Giantslayer...

...to the Fore.

Malaysian football has always been about Selangor. The team that used to be called 'Merah Kuning' (Red and Yellow) has re-branded themselves as Red Giants to illustrate their status of being the most successful team in Malaysia.

With the likes of Allahyarham Mokhtar Dahari, the late Arumugam, Soh 'the Tow Kay' Chin Aun and many others they dominated the local football scene. They have the pulling power to attract many star players to don the red and yellow jersey. This is a tradition that has continued even until today.

With the likes of Malaysian internationals such as Safee Sali, Amri Yahyah, Nasriq Bahrom and Amirulhadi Zainal in their squad they would always be the favourites irrespective of whom they are playing against.

Thus when they travelled to Kuala Terengganu for the top of the table clash against the East Coast side Terengganu many Selangor fans have predicted the Red Giants would collect all three points and to some extent predicted a 5-2 scoreline for the away team.

Terengganu who were four points behind selangor in the Liga Super Malaysia table took to the field as underdogs despite being unbeaten in their opening four matches. New Head Coach Irfan Bakti who took over from Ken Worden during the close season brought with him a number of players whom he considered as essentials, which helped a lot compared to the Aussies who took over and mid-season and had to work with the resources available to him.

But for many Ganuans, as long as the coach is given the freedom to do what he sees best for the team they will be behind him wholeheartedly. So far this has been the case for the much travelled Irfan.

K Devan who led Selangor to three of four titles at stake last season certainly did not relish coming back to the scene where his dream of doing a quadruple went to pieces after being knocked out from the Malaysia Cup in the quarter-final stage on penalties.

However, what unfolded in front of him must have Devan wishing for the draw that took the above match into penalties last season. Terengganu went ahead after just ten minutes when Firdaus Faudzi found Ashaari Shamsuddin in a forward move. The lanky forward then released Abdul Manaf Mamat who went on to beat Hamsani Ahmad with a stiff shot to the far post.

Fifteen minutes later K Rajan should have made it 2-0 when another Firdaus pass let him through behind the Selangor defence. But the home side did went two goals ahead when on the half hour mark when Firdaus released Manaf in the same area where he broke the deadlock earlier.

However this time Hamsani came out with a two footed, studs first lunge which sent Manaf flying. The linesman flagged for penalty and the referee concurred despite protests from Selangor players who should be thankful that the man in black did not bring out his red card for the 'assault'.

However, much to the home fans disbelief Hamsani was not even cautioned by referee Syed Azhar Syed Kamar.

Ashaari took the responsibility in putting the ball past Hamsani who went the wrong way. Just before the end of the first half the visitors could have reduced the deficit but Sharbinee Allawee did well to prevent an Amri Yahyah attempt from going into the net.

The second half followed what transpired in the first. Both teams did not really create many clear cut chances but the difference between the two teams was Terengganu made the most of the chances that came their way.

With just twelve minutes to go Terengganu launched another counter-attack after another Selangor pressure. Manaf dummied to let the ball reach substitute Joseph Kallang Tie. The new signing's shot lacked power but such a poor performance displayed by goalkeeper Hamsani last night that he failed to push the ball with enough power to prevent it from finding its way into the net.

Three goals down and the Selangor fans were as quiet as a mouse, unlike at the beginning when they rendered the 'Barisan Kita' in full gutso. As they thought their torturous time in Kuala Terengganu was over Manaf broke free again but as he tussled with a Selangor defender, the latter handled the ball and the referee awarded the second penalty of the night.

Ashaari stepped up to plate once again and Hamsani was beaten for the fourth time last night. It was the same score against Penang last week, which ironically many Selangor fans said Terengganu would not be able to repeat against their beloved Red Giants.

Well, for many Ganuans they will be hoping this will be a standard they can expect from the Turtles week in, week out. This hope will be put to test when they travel to Paroi to face Negeri Sembilan on Tuesday.

C'mon Turtles!


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Divided...

...Support.

Last night was a new experience for football fans in Terengganu. For the first time two local teams were facing one another in the nation highest level of football competition. For the first time the Terengganu team had to use the away dressing room as they were the visiting team to T-Team, the new boy to the Malaysian Super League.

It was a rare occassion when Terengganu used their away strip as most of the time they would use their traditional colour of white when facing opponents in the past since none of them use that colour on their strips.

Despite their new boy tag, T-Team were actually made up from seasoned players with veteran skipper Rosdi Talib lending his vast experience to his T-Team team-mates. This was not the first time he was playing against his former team but for a few of his team-mates this was a new experience.

Among them were Ismail Faruqi who along with Shahrul Ezrain, Shazlan Alias and Shahril Zakaria switched camps after the end of the 2009 season. Lining up with them were defender Nor Fazly Alias and midfielder Norhisham Hassan who used to play for the Turtles a few seasons back.

There were many reasons why these players left Terengganu which added to the tension surrounding the match. Both teams had met earlier in a pre-season tournament which unfortunately saw an un-towards incident happened on the pitch.

Overall the match was played cautiously by both teams which led to the low count of any meaningful chances. It exploded into life in the last twenty minutes when Abdul Manaf Mamat scored the opener for the 'away' team. But the lead did not last long as five minutes later Premier League Golden Boot winner Harris Safwan equalised which he celebrated in his own 'unique' way, perhaps only for this occassion.

In the end it was points shared between these two local teams. Whether these matches are going to develop into a classic derby like those in Merseyside, Manchester or London will remain to be seen. Though given the state of football in Malaysia right now it will be a surprise if we will be attending the tenth derby in the future.

For Terengganu the draw left them four points behind Selangor at the top of the Super League while T-Team remained winless in four matches, three places from the bottom.

As for me, I will support both teams as much as I could because it will be good for football in the state to have teams playing top level football every season to encourage the development of the sport at grassroot levels.

Whatever it is, LETS GO TURTLES!



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Berg's...

Registration Day.

Yesterday Berg a.k.a. AKS#1 began her life as a secondary school student at Sekolah Menengah Agama Atas Sultan Zainal Abidin or better known locally as SMAASZA.

From experience, packing lightly is the best way when you begin life at the hostel as you try to adapt to life over there. Furthermore, with the distance between the school and our house is merely 7km thus we can always send things to Berg if needed.

 

Unlike when mad redo1 first registered himself at a boarding school back in the early 80's, this time around there was a welcoming committee which greeted the parents and students as they arrived at the school. They even helped with the carrying of the bags and stuff.

 

Then straight to the registration counters. Being an old school, the hall is quite small . How small it is? To give you a bit of a picture it could only accommodate just a single badminton court.

We intentionally went towards the end of the registration time to avoid the crowd and I believed it was the right decision.

 

We did not have to queue for long thus avoiding Linda from feeling distressed. However, there would always be someone that as Captain Haddock (please refer to Tintin) would put it: "Acting the goat".

A makcik who silently tried to sneak in front of us in the queue. Instead of scolding her we just decided to crowd her and perhaps feeling a bit suffocated she went back to her rightful place, at the back of our butts.

 

The rest of the registration process went smoothly except for a surprise to our wallet when the school told that the amount for the hostel fee has been changed by the latest directive from the Education Ministry, which meant it is higher than the one stated on the offer letter.

 

But perhaps the biggest grouse for today was the fact that the school requested the parents and students to take their seats for the welcoming speech when they were fully aware the so called VIPs have not yet arrived.

In the end we have to wait for half an hour before they arrived. Fortunately, the Commissioner of the State Religious Affairs has the grace to apologise to everybody for being late due to an unexpected matter.

But seriously teachers, haven't you heard this thing called mobile phones?

 

We decided to have some fun during the speeches but just a few short moments later mad redo1 went off enjoying the speech the way he knew best... in dreamland.

For the rest of the day, please go here.


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Berg...

...is Leaving.

In a few hours time mad redo1 will bid adieu to Khadijah a.k.a AKS#1.

Why?

Because she is going to begin living in a hostel as she begins her life in secondary school.

As parents you dread the day when your offsprings find their wings and leave the nest. Though where Berg is continuing her studies is not that far, in fact just ten to fifteen minutes drive from our home but it is not having her around is going to be a bit strange.

Nonetheless we must accept this as part of life which always see your loved ones leaving home as a way to go on with their life, be it in order to pursuit higher education or higher pay.

Whatever it is, mad redo1 will certainly miss his AKS#1.

Good luck Berg!

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We, Uncivilised?...

...You Must be Joking.

It is only the second day of 2010 and mad redo1 already encountered a few of his pet peeves. Nothing much can be done by him when the sound of modified exhaust pipes broke the silence of the night when the damned mat rempit began racing against one another on the main road right in front of his house.

Nothing much can be done unless his dream of having a Humvee equipped with the M2 Browning machine gun or the M240B machine gun does come true. Just imagining the 7.62mm calibre tearing the flesh of those rempits give mad redo1 a sense of glee. Just imagine, the road would be a quiter place after the surviving rempits learned their lessons just by remembering the blood bath from the lifeless bodies of their fallen so called comrades.

Well, mad redo1 will always have that dream again and again, especially when the rempits began revving up their small 'kapchai' engines.

This evening both mad redo1 and Linda decided to have our dinner at the newly renovated Kari Asha restaurant. It was supposed to be a light affair. Anyway, after driving around for a while looking for a spot to park Cik Mat we finally found one right in front of the new branch of the Al-Ikhsan store.

Unfortunately the spot had a motorbike at each end of the box. mad redo1 tried the reverse parking technique and he managed to get it right but while correcting Cik Mat he knocked into the motorbike at the back, causing it to topple over.

He got out from the car and lifted the bike up and a girl came out from Al-Ikhsan and with an angry tone asked whether mad redo1 could not see the bike. The answer that I gave her was "can't you see that it was not a parking spot for a bike?"

The parking bays for motorbikes were just twenty metres away, yet for many bikers they choose to park in between cars which on many occassions annoy the driver even though many of them just bear with it despite feeling distressed inside. In my case, I would try to do just that but I would not apologize if I knocked your bike over because it is not my fault in the first place.

This is the problem with Malaysians, we are not a civilised nation. Sad to say, but it is true and unfortunately mad redo1 also has his uncivilised moments too.

Just take a look around us and you will see what I am referring to.


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Wet Beginning...

...to the New Year!

mad redo1 fell asleep about an hour before midnight thus missing the countdown and all that go with it. He also missed the partial lunar eclipse that was supposed to appear from 1.17am until 5.30 in the morning.

He did wake up just after five but the sound of rain falling outside his room took away all his hopes of seeing the last bit of the partial lunar eclipse. Thus he did the best next thing to do, or to his room-mate the best thing to do, pull the cover over the head and enjoy the cool morning in dreamland.

But even the best sojourn to dreamland could not match the pang from the stomach. Grudgingly we stumbled out from our bed and a while later were on our way to find something for our stomachs.

The first choice was the popular Kari Asha. Obviously it was a mistake as it was that popular that you could not find any table even at 11 in the morning. It seemed everybody decided to wake up at the same time today.

Anyway we finally settled for another popular eatery nearby Masjid Ladang. They had ran out of dough for my favourite roti canai/telur thus I had to settle for a plate of nasi lemak instead.

Then on the way back this big billboard attracted my attention. It was the second anniversary of Kuala Terengganu being declared as a city. For many of us it is still felt like a city only in its name with many infra-structures are still lacking. The only thing that we feel like living in the city is the price of foods and other items, to the extent that a few of them are more expensive than those in the Klang Valley.

Anyway, Happy 2nd Birthday kT City!

and a Happy New Year 2010 too to everybody out there.


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