball. It seems that Rooney got through and Ricardo Cavalho was on the ground. Rooney had no space to go because he was surrounded by opponent players. He accidentally stepped on Cavalho and referee stopped the play. I thought Rooney was getting a freekick because he was tackle unfairly by a Portugal player. Suddenly, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney’s clubmate, ran from a distance to protest about the foul. Rooney with a moment of madness pushed C.Ronaldo away from the referee. The referee harshly takes out the red card and sent Rooney off.

After Rooney got sent off, Peter Crouch came in for Joe Cole. England seems to played well even after Rooney got sent off. They practised close-marking, giving Portugal no chance. Although England were under constant bombardment, Portugal never really trouble the keeper. I can say that Portugal played a bad game. Given 60 minutes to attack (plus extra time), they didn't really make use of their chances. Thanks to Portugal's brilliant goalkeeper and defenders, England were not able to score. Portugal's forwards were not trying to get into the penalty box. Instead, they passed around outside the penalty box and shot from there. That's why Paul Robinson was no really troubled at all. England's hope of winning the match seems to be over when Rooney got sent off. But England defenders really kept tight and not giving Portugal any chance. Owen Hargreaves was brilliant in the match. England wasn't sitting back to defend. Everytime they got the ball, they tried to attack. This is also the first time, I saw Peter Crouch playing quite ok (he had a terrible World Cup campaign).

When it's time for penalty shoot-out, I thought England had a chance. England is very poor in taking penalty shoot-out. Remember, they lost to Portugal in the European Championship by penalties. England again killed their chances with only Owen Hargreaves scoring. Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher missed their chances (all saved by brilliant Ricardo). They had to work on the penalties if they want to win anything in future days. Frank Lampard had a terrible World Cup campaign. He did so well for his club, Chelsea and England in the qualifyings but you just can't believe how not in form he is in the World Cup. He had the most shots in the World Cup but there's something in his mind that prevented him from scoring.