My History in Football

Ok...let me see..yeah...i remembered my first ever football fever was sumwhere early 90's. It was the German worldcup..dan pada maser itu Beckenbaur was like the football gladiator. Aku ingat yg aku akan duduk dihujung back bench of the tv hall which was full with my late brother's cranky, mat rock, mat breakdance, mat nerd friends. He was then at SMSS. He was still playing for the old boys till his last days...

Anyway, that was when I developed a minor interest n football. Aku amat kagum dgn cara football ini menarik perhatian aku terutamanyer player player dier yg henskem dan sasa belaka. There was no Beckham or Henry at that time. Dan aku tak sedar adernyer EPL, CL, Spanish League, Italian League dan yg seangkatan dgnnyer. I didn't have the luxury of cable TV then and during my high skool days I was sooo into softball. Dan off course giant-giant softballers maser itu adalah the Japs and Americans. I was in the school team, not one the best player and I played outfield. And my batting sucks..infact at one point, it was the last inning, 2 down and full base. What did I do??? I got striked out...betapa kecewanye team haku..maser tu...we lost to MGS...ooo...that was our sworn enemy..kinda like man u and chelsea..laaa. Aku sanggup naik bas turun bas untuk pegie live match Japs tea nie. Weii...maser tu kalau naik bas turun bas adalah perkara besar utk aku..selain naik bas dr kelang sampai AJ dan naik cab pegiee picad..naik bas ketempat tempat lain memerlukan berbagai kajian logistic utk aku.

Then I finished high school. I went to college and maser tu adalah zaman hype team merah kuning...As soon as I started work and own a car, aku ader kaki yg selalu ajak aku pegie stadium SA for all the red yellow home match. Pastuh kawan aku kawin..dah takder kaki. Ex aku pulak..kaki bangku...well not really but he was not into it.

Then I flew to UK...where it all begin. English from toddlers to oldies are crazzzyyy over football. Seriousss..nyer...and they are hardcore fans...down or up they will still stick to their team. Kinda like till death do us part. Football, pub and a lager blends well together. Maner ader kedai mamak kat situ kan??? yg ader skrin besar tu..kalau ader pun mesti tak laku..tak pun sumer yg ader beku kesejukan.

Reading Madejski Stadium was about 40 minutes away from Newbury where I was back then. Maser tu aku layan football dgn siam-siam yg ader kat staff hall, selalulah bertekak dgn minah tagalog dan minah lain yg taksub dgn MTV channel..maklumla MTV kat saner...phegghh!!! bergetah!!!...Boss aku generous..staff TV besat gilers..u shud see where we stayed...staff quaters amatlah impressive. Sometimes there are few saturdays that my boss decided to bring the kids out and I have to follow. Most of the time pegie Reading laaaa...kalau lalu jer kat Madejski Stadium tu..meriah giler. Maser tu Reading was in Div 1...hati aku melonjak-lonjak..sabar jer laaa.

After sometime I decided to make it on my own and get some freedom, I moved to London. I got a job at West London. I stayed in East London. 26 stations to work via the green line. Lalu la west ham station dan bermacam macam lagie. Then I moved to Tower Hill, it was about 9 station away from work. Sebab life aku kat London adalah kerja, kerja dan kerja, I moved to Earl's Court and walking to work takes about 10minutes...waaahhh...gembiranyer..aku. Biler weekend aku kerja double job, I'll take the night bus and I'll be home in 20minutes. Sleep for about 2 hours and back to work for another 16 hours.

That was the hype point. Where I work, all was into football...be it the boobs or the dicks. Maser itu la aku raser kehangatan football and that was when I knew Man U was the one. Not that I didn't know Man U before, I was not paying much interest in them. I stayed very near to Chelsea home stadium, so everytime Chelsea played at home dan menang...ohhh..tidak..tak sanggup aku tgk warna biru merata-rata...sampai biru mata aku.

And sometimes aku slalu gie Holloway ngan god sis aku...tempat Arsenal... lagielah.. ..stress...why la my team stadium is far up north??? Kalau aku tak layan football at this time..terasa betapa aku dioutkast at my work place.

So towards the end of my time there, like couple of months before I'm due home, sales team aku secure a deal with few football teams from the EPL. So everytime these team ader away match ngan Chelsea they will stay at my workplace.

I remembered the first team arrived was Everton, Rooney was with them at that time. Maser tu tak lah seglamor maner mamat nieh. It was before Euro 04.

The thing about English team, they're very discipline. No hanky panky....usually they will need 2 rooms whereby we have to removed the furnitures to make into a massage room. Minibar items will be removed. Means not alcohol. They eat in a banquet room, under strict meal supervision from in-house chef. And dah tentu get enough sleep. And they are not at all pig headed..all were cool...or is it aku tak pernah kena yg palat. Maser tu la aku byk jumper player like defoe, rooney to name a few. Dan memang lah takder rezeki aku...biler time aku dah nak berambus, baru la sales team tu secure deal dgn Man U to stay there for their match against Chelsea. Hampeh tak hampeh!!!

Sekarang aku raser cam rugi plak biler kawan aku offer ticket free Chelsea vs Aston Villa aku tak amik. Kawan aku nie transit from Miami, bought a ticket online dan berkobar-kobar pakai jersey biru. Last-last sampai kat stadium mamat kena tukar baju or will not be allowed in becoz his tickets was for seatings at Aston Villa supporters. Kena getah!!! Since dah berbayar, dan kire conversion pound to RM..terpaksa lah mamat gadaikan maruah biru itu...

Then came Euro 2004. Aku ingat sgt maser tu aku refer England as "team aku" macam lah aku nie Brits totok. Kawan aku sgtlah berbulu kalau aku refer England by that. By then aku dengar Piala Malaysia diconquer oleh NON-STATE team...aku was like?? DBKL?? TNB Melaka?? biar betull??

I remembered Euro 04 semi - England vs Portugal...sungguh mengecewakan..memang penalty ending always a jinx to England. And out of the blue, the Greeks won the Euro 2004...biar betul niee???

Then came Athens 2004.....of course the south american team proved that they're still the best.

Since then I'm hooked....balik malaysia..pun hooked jugak....

2006 Euro cup aku tgk kat modesto with bunch of office mates and the next day half of us was on leave...ngantukss..siol...i was into France maser tu...kalah jugak...frust giler babas!!!

So early this morning 2 of the biggest Europe team will fight for a trophy that will define their credibility as the best European soccer club, Liverpool in desperate need to retain their title and AC Milan haunting turks tragedy.

May the best team win..............



Psst...boleh kah aku mengaku yang sampai sekarang aku masih gagal nak detect off side just like how I can't figure out tennis score counts. Funny I can immediately cal a ball or strike in baseball but not this offside shit...

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Updated at 23.46

It's 2-1 for AC Milan...well u win some and lose some....