Friendly Padang Besar, 30th July 2006

Sapa la yg ckp main kat padang belakang Tabung Haji??aku tgk org2 Myanmar kot ada laaa..

padang satu lagi pulak takde org...ingat dah nak balik dah..rupanya padang kat Giant lama Kelana Jaya...apa daaa...

Neways, our opponents were Pakcik's office team, Nestle PJ..so Pakcik was playing for them...

I didn't want to play keeper, so Matad brought his fren, Azhar...and he did not disappoint..in Bob's words, "Embi, you're fired!", and Badar said samting similar. heheh...

I played right back, for the whole of the first half..dat was fun...First half we led 1-0, thru a goal by Yot. Penalti, lepas dia "dijatuhkan"...hehe..

2nd half, Matad took my place..and i became linesman, tp ada mase tu terlupa..sampe ref pun sound, nape x ikut bola??

After Kimi left the pitch, Nestle scored twice...But we were not to be denied, Pak Lah scored very late in the game and the match finished 2-2...

Berek also played well, and he almost scored, tp keeper tu tepis and the ball hit the bar...

I also saw Anuar Haron...dah lama x jumpa, since the kenduri kot...wooo..4 tahun...

best aaa main padang besar...

9th Tournament...Lord of the Court, July Edition, 29th July 2006

Tourney : Lord of The Court, July Edition
Venue : NPNG
Date : 29th July 2006

List of Players : Badar, Berek, Bob, Embi, Mantek, Pakcik and Yot.

High hopes, but another disappointing outing…Ingat tak payah bayar entry fee, boleh bwk balik medal berat sket..adusssssss…

8 teams registered, so 2 groups of 4 were drawn. We were in the same grp as Subang Rangers (basically 2^nd string of the banned MIC Subang), Humberg and Dentum FC.

First up, lwn Dentum FC, and we played badly, myself included, and were whipped 1-5. Mantek scored off a cross-shot from first-timer Berek to make it 1-1, but we were comprehensively beaten. For the record, this was our third meeting. In the Liga Premier NPNG, we managed to beat them once and kene belasah in the other.

Our second game, lwn Humberg, team yg tak dikenali. I did see a familiar face, I think he played in an earlier LOTC edition, but with a different team. Humberg raced to a 3-0 lead before we woke up. We played really well in the second half and put them under pressure. We scored 2, through Mantek and Pakcik, and tried hard to get the equalizer, tp masa x cukup laa.. Our second defeat means Tok Jinjang dah out! Personally, I played better in this game, made some good saves. By the way, Humberg went on to become champions, beating NPNG Jrs 4-2 in the final…Hmmmm…

Our last group game was meaningless, to our opponents as well, since Subang Rangers also lost both their earlier games, but we still wanted to win. Diorang score dulu, off a great shot that went in off the post. Then we scored 1, and another 1. But wat happened after dat reminded me of that Goalkeeping Nitemares vcd. Immediately from the kick-off after our second goal, dat guy went for a shot that went thru the wall, thru Bob’s kangkang first, then thru mine..alamak..gol kangkang lagi!!! sori guys…ingat tu jer my big mistake, but they scored another one when I lost the ball when I shud have caught it. Dah tangkap dah pun actually, camana tah boleh terlepas…argh!!! We pulled 1 back, but the final score was 3-4.. Our scorers were Pakcik (2) and Mantek.

Summary:
Pergh, kalah sumer game..Teruk betul…Sori to say, based on this tourney, Berek was NOT the missing link, the one who was supposed to complete the puzzle…heheh..rilek geng…first time main biasak aaa..nervous kot..other excuses yg masuk akal, lambat warmup, bola bujur/lonjong/tak bulat…

Tapi betul laa..kite boleh main much better, contohnya mcm 2^nd half lwn Humberg…Humberg tu last2 jadi champs, tapi kita boleh buat diorang pressure..apasal laa lwn Dentum boleh kene belasah? Bukan kita tak pernah kalahkan diorang….and lwn Rangers tu, minus my 2 big mistakes, score 3-4 boleh jadi 3-2..adoi…

Tinggal 1 lagi LOTC before posa kan…nak try lagi??

Mantek, Pakcik : 3 goals
Embi : No clean sheet...shit

Hectic Schedule

After the WC, seems like we're trying to make up for lost time..

First up, we're giving LOTC another shot. dat's gonna be on the 29th of July. Playing nites nowadays, it seems.

Then we're organizing a mini-tourney for ex-mrsm muar batch 93/94 students. 5/6 of us on Tok Jinjang are from dat batch...tentatively, this will be on at Rio de Futsal, 13th august...

Also tentatively, this time on the 20th of august, we're planning to have the 2nd edition of our Friends in Futsal series....an expanded edition, 8 teams in each category...so far encouraging response (7 guys and 2 ladies teams have expressed interest), but like i said, nothing has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, someone named Zul called Badar and me, asking us to enter this tournament, which apparently will be the biggest futsal tourney in M'sia. Date(s) are not confirmed...

Also, Bob is checking out this tourney being organized by ACR at NPNG...however, the days seem to clash with our proposed FIF2 (Friends in Futsal, 2nd Edition).

Besides dat, we've still yet to have our pot luck thingy...

Goalkeeping Nightmares

“Believe me, there’s no loneliness to match that of a goalkeeper who has just made a howler. Been there, done that.”

It’s true, it’s damn true…a quotable quote from arguably my favourite goalie, former Arsenal and England goalkeeper, Mr. David Seaman. Was browsing at the vcd section at Tesco the other day, and this vcd caught my eye..it was Seaman on the cover, trying to look funny (he’s not really). “DAVID SEAMAN presents GOALKEEPING NIGHTMARES”. Supposed to be RM9.90, but I bought it for only RM8.90. hmm… not many ppl would want it I guess… I bought it because 1, the above reason (Seaman former Gunner) and 2, I’m a goalie too (albeit amateur futsal goalie).

Neways, it was somewhat entertaining. Nice to see Seaman willing to talk about his gaffes. Nayim’s last-minute extra time goal in the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners Cup 1995 final and THAT Ronaldinho goal in WC2002 was included, rightly so…heheh…I remember watching that match against Real Zaragoza live in the early morning so many years back…Seaman had short hair then…

Had there been cameras recording some of my performances and the producers know about it, I’m sure I would make the grade for this vcd..heheheh…

As a goalie (amateur futsal, I know), it was heartwarming to see even the best keepers make mistakes. Seaman, Schmeichel, Beasant, Given, Dudek, de Goey, Bosnich to name a few…if these ppl can make mistakes, why shouldn’t I rite? However, I can’t help but worry dat watching those gaffes wud turn out to be a double-edged sword. Wat if I can’t block those images from my mind while playing competitive futsal? balls going thru the legs, bouncing over my body, going under it..miscontrol…wow…and the next few weeks will see Tok Jinjang in a hectic schedule….waduh…touch wood…

Seaman also had some advice…”if u do make mistakes, always blame ur defenders”..hehe..but seriously he had some gud advice, but I can’t remember his exact words…samting like just dust urself off and concentrate on making the next save…

The VCD also had a segment on some great saves (not just by Seaman of coz), including the amazing one-handed save with his body arched backwards that Seaman made against Sheffield Utd in the FA cup semis in his last season at Arsenal. “Not bad for a 39-year-old”. There were not dat many saves shown, but the vcd was about keeping nitemares rite? Just enuff were shown to “set the record straight”.

Another segment was on keepers scoring…you can bet that Chilavert was there..in fact, the most clips were on him.

I’ve seen some of the clips on the VCD, it was nice to be reminded of them or had the clip explained, since I had a few of them but didn’t know who was that, when was that, where was that… Seaman also (jokingly) said keepers are mad and put in the clip of Higuita’s scorpion save to prove it!

Thanks for the memories, Dave!!