Ahh, the sweetness of it all...
I gotta admit, I had my doubts as well at the start, and steadfastedly refused to get my expectations with Spain for reasons that are well documented throughout international football history. And I admit to being wrong about Aragones. I guess he really was the man with the masterplan.
Torres scoring the winning goal was the icing on the cake for me ! :)
Yeap have been kinda busy the last few days.
During this time, Spain and Germany qualified for the final. While I didn't write up any predictions, it's reflected in my football fantasy games that I expected these two teams to make it through. Example: I had 1 Turkey player (Altintop) in my uefa.com squad. The rest were all Spain + Germany. Did well for Soccernet and Metro too, and I'm especially proud of my Casillas pick for all my games, particularly when most everyone else picked Lehmann.
Come on Spain!
Awfully sleepy though, and I was late to work today. Ah well, Euros will be over soon...
By the way, not sure anyone noticed, but I posted a video on my video page. Extremely fun to watch, you must check it out! I won't be making it a habit though, I'll only be posting videos I really really like. Enjoy!
When the Group Stages started I had predicted who would progress to the quarterfinals. I had achieved perfect scores for 3 out of the 4 groups, the mistake being from the Group of Death, where I predicted France to go through instead of Italy. That success has now been officially blown out of the water after 3 out of 4 predictions for the semifinals teams were proven wrong! Having said that, I am happy for Russia they played verrry well indeed!My two quarterfinal predictions so far were either completely wrong or had the unholy effect of jinxing the match, resulting for a win over my predicted winners! Nevertheless, I shall continue soldiering on with my predictions! By the way, what a way for
Russia v Holland
Let me just say right now, Holland are the clear favourites, but I admit I'm a Russian mini-fan, mostly due to my admiration of Guus Hiddink (pic) after he brought Australa to the elimination rounds of the World Cup. It'd also be a dream to see a Russian-Spanish rematch in the semis.
As has been promoted by the media shamelessly, both
What the Dutch do have over the Russians right now though is their experience in such tournaments, and for me, that's going to bring them through to the semifinals. Honestly, I want
2-2 at 90 minutes, and a matchwinning goal for the Dutch in extra time (probably by that darn Nistelrooy again!)
morale-boosting win against
The Turkish coach has admitted that the way they’ve gone about in their matches has been to defend in the first half and then attack in the second. This was ridiculously evident against the Czech, whom despite having a lack of quality in their attack were able to pick up 2 goals in the 1st half. This is an extremely dangerous strategy and can easily be exploited by the Croatian coach, Slaven Bilic. Although the coach insists they’ll go on the attack against
(I should take a bit of time to do something about my font irregularities, which usually stems from me typing up my post on Word before posting, because my connections screw up every now and then. Internet is down right now, f’r instance) The problem is sometimes I start typing on the blog, then continue on Word. Easy to stop, just need to remember.)
Well, well, Germany winning was definitely not what I expected.
Having accidentally slept for about 3 hours from 6pm onwards, I figured I'd be able to get enough sleep in order to wake up and watch the match. So close to 1am I went to sleep again, with alarm set to 2:45am. By the time I dragged myself out of consciousness, it was 3:25am and I watched a few minutes of the match before the first half ended. The scoreline did give a bit of a shock to the system (Germany were leading 2-1) but unfortunately it wasn't enough to drag me through 15 minutes of hazy halftime gibberish and I promptly fell asleep on the sofa. Woke up again, saw the match had ended, and dived back into dreamland.
Turns out Low had spotted the same problem with the strikers, and dropped Gomez. Podolski was fit (a bit of German smokescreen, perhaps :P ) But it was the Bayern connection Schweinsteiger-Klose-Ballack that made it count.
Congrats to Germany, and I'm actually glad that Portugal didn't make it through, simply because I'm tired of the over-the-top focus on Cristiano Ronaldo.
Will post for the Croatia-Turkey match later...
(yeah, changed my blog look yet again)
(sorry, changed my blog look again, and I doubt that it'll stay this way even)
Portugal v Germany
The Portuguese first choice are mostly well rested, having sat out the 3rd round match and are fresh and ready for action. Not so for the wayward Germans, whom, after a solid first round match, were made to struggle in the rest of the group stages.
Injury-wise, the Germans clearly have a problem with topscorer Podolski and Frings doubtful for the match.
For those who've been following my writings both in its previous and current incarnations, you've no doubt noticed that I pretty much have zilch when it comes to current issues and politics simply because I never intended for that to be a focus of my blog. I generally write what I like, although I do tend to stay away from writing about work.
Having said that, I can't help but comment just a wee bit on an issue covered in the newspapers, that of Pas Youth members calling for Ella and Mas Idayu to be banned from appearing in a football match concert in Selangor, to the extent of demonstrating during the event. This morning, the Selangor Sultan has come out and threatened for the event to be dropped entirely if the planned demonstrations were to go ahead. It's a standoff that to me can have only one ending, i.e. the Sultan winning!
What I fail to understand is ; why on earth have these two been targeted? What have these two done that make them look that bad? There's too much hypocrisy here, and it needs to be said here, I for one am sick of Pas championing Mawi as an example of an artist of positive moral values. What has he done that others haven't? Or maybe, what has he NOT done that others have done? Honestly speaking, I have nothing against the dude, but I'm tired of others making him out to be someone he's not. That's a very open-ended statement right there ha ha...
On to the two singers themselves, I abhor dangdut so I don't really know this Mas Idayu. I confess though, I'm kinda a fan of Ella, despite never attending any concerts or having any of her albums. But I like her style, and her strength to soldier on in the industry.
Rock on, girl!
Believe me, that's not good, especially when one is trying to establish a rhythm. But for some reason, I just got knocked out upon reaching home (around 7) and consequently failed to get up for gym. Sorry sweetie! I'm not sure how I ended up so exhausted, but my body just wouldn't respond to any wake-up calls. I even missed picking up my laundry!
So the ongoing quest to slim down will continue tonight at the KJ Gym. I have now posted a reminder image on my Laptop which will hopefully assist me in my quest. The image is of how I looked about ten years ago ha ha :p
Football update: As I forecasted in my previous post, Italy make it into the quarterfinals. No worries, I fully expect them to get THRASHED by Spain. Tonight should see Russia into the quarterfinals, as under Hiddink their quality should shine against a Sweden over-reliant on Ibrahimovic.
Hmm, just remembered I might need to do some parking money fund-raising :P
Hey all Raw Deal fans! A new blog has been created at ringsteps.blogspot.com so all future news and updates will be posted there instead of here.
Phew! Finally got that done, and amazingly didn't take as long as I thought it would!
It doesn't help that I don't have any real access to the Internet at my USJ home (apart from the hijacking of other people's wifis, which works only occasionally...). Right now I've got enough material on me to write on a daily basis, if I can just get the resources. I don't want to be spending afterhours at the office writing on me blog.
For instance, there's the Horror Birthday Party that my cousin hosted for her daughter, Alia, which turned out to be quite fun (or maybe I just like scaring kids, go figure ha ha). More importantly, it was the first time I finally got to fulfill a long-held dream of mine, which is to dress up as a zombie. It was a bit of a rush job though, so hopefully I'll get another chance to do it, and look better (er... or maybe NOT look better, depending on how one views this activity ha ha)
Then of course there's the EURO Football. A little treatise follows:
As you well know if you've been following the tournament, Portugal, Turkey, Croatia and Germany, Holland, and Spain have all qualified. The Group of Death has lived up to its billing, with every team in it still in with a chance. In Group D, it's Sweden vs Russia, while Greece, once and for all, have proven once again that their EURO 2004 was a fluke.
My original prediction for the Group of Death was for Holland and France to make it through. Holland have, but I admit, after watching quite a fair bit of the previous France and Italy matches, I'd say that Italy are more likely to make it through as in both their matches, they've created chance after chance but just could not score. France looked better in the 2nd match, but the way they conceded the third goal to the Dutch, mere seconds after they themselves scored, showed that new blood is needed, and needed fast.
As for the the other Group C match, it'll be interesting to see what side Van Basten puts out tonight. I think it's a fair bet to say that players like Robben, Sneidjer and Kuyt will not see a lot of minutes, given their style of play which is entertaining yet ultimately exhausting. At the same time players like Robben and RvP will definitely get more minutes, as they work their way to full fitness. Clearly the Dutch will be out to win, as they will want to restore some of their pride after Romania qualified ahead of them in the qualifying stage. But it is NOT their priority. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Romania coach outwits the Dutch again...
Oh one more thing:
*touches left side of nose with index finger* *snorts*
Later!
I want to create a separate blog for the WWE Raw Deal news, but Multiply doesn't have an option for creating multiple blogs under the same username, unlike blogspot.
Makes me wonder what made them come up with the name MULTIPLY in the first place :(
Taken my next step on Saturday 7th of June and daunting as it is, I got through! Although I admit, it was probably more challenging for my fiance, who was there at the official event while I was at my aunt's place watching Britain's Got Talent videos ha ha...
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present my fiance, Ms. Raudha Ezaty Ruslan...
<sorry, no pics just yet !>
It's a brand new world for me!
Friday night saw two challenger pullouts due to injury, that being Batista and Elijah Burke. As a result, both Undertaker (Aliffa) and and BFM (Andy) retained their respective titles.
Asyraq's Chris Benoit rose from the dead to destroy Fiezan's Sergeant Slaughter and crown himself the new Hardcore Champion. An interesting twist happened during the tag team challenge. Andy's Team Angle hoisted the Tag Team Belt when they decimated Judge Ben's Right to Censor. Unfortunately, they were only just enjoying their victory when they were immediately forced to defend their newly gained title from another team from Judge Ben's stable of wrestlers, that being the veteran team of Two Man Power Trip! Exhausted from their earlier match, they were unable to recover and succumbed to their challengers..
Results
Hardcore : Benoit (Asyraq) beat Sgt Slaughter (Fiezan)
Tag-team : Team Angle (Andy) beat Right to Censor (Judge Ben)
* Tag-team : Two Man Power Trip (Judge Ben) beat Team Angle (Andy)
* Surprise Challenge.
tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock...
Love ya baby! We're taking the next step together!
Scheduled matches from 8pm onwards tonight!
Hardcore : Batista (Azim) v Benoit (Asyraq) v Sgt Slaughter (Fiezan)
European : Batista (Azim) v Undertaker (Aliffa)
Tag-team : Team Angle (Andy) v Right to Censor (Judge Ben)
Intercontinental : Elijah Burke (Hafiz) v Big Freakin’ Machine (Andy)
* Holders’ in Bold.
Fitness update
Batista (Azim) - injured
Elijah Burke (Hafiz) - injured
Don't miss it!
Okay, let's just clarify what the hell this is ha ha...
Followers of my older blog will know that I used to play this Wrestling Trading Card Game called Raw Deal. It's now defunct but that seemingly hasn't stopped the Malaysian contingent from continuing to play the game. As a result, thanks to our TO, Andy 'Jerichoholic' Putra, we now have a weekly WWE Raw Deal Challenge at CC in DJ.
In a nutshell, we currently have 7 belts held at any one time. These are:
1. World Heavyweight Belt
2. Spinner Belt
3, Intercontinental Belt
4. Women's Belt
5. Tag Team Belt
6. European Belt
7. Hardcore Belt
Anyone can challenge for any belt on Friday but must give notice to the TO by Thursday so the holder will be prepared. The challenger must then ante up 2 non-specific, non-superstar rare cards (3 for the Heavyweight). Surprise challenges, i.e. on the day itself are allowed but the challenger must ante double that of a normal ante.
There also a few conditions for each belt:
Heavyweight, Spinner, Intercontinental - 1 Random PPV Event as drawn by TO
Women's - Women Wrestlers only (d'uh), no Hell In a Cell
Tag Team - For Tag Team only (double d'uh)
European - Fixed Venue (Newcastle, England), added stipulation: Duchess of Queensbury Rules
Hardcore - 2 added stipulations: No Disqualification & Chicago Street Fight
The current holders of each belt are posted on the Photos tab of this journal. Feel free to take a look and find out whether YOU should belong there instead!
Are you ready to take them on? Remember to let the TO know! Good luck!
