Busy-ish weekend

The weekend I just had was rather busy - I was out of home for much of it.

Saturday afternoon, I drove all the way to the magnificent Tai residence at Burbank to attend the farewell party of Edward & Diana Backhouse. Both are going to the UK for a while, as Ed secured a job there with Barclays Bank (that's the bank that sponsors the English Premier League). Both are very excited about the move & look forward to their adventure abroad. Ed told me that they will end up staying about 500m from Davin & Irene's place!! There were heaps & heaps of food at the party, more than enough to feed those in attendance. Di's family (the Tai family) generously kept frying the spring rolls & bbq'ing the chicken wings. There were still people rocking up even as I left the place just before 6pm to pick up my very good family friend, Mark Wang, from St Lucia, as Mark was crashing over at our place that nite. Mark had returned to Brisbane for studies (he studies at UQ), after spending the uni holidays back in Malaysia. Mark & I got to the dining area just in time for grace (talk about timing) & Uncle Paul & Aunty Daisy were also our guests for dinner.

Sunday was a big, eventful one - I was out from just after 9am to just before 10pm. After church, I took Mark to the IKEA store at Logan, as Mark was looking for a bed for his accomodation as well as various other things. (He stayed at King's College last semester, then moved out to a unit in St Lucia & is sharing the unit with a couple of other students.) Both of us were accompanied by Ben & one of Mark's "flatmates". The first thing the 4 of us did upon arrival at IKEA was to head for IKEA Food Services for lunch. The cafeteria was really packed. We had to queue for 15-20 minutes. Luckily, we didn't take long to find a table.

It's my first time I had a Swedish meal. I ordered 15 meatballs (with gravy & strawberry jam), 1 bread roll, 1 butter portion, 1 orange juice, 1 jelly, 1 dime cake (which had chocolate & caramel) & 1 lemon meringue tart. The jam was lumped together with the meatballs & gravy. I made sure not too much of the meatballs touched the jam (otherwise, it'd be weird), & I had the jam with the bread roll & butter portion. Lunch was filling. After our meals (of which, all 4 seemed very satisfied), we then looked for the things that Marked needed. Whichever bed Mark chose was never going to fit my boot! However, Ben had told Mark that the Unicellers (Mark's Bible study group) will be coming to IKEA next Saturday & that Ben was going to join them in his wagon. So Mark decided to leave the bed for next Saturday. Instead, Mark shortlisted a few beds & will make his pick next Saturday. Mark managed to find a table for his laptop & also purchased quite a few kitchenware & a couple of other items for his flat. All those items managed to fit nicely into my boot.

After dropping off Mark & his flatmate, & then Ben, I headed to Yuan's place at Yeronga to meet up with a few Clay guys (BT, Yuan, Winston & Chi) to discuss this year's plans for the brothers of Clay. I thought I was going to be really late, but in the event, I actually got there before the other guys. The guys had been playing squash at a couple of courts in Acacia Ridge, which Ed Chee had booked. Obviously, I didn't join the squashers because of my time at IKEA. We ended having the Clay guys meeting at a riverside park in Yeronga (not far from Wanganui Gardens where Ed & Edith's reception was held a few years ago). Various ideas were bandied around during the group discussion, which lasted no more than 45 minutes. On the whole, we did get the ball rolling but we decided to go our separate ways & think up more ideas which we will communicate to each other, & we would then proceed from there.

After the meeting, me & Winston had dinner at Miss India, a new restaurant in St Lucia. I had quite a bit: Madras lamb with saffron rice, 1 samosa, 1 flat Indian bread (forgot the name) & 1 tandoori chicken - all for just $10. The Indian was not bad, but I wouldn't say fantastic either. I got to know Winston a bit more (& vice versa) & we talked about various stuff, nothing in particular, but our conversations moved from 1 thing to another to another, just like that.

Then we headed to church (Winston left his car there) for the Missions Encouragement Meeting, where a few people shared about their experiences from their short-term missions trip overseas. A number of people did presentations:

• Dr Peter Fung (Fayette's dad), on his time in China.
• Noelle Chan, of the HK Missions group (don't know their full name) - this group goes to Hong Kong each year.
• Sean, on his time in China as part of the MSI Dental team.
• Able, on his time in India.
• Mikey & Iggy on their time in Taiwan.
• Mag & her friend Rachel, on their time in China.

The presentations were excellent & very encouraging, although Sean had the misfortune of experiencing some computer glitch which needed the use of another laptop (not his fault, though - things just happen). While that glitch was rectified, Able did his presentation & thereafter Sean did his. The glitch also resulted in the MEM taking longer than anticipated. Nevertheless, it was time well spent listening to the overseas missions experiences of various people. Great to hear that everyone had such a blessed & enjoyable time overseas as they help spread the gospel of Jesus. Not long after MEM ended, I headed home as I was so tired. Tired, but very satisfied with how the weekend panned out.

Clay's so different now

The first Clay study of the year was on Friday nite (23/2/07). For the next few weeks, Clay will be studying Proverbs. It was quite good, although the format was rather different from anything I was used to. No study sheets from the Clay leaders/facilitators, no study books by Matthias Media or anything like that. Instead, my group at St Lucia got divided into 2 smaller groups, & each group looked at several Proverbs verses which Pastor Steve gave us. Then both groups got back together & presented what the verses they looked at taught them. My St Lucia group had quite a number of new faces.

Like I've been saying, this year's Clay feels different already from the last few years. That's because of the split into "North" & "South", i.e. one group based in CCCB St Lucia, the other at Southside (the Southside group had their study at Jay & Mel's place). Guys like Ivan Choe, Nigel, Yuan, Jay, Sean & Eddie Chee, whom I get on well with & used to see each Friday, are all now attending the Southside group - which means I no longer see them every Friday because I attend the St Lucia group (it's closer to home, lah). That's going to take some getting used to - man, I feel like I've been ditched. It's like all of us travelling in 1 car, then suddenly the car stops & I get chucked out of that car!

But hey, it's not all "bad". The good thing is, I still got Pastor Steve & Winston at St Lucia, which is good as I feel both are spiritually strong brothers & I will surely benefit from interacting with them each week. Also, Clay social is once a month, so I will get to catch up with the people from the Southside group. Then again, to be able to catch up with them would mean that I can no longer skip or pike Clay socials like I regularly do in the past!!

What?? They fought over THAT??!!

Listen to this. Two team mates from Liverpool FC recently had a fight over....karaoke! Apparently, what happened was that Welshman Craig Bellamy took exception to Norway's John Arne Riise's refusal to participate in a karaoke session, & so attacked Riise with a golf club. Riise, understandably, was irritated by this, so they had a scuffle & had to be pulled apart by team mates. All this took place one nite, while the Liverpool FC players were on training camp. They had quite a bit of alchohol after dinner, & perhaps Bellamy's behaviour may have been influenced by drunkenness. But then again, Bellamy is a fiery & controversial character - he's had a history of trouble at previous football clubs & also allegedly gets into fights at nightclubs. Needless to say, the management at Liverpool FC are not impressed with the karaoke dispute, & probably feel that the club may have lost some face over this incident.

As a karaoke & football nut, I had to laugh when I heard about the incident. I've never heard this kind of thing happen before, & I certainly can't imagine myself behaving like that if a friend refuses to sing at karaoke!

And oh, the UEFA Champions League is now in the knockout stage. The round of 16 matches are as follows:

Glasgow Celtic (Scotland) v AC Milan (Italy)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) v Arsenal (England)
Lille (France) v Manchester United (England)
Real Madrid (Spain) v Bayern Munich (Germany)
AS Roma (Italy) v Lyon (France)
Barcelona (Spain) v Liverpool (England)
Porto (Portugal) v Chelsea (England)
Internazionale Milan (Italy) v Valencia (Spain)

The ties are played on home & away basis, over 2 legs. The teams named first play the first leg at home. The first leg will be played tomorrow morning & Thursday morning.

Here's my forecast for the two legs (not just the outcome of this week's first leg):

Celtic v Milan:

Milan has the greater European pedigree & that alone makes them favourites against Celtic. Celtic will provide stiff resistance, but over the 2 legs, you have to fancy the Italian side. Milan are not having the best season domestically in Italy, but their troubles should not affect them too much in Europe. Celtic's form away from home is mediocre, & so they must try to get a good result at home to take to Italy for the second leg. Verdict - Milan to go through.

PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal:

For a Dutch side, PSV are quite tight defensively. But I don't think that would be enough against Arsenal. Expect the Londoners to prevail over the 2 legs. Arsenal have played PSV a few times over the last few years & have not lost. I can't see that changing anytime soon. Arsene Wenger has done well to introduce the Arsenal youngsters in various matches over the last few months. The ties against PSV will show how far the Arsenal youngsters have progressed. Verdict - Arsenal to overcome PSV, although no one will find PSV to be pushovers (they are not top of the Dutch league for nothing).

Lille v Manchester United:

Lille beat Manchester United at the Stade de France during the group stage of last season's competiton, a result which contributed to United's premature demise last season. United, strong favourites for this tie, will not want a repeat of that embarassment. They will want revenge on Lille & I think they will get it. Young Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo is one to watch. Verdict - Manchester United to progress.

Real Madrid v Bayern Munich:

These 2 European giants must have won more than a dozen European cups between them. Both sides have met many many times in this competiton, in the past. Despite their reputation, however, both sides enter this tie not exactly in great shape. Real are inconsistent in the Spanish league, & their recent performances have not impressed their fans. Bayern are floundering in fourth place in the German Bundesliga, which is disappointing for their high standards. Both have a chance to put aside their domestic woes aside. This one's tough to predict. I somehow think Bayern will go through - I hear Real will have a couple of defensive players missing the first leg through injuries. Small things like that can decide European ties. Verdict - Bayern Munich, but I can easily be wrong, as no one can absolutely discount Real Madrid.

AS Roma v Lyon:

This is one of the toughest ties to call - probably only Inter v Valencia will be harder to predict (see below). One of Italy's best sides against France's strongest club. Each side have strong claims to favouritism. Roma are very strong at home. Lyon are not bad playing away from home, & they have managed to draw 1-1 at Real Madrid's home ground. OK, maybe currently Real are not the fearsome side of old. But that result shows that Lyon will not be intimidated by their opponent's reputation or by playing in front of a huge home crowd, so I don't think playing in front of the fanatical Roma fans will faze them too much. Both have strong sides & good squads, but Lyon's squad looks more cohesive compared to Roma's as the Lyon players have played together more & so would be more familiar with each other's play. Verdict - Lyon to progress, over two very tough matches. Nevertheless, I won't be surprised at all if Roma emerge victorious.

Barcelona v Liverpool:

Another glamour tie. In one corner, you have Barcelona, full of entertaining, passing, attacking football which I dearly love. In the other corner, you have Liverpool FC, the club which has won more European Cups than any other British clubs. These 2 sides won the last 2 Champions League - Liverpool in 2005, when they sensationally came back from 3 goals down to draw Milan 3-3, & then won the penalty shootout; Barcelona in 2006 when they beat Arsenal in another closely fought final. Barcelona FC have one of the most recognised footballers on the planet - the great Brazilian, Ronaldinho. But the club is more than just him - they have other stars as well. Liverpool will look to midfielder Steven Gerrard for inspiration. Which of these 2 will lead their team past this tie? I think it will be Barcelona. It's a great shame both these sides have to meet to early - whoever wins can go very far in the competition, whoever loses can say they are unlucky to be drawn against such a strong opponent at this stage. Verdict - Barcelona over 2 intriguing legs.

Porto v Chelsea:

There's something about this competiton, where a player or coach have a good chance to get to face a club that he has played for or coached in the past. From memory, it happens every season & now it's happened again - Chelsea's Jose Mourinho faces his old club Porto. Mourinho won this competition with Porto in 2004, just before joining Chelsea whom he led to 2 consecutive English Premier League titles. He has yet to win the Champions League it with Chelsea, & to do so, he must get past his old club. While Porto will not be pushovers, Chelsea have the bigger & better squad, & should progress. Verdict: Chelsea to be too strong for Porto.

Internazionale v Valencia:

Of all the ties, this is the toughest to call. Punters should hedge their bets. An all-Mediterranean clash, with both sides in great domestic form. Inter can't seem to do anything wrong this season in the Italian league - they are well ahead in Serie A, still have not lost a league match this season & surely no one can stop them from winning the league. Valencia are fresh from beating Barcelona over the weekend & in doing so, put themselves very much back in the Spanish title hunt. Who to tip in this tie? Hmmm, u might just as well flip a coin & decide. It could be that close. Looking closely, Inter's squad is probably a tad stronger, & perhaps they will be the one to go through. Verdict: Inter to just edge out Valencia over two very very closely fought matches. I don't think anyone will be entirely surprised if the tie's decided by penalty shootout.

She's bald!

Sheee's baaald! That's what George Constanza said in an episode of Seinfeld, when asked about the lady that his friend Kramer had set him up on a date. That might have also been what I said after seeing the most recent pictures of Britney Spears on the internet & in today's papers. Why?? What did Britney shave her head for?? *shrugs*

She seems to be much maligned these days - some feel she's fallen from grace with the head shaving the latest of her fall. She might be feeling, or suffering from, the stress of her divorce (from K-Fed) & perhaps she deserves some sympathy for that. Look, I dunno the full story with the baldness & everything else, really. But whatever her faults (some are quick to point out many), she has given us some good music. For that, she should get some credit. If I were to pick my favourite song from Britney, it'll be Toxic. (Here's a secret - I once sang this at karaoke - to fill in the time while the others picked their songs. No one sang with me....maybe they had good reason not to! LOL).

Anyways, Barcelona FC lost to Valencia over the weekend Spanish La Liga action. Barca conceded 2 goals in a matter of 3 minutes & ended up losing 2-1. No real disgrace there, as Valencia are notoriously hard to beat at their home, the Mestalla. But the loss does blow the Spanish championship race wide, wide open. It's not just Barcelona FC & Valencia who are in contention - Sevilla & the prima donnas from the capital, Real Madrid, are also now in the reckoning. No one can totally discount Atletico Madrid, either.

However, the race is not so close in Italy, with Inter Milan being so far ahead that the question is when, not if, they will win the Serie A title. A lot of credit must go to coach Roberto Mancini for building a formidable squad at Inter. No one will be that surprised if they win the UEFA Champions League, either.

The race in Germany also looks to be worth keeping an eye on, not least because Bayern Munich are not exactly having it all their way. In fact, Bayern are probably not having anything going their way. They are struggling in fourth spot, behind Schalke, Stuttgart & Werder Bremen. Bayern's chances of winning the Bundesliga are not particularly high, as they are 13 points adrift of Schalke. At least Chelsea have a better chance of winning the Premier League - they are "only" 6 points behind Manchester Utd. Whereas the title picture in France is just like in Italy, with one team (Lyon) being far ahead of the others. The gap in the Netherlands is almost the same as in England - Ajax Amsterdam are 5 points behind PSV Eindhoven, a gap which is handy for PSV to hold but not daunting for Ajax to bridge.

Gong Hei Fatt Choy, & misc other (football) stuff

To all my friends with Chinese ancestry, just want to wish u Gong Hei Fatt Choy, a.k.a. Happy Chinese New Year (it's the Year of the Pig - my dear sister is a Pig LOL). Not that I celebrate it on a grand scale, especially since I live in a Western country & most of my relatives & close family friends are in Malaysia. All I had was a family dinner on Saturday nite & that was it. Very quiet indeed & not very eventful - not to say it's bad or anything like that, it's just that there isn't the buzz & excitement that u get if u celebrate Chinese New Year in Asian countries. Last time I celebrated Chinese New Year in Malaysia was like 8 years ago, when I visited quite a number of relatives on the first day & ate sooooo sooo much food along the way that I skipped dinner that nite - & despite that, found out the next day that I still managed to gain weight! When will I get to celebrate Chinese New Year in Asia again?? *shrugs* dunno....

Thank God for blessing the Chinese people worldwide. May His blessings continue on the Chinese people, & also on the other peoples.

Meanwhile, today is the birthday of my velli good fren (if he reads this, he knows who I'm referring to). Me, him & a few others had lunch today (after church) at Yahoo Restaurant in Sunnybank Hills. It was raining, & since the inside of Yahoo was filled, we got a table outside. It was funny how we sat outside thinking that the rain won't be too heavy, & then the pouring kinda intensified a bit to the extent that it became clear we cannot have a meal outside, so we had to wait until a table inside is available. Food was quite nice (loved the assam fish & fried tofu; other dishes were reasonably good too), & not too expensive. After lunch, I got some stuff from the Korean convenience store next door.

Wow, the weekend's coming to a close. I get "depressed" on Sunday nites, at the thought of starting the working week tomorrow. Bahhhhh. Wonder if I should start a campaign for 3 day weekends. LOL. Maybe not, eh - some things are just a tad too good to wish for ;)

Meanwhile, in miscellaneous other news:

• Barcelona FC coach Frank Rijkaard may be staying after all, amid rumours that he could be leaving the club at season's end. I'm not sure what to believe. I don't want him to leave, for sure. He's done very well with the club & is looking to build some sort of a dynasty at Barcelona. Why should Rijkaard leave the best club in Europe? What else is he going to do? It's not like he's got any other coaching positions lined up as we speak.
• Arsenal & Manchester United have both failed to win their FA Cup ties overnight, whereas Chelsea thrashed Norwich City 4-0. Poor Norwich. They are in the division below the English Premier League & are not likely to gain promotion this season, given their current league position. Prior to the match, Norwich's majority shareholder Delia Smith (who's also a prominent British chef) lamented the amount of money coming in to football & threatening to destroy the sport that she loves. Her comments may have been directed at Chelsea, who is owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Chelsea are not the only English club owned by wealthy foreigners - a few other foreign billionaires have bought/invested into a few other clubs. Delia Smith, apparently doesn't believe that these foreign billionaires get involved because they are interested in English football - there are other reasons. She may be right - the reasons relate to money. So her views can't just be dismissed as sour grapes or envy or anything like that.
• Melbourne Victory thumped Adelaide United 6-0 in the A-League grand final - a stunning way to secure the A-League title for the 2006/2007 season. Archie Thompson scored 5 of those goals, a remarkable feat. That said, the result doesn't please me at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. For one, I don't like lop-sided scores in grand finals or cup finals or whatever finals. For another, Melbourne Victory seem too cocky & arrogant for my liking, although I have to concede that they do deserve their success as they've been the best & the most consistent club by far in the A-League this season.

I could go on & on & on about football, we'd be talking all night. But I got other things to do, so I guess I shall sign off here. Hopefully, the next time I come on, I will be able to talk about some other stuff besides football. Good nite!

Clay dessert party

Yeah, that's what we had at CCCB St Lucia yesterday nite (Fri 16/2/07) - a dessert party to start off Clay for the year, & to welcome new people to Clay to find out what Clay is about & what Clayers are like, etc. Quite a good turnout, although there were a number of people who were away - including Hung & Stella, whose recently arrived baby Nathaniel I still have not yet seen. We welcomed some newcomers, mostly people I know from YF - Rachel, Sam, Steven & Steph. Good to see them.

After a period of chatting, my velli good fren Ivan Choe got the entertainment/games going. We started with each person collecting a cut-up piece of paper from Ivan, & each person then have to match their cut-up paper with those of other people so that those cut-up pieces form a sheet of paper when joined together. All up, the cut-up papers formed 3 different sheets, so from all that, 3 groups were formed. Those 3 sheets had a list of various items, so in the 3 groups, we had to come up with the items (effectively, "treasure hunt"). After Ivan assessed the groups on the items, we moved on to the next game. We had to answer a series of questions on various strips of paper, with each answer having a set number of letters from the alphabet. We then had to locate those answers on an A4 paper which had a maze of alphabets - the answers were hidden in the maze of alphabets & we had to circle the answers left, right, up, down & centre. Then the alphabets not circled formed a verse in the Bible, which we had to fill in at the bottom of the A4 sheet. Big big kudos to Mr Choe for organising the games!

After the games, Pastor Steve Nation talked about the plans for Clay for 2007. The major change is that Clay studies will now be held in 2 locations (St Lucia & Southside), so that people will find it more convenient to attend the studies (well, hopefully that's the case) now that they can choose to go to either location. Thank God for Pastor Steve & his overseeing of Clay's plans for the year together with the Clay leaders/facilitators. Then, Yuan took the opportunity to share his thoughts specifically on his vision for the men of Clay. From his sharing, it's obvious that Yuan has a passion to see the brothers of Clay grow together in Christ. Thank God that Yuan is an integral part of Clay, & for sharing his godly vision for the brothers of Clay. Back in November 2006, Yuan approached me (among others) to be one of the people to assist him with his plans for the Clay men; it's effectively brothers' pastoral care. I would do whatever I am able to in order to help Yuan. (Hopefully, in doing so, I won't let God or anyone down, or stumble anyone....)

Then Keiyeng brought out the surprise birthday cake for Yuan & Keileng, who both celebrate their birthdays this month. Interestingly, Yuan's pink shirt matched the colour of the birthday cake. I wonder - did he suspect the surprise thing was going to happen & that the bday cake icing was going to be pink?? Hhmmm....

Anyway, after the cake cutting, we went back to chatting in various groups. That was basically it, a good & quite enjoyable function. Clay studies will start next Friday. I can't wait!

Turkish delight

No, I'm not talking about the tasty, soft, sweet, red-pink confection/dessert that originated from Turkey centuries ago. I am referring to Turkey's national football team, specifically reflecting on their semi-final exploits of World Cup 2002 in Korea/Japan. The football displayed by the Turkish team at that tournament was a delight to watch & they really impressed me with their passing, enterprising football. Turkey's performances were certainly more impressive than France, England, Sweden, Germany & Italy at WC2002.

Unfortunately, Turkey have narrowly failed to qualify for the next 2 major international tournaments (Euro2004, WC2006). Failure to make it to WC2006 in Germany was widely seen as a major missed opportunity, given that Germany has a large number of expatriate Turks - which would have given Turkey a huge amount of support had Turkey made it to the WC.

I guess Turkey's recent 1-0 defeat to Georgia showed how things have gone a little sour for the team - it's a far cry from WC2002, when Turkey's only losses were narrow defeats against eventual champions Brazil (2-1 in group stage, 1-0 in semis). OK, so it's only a friendly match & maybe the coach may have used it as an experimental exercise - but Georgia, while no slouches, are certainly no Brazil by anybody's stretch of the imagination. Turkish fans would have certainly expected their team to beat Georgia.

Right now, if I hear correctly, Turkish football is plagued with problems. The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) faces all sorts of squabbles & corruption allegations. TFF president Haluk Ulusoy is at loggerheads with the Turkish government over the various corruption & match-fixing allegations. Specifically, Turkey's Sports Minister, Mehmet Ali Sahin, have implored Ulusoy & the TFF to respond to these allegations. Not only that, the TFF are apparently also having fights with the chairmen of various Turkish clubs (especially top club Fenerbahce), the Turkish press & prominent figureheads within the Turkish football fraternity.

Hopefully, all these off-field dramas will not affect the football (at club & national team level), as Turkey tries to regain the "lost magic" of WC2002. They certainly cannot be accused of lacking quality players, as the coach Fatih Terim can call on the talents of the twins Hamit & Halil Altintop, Emre Belozoglu, Tuncay Sanli, Sabri Sanoglu, Nihat Kahveci & rising young stars Nuri Sahin & Arda Turan. All of these players are either midfielders or forwards; Turkey's defence is not their strongest point....

So far, Turkey are doing well in the Euro2008 qualifiers, but they have played only moderate opposition. Their next match in March 07 will be a tough one......a blockbuster Euro2008 qualifier against bitter rival Greece! (match will be played in Athens). Greece may be European champions thanks to their fairytale exploits in Euro2004, but if Turkey play reasonably well, I would expect them to at least draw against the Greeks. If they can do well against Greece & keep the momentum going during the rest of the Euro2008 qualifiers, the chants of "Turkiye! Turkiye!" will again be heard loudly, as they were in WC2002.

The Spanish mystery

I saw the highlights of the friendly match between Brazil v Portugal on Sunday's SBS. The match, played at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in London, was reasonably entertaining. Both sides played attacking football & showed good passing & movement, although Brazil's attack seemed a little less sharp than usual (maybe because they miss Ronaldinho & quicksilver Robinho). Portugal ended up winning 2-0 thanks to 2 late goals. I think Portugal's Brazilian coach Luis Felipe Scolari knew his compatriots too well, & so manage to use this "insider knowledge" to Portugal's advantage. OK, that knowledge played a part in Portugal's victory, but it should not take too much away from Portugal's achievement. Portugal won mainly because they are very good. And in Cristiano Ronaldo (surely the best footballer at Manchester United), they have a real superstar in the making - if he's not one already.

Under Scolari's management, Portugal have done very well. They reached the final of Euro 2004 on home soil & were unlucky to lose, & reached the semis at World Cup 2006 where they narrowly fell to Zidane's France. Maintain their current form & they will surely be a force at Euro 2008. Portugal's recent success makes me ponder on the following question: why can't their neighbours Spain do the same at international tournaments??

That's got to be one of the biggest mysteries in football. Spain are surely football's biggest underachievers (serial underachievers) - even more so than the Netherlands or Portugal. Given the talented players that Spain consistently produce, one would have thought that Spain's record at international tournaments would be better than it is, & in fact some may even expect Spain to have won more major trophies than the one title they have so far won (the European Championship in 1964). Spanish club sides taste regular success in European competitions. The current club champions of Europe are Barcelona FC - I'm proud to say they're my club team & I'm proud that they won European club's biggest price (UEFA Champions League) in May 2006. But now what I would like to see is for Spain to win Euro 2008. That will not happen if they continue their post-World Cup form slump, although Spain's recent win over England in a friendly (on the same day Portugal played Brazil) should hopefully spur them on to hit their stride come the Euro 2008 qualifying matches (their next match is against Denmark in March 07).

But back to the topic - why does Spain underachieve? (underachieve = less successful compared to the other major football sides) Why have they not been able to match Portugal's recent exploits at international tournaments? It's definitely not because of player quality - the Spanish footballers are not inferior to the Portuguese, or any other major European teams for that matter. Spain is widely recognised as a producer of talent & their youth system is among Europe's best. In fact, Spain have been champions of Europe at under-17, under-19 & under-21 levels - if you combine all the trophies Spain won at these "age group" levels, I think they have won more titles than any other European nation. The fact that they can't translate that success into senior team level is a huge mystery.

It's not because the Spaniards can't play as a team. In fact, during the group stages of WC2006, Spain were better than any other European team, & many (me included) thought Spain at last are on the way to shedding the "serial underachiever" tag. But come the knockout stages, they met their match in France & were sent packing. Even then, no one can question the footballing ability of Spanish players. They played reasonably well against France, but they just lost.

So then, what are the reasons for underachievement? The more plausible theories seem to be:

• Lack of winning mentality - it seems that Spain always underperform or choke when the stakes are high. Often in the big matches, they would have the better of the play than their opponents but not make the most of their scoring chances.
• Lack of national unity caused by regional rivalries. Spain has several autonomous communities/provinces - Catalan, Castillia, Basque. Each has its own culture & language, & it seems that each are can't get on very well. Take this over to football, & it seems that some Spanish fans & maybe footballers care more about their local region (whether Catalan or Basque) than they do Spain.
• Perhaps they have never had a coach who could bring the best out of the players. That could arguably be the case with Spain's coaches of the last 10-15 years (certainly many people feel this way with the current coach Luis Aragones), although i am not sure about the coaches before that as I am not familiar with them.

There could be other reasons not mentioned above, I don't know them all. With each of the points above, there is probably some truth - but how true, I'm not certain (especially the last point). That's why the question "why does Spain underachieve" will always remain a talking point among football fans.

More hanging out with D

I thought Friday's Boys Nite Out was the last time I'd see D during his current visit to Bris Vegas. How wrong I was - Saturday afternoon, D sms'ed me to hang out at J's parent's place that nite. Given who D is to me (a very close buddy), how could I refuse??

Compared to Boys Nite Out, Saturday nite was "placid". My brother (BT), myself, D, J & Mel hung out at J's parent's place. J's parents were very hospitable in allowing us to "crash" their place. We hung out at the entertainment room/home theatre, which had been converted from a bar. The last time I was at that room (when it was still a bar) was more than 4 years ago, when me & a couple of YFers were filming some clips for Fat's 21st bday. Whoever's idea it was to convert the room to home theatre, it was a good one - the room looked superb, lots of red & well furnished.

We watched Rocky Balboa. Or rather, the other 4 watched Rocky Balboa. I somehow slept through half the movie. That's probably because of a combination of the extremely comfortable furniture, the Boags St George I consumed & the fact that the movie didn't particularly appeal to me. Before & after the movie, we had the usual good chats & laughs.

Then on Sunday nite, me & D had dinner at Little Taipei with 4 of the guys (Ben, Alvin, Sean, Nick) from the Boys Nite Out. D brought W along. The Korean spicy noodle soup (which was strikingly red) was rather disappointing - it just wasn't as tasty as the Vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup that I had for lunch after church. I'd never order that dish at Little Taipei again - I've tasted better Korean elsewhere. Anyway, after W departed, the boys headed off to Cybergames near Sunnybank Plaza. It must've been my first time at Cybergames in more than 2 years. Obviously, I don't do LAN/network games very often (not sure if i even got this terminology right). We mostly played Counter Strike Session, & I was hopelessly out of my depth - I was the worst player of the lot. Whether I played terrorist or counter-terrorist, I was often the first one killed (due to my slow & clumsy reactions & reflexes), & I probably killed as many team mates as I did enemies. Midway through the session, J came to join us.

All in all, it was really fun hanging out & catching up with D before he heads back to Melbourne. Dunno when he'll visit us in Brisbane again, perhaps later this year, who knows. The next time he's here, we'll "party" again. Bad Boyz for eva!!

Boys Nite Out

Wow, what a long long nite we had!! I was out after work on Friday 9/2/07 to hang out with a very close friend, D, who's visiting Brisbane from Melbourne. Me & D go a few years back, since our days in YF - we joke & pay each other out a fair bit (though not as much these days). We even once had an "argument" over who has the right to call himself "D" on MSN (our first names begin with the same letter). He won out in the end, partly because I let him & partly because he was the first to use "D".

Anyway, due to the delay in D's arrival in the CBD, I firstly caught up with Johnnie & Michael inside The Tank Hotel on Queen St, which was opposite the building that my work office was located in. Then D arrived, & then we had some drinks. In Johnnie's opinion, I had a bit too many :P
But hey, we had a good time chatting at The Tank, we survived & the 4 of us then trooped off to the Zen Bar. There, we met up with Ian, Nicholas, Alvin, Sean & Ben. Somehow, we decided not to have dinner at the Zen Bar. Johnnie & Michael excused themselves, & Ian stayed on with his other friends.

So, 6 of us (myself, D, Nicholas/Nick, Alvin, Sean & Ben) went to Elizabeth Arcade & dined at some Asian place which name I forgot (City Wok?). More chatting & laughing ensued. I even managed to bump into my ex-workmate, Cat Cat (probably my best ex-workmate :P), for the first time since leaving my previous firm in June 06. During our brief chat, she managed to update me on the happenings at her firm.

Also, the boys put some hot chillis in my mee goreng while I was having toilet break. When I got back to City Wok (?), I did notice the chillis but had thought they were placed by the kitchen staff, so I didn't suspect the prank. Only later did the boys tell me the truth - no wonder they scrutinised me so intently when I gorged on the mee goreng, probably expecting me to explode from the strength of the chillis. But being a typical Malaysian born lad, I didn't find the chillis too hot to handle - i ate most of them, left only 1 or 2 behind.

After dinner, we moved on to Fridays. We were in the queue, & before we entered Fridays, it was decided (mainly by D - probably didn't like what he saw) to go to Mercurys instead, so we left Fridays without even really entering the place. Outside Fridays, we caught up with Ed who followed us to Mercurys, where we had a few more drinks. Ian then came from Zen Bar to rejoin us. Man, the music at Mercurys was sooooo loud, I could barely hear the guys chatting to me, even those beside me talking as loud as they can. After a brief stay, people start leaving. D was slightly disappointed as he had wanted a long long nite out with us boys, & was disdainful with the night scene in the Brisbane CBD, which he compared unfavourably with the night scene in Melbourne. In reply, a few of us ribbed him, by reminding him where his roots were before he moved to Melbourne. Jokes aside, I was sure D was very happy to see & catch up with the boys. So I took the bus with Ben to Indooroopilly where Ben parked his car, & got dropped off home close to midnite.

So to my good friend D - I know u like to have fun, & u are a really good friend of mine. Thanks for your friendship which I really cherish, the laughs & the fun times we have had. I hope & pray that u will seek out God in all things that u do & that u draw closer to Him. And here's to your bright future with W.