Was I in a movie?

It is a good time to be a Liverpool fan. Not only did they beat MU for the first time in a while, they also comprehensively sent a message to Chelsea on the Weekend. Unfortunately news that good was hard to keep secret, and when I got home to watch the replay of the game knowing the result detracted a bit from the game. Overall, i found the game exciting to watch, and I feel confident that next year a large hangover might be required.

Lately I have been getting back into salsa, and tonight I went to the school which confused me so much previously. This time I am not so confused, or maybe I am and don't know it yet. Anyway, on the way back I walked home and came across a situation.

As I approached with shopping in hand, I saw 8 men. Big men, mean looking, all in bomber jackets laughing and talking, no I think it was acting,,leaning against silver cars. All the cars were the same make, and looked like two men per car. There was something odd about them, I noticed at any one time one of them was eying me as walked. As I walked I felt a constant glare the kind that said don't look here, unless...

There was definitely something in the air, a vibe or was it more like a stench. The stench was one in which the prevailing mood was we don't give a .... A new car pulled up, exactly the same as the others, two guys in "the uniform" got out and started talking, non threatening yelling, and catching up. Both these guys glanced in my direction with a serious get out of my way look. Then I saw a bulge in the pant leg, and another quick look revealed a holster or something on the belt. I just felt like I had walked onto the movie set of Training Day or another cop drama as the cops were waiting to GTA some one's butt tonight.

All I know someone is going to get it tonight.

You never walk alone

It has taken 7 years to win at Anfield, 5 years in the Premier League, and me 3 attempts over 5 days to see Liverpool finally beat Manchester United. It was worth the wait to saviour the taste. I feel that this year is going to be different.

Tis the season

Tis the season for EPL. This season I will be able to watch games in English, in high quality when I want (during the week). The last time I got to watch a long series of EPL games in English was in 2003, the year before it was taken to cable tv, and never to be seen again. My internet connection enables me 9 games per week. (4 live and 5 on demand). I feel this is a cool deal, and the price? FREE, well the marginal price is. I will get to watch them for no additional cost, free with my internet.


When I learnt this I was excited for the first day of the season, this weekend. The first games did not feature Liverpool, yet I was able to watch Arsenal play West Brom. Exiting game in the first half, yet after a while it started to lose its way as the Gunners couldn't finish.

That leaves me with only one problem, a good problem to have given recent years, when can I watch all this football.

Aagggghhh

History was made Wednesday night. Against most of the statistics, Chelsea beat Liverpool. I am disappointed about that yet I am happy about the fact that Liverpool has broken their recent goalless curse at Stamford Bridge. To get over the loss, I have some funny pics to keep my spirits up as I wait for next year's tournament. Or maybe even the Euro tournament.

Tough times ahead

Liverpool plays Man United next week, then Everton followed by Arsenal 3 times in row with two of them away. The games will be all hard fought as all these teams have something to win. Man U and Arsenal are fighting for the title, while Everton and Liverpool are fighting for the last Champions League spot next year. Also Arsenal and Liverpool are fighting for the right to go through to the next round of the Champions League. I am going to be a nervous wreck for the next month as this all unfolds.

3 out of 4

The wait was worth it. Last night a semi revenge game against an Italian team from Milan. This one was Inter Milan not AC Milan and with their defeat that leaves only Roma for Italy. On the other side of the channel 4 out of 8 teams are from England, good news for them. Yet the best news is that Liverpool, who beat Inter 1 - 0 last night in Milan, has the chance to make it 3 finals out of 4 years.

You tube

You tube sucks. I am annoyed that I can no longer watch UEFA CL videos there.

Better late than never.

It has been a tough season and possible the drama off the pitch is contributing to a lack lustre year. As a fan it has led me to many ups and downs. Liverpool has watched themselves lose any chances at winning the Premier League, and on Saturday after an embarrassing loss to Barnsley, the FA Cup. Liverpool has struggled in the FA Cup and this latest loss, just allows them to focus on the only trophy they can win this year, The Champions League.

I think it is the only club trophy worthwhile as well. Club champions of Europe really does have a nice sound to it. Last night the Champions League resumed, and Liverpool was playing the other Milan at home.

They showed some spirit in the game last night and eventually broke through the 10 man defence of Serie A leaders Inter Milan to score a 2 goal win at Anfield, both goals scored in the last 5 minutes. I now feel the tension building as Liverpool march on to the finals once again.

History making

A history making event, yet still a long way to go.

Football Capital = Melbourne

It has been a good year for Victorian football teams this year. In the rugby league this year the Melbourne Storm won, beating the Manly Sea Eagles. I was on my way to watch it, yet the heavens opened and I didn’t feel like going to walk through the rain. I took the rain as a good omen, and thought the storm would win, not only because they were the best NRL team throughout the year. The Melbourne Victory (soccer) also won this week after 6 games, yet they are undefeated.

Yet more importantly for Victorians was the AFL grand final. In Melbourne, I have found if you know nothing about this game then there is nothing to talk about. I think it is crazy. I have been keeping tabs on the results so I don’t look like a complete fool when the topic comes up, except when asked to rattle off 5 players from a team. Well the grand final was between Geelong (Victorian) and Port Adelaide (South Australian). There is rivalry between these states like that between Queensland and New South Wales. All week there was nothing else happening in the world, and in Melbourne it was important that Geelong wins, since a Victorian team has not won for over 5 years.

How crazy people get for the AFL

I noticed how everyone thought Geelong would win, yet I was thinking that this might not be the case. Port looked good all season and beat them a few weeks before the finals. I wanted Geelong to be victorious only because it was the lesser of the two evils, since Geelong is not really Melbourne.

I went to watch the game at my Dad’s house in Rosedale, and it was easy to watch as that was all that was on TV. As the game started Geelong looked good, and stayed good throughout the game. By half time you wondered if Port even showed up. I was relishing in their defeat, as Port has to be the team I hate most, or equal with Adelaide.

According to trivia, the final score was quite symbolic – 24 goals (6 points each) and 19 points for a total of 163 versus 6 goals, 8 points totalling 44. 163 is linked to the year Geelong last won the premiership in 1963, Port’s score of 44 years is the length of the wait for the premiership, and 24 and 19 are jumper numbers of the players on the roster who missed out on a flag this year.

Lastly, I found it interesting that now that the football season is over people will have to fill the void somehow, so some physiologists think that office chat will turn nasty. Great! Let the gossip begin.

The big game

Last night I was on a desperate search looking through all the channels in my room to find the Champions League final. I had checked earlier that afternoon to see which channels I had and realised that I might have to go out to watch it. After a few enquiries I was reassured that it would be available, yet at 1:30 this morning my hope was shattered. I went to the VTV network looking for any signs of hope, yet all I found was disappointment when I saw that the stations pregame telecast was already underway.

I remembered one of the staff here saying you could view the VTV telecast from the website so I searched for this option only to find singing. I was confused as what to do when suddenly mid song the telecast started to announce the teams. I was thinking if this is all I got then this will do, these are desperate times. Then suddenly sounds burst out of the other room startling me, and as I looked I saw that the game was being televised by THAG (An Giang TV).

Well the game was underway and I was a mixture of nervous energy and excitement. Liverpool looked good, yet I was concerned that their strike power was inaccurate. I started to drift a bit towards the end of the 1st half, yet was awake to see a terrible thing, a foul just outside the penalty box. My heart sank as I watched Milan score a goal of a deflection. Originally from the replay I saw, I thought the deflection came off his upper arm yet it just must have been the angle as no one else seems to have seen that. Milan were quite lucky to score against the run of play at half time.

Liverpool came out after half time energised. I could feel that they were ready and would score to goals to take the cup back to Anfield. Milan did that boring thing of continuously defending deep making them boring to watch. On the other hand, I felt Liverpool was exciting to watch they were setting themselves up for nice runs, yet to my dismay no luck. I was feeling the pressure of time when the most horrible thing happened in the 82nd minute, Liverpool’s defence slept for a microsecond to allow for a second goal. I felt gutted after this as I was thinking there is no way you for them to come back.

The 89th minute saw Kuyt edge a header into the corner bringing the game to 2-1. I felt the surge of excitement run through my body as I was lost in the moment recounting the 2005 miraculous comeback. However, it was not long to realise that more time was needed. As the final whistle blew I thought Liverpool played better and were more exciting to watch (12 shots @ goal to 5 shots) and just had some bad luck around halftime. As the newspapers say Agony in Athens.

The cirlce

Well today I feel that it is a cycle that has been completed. Tonight (Thursday in Oz and VN) is the final of the UEFA Champions League – Liverpool and AC Milan. I feel very nervous as AC Milan are well rested and hungry for revenge. They are eager to finish what they started in 2005. I only hope that Benitez and the team can overcome the power of Milan and make it two titles in 2 years.

It is hard to believe that it has been two years here in LX already, yet I feel it is time to go. I see this game as a sign from God or the Universe or whatever power out there that controls such things. Regardless of who wins the circle is complete.

LFC

This morning I woke up a little groggy from the previous night only to find that it was quite early still. This surprised me as I thought it must have been at least two hours later than it was. Well after getting a refreshing glass of water, I started to watch some DVD’s on my computer.

With hesitancy I decided to visit the UEFA homepage to find out the answer to the most burning question on my mind for the last week:. Did Liverpool do it? Foiled, UEFA was not loading. Searching the favourites again I had two choices: BBC or Liverpoolfc.

Not wanting to wait anymore I opened both windows and Liverpoolfc was the first site to load. After reading some history trivia of past glory I clicked to enter the site. By this time I was indecisive in whether I wanted to know or not. I felt in my heart that Chelsea can not win at Anfield and proceeded to wait for the main page to load. Once loaded I was elated as the first thing I saw was the headline ‘Awesome reds are going to Athens’.

Reading it is one thing, exciting as you imagine all the plays described however watching the game would be divine. One thing I don’t like here is that my house does not have access to the neighbouring province’s TV station. As the local station and the national station don’t carry any football (except when VN play in a tournament) I don’t get to watch the football as much as I like. I can only hope that I can find a TV to watch the final – I might even travel out of my house that night to see a repeat of the glory from 2005.

Beware, Liverpool is coming!

I can not help but feel excited. This year sees Liverpool looking like they have a good chance to repeat the success of 2005 in the Champions League. I had just arrived in VN and had realised that Liverpool were in a good chance, yet by the end I was surprised they made the final. I was really worried as AC Milan are a good team better than Liverpool I thought.

However I stayed up to watch the game, nervous about the outcome. Well by half-time I was gutted. ACM 3 - LFC 0. What was I going to do. As a true supporter I said I would watch the second half and I was not dissappointed. Three goals in about 20 minutes and my enthusiasm and excitement had reached fever pitch levels. The equaliser I remember I was just about to shout for joy when I realised that it was 3am in the morning and the guesthouse was full. By the end of the game I was jumping up and down as LFC won by penalties to hold the trophy high.

I only bring this up as I have noticed that media has mentioned there outstanding performance against PSV this week. Benetiz also thinks the club is better than 2005 and has hit form at the right time. It is likely that LFC will reach the semis for the 2nd time out of 3 years. And now the odds of being champions agrain are 11/4. Let's hope that Athens will be as friendly as Istanbul.

The An Giang Youth Union Anniversary Football Game

I received a phone call from the president of the AGU Youth Union to play football on Sunday morning. I suggested that I might watch however he was sure I should bring playing gear. Well no idea what to expect I agreed and prepared with reading of the football scores from Saturday.

So Sunday rolls around and the challenge began as you all know morning is not my preferred time for anything, except sleep. Yet I managed to wake and be ready. The other team looked fierce as they were the DARD economics team (Agricultural Economics Dept from the Dept of Agriculture and Rural Development). The warm-up started well and I saw that we had enough players so I volunteered to watch the game.

However, this strategy was short-lived as I was thrown into the action playing on the wing. I started to feel the tell tale signs of someone who needs to play a bit more when one of my first touches was little off, kinda like out of play off.

The second half saw me start and I was removed from the wing to play striker and had 3 decent strikes on goal. Just before I left the game for good DARD scored the first goal. They closed the game with another so we lost 2 - 0. After that we all went out to celebrate.

An Giang this week

Well life in the Delta continues despite the threat of a bird flu outbreak and tv super stardom. Yes! That is right Tv superstardom. Interestingly enough I spent 30 years in Australia and did not appear on tv once, two mentions in a newspaper - one a community paper and the other the city wide newspaper reporting the results and top scorers from a basketball match.

Yet in An Giang, I have been on tv 5 times. In the newspaper twice (unsure as I only hear about this from others). My personal favorite time was the last Lunar New Year when the local tv station TVAG asked me and some other volunteers to show the community how foreigners spend their time in at the Tet festival. Well I am sure I had never done any of these activtives hings before and on a rigoruous survey of the others found out only 2 out of 10 did these things and they had a strong relationship to Vietnamese people (one being married to a vn woman for 30 years or so and the other was 1/2 vn). I am sure I would of remember carrying a heavy tree into the house with yellow flowers (appricot flower or something), travelling around a vn town, going to a flower garden to look for a tree, and eat traditional vn holiday food - Banh Tet.

Well I only bring this up as Friday I was on the Tiger FC football show when it came to An Giang a few weeks ago.

See simulated party atomosphere below. On this show they went around the audience asking their opinion on three players. Having not followed the EPL as close as I should for a Liverpool supporter, when they asked me about the players - I knew the English midfielder (not from Liverpool) , a ManU midfielder (the females choice because he is so hansome) and a player who I never heard of. This player joined Arsenal after I arrived in Vn. So I chose the English midfielder and he did not let me down as the weekend after the recording of the show I heard he scored 3 goals in his match which is why they presently sit above the third place Liverpool and below ManU. It was good to see that I looked like I knew what I was talking about.

The other pressing issue here is the bird flu outbreak. It seems to be getting closer to An Gaing. This is the magical land so we should be safe here as the authorities previously did a good job. Here is a map made by Hendrik (now out of date as new case was announced yesterday) yet still can give you a good idea of where it is.

The tweeties are bird flu areas, the cig packs are the neighboring country (???), KFC bucket is the land of the safe chicken eating, and Long Xuyen is home.