Night Out at Khadijah's

This Sungai Wang pair making an impression?

They look more than friends judging by the gentle touch on the 'back'.. I wonder

Lets just say I enjoy my Coke, burp! to that

Male models of the Year

Radzi probably let one off while the unsuspecting Rash joins in the smell despite Naser's obvious allergy to Radzi gas - a conction of curries, mee mamak, sambals and teh tarik all rolled into one.

My delicious food, rammed down my throat, mmm...yummy

Bosom buddies and they make a great couple!

Maddy and Lou - the names that was nearly used as camel mascots. Looking at them, not to far off the truth, don't you agree?

Photo of the day - Either the food must be good or George is just trying to pass gas while the Liz smiles despite the aroma permeating from somewhere nearby

As usual Louis tries to talk c@#$ but being a smarter and diplomatic guy, Rash pretends to gulp down his ice lemon tea like it is the best in the world - obviously to shut Louis up!

Flashback to Oranje win in 88'

Holland at its best

Marco van Basten, my idol and many a wannabe goal scorer's idol

Courtesy of ESPN Soccernet

Host nation: West Germany

Winners: Holland

Brilliant orange: Holland line up before their 2-0 final win over the Soviets.Here was a tournament in which another team ended its long exile in the trophy-winning wilderness. The Dutch had lit up the 1970s with their 'Total Football' but finished potless.

Much of the 1980s had been spent in turmoil after successive failures to qualify for major tournaments. A rebuilding period had begun during that time and Holland had found a new generation which was to dominate European club football for some years to come.

This would perhaps be the sole time the Dutch pulled together as a unit, for their age-old problem of in-fighting would stop this great team dominating the international scene. But they would burn brightly in Germany, where they were to gain revenge for their defeat in the 1974 World Cup Final.

They had waltzed through the qualifying rounds, even surviving having to replay a home game with Cyprus because of crowd trouble. They won the initial game 8-0 but the replay a mere 4-0. In their finals group they faced England, under Bobby Robson, who had stormed their qualifiers with stars like Lineker, Hoddle and Robson in full flow. Sadly for England, only Robson of the three would perform at any level at all in the finals.

Italy had a burgeoning side with young stars like Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini while the Russians were strong, featuring the 1986 European Player of the Year Igor Belanov alongside Alexander Zavarov and striker Igor Protasov. Both had qualified with ease. Spain, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland, in their first major championship, had harder progress but all made it.

France, whose ageing team had largely retired after the Mexico World Cup, could only finish third in their group behind the Russians and East Germany. They were to enter their own wilderness period.

The tournament began with the hosts playing Italy and an Andreas Brehme strike was needed to cancel out a Mancini goal. The Dutch began in poor fashion and were beaten by the Soviet Union and a great strike from Vasili Rats. Their next game was with England, themselves nursing the embarassment of losing to Ireland. A Ray Houghton header was never answered by England, for whom Gary Lineker, later diagnosed with hepatitis was noticeably off form.

The Dutch simply blew away England. The Milan trio of Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard were at their very best. Van Basten, before that game never really sure of his place in Rinus Michel's starting eleven, scored one of the best hat-tricks in living memory while Bryan Robson's brave goal was all England had to celebrate. Russia, in Frankfurt, completed the misery as England were again beaten 3-1.

Ireland's draw with the Soviets came after a great volley from Ronnie Whelan was cancelled out by a Protasov strike from a Belanov assist. It was between the Irish and the Dutch, the latter of whom needed a win. Ireland looked to have their draw until a fluke stepped in their way. Koeman's volley looped off substitute Wim Kieft and keeper Packie Bonner was powerless.

The Italians and Germans had qualified on equal points from the other group. The Danes were a shadow of the 1984 vintage and Spain could only beat the Scandinavians as players like Butragueño and Michel failed to find form.

Italy's youth counted against them in the semi with the USSR. Mancini and Vialli flopped badly and even old stager Alessandro Altobelli couldn't find the net. Two ruthless finishes in three minutes from both Sergiy Litovchenko and Protasov finished off the Italians, whose sights were perhaps more firmly set on success in the World Cup they would host in two years.

For the Dutch, the other semi was a mission of vengeance in both historical and footballing terms as goalkeeper Hans Van Breukelen would later admit. It was a bitty first half, littered niggling fouls and attempts to dupe the referee. But the second period was lit up by two penalties, one for Lothar Matthaeus and another equalising one for Ronald Koeman.

Then, with extra time lurking in the background, Van Basten wrapped his leg around a Jan Wouters through ball to direct the ball past Eike Immel. In the stadium, and at home in Holland, there was an amazing outpouring of emotion. It was felt that wrongs, both in football and in other, more political affairs, had been righted for the moment.

It was a final between clearly the best teams in the tournament. And the Soviets looked the stronger side in the opening salvos. But a well-worked corner saw Van Basten nod across to Gullit whose header powered past Rinat Dassaev.

Next came the image the championships will be forever remembered for. Arnold Muhren's looping ball from the left bypassed everyone, save for Van Basten, in what seemed too tight an angle.

But the Milan man's eye was in and he looped a volley of pace, direction and power over Dassaev. It remains one of the best goals in any game in football. Van Basten's fire may have burned for not too long but he will be forever associated with one of the best instances of the striker's art.

The Soviets were not done yet and Dutch keeper Van Breukelen conceded a penalty for fouling Serguei Gotsmanov. But it was to be Holland's day as he saved Belanov's resulting spot-kick. The rest was plainsailing and a celebration as Holland's beautiful game finally succeeded at the highest level.

Hopefully, Holland don't deceive once again

In them.. I trust
Courtesy of ESPN Soccernet

Once again, Holland looks one of the favourites on paper to win Euro 2008 but.. the big BUTT is whether they can pull it off as always, they have deceived me.. a huge Holland fan. However, loyal as I am I still dream of Holland win in 1988 with Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard leading the way against the Russians.

Let look at the goalkeeping area, without a doubt Man Utd's Edwin van der Sar get the nod as he would be taking part in probably his final Euro championship. Marten Stekelenburg and Henk Timmer has long been playing second fiddle to van der Sar and would be interesting to see who the new Holland coach selects as this would be van Basten's last game in charge.

My only question mark is why pick Mario Melchiot of Wigan who staved off relegation in the EPL? The rest of the cast looks decent, nothing to shout about. However, John Heitinga and Wilfred Bouma catches my eye with their defensive qualities and Heitinga's push forward whenever needed.

In the middle of the park and upfront, Holland has an embarrassing of riches and based on this, my fervent hope is for them to win. Real Madrid's trio of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben together with Hamburg's star playmaker Rafael van der Vaart is enough to make one's team balls shiver.

If all goes well, I will have a happy tournament. If not, well I have to live with another disappointment.

The main thing is, Holland needs to click - the days of racial groupings (remember Kluivert, Davids and Seedorf breaking ranks with the whites) and self destruction are hopefully in the past. As long as they don't press the self destruct button and pretend to be Spain (remember them, always go misisng in big tournaments), a semis is in the offing, of course, it does not help being in the Group of Death!

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord)

Defenders: Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Ajax Amsterdam), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg SV), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers)

Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Orlando Engelaar (Twente Enschede), Nigel de Jong (Hamburg SV), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid), Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg SV), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar)

Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax Amsterdam), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic).

Over rated Biatch!

This is totally not related to sports. More of commenting on someone I saw at an event a couple of weeks ago.

Let's call this lady Miss X (no not you, my colleague who goes by the same name and who is ultra dependent on Feng Shui). Apparently, she is a celebrity, journo and emcee and what not. But, after seeing her in flesh, I beg to differ and wonder what the hullabaloo about this biatch is all about.

She emcees badly with all the words strung together and rumour in the grapevine is that she is being paid for a day's job of between 4-6k. What a waste of money and a load of crap. In these hard times, I wouldn't trade that much for a dud!

Also some say she is a model but after seeing her posture, hmm, I reserved my comments. Not to say that I got something against people of that nature but the publicity that sorrounds her is irritating and cheap to say the least.

Argentina 5 Malaysia 0, football? NOT!

Before I begin, I must say been a busy week and did not have time to write. Anyway, there are some interesting sports happenings and of course, I managed to find some time to write about it.

Saw the score of the 5-0 thrashing by Argentina in the Sultan Azlan Shah and was wondering what has happened to our hockey team. Of course, I did not get to catch the game but that was immaterial as the score sums it all up.

I managed to catch the New Zealand game on Sunday and I must say I was slightly impressed by our chaps. Of course, it did not help that the Kiwis made us look good and it seemed peculiar that we actually won the game.

Well, my suspicions are confirmed when Argentina thrashed us. Okay, people would say that Argentina is also a hockey powerhouse but how can we explain that we have fallen behind them in the pecking order?

For crying out loud, Argentina is more known for football rather than hockey as Malaysia is well known for badminton that football. What has happened?

I really don't know, I suspect mentally, the players are not there; no pride in wearing the national colours and of course, inconsistency, the bane of all Malaysian sportsmen except Nicol David.

Once again the coaches will sing the same old praise which I quote when I was reporting "pleased with the boys attitude and bla, bla". Main thing is just admit it. Nothing wrong, the results is obvious. You cannot lie in sports unless the match was fixed as the results explains everything.

CAN LA LIGA CHAMPIONS REAL MADRID WIN IN EUROPE NEXT SEASON?

Congratulations to the Madristas. Once again they have shown who is the team to be reckoned with. I for one was hoping that Real win this year's La Liga and they did in style with 3 matches to spare.

Only blot in their whole season is their inability to win the Champions League which now is the domain of English teams with foreign contingents to win. Anyway, hope they will work on this next season as Real Madrid are by far, the best all time team in Europe since the days of Puskas and Gento.

As an avid fan of the Dutch national team, it is nice to see Robben, Sneijder and van Nistelrooy weighing their contributions for the team's benefit, not to mention the rejuvenated Raul and the ever improving Guti, a vital cog to the team even though media coverage about him is not in favour. No idea maybe he is too low profile, but hey I would pencil in his name if I ever (never) manage a football team. We cannot forget the contributions Robinho and Gonzalo Higuain whose skills and flair brought in crucial goals when the odds were stacked against the Madristas.

Bernd Schuster does not really impress me as a coach, what with the talent he has on display to select from but if he can flatter the Real Madrid bosses he could be in for the long run. Maybe a Champions League trophy next season could ensure a longer contract as another trophyless season could spell doom.

Remember Vincente del Bosque? He won the La Liga in 2003 and still had his contract not renewed. The management wanted a more exciting and lively coach to lead them and it took a while before full service was resumed.

On the hindsight, the Spanish media has labelled the league as the league that no one wanted to win and looking at Barca's slide, Valencia flirting with relegation and Sevilla not being the same team as it was last season, it was like a gift on platter. Of course, we should take anything away from Real.

(Pix: Courtesy of www.realmadrid.com)

BLUES TO EXORCISE DEVILS IN RUSSIA?

What a victory, what glory! Yes, I am so happy that the Red side of Mersey has bit the dust. They deserve it for their over reliance of Torres and their self belief that only Torres and Gerard can lead them to the final.

I am no fan of Chelsea, well also, no fan or any love for Liverpool but I prefer Chelsea anytime to Liverpool and finally, we have a genuine contender to go up against Satan. If Liverpool entered, I suspect we can hand the title to Satan as judging by this season's performance, Liverpool is a bloody huge disappointment when you expect them to deliver the goods against Satan in the EPL.

It is good to see Drogba, finally, delivering and Lampard overcoming grief to lead Chelsea and I would be rooting for Chelsea this coming CL final in Moscow. In fact, I think neutrals would definitely be supporting Chelsea. Drogba is jaguh kampung in EPL and he needs a performance on a big stage like this to show his prowess.

Ok, not to sound biased, we have to give it to MU for a polished display against a sorry Barca and it would be folly to underestimate the hardworking Tevez and the tricky Ronaldo pulling all out stops to deny the Blues.

Another Kodak moment would be Avram Grant letting go his emotions. Now, that's priceless.
Oh, coming back to him Israel - Grant and Tal Ben Haim coming to Malaysia.. wonder why people are making a fuss over it. I mean they are here on sports not politics. Anyway, who are we to judge their role in oppressing Palestine and why are we playing God by judging people? Are we so innocent that we have never done anything bad to our neighbours? Anyway, when I went to local uni, it was so damn obvious racism rearing its head so why make noise about 2 Israelite coming here to play football? Will we boycott Chelsea because of both of them, I really would like to see.

(Pic: Courtesy of www.guardian.co.uk)