He Wins, No Matter What

Sitting there, amongst the 80,295 strong crowds in the Telstra Stadium and gazing to a figure right down the field who was about to take a free kick, I could not stop but wonder at the amazing impact of one man to thousands, or perhaps millions of others. This was a friendly football match between the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy and Sydney FC, featuring David Beckham.

Never mind the fact that the LA Galaxy lost 3-5 to the home team. Whatever happened on the pitch, it was obvious that the real winner of the friendly match was Beckham.

Moments later he sent the ball whooshing through the human wall made up of Sydney FC players, beyond the reach of the glove of the opposing goalkeeper, and into the top right corner of the goal. Quite expectedly, it was enough to bring the crowds to their feet and into delirium. LA Galaxy had only gotten their first goal as opposed to a triple by Sydney FC, but in the eyes of spectators, it was insignificant. They had finally got what they had they had always wanted, what they paid for.

As for Beckham, there was certainly no better way to respond to attentions given other than showing that he just deserves them.

Aussie Boy Gets the Praise

Fact:

Harry Kewell is an Australian international playing for Liverpool Football Club. Having spent much of his past few months on the sidelines following a career-threatening injury, he is now back on the field and looks like to be in the contention for a first team’s place once again.

I could not help but smiled all the way through the 90 minutes of Liverpool’s 4-1 thumping of Porto in the UEFA Champions League match this morning, thanks to the match commentator of the Australia owned SBS channel, who in my judgment is an Australian himself.

Harry Kewell did not start the match. He only entered the fray midway through the second half. But that does not mean there would not be any mention of his name, in fact more than anyone else on the field.

Repeated every 5-7 minutes, was this line;

“Of course Liverpool has excellent options on the bench, with Kewell ready to be played anytime following his brilliant performance last weekend..”

I did not get to watch last weekend’s league match, but the general response from fans, from what I read suggested that Kewell’s display was just mediocre.

Then when there were mistakes by one or two players, here is what you heard;

“Ryan Babel does not seem to be playing well at the moment. We probably have a good chance to see Harry Kewell’s soon in replacement of the young Dutch..”

“Perhaps it’s a good time for Rafa to start thinking of bringing in Harry Kewell. We all know the extra dimension provided by him from the left flank of the field..”

Finally, Kewell was in, much to the delight of this commentator.

“Kewell finally comes in, certainly he will bring a new spark to Liverpool’s attacks..”

The first five minutes or so were not really good for this Australian chap, with at least a couple of turnovers to his name. But nothing in this world could seemingly stop this commentator;

“We could clearly see Kewell’s instant impact on the field. His introduction has certainly triggered Liverpool forward..”

I know he is your compatriot, but a mistake is still a mistake, admit it.

By this time I was already tired of trying to get his lines. Perhaps sensing my displeasure, this commentator decided to eventually opt for this line;

“Well not only because he’s an Australian, but considering his long injury lay-off, this kind of performance is certainly a good way of replying Rafa’s faith in him..”

No you do not have to explain that, we already knew.

Not that I have anything against the player; in fact Kewell has been one of my favourite in the team. Besides, he had some magical moments in the game, especially in the build-up of the team’s crucial second goal. But the commentator’s drama, while was proven to be something enjoyable at first, grew to become irritating at times.

Looking from the other side of the coin though, the commentator really makes a perfect example of glorifying home-grown players, which in one way or another translates into supports from channel viewers. Hasbullah Awang, Abu Bakar Atan and their colleagues should learn this trick.

Something on Australian Federal Election

I went to BORDERS, Bondi Junction last Saturday and spent my whole day there. The bus that took me there followed a route that passed through two public schools. Coincidentally, it was the Election Day for Australia, and the two schools were consequentially transformed into polling places. Posters and flyers were everywhere, while there were people taking the chance to do last-minute campaign to the arriving voters. The colourful posters, coupled with the sounds made by the scurrying of the campaigners provided an election atmosphere at its best, at least from my bare eyes. As the bus continued on its way, the sight of the schools disappeared, and so did the atmosphere I was telling you about.

There were no posters or banners or whatever anywhere else, not even on the ground right next to both schools. No more men and women campaigning at the eleventh hour, nothing at all. It was weekend as usual for the Sydneysiders. In fact, I would not be surprised if all of a sudden someone who could not be bothered to read the newspapers or watch the news prior to the D-day came to me and cringed that he or she was not aware of the election. There was simply no visible sign on the street that the country was due to go to the polls, far from the Malaysian famous fashion of war of posters and banners in the running to the election. Speaking of this, I remember questioning myself as an 11-year old during our 1999 General Election upon looking at one of the many posters, what is actually the use of all those posters? Not that the onlookers will change their mind if there are more BN’s posters than PAS’ or vice versa. Hmm..

Then there were also equal campaigning rights given by the mass media. Having come from a country whose main newspaper and TV channels are heavily in favour of the government, I must say it was a bit of surprise to see campaigning adverts from all parties freely aired on local TVs, or opinion polls that clearly did not go to the government’s way in the front page of main newspaper. Perhaps the most laudable effort made by this media is in reporting faulty play by several individuals from the Liberals party, headed by the then Prime Minister John Howard, which involved distributing fake flyers from the non-existent Islamic Federation Australia and associating it with the Labour Party. Nik Nazmi has a good account on this, just in case anyone is somewhat vague about it.

Anyway my sincere congratulations go to Kevin Rudd and his newly-elected government line-ups. I must admit that apart from his promises to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq immediately, sign the Kyoto protocol and seek public apology from the Australian Aborigins, I have too little knowledge of this guy.

Agony

I have no idea why really, but I think this picture is of pure class, and tells so many stories. Albeit, err, the guy is in extreme agony.

Courtesy of Tyson Chandler, an NBA star with New Orlean Hornets.

On Being Forgetful

Have you ever seen those scenes in movies or dramas, where this one guy worked so hard that he completely forgot that it was his birthday, until, say a group of friends surprised him with a party? Or, another guy, who came back late from work only to see his wife fallen asleep on a dining table beautifully decorated with dinner and candle lights and all, and upon checking the calendar only did he realize that it was their wedding anniversary. Well, I used to laugh whenever this kind of scene came out on screen. I mean come on, there is no way people can forget those kind of important dates, ones that do not come often in life no matter how busy they might be. It is just ridiculous.

But alas, that is exactly what’s happening to me lately. I start to be forgetful of stuffs especially ones that deal with dates. No, not exactly like the scenes I mentioned above, but something of that manner.

I guess it is true what people always say, that things portrayed on the screen are indeed real happenings in actual life. After all, where else do you expect the movie or drama director gets the idea from if not from real-life experience?

Perhaps next time, whenever such scene appear on the screen, I should just shut my mouth up and concentrate on how the first guy reacts to his friends for organizing the surprise party, or how the other guy wakes his wife up and says sorry for being forgetful.

Hope

Let us hope and pray for the peaceful public gathering that is going to be held this afternoon to go and end well and smoothly.

I am expecting that there will at least be miniature scale mayhem given the response from the police and the opposing bodies to the gathering, but I hope the rakyat will do all they could to ultimately keep their cools and put their focus on the solitary goal that brings them there at the Dataran Merdeka whilst giving little or no attention at all to attempted provocation.

We have lived to see too much errs and frauds in the country, let us hope that today will mark the beginning of the end of all this agony.

Placing Trust in Him

A friend sent me this beautiful hadith a moment ago;

"One day Allah's Messenger (pbuh), noticed a Bedouin leaving his camel without tying it. He asked the Bedouin, "Why don't you tie down your camel?"

The Bedouin answered, "I placed my trust in Allah."

At that, the Prophet (pbuh) said, "Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah" - Tirmidhi

Often when we place our trust in Him, what follows are not fitting, essential efforts to make what we wish works but rather we prefer to merely remain hopeful, just like the Bedouin.

Eight Nil

Alright, I know results wise the past few weeks have not been really good for Liverpool both in the league and at European front. But yesterday’s record-mauling 8-0 win against Besiktas is something to be cheerful of really.

Crouch once again displayed his class despite the agony of having to warm the substitute’s bench for much of the time this season, whilst Voronin, Benayoun and Babel all combined well to remind us why Rafa decided to chase for their signings during the summer. Mascherano and Arbeloa meanwhile were impressive as a pair of unsung heroes for the team and Gerrard, as usual, proved his worth as the backbone of the team. The others played their part well, denying the hapless Turkish outfit any chance to emulate their winning performance the last time they played against the Reds. Which left me to ponder what on earth they were doing a fortnight back in Istanbul?

Sometimes 11 top names on the field do not guarantee a return of good result in football; what they need instead is just a single tinge of luck. You can have two dozens of shots on goal on one particular night but still fail to score, but other time, even Babel’s charging body on an attempted clearance resulted in the ball heading into the back of the net. That is football. I believe the last few games before Besiktas were a run of bad luck in front of goals for the boys, not that they did not played well.

Having said that, the last thing I hope to see is the players resting on the laurels of this success and slowing up their current momentum.

Pre-Exam Syndrome