High, Dry and Cold!

What was a highly anticipated and excited weekend, started on a high note for my 21-year-old son.

He had his moments and was even more thrilled when I allowed him to write his thoughts in my blog. All this is part of the excitement of growing up, a learning curve and in moulding his character.

But what would have been a perfect outing for him was marred by some comments on him in this blog. I would not have minded any comments on me, because all my life I have had come across people who say nasty things but are not man enough to own up for their remarks.

In any case, I have come to a point not to pay any attention to these remarks because I know I have always worked with full honesty, commitment and dedication.

And I have no qualms at all to post the comment from this guy who had no guts to put his name to his comment or even confront me personally. I am not going to justify my reason for applying for the pass because it is pointless and will make no sense to rookies who were not even born or were still running around in the diapers when I started writing for the papers.

But it has affected my son badly, because he is an innocent victim of a vicious circle, who really are the ones who do not have any morals. Thus, to get off his chest which has been bothering him the last few days, I have asked him to express his thoughts here yet again.

This piece is also to conclude his writing on MU - which is his favourite team - but still wears the Malaysian jersey to the Stadium and cheers them.

Read it with an open heart. Maybe your son or daughter, will be in the same situation when the new generation of media circle, who do not know a clue of what true journalism is all about, take a cheap shot with their facts all wrong ( I will speak in length on the matter soon)

A treat for those who could not catch MU the first time, they played again last night.

It was not a full house this time around, but it was still a pretty decent crowd. This time around, the stadium was again laded in red. Nevertheless, the fans cheered for Malaysia after their good performance on Saturday.

Pixs courtesy of Kelly

Amri Yahyah received a hero's welcome when his name was announced among the starting XI.

Malaysia conceded two early goals in the first half and seemed like they just did not have the fight in them. They just did not turn up in the first half. In the second half however, coach Rajagobal, ran the changes and the team looked more composed on the ball.

It is still quite clear that he has not discovered his best eleven. Unlike the first game, where Malaysia could pass around the ball, yesterday they were left short for options and kept playing long balls. Those long hit and hopes are never going to work against MU. Their defenders tower over our strikers.

What was the difference between the two games? Well for starters, in the first game Berbatov and Rooney started up front. The two of them like to roam around and look for space. They will pick up the ball from deep and run with it while looking for runs of the other players. This meant that our defenders could move the ball around and not rush things because they would not be pressured by the strikers.

Last night however, Owen and Macheda started among the XI. Both of them like to play on the shoulder of the last defender. Our defenders were hurried into making their passes and sent long balls by-passing our midfield, straight to our strikers who never stood a chance of winning any of them.

Eventually, Owen and Macheda were subbed, and that's when we looked like a better team. In the last twenty minutes, we created a host of chances but could not finish.

The condition of the pitch did not help either. By the end of the game it looked like the pitch had almost been completely dug out. Its quite sad that our National Stadium does not even have a proper pitch. It's a good thing that Sir Alex just mentioned it jokingly. When Brazil were here in 2002 they lambasted our pitch.

Haven't we learnt our lesson? Thank God the MU boys were more forgiving. I guess they must have enjoyed their time here. Well I know, I certainly did.

Before I conclude I just want to address one little niggling issue. I appreciate all comments for any of my pieces. What ever does not kill you, only makes you stronger, right?

Well I have been accused of misusing Uncle Dan's pass. First this nonconstructive critic prefers to remain anonymous. Its quite obvious that it is someone from the journo fraternity.

Well here's the cerita. I had passes to go and meet the MU players. The room in which I was supposed to be in, was right next to the press conference hall. The press conference was at 2.30 and the meet-and-greet session started at the same time.

I was early, so I dropped by the press conference hall, where nothing was going on, to say hello to some familiar faces.

I had uncle Dan's pass on because, he was supposed arrive from Johor for the press conference. My dad had done him a favour to collect the pass a day before from the FA of Malaysia office, which he had applied as a Bernama journalist. My dad asked me to pass it on to uncle Dan, as he was already in the Press Conference Room and did not want to come out in the midst of the conference on goings.

Since I was outside the Press Conference Hall, it was only convenient for me to pass it to uncle Dan. The pass does not really fit snugly into any one of my pockets, hence I put it one so that I would not bend it. I soon made my way out of the press conference room to line up for meet-and-greet session.

Let me just tell you that even if you had a press pass you would not have got into the meet-and-greet session. So I can understand your jealousy. Honestly, I understand you must be DEVastated at the fact that you had to do your job and could not live out your childhood dream and meet your favourite players, but if you MAN up, I will be a PAL and give a signed souvenir. Cheers man!





PS:FAM gives passes to bloggers simply because they cover local sports more than print media!
Think about that, your job might
be on the line!