This happened two weeks ago on 15th June, Saturday.
The Liverpool Fan Club (Singapore) had a kickabout with the Singapore Spurs Supporter Club (SSSC) at the Cage for their charity drive. Joined Manfred's team. It was a 5-a-side tournament. Round-robin format with 6 teams in the league.
We, the 'Might Reds' emerged as champions after storming through the group with 5 wins!
I wanna love, I wanna leave. I want you to love me, I want you to leave me. I want to stand where I can see, I'm watching you love me, And I'm watching you leave me now.
I wish i could be, Somebody else. I wish i could see, You and myself. I wish there was something inside me, To keep you beside me. And say, What you really feel. You know i need, Something that's real. I wish there was something inside me, To keep you beside me.
I wanna know if i could be, Someone to turn to, That could never hurt you. But i know what you think of me, You had a breakthrough, And now i'm just bad news for you.
I wish i could be, Somebody else. I wish i could see, You and myself. I wish there was something inside me, To keep you beside me. And say, What you really feel. You know i need, Something that's real. I wish there was something inside me, To keep you beside me.
I should've told you everything. I never gave you anything. I should've told you everything. If i could give you anything, Then i would tell you everything.
I wish i could be, Somebody else. I wish i could see, You and myself. I wish there was something inside me, To keep you beside me. And say, What you really feel. You know i need, Something that's real. I wish there was something inside me, To keep you beside me.
I should've told you everything. I should've told you everything. I should've told you everything.
What an awesome song. Labour day tomorrow, which means 2 birthdays tomorrow. Here's wishing a happy 16th for Eddie and 17th for Tania.
Went for counselling with Esther Tan the other day. Said i'm the most confident person she's seen so far (haha of course)
Anyway she talks really slowly but luckily there were fox candies there :D
Reading the modal essays as preparation for the chinese paper 1 on Friday, hopefully it'll work out, some how.
SS too is tough with the range of what is tested.
Liverpool and Chelsea for the second leg later, feeling nervous and apprehensive already but i'm sure we'll progress.
Lady luck seemed to be smiling on Avram Grant's men as early as the 3rd minute as Joe Cole slid a measured throughball to a grateful Drogba, who appeared to control the ball with his hand as he put Chelsea ahead 2-1 on aggregate.
Celebrations may have been short lived had a stonewall penalty and a red card been awarded at the shed end after Fernando Torres shimmied past a static John Terry leaving the gorgeous spaniard one on one with the Czech international only to be brought down illegally as he dived at his feet.
Liverpool then dominated possession for rest of the half without really creating any chances. 3 minutes into the second half history repeated itself as Drogba latched on to a Florent Malouda cross and bulges the net only for it to be dissallowed for offside, replays show the decision is incorrect. An injury to Didier Drogba in the 62nd minute saw the introduction of Nicolas Anelka, just 33 seconds as Anelka nets the blues second to see Roman Abramovic's Moscow dream less than 30 minutes away.
The 65th minute sees a double substitution of Riise for Kuyt and Finnan for Hyypia as Jamie Carragher moves from full back to centre back, whilst Riise takes up Babels position with the young dutch winger moving to the right. The move pays instant dividends as a goal kick from Reina finds Babel who takes it past Ashley Cole and puts in a cross met by the head of Torres only to be parried onto the right foot of incoming John Arne Riise, goal! Eager to get the ball back to the centre spot a tussle broke out between with Petr Czech and the Norwegian International with both being showed a yellow card.
The next 20 minutes are all Liverpool as the Chelsea's defence are over run, shots from Babel, Riise and Finnan hit the woodwork, with Steven Gerrard seeing a 30 yard effort whistled past Cech's left hand post.
The board shows a frugal 3 minutes of injury time. It looks as though Chelsea are through to their first ever European Cup Final. A run from deep sees the reds captain skip by Essien and Carvalho before jumping a bone crunching Terry tackle as Cech closes in. A square ball to Torres sees the Spanish Prince of the Kop score probably the easist tap in of his life.
To the neutral it's another miracle but to the Liverpool faithful it's par for the course as Rafa Benitez once again navigates his armada through the ever so stormy waters prevalent during his Anfield tenure to a third final in a mere 4 years.
We return to Anfield after recording a 1-0 victory against Inter. Don't have the mood to blog about the game but i'll predict a 3-0 scoreline to us. And i really Manure thrash Derby for my fantasy team to do well. Well just this once!
Hahaha someone posted this on the Liverpool forum which i think is way cool!
Here it goes,
His armband said he was a red, Torres, Torres You'll never walk alone it said, Torres, Torres We bought the lad from sunny Spain He gets the ball he scores again FERNANDO TORRES! Liverpool's number 9
Ah i finally return to blog about Liverpool, long hiatus i guess. Sorry to all readers out there! (doubt there is any anyway) Okay back to the win, we finally won, after a poor game. Ironically i was just discussing on msn about how we fail to score late into the game, get dubious penalties, etc etc and there. Torres strikes.
This boy is a wonder. 26 goals already this season and he'll absolutely break the 30 goal mark barring any mishaps. For much of the game, we were very poor. Giving possesion away redundantly but fortunately, Inter's attack was as blunt as plastic knifes.
The much rated Ibrahimovic failed to impress though he sort of resembled Berbatov with his touches, albeit the former was just a toothless tiger. Not to discredit our defence, Reina had 2 world-class saves and shows why he is up there among the best keepers in the world.
Burdisso got sent off unfairly as the referee screwed up the game, totally. Then came the 64th minute, Torres received an ordinary ball from Aurelio, one touch, turn, half volley.
This boy is class.
The Inter fans who were boo-ing us for long periods of the game stopped when we start singing YNWA and even clapped us during injury time. Ah that's football.
Ratings:
Reina 7.5 2 great saves
Carra 6 Nothing much to do
Skrtel 6 Cleared danger but needs to be more composed
Hyypia 6 Nothing much to do
Aurelio 7 Went forward in aid to the left flank many times
Lucas 5 Ah the headless chicken
Mascherano 7.5 He is boss
Gerrard 6 An average performance by our skipper
Kuyt 6 Worked his socks off for us
Babel 5 Nothing of his recent form, aye?
Torres 7 (+1 for his goal) John Burridge said that this boy is not worth 20 million at the start of the season, now eat that!
Overall performance : 6.5/10 Honestly we were poor but who cares, we won! Now who wants to meet us in the quater finals :)
We will play Inter Milan in a couple hours of time, bringing to the San Siro a 2 goal advantage thanks to 2 late strikes from Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard 3 weeks ago.
Inter will be without defender Marco Materazzi after him being sent off quite unconvincingly in the first leg.
Below is their squad for this titanic clash
Goalkeepers: 1 Francesco Toldo, 12 Julio Cesar.
Defenders: 4 Javier Zanetti, 13 Maicon, 16 Nicolas Burdisso, 24 Nelson Rivas, 26 Cristian Chivu, 35 Dennis Esposito
Cross country was spirit lifting! The day started when Randy and i boarded the already-full-of-Andersonians'-855-bus around 6.30am where we were making a ruckus at the front of the bus, obstructing the movement of many people. We chit-chatted for almost an hour before reaching HarbourFront at 7.40am.
We thought we were early early, we thought. Upon crossing the road to the train station, we were met with a swarm of Andersonians, at least 500 i'd say, all waiting for the 2, or more, shuttle buses.
We then decided to walk there, but was stopepd by some security personnel as we were just approaching the entrance of Sentosa. After half an hour of dilly-dallying, we decided to pay $3 to board the shuttle bus there.
Reached Sentosa rather early as we caught up with those that left earlier. Nevertheless we were hurried into settling down at the sandy beach.
'Tactics' and plans for the race later soon become the topic of conversation as many gathered around the pace-makers to discuss. I started the race rather infront, with a mob of people around me of course.
As the race started and everyone dispersed, i began running with Chuan Yee and Ganesh and we 3 started and ended the race together. Sad thing is that Ganesh came in 23rd and me coming in 24th and we were just 8 seconds from the 20th spot.............
Oh well.
After the run, everyone headed to the drinks' booth for refreshments before the games started soon after. 4/6's games were all at the back and we just hung about, under the sweltering heat and torturous sun for you-know-how-long.
The guys reached the finals of the beach soccer unconvincingly, with me missing a penalty (it was on target :S) and the other team scoring 3. We lost 3-1.
On the otherhand the Captain's ball team got into the finals too, but we won. Sheer luck i reckon but who cares.
We were dismissed after collecting our medals and we took the monorail back to VivoCity. Had lunch at BK before walking around for an hour with Zhi Wei and Zong Han to buy my shirt.
I bought one from fcuk, and got reprimanded by everyone, even the salesgirl, for not trying it on.
BUT HEY IT FITS >: (
Took the train home and 825 with Nadia. Tried hydrating myself but to no avail.
Woke up around 9 the next day and had tuition at 12. My skin pricked and i winced every time i tried a facial expression. Did rate of change and small increment during tuition. Walked around J8 to get another shirt but all were cheapo shirts.
Got home to prepare myself for my cage session with my neighbour. Brought Jamal along and we played 3 hours and ended up paying $20 per person lol.
Reached home in time for the Liverpool game.
Overall well performance from us as we ate Newcastle up, winning 3-0.
Owen and Keegan returned to Anfield, on the losing side sadly as Pennant, Torres and Gerrard bagged 3 goals and 3 points for us to take into our CL return leg at the San Siro. Now for Everton to lose..
CHARLTON 0-3 (Alonso 3th [PEN], Bellamy 82th, Gerrard 88th) LIVERPOOL
Finally the curse of the yellow jersey has been removed after our 3-0 win over a hapless Charlton lets the Reds move up to 3rd spot with Arsenal still playing Portsmouth. It could have been a 8-0 or what game with the many missed chances earlier on.
Charlton was struck down by conceding an early penalty when ex-Liverpool player Djimi Traore who had moved to The Valley during the summer, commited a rash tackle onto a oncoming Jermaine Pennant. His studs sank into the latter's face.
Alonso stepped up to take the penalty as he was handed the duties of doing so after Gerrard's miss last week. The Spaniard took a shot and sent it down the middle, Myres could do nothing.
Charlton panicked and gave away many more balls. However we could not convert them as our fowards were too wasteful. Pennant then had a chance cleared off the line by no other than Traore.
We were nearly made to pay for the wasted chances after Hreidersson missed a clear chance from 3 yards out. Rommedhal also had a great game and was sneaking in behind Riise all the time.
We were lucky to survive 2 events when Ambrose and Bent collected the ball at the far post. Both's shot went wide.
And as the game appears to be ending for a pathetic 1-0 win, Bellamy sneaked behind the Charlton back 4 with perfect timing and a clinical volley.
Gerrard then scored the third minutes later after Crouch's head down found the captain who adjusted his body before curling the ball past a helpless Myres.
We will be visiting the Addicks after thumping Fulhum 4-0 and them losing 5-1 to neighbours Tottenham. Our record over the recent years there hasnt been great, losing 3 of our last 5 matches there.
Scott Carson will be out of the game as he is on loan from us. And good news, Traore will also be back after missing the early part of the season :D It'll be a great time now to beat them and get on a 3-game winning streak and carry the good form to February when we face Barcelona.
A win will also ensure us a third/fourth spot as Arsenal and Portsmouth will be meeting later at The Emirates.
A brace from our under-performing Welshman plus an unselfish assist allows the Reds to record their win away from home. The big buy of the pre-season finally proved to us the fans why he is worth the big money paid to bring him from Ewood Park to Anfield.
Wigan decided to hold a high line despite Liverpool playing a fast striker in Bellamy. That decision was the mistake that destroyed Wigan in the end.
Bellamy's pace proved to be too much for the Blackburn back 4 as they were caught offguard twice. Bellamy's early goal which resulted from Riise's long ball lift the pressure of our poor away form. Bellamy's finishing wsa wonderful in the game, and in this occasion he sent the ball to the roof of Kirkland's goal post.
Wigan tried to fight back and McCulloch's header which was parried away by Reina and the rebound was volleyed away into the stands by some player. Bellamy's second goal came when he managed to stay onside to receive a Gerrard pass from the center.
The third goal was the goal of the game as Gerrard's through ball managed to break up the 2 defenders which was dealing the three on-coming players, Gerrard, Bellamy and Kuyt. Gerrard's ball released Bellamy who squared the ball to Kuyt who finished the ball behind the defender who slided across the goal line.
The fourth goal came when Gerrard quick cross hit Lee McColluch's legs and it went psat Kirkland.
The second half was more of a boring event with Rafa trying out young players such as Peltier and Guthrie. Wigan had another close chance when Camara's 1v1's encounter with Reina. The Spaniard made his body big and and jumped and as a result blocked the shot.
Our formation became more of a 5-3-2 formation with Riise and Finnan supporting as wing backs. (Just as i predicted ^^)
Heskey then had a chance but he struck the post before hitting a Wigan player's leg and went wide. Overall, yes we deserved the win. However, if Wigan took their chances and led the game, and if they defended well against Bellamy, this game would've been a close encounter.
Reina 8/10 Had 2 great saves. A very confident keeper now.
Finnan 8/10 His fierce shot curled just wide of the right post.
Hyypia 7/10 Was subsituted early in the second half.
Carragher 8/10 Defended well and was composed.
Agger 7.5/10 Not as stable as usual and he looked lethargic.
Riise 8/10 Aggresive and his good high ball assisted Bellamy.
Garcia 7/10 Had a bad game and rarely touched the ball in the second half before he got subsituted.
Gerrard 8.5/10 Back to where he loves. But was very determined and always defended like a captain, surging runs and his great vision found Bellamy for his second goal.
Alonso 7.5/10 Still wasnt match fit and mistimed a tackled and led to a booking.
Bellamy 8.5/10 Man of the match performance with good runs and his pace took him away from every defender. Scored 2 goals with 2 shots.
Kuyt 8/10 Was more of a target man supporting Bellamy in search of the former's hat trick.
Subsitutes:
Guthrie 6.5/10 Was reckless, perhaps becasue he is still young.
We will be looking to end our away voodoo curse with a visit to the JJB stadium which was a happy occasion last season with us beating them 3-0 and Crouch broke his scoring duck then.
Wigan will be bringing the game to us as Drogballs said as our away form is really pathetic. Yes we had excuses as we faced tough teams at the start of the season but as the non-winning streak continues, we continue to float away from that puny hope of getting the EPL this season.
Wigan has a great foward partnership of the agile Camara and the strong and physical ex-Liverpool player Emile Hesky which was a flop at Anfield.
Our central midfield problem looks to be solved as Alonso WILL be starting in the central midfield area with our captain marvel after recovering from a hip injury in the PSV game.
Crouch and Bellamy will be leading the lines after the Welshman was judged not guolty in an assualt case this week. Crouch is the team, as in his is not in the bench as well and RB tries out the young players.
Today's formation looks to be a defensive one again with Carragher, Agger and Hyypia all starting in the team. I am going to pray that this decision by the gaffar wont be our achilles' heel as this 5-3-2 formation screwed up in your typical England games.
Like formation: 4-4-2 or 5-3-2 with 2 wing backs or even a 3-5-2 with Carragher sitting back as a holding midfielder and Finnan Hyypia and Agger lead the back line.
We have recorded yet another win at Anfield after a deep run from Gerrard was rewarded by Dunne's mistake and our captain's venomous shot from the edge of the box went beyond Weaver's reach.
RB started with a 4-4-2 formation but it changed over the course of the game when it even became a 3-5-2 formation! This changing of formation sort of confused our players and the referee made quite a few mistakes, not spotting fouls and everything.
I guess Garcia wasnt match fit after he missed a few glorious chances from point blank range. On 1 occasion, Hyypia's long ball found Garica whose first touch brought him past Thatcher but the Spaniard opted for a shot instead of squaring it for the unmarked Crouch.
Crouch also had a bad game when he was useful in dealing with Dunne and Distin. He also missed a chance after Kuyt's header opened him up but his volley went way out into the stands.
Zenden and Gerrard's midfield combination worked as both were running their socks off and Zenden became our Sissoko for some part of the game, getting into challenges and winning balls for us.
Gerrard led by example and also worked very hard in the defence area when he run all the way to cover some guy and got the ball out for a corner.
ManCity posed no threat but were strong in their defences like Middlesbrough the other time.
The first half was boring and nothing happened to excite me, and all the fans watching the game i guess. Second half was a more exciting event. Of course. The captain scored yea! Gerrard hard work in the game paid off after ManCity came close to scoring minutes before.
That lift the pressure off us and the Reds were instilled with belief and went on in search of a second goal. See what it does putting our captain in the centre midfield. GOALS BAYBEH GOALS!
ManCity came close to scoring when Samaras cleverly tricked everyone with a shot but Reina was alert and kept that out. The keeper who has been hit by critics this season, is starting to earn clean sheets and prove himself like last year.
And i seriously think this is the time we're about to start another 10-20 game streak gain :D
Fustrated Reds held to a draw by Boro's centre backs.
Middlesbrough 0-0 Liverpool
We were held to a drew by Boro's defence even after we have performed relatively well. Boro dominated the game at start, playing only 1 striker, Yakubu.
But that tactic proved to be effective as he was very strong. A very good target man in my opinion and he held on to EVERY ball given to him. Our defenders also had little time on the ball and they were not used to this approach by Boro.
Whenever our defender had the ball, 3 Boro players would go and pressure them, cut down their time on the ball and thus we'd pass back to the keeper who would pump it and someone in Boro's midfield would gain possesion of the ball. What an evil cycle =\
And that didnt let us play our normal game. From the beginning i watched Liverpool a few seasons ago. Their game was build up from defence to midfield through and fro and somehow we would score.
Our only clear cut chance came when Kuyt and Bellamy linked up well but the former's volley went just wide.
However things started to change after 30 minutes and we started to control after defending waves and waves of Boro's attacks. Reina performed well in that game, saving 2 crosses would would have led to a Boro goal.
Even with Gerrard back into the center midfield area, the combination of Alonso and our captain could NOT control the midfield area. Gonzalez also did badly in the game. Okay i mean, he hasnt showed why he created such a hyped when allowed to join us.
He wasted many balls, too many. His crossing was total bullshit and i really miss Garcia in that side of the pitch or when Harry was still fit and there for us. All of Gonzalez's cross were either, grounder balls, balls that went into Schwarzer's hands or balls that went into the stands.
What a fugger. Pennant did quite okay in the game with nice dribbling skills and a volley from a tight area.
2nd half started with us kicking off. RB stood stubborn-ly with his formation yet again but however we had a lion's share of the possesion, even more than Boro's in the first half. We charged at them waves after waves but we could not break their solid defenders, Woodgate and Pogetetz.
Boro's players were also physical and strong, proving too much to such of our players. While our defenders had a hard time with Yakubu, our midfielders also had difficult momments with the tough-tackling Boateng.
Gerrard's shot also hit the right hand post but however the whistle was already blown for offside.
We had a scare after Yakubu's header was saved by Pepe Reina and the striker missed the rebound before the ball was cleared by Finnan.
Kuyt and Bellamy were toothless upfront and after such a long wait, RB decided to bring on Crouch.
The Endland forward did more than what Kuyt and Bellamy combined with a header cleared off the line by Jonathon Woodgate. He then had another chance on goal in the dieing few minutes but were saved by Mark Schwarzer.
Reina 8/10 Solid performance and saved us from many occasions.
Finnan 7/10 Looked fustrated and had problems dealing with Yakubu.
Carragher 7/10 Broke down some of Boro's attacks.
Agger 7/10 Although he was performing well and had a great shot from distance. He wasted many balls at the start and didnt make full use of them when he was the only Liverpool defender with the ball in the whole game.
Riise 7/10 Didnt commit himself infront of defenders and allowed him to win every ball he defended from.
Pennant 7/10 Performed well for the first time this season. But his corners were poorly taken though.
Gerrard 6.5/10 Couldnt look to him for inspiration when we most needed it. Was more defensive than usual.
Alonso 6.5/10 Couldnt play his usual spraying ball game as Boro's midfield was jam-packed with players.
Gonzalez 1/10 Did not give a single good cross other than the last cross of the game which Crouch nearly score from. I think he doesnt eat enough and that explains for his 'strong' kicks. Wasted EVERY corner he took.
Kuyt 6/10 Fustrated and went down easily when tackled. Wasnt his usual self.
Bellamy 6/10 I thought he was rather hardworking at the start but he was silent throughout the game as Boro held a low line.
Subs:
Zenden NA
Crouch 8/10 Did every thing right except not starting the game.
Name: Jun He, Torres
Age: Okay i am sixteen, happy? :D
D.O.B: 1 December 1992
Location: Singapore
School: Mayflower Primary Anderson Secondary 1/4, 2/4, 3/6. 4/6 Saint Andrew's Junior College!
Interests: Football
Likes: Torres! Gerrard and hawt babes :D
Hates: Twits, Mancs.
Wants: A friend like you!
