Monday, July 20, 2009

weee~~~~~

When Manchester United were slated to come to Malaysia, I was ecstatic! All I could think was the magic they could conjure on the pitch. I would imagine each and every ManU player bamboozling their way through Malaysia's defense with their dazzling silky skills.

Last Friday, during the training of the teams... I came an hour before it was due to start. I had actually some trouble looking for someone to go with. I had asked no less than 8 friends (all of whom were too busy) before finally getting William to come along with me. It was a seriously long time since we last met up. And I was surprised that he didn't plan to go for the next day's match, considering he is a ManU fan.

L->R: 1. Merchandises were sold at mark-up prices. 2. Mechanical bull-riding.

However, I had to wait as William was working that day. And so I went to the Sokker Safari, a carnival in conjunction with next year's world cup in South Africa. Hence, the bull above. =.=
Oh and because of the Safari, I decided to watch Lion King! Haha!



I found this very captivating. In fact, I was here for quite awhile. I even phoned Kishan to come and give his best. But he MIA. I was there for so long until the booth manager noticed that I had not given a go at it yet. The idea was for us to kick the ball as hard as we could and if the speed of the ball exceeded 50mph, we will be given a free United poster. When it was my turn, I considered toe-poking (which would cause the ball to travel at a greater speed) the ball, but I opted to side-foot the ball instead. 38mph also not bad whud... if you had seen what I was carrying and wearing. But I did not leave empty handed. They gave me some United players collectable cards. Old though... from the 1997/98 season.

By 5pm, there were about 30,000 people who were already slowly filing into the stadium. So I decided to head in first. After awhile, William showed up. We grabbed our seats behind the goal, and more often than not, spent time catching up after the years, whilst trying to identify the players from afar. (I decided to bring a pair of binoculars the next day.)




Doing the Mexican Wave.

After the training, we left at about 7pm after I had grabbed a RM3 Ramli. (DAMN inflated!)

......................................................................................................................................................................

On match day, it was like uber mad! People came out of the LRT station like it was a human factory of some sort. Soon the whole lot in front of the stadium was bulging! Thousands of people were there even before 3pm!


A glimpse of the red tide in the Bukit Jalil LRT station.

To give you an idea of the sheer scale amount of people who were there, imagine yourself as one of these crabs...

Christmas Island Red Crabs migration

... but clone yourself 8 times over.


A Chelsea fan I met outside the LRT station wearing a Malaysia Rambo headband! Oh and did I mention he's an African?

Anyway, I waited for two of my friends, both of whom I had agreed to sell my extra tickets to. I sat (wait, I stood) at the stairs with one of them (whom we had not meet up since last year). There were no seats anymore by the time we got in.

The game brought out the best in our Malaysian team. Amri Yahyah did all of us proud when he netted a brace to draw level at one point in the game. But with 6 minutes of normal time remaining, Michael Owen, broke Malaysian's heart with a well taken predator's goal. United 3, Malaysia 2. What a game and what a day! Had a blast especially with my company!

......................................................................................................................................................................



The second game which was held yesterday at the same place was the result of the Jakarta leg of United's Asia Tour being cancelled. Blessing? No comments. But we were there once again to witness a more straight forward match where the goals came early. Owen was on the scoresheet again in the 2-0 win.

The stadium was understandably less full than it was last Saturday, but the atmosphere was still there. There were a few Malaysian supporters playing the drums (or perhaps something more traditional... but what do I know?).

Mom and I decided to go only at the very last minute... seriously. She came home early, cooked and by 7.45pm, made up her mind to go. I agreed to follow her, and somehow we managed to reach just as both teams kicked off. But as soon as the match ended, we left and we got home by 12.15am. Phew... just in time before the LRT services ended.


Then I camwhored... Lol..

No comments: