You guys remember the friendly before the game at woodlands sec where we won 10-0? The ball had bounced near the corner flag of the opponents goal and my head was telling me that i got to reach for the ball and amazingly i did, "kalau tak, mesti kena kutukkan" (if not sure get fired). A defender came running after me and that made my movement along the line limited. As he came in, i was hoping that he would slide tackle and i would fall upon contact and hopefully we get a penalty. Well, he didnt slide but i somehow managed to sidestep him along the line.

i was then one on one with the keeper along the line and he was covering the near post. he didnt come towards me as i hope he would. the angle was acute still i thought i could go through him. i knew that jeff had called for the ball on my left and shy was further in front. both of which i could layoff for a 100% goal. guess what, I didnt make the layoff. I feel that since i got the ball, sidestep the player... adrenaline rush...imagine the glory if i had scored???

i tried to force myself through the keeper thinking that im better than him. however i didnt factor the fact that i was tired after the dash given my age. the body and mind wasnt in sync. you guessed it, i lost the ball!

that mistake made 6 months ago my friends stays with me till today. everytime i play i will remember the mistakes i made and ensure i be reminded what i should or should not do.

in contrast, you guys play almost everyweek. you guys had ample time and occassions to ensure that you do not make the same mistake you make previously. still you insist to do the unnecessary. whether its because

  • you couldnt be bothered by the fact that the team depends on you ,or
  • whether you think you are better than the rest, or
  • you do not have faith in your own team mate, or
  • your think you are the saviour of the team, only you can answer.
Euro8 i have seen enough games in my lifetime to know that no one man can make or save the team. look at portugal. so exciting, so complete. is it? each one try to outdo one another IN THE SAME TEAM! they may be individually creative but its all self serving. i know shy, scolari applaud them. but where are they? do not confuse, creativity with simplicity.

turkey could have won the germany game and be in the final. the first 30 minutes they were excellent and work as a team. the left midfielder Ugul Boral, scored first after excellent positioning. as the game wore on, he thought he was going to be the saviour. he wanted to do everything himself. one time he brought the ball all the way to the byline, cut in and could easily layoff for altintop who had better chance on goal. boral didnt and decided to go for glory. the ball skied because the exhaustive run and positioning require him to adjust his body quickly which was not possible.

altintop was good on that day. could have been better if not for pure selfishness. and that fella kazim. he thinks he is god's gift. if he had passed the ball earlier on on the right, he would have taken out lahm and the ball could have been crossed earlier for someone to connect in the center. instead he chose to rely on the 50/50 chance that the linesman flag for a penalty when lahm pulled his jersey. it didnt happen of course.

further, if he had not square footed himself, he would be able to stand up on his feet and prevented lahm. he chose to fall and now try to make germany feel guilty. yeah rite. whatever gets him to sleep at night.

the italians, well you know the story.

what about spain? tell you next time.

Stakeholder i can take a loss like i did against bjack. that was purely unlucky although i know and you know, we could have done better. however the loss against veteran is due to ego and self destruction. ZERO TEAMWORK! (But I know only of 3 players who admit their fault; hairil, doc and khai. I do not dare to assume the rest.)

Notwithstanding this fact, i had long foreseen that the team would lose steam. that was why I asked your captain to allow me to recruit. however i didnt anticipate for the team to collapse mentally. THIS was what piss me off. We worked so hard to erase such elements the whole of last year and in one game, all gone down the drain.

Earlier this season, i have already said that only i am allowed to scold. but it seems it wouldnt be adhered. as if it wasnt bad enough that my instructions on that day wasnt heard. On top of being embarrassed in the face of the opponent, not for the loss, but for the bickering, hearing 17yrs old dinesh being shocked at what was happening to the people much much his senior was double whamy.

now, i've come to terms and understood what had happened and why it happened. Why my prayers against swiss was answered and against bjack and veteran was not. However, I have my last 3 prayers for the season.

Like against westminster, I will be working with a team that will work as a team. Till today, those who didnt turn up didnt bother to sms me. Unlike previous games, I wont be asking who is coming or not because this is a team. it seems somewhere along the way, each has lost his RESPONSIBILITY and RESPECT towards the team. Is everyone taking everyone for granted? In a team, everyone has a stake. We are in a good position in the league. We are assured of the third spot, one better than last year. It can be better and I will tell you later.

Sahfari is advised by the doctor to stop soccer. I have requested that he put his leg on the line for the team for our last few games and he agreed. It is with this gusto that im eagerly looking forward to the next 2 games for this season at least.

In my next post, i will say more on what I touch on here. However, as usual, it would be locked. So only players who are responsible, has a stake in the team and willing to work as a team, do request personally.