Myanmar?!

Myanmar is the Pestabola Merdeka winner!!! They beat Indonesia 2-1. 'Amazingly', the 2 scorers for Myanmar last night were also scored 2 goals that beat our national team last Monday. It was Indonesia who always in attacking mode. But Myanmar defence looked so strong, so compact. Forward, they just relied on their counter-attacks. Before the match started, we only knew Bambang, Ponaryo & Ilham. When the match finished, the stars were Aung Oo, Myat Min & Thu Ra. Will they play in M-League next season..?

The FIA published the 2007 F1 calendar on Tuesday morning. The San Marino and European GP have been dropped, while Belgium GP returns, making for a 17-race schedule. In addition, Japan GP will move from Suzuka to Fuji.

Results:

Pestabola Merdeka (Final) : Indonesia 1 Myanmar 2

EPL : Middlesbrough 0 Portsmouth 4

Primera Liga : Celta Vigo 2 Barcelona 3
Primera Liga : Sevilla 4 Levante 0

2 Virgins In A Row

It's the 1st time in F1 history we saw 2 virgin winners in a row, 1st Button, then Massa. But hey, when you drive for Ferrari, it's just matter of time before you win a race, right? I'm glad to see Massa won, the same feeling when I saw Kimi 1st victory several years back. Why? Coz they both came to F1 through Sauber team. As a Malaysian, I always feel very connected to the Sauber team, coz of Petronas partnership lah. OK, back to the race.... Massa deserved the victory. I don't know what will happen if Schumi able to pass Alonso. Massa will make way for Schumi or will he defend his position? Hope the Schumi-passed-Rubens-several-metres-from-the-finish-line act will never occur again. Actually, it make me sick to see 1 driver is so dominant than his teammate. I rather go for Ralf-Trulli, Jenson-Rubens, Kimi-JP or even the great Senna-Prost partnership, fair n square.

Malaysia national team did it again. No, they didn't win, they lost!!! So what will happen next? Rombakan kepada skuad? The team management will step down? Whatever happen, I'm still support them, but sebagai balasan, please lah..do something that will make us proud!

Yesterday's results:

Pestabola Merdeka : Indonesia 1 Thailand 0
Pestabola Merdeka : Malaysia 1 Myanmar 2

EPL : Blackburn 0 Chelsea 2

SPL : Kilmarnock 2 Rangers 2

Primera : Deportivo 3 Zaragoza 2
Primera : Santander 0 Atletico 1
Primera : Real 0 Villarreal 0

Bundesliga : Hamburg 1 Hertha 1

Ligue 1 : Nancy 1 Auxerre 0
Ligue 1 : Marseille 2 Le Mans 0
Ligue 1 : Monaco 2 Sedan 1

Eredivisie : Feyenoord 0 Heracles 0
Eredivisie : NAC 1 Ajax 2
Eredivisie : Twente 1 PSV 0

F1 Turkish GP : 1. Massa 2. Alonso 3. Michael 4. Button 5. De La Rosa
D-Stdg : 1. Alonso (108) 2. Michael (96) 3. Massa (62) 4. Fisi (52) 5. Kimi (49)
C-Stdg : 1. Renault (160) 2. Ferrari (158) 3. McLaren (89) 4. Honda (58) 5. Toyota (28)

That Poor Start

Yesterday, watching the sports news, I was so impressed with the performance of Asafa Powell in Golden League in Brussel. He made very very very poor start. But in the last 80-90m, he just blasting through, very speedy, making his opponents looked like just walking. As we all know, he won that race. But with that acceleration, that speed & minus the poor start & adding his usual start, I think we would already see Asafa make a new world record. The time will come...soon.

Yesterday's results:

EPL : Liverpool 2 West Ham 1
EPL : Tottenham 0 Everton 2
EPL : Watford 1 Man Utd 2
EPL : Man City 1 Arsenal 0

SPL : Celtic 2 Hibernian 1
SPL : Hearts 4 Inverness 1

Primera : Valencia 2 Real Betis 1

Bundesliga : Leverkusen 1 Wolfsburg 1
Bundesliga : Bayern 0 Nurnberg 0

Ligue 1 : Nice 1 Lyon 4
Ligue 1 : Lille 3 Bordeaux 0
Ligue 1 : Sochaux 3 PSG 2

Eredivisie : Vitesse 1 Alkmaar 3

Pilot Pen Men's (Final) : Nikolay Davydenko bt Agustin Calleri - 6-4, 6-3
Pilot Pen Women's (Final) : Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Lindsay Davenport - 6-0, 1-0 retired

Malaysia Boleh!!!

Malaysia beat Thailand 2-1 in yesterday's Pestabola Merdeka match. Both Malaysia's goals were scored by Indra Putra. It's good to see they won, although their place in the final still not secure. At least, they need a draw in tomorrow's match against Myanmar. Anyway anyhow.. Malaysia boleh!!!!! Insya-Allah....

Yesterday's results:

Pestabola Merdeka : Indonesia 0 Myanmar 0
Pestabola Merdeka : Malaysia 2 Thailand 1

Bundesliga : Schalke 2 Bremen 0

Pilot Pen Men's (S-final) : Nikolay Davydenko bt Robin Soderling - 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
Pilot Pen Men's (S-final) : Agustin Calleri bt Xavier Malisse - 6-2, retired

Pilot Pen Women's (S-final) : Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Svetlana Kuznetsova - 6-3, 6-3
Pilot Pen Women's (S-final) : Lindsay Davenport bt Samantha Stosur - 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7)

'Just Great!'

I don't know why our tv channels (especially the government's own) do not show Pestabola Merdeka matches on live telecast.. Takut fans tak pi ke stadium ke? Kalau guna alasan tu tuk fans di Klang Valley bole la. But how about the others yg tinggal beratus-ratus kilometres from Klang Valley? Dah le our national team jarang turun padang, dah turun main, tak boleh pulak nak tengok. 'Just great!' Very frustrating...

Results:

Pilot Pen Men's (Q-final) : Nikolay Davydenko bt Olivier Rochus - 6-4, 6-2
Pilot Pen Men's (Q-final) : Agustin Calleri bt Nicolas Massu - 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Pilot Pen Men's (Q-final) : Xavier Malisse bt Juan Ignacio Chela - 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
Pilot Pen Men's (Q-final) : Robin Soderling bt Jurgen Melzer - 6-3, 6-2

Pilot Pen Women's (Q-final) : Lindsay Davenport bt Amelie Mauresmo - 6-4, 7-5
Pilot Pen Women's (Q-final) : Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Mara Santangelo - 6-2, 6-3
Pilot Pen Women's (Q-final) : Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Elena Dementieva - 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
Pilot Pen Women's (Q-final) : Samantha Stosur bt Marion Bartoli - 7-6 (7-2), 6-0

This weekend's schedules:

Football : Pestabola Merdeka
Football : Bundesliga
Football : Eredivisie
Football : EPL
Football : SPL
Football : Primera Liga
Football : Ligue 1

F1 : Turkish GP

Tennis : Pilot Pen

Cycling : Vuelta a Espana

Still Football

It's weekdays but still there are football everywhere. Locally, in conjunction of our 49th Merdeka Day, Pestabola Merdeka diperkenalkan semula. It will start on Wednesday, August 23 and the final will be held on next Tuesday, August 29. 4 teams participate - Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand & Myanmar. It's time for our national squad to show their true potential whether they deserve their 148th spot in the FIFA World Ranking or they are much better than that.

In Europe, all eyes will focus on UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round 2nd leg. Based on the 1st leg results, surely Arsenal, Lille, Galatasaray & CSKA Moskow will go through to the group stage. But how about AC Milan, Liverpool, Valencia & Ajax? They will have a tougher time..

EPL also will be continued with its 2nd matches. Be ready for more unexpected results. In the opening matches, we already saw Portsmouth 'trashed' Blackburn 3-0, Reading came from behind to win 3-2 against Boro & Sheffield held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw. Can Reading & Sheffield do what Wigan & West Ham did last season? Can Chelsea & MU go on the rampage again?

p/s: alamak..Martina kalah laaa... :P

Result:

Rogers Cup (Final) : Ana Ivanovic bt Martina Hingis - 6-2, 6-3

Schedules:

UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round 2nd leg
EPL league matches
Pestabola Merdeka tournament

Unpredictable Week

Last week saw many unpredictable results. Many favourites fell - Liverpool & Arsenal drew with their respective opponents in their opening EPL matches, Federer & Nadal kantoi di Cincinnati, Obikwelu finished last at Zurich Golden League while Hayden finished in terrible 9th spot in Czech GP.

However, there were also many parties achieved beyond the expectation - MU beat Fulham 5-1 (no RVN, still can score 5 goals, great!!), Alkmaar beat NAC Breda 8-1 (8 goals man!!!!), Asafa Powell equalling his world record time again, Roddick won Cincinnati Masters while Capirossi cruised easily to win Czech GP in Brno.

Weekend's highlights:

EPL : Sheffield Utd 1 Liverpool 1
EPL : Arsenal 1 Aston Villa 1
EPL : Bolton 2 Tottenham 0
EPL : Man Utd 5 Fulham 1
EPL : Chelsea 3 Man City 0

SPL : Rangers 2 Hearts 0
SPL : Inverness 1 Celtic 1

Bundesliga : Aachen 0 Schalke 1
Bundesliga : Cottbus 2 Hamburg 2
Bundesliga : Hertha 4 Hannover 0
Bundesliga : Bremen 2 Leverkusen 1
Bundesliga : Bochum 1 Bayern 2

Ligue 1 : Auxerre 0 Marseille 3
Ligue 1 : PSG 1 Lille 0
Ligue 1 : Rennes 1 Monaco 1
Ligue 1 : Bordeaux 1 Lyon 2

Eredivisie : Alkmaar 8 Breda 1
Eredivisie : Ajax 5 Waalwijk 0
Eredivisie : PSV 3 Nijmegen 1
Eredivisie : Groningen 3 Feyenoord 0

Cincinnati Masters (S-final) : Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Tommy Robredo - 6-3, 6-4
Cincinnati Masters (S-final) : Andy Roddick bt Fernando Gonzalez - 6-3, 6-3
Cincinnati Masters (Final) : Andy Roddick bt Juan Carlos Ferrero - 6-3, 6-4

Rogers Cup (S-final) : Martina Hingis bt Anna Chakvetadze - 6-3, 3-1 (retired)
Rogers Cup (S-final) : Ana Ivanovic bt Dinara Safina - 6-1, 6-4

Czech GP (Brno) : 1. Loris Capirossi, 2. Valentino Rossi, 3. Daniel Pedrosa

I Pi El

Whuddup?! Terasa lama gak aku x update blog aku ni. So, apa topik hari ni? Of course, EPL!!!! The new season starts today!! Sorry to all of you guys who dislike football..

Hmmm..the new EPL 2006/2007 season. Just like couple of seasons sebelum ni, Chelsea is the obvious favourite to win the league. With Cech, Terry, Lampard, Ballack & Shevchenko together in 1 team, hard to think they won't succeed.

Behind Chelsea, it should be the 3 big teams - Liverpool, Arsenal & MU. Liverpool look strong enough to finish behind Chelsea. Arsenal pula shall be interesting to watch since there will be no Pires, Campbell & Bergkamp. While MU is..arghh..hard to say..No RVN, but if Saha & even Solskjaer able to get their form back, and if Carrick dpt 'tampal' 'lubang' yg Keane tinggalkan, MU can fly high. Haha..I'm bias, I'm optimistic.

After the big 4, the no.5 spot should be the Spurs. And then, Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, West Ham & Newcastle will complete the top 10. Then, the mid-table teams - Wigan, Charlton & Middlesbrough.

Now, the interesting part, which 3 teams will go down to the Championship next season. The 3 main candidates should be Reading, Sheffield & Watford. In addition, I think Fulham, Man.City, Portsmouth & Aston Villa will also struggling this season. But, with their impressive run last season, my instinct say that Reading will survive...

Results:

Cincinnati Masters (Q-final) : Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Rafael Nadal - 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3)
Cincinnati Masters (Q-final) : Tommy Robredo bt Ivan Ljubicic - 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
Cincinnati Masters (Q-final) : Andy Roddick bt Andy Murray - 6-3, 6-4
Cincinnati Masters (Q-final) : Fernando Gonzalez bt David Ferrer - 6-2, 6-4

Rogers Cup (Q-final) : Martina Hingis bt Svetlana Kuznetsova - 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
Rogers Cup (Q-final) : Dinara Safina bt Nicole Pratt - 6-1, 6-0
Rogers Cup (Q-final) : Ana Ivanovic bt Katarina Srebotnik - 6-4, 6-4
Rogers Cup (Q-final) : Anna Chakvetadze bt Shahar Peer - 7-6 (7-3), 7-5

Schedules:

Cincinnati Masters (S-final) : Tommy Robredo vs Juan Carlos Ferrero
Cincinnati Masters (S-final) : Andy Roddick vs Fernando Gonzalez

Rogers Cup (S-final) : Martina Hingis vs Anna Chakvetadze
Rogers Cup (S-final) : Dinara Safina vs Ana Ivanovic

MotoGP : Czech GP - Brno

Liverpool Lift 2006 Community Shield

Liverpool lift the 2006 Community Shield yesterday by beating the 'special' Chelsea 2-1. Riise opened the scoring in the 8th minute before Shevchenko levelled it just before the half-time. However, Crouch headed home a late winner as the Reds claimed their 1st silverware of the season.

In the early 90's, if you ask me, "Will you support Liverpool?" The answer would be strictly, "Never!!" Hahaha.. I just hated Liverpool which had players like Rush, Barnes, Daglish etc. I don't why, maybe coz Liverpool was MU's main opponent. Tu cerita lama..now, I'm still MU's fan. But I don't hate the Reds anymore. And yesterday, I supported Liverpool! And they won!

FYI, especially the Chelsea's fans, I do like Chelsea. Since the arrival of Gullit, Vialli, Zola, Hughes, Hasselbaink, etc., Chelsea was my no. 2 EPL team (behind MU, of course!). And then, the special Jose arrived. His ego & arrogant style sedikit demi sedikit mengurangkan my interest in Chelsea. Yes, even Sir Alex is sometime arrogant but Jose just a bit over the edge.. Will Chelsea win the EPL this season? Possibly they will. But I hope Liverpool, Arsenal & MU can give them a hard time.

Yesterday's highlights:

Bundesliga : Hannover 2 Bremen 4
Bundesliga : Wolfsburg 0 Hertha 0

Ligue 1 : Lille 4 Lens 0
Ligue 1 : Marseille 2 Rennes 0

SPL : Dunfermline 1 Rangers 1

Toronto Masters (Final) : Roger Federer bt Richard Gasquet - 2-6, 6-3, 6-2

JPMorgan Chase Open (Final) : Elena Dementieva bt Jelena Jankovic - 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Man Of The Match?!

1st thing 1st, sorry to Shamsuri if this entry a bit menyinggung perasaan. I don't know how he won the 'Man Of The Match' for the Terengganu-Perlis match last night. Yup, it's not his mistake or what, it was voted by viewers. Ahha..viewers, what make you think Shamsuri deserves that? Saves? A bit. Spectacular saves? Nil. Even worse, the Perlis' goal could be consider as his mistake too. He juz staring at the ball!! Did he try to save it? No. Typical Shamsuri. Don't know how he won the award. Don't know how he become our no. 1 goalkeeper. I think there are many goalkeeper better than him such as Azizon (NS Naza), Nasril (Perak) & Iqbal (Pahang). Frustrated......

Highlights from around the world:

Bundesliga : Bayern 2 Dortmund 0
Bundesliga : Leverkusen 3 Aachen 0
Bundesliga : Hamburg 1 Bielefeld 1

Ligue 1 : Lorient 0 Bordeaux 1
Ligue 1 : Lyon 1 Toulouse 1
Ligue 1 : Monaco 1 St Etienne 2
Ligue 1 : Sochaux 1 Auxerre 1
Ligue 1 : Valenciennes 0 PSG 0

SPL : Celtic 2 St Mirren 0
SPL : Hearts 0 Falkirk 0

Sunday's special:

FA Community Shield : Chelsea vs Liverpool

This Week's Bla Bla

Nun jauh di Goteborg, sedang berlangsung European Athletics Championship. It's great to see Francis Obikwelu won both 100m & 200m events. The triple jump queen, Tatyana Lebedeva also won her favourite event. European Championship..hmm..a major tournament but when talking about athletics, it's a bit weird to see no Americans, Caribbeans or Africans on the track/field, right? A bit kurang ooompphh!!

From Goteborg, let fly to Toronto. A sad news really, Nadal was upset by Tomas Berdych 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in the Toronto Masters 3rd round. World No 1, Federer pula struggled to beat Dimitry Tursunov 6-3, 5-7, 6-0. I was dreaming to see Nadal & Federer showdown in the final..sigh..

In football, there were plenty of action yang melibatkan Champions League & UEFA Cup. The result, as I expected, no major upset. If I'm not mistaken, the German Bundesliga new season will start today. Without Ballack, Bayern looks a bit shaky. Maybe this season will be won by Bremen. I'm still supporting Leverkusen though...

This weekend's schedules:

1. Malaysia Cup : Q-Finals 2nd leg matches (12/8)
2. German Bundesliga (11-13/8)
3. France Ligue 1 (12-13/8)
4. Scottish Premier League (12-13/8)
5. English League Championship (11-13/8)

UEFA Competitions

Starting today, for several days I'll looking forward to the UEFA competitions which are Champions League & UEFA Cup. UEFA Cup now is in the 2nd qualifying round while Champions League is in the 3rd qualifying round. Of course, my attention will be more toward the Champions League..

UEFA Champions League - 3rd qualifying round:

Dinamo Zagreb vs Arsenal
Austria Vienna vs Benfica
Hamburg vs Osasuna
AC Milan vs Crvena Zvezda
Salzburg vs Valencia
Lille vs Rabotnicki
Kobenhavn vs Ajax
CSKA Moskow vs Ruzomberok
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Legia Warsaw
Liverpool vs Maccabi Haifa
Dynamo Kiev vs Fenerbahce
Galatasaray vs Mlada Boleslav
Levski Sofia vs Chievo Verona
Standard Liege vs Steaua Bucarest
Slovan Liberec vs Spartak Moskow
Hearts vs AEK Athens

At Last, It Is Jenson!

At last, Jenson Button took his 1st ever GP victory, on his 113th attempts!! The race was held in damp condition. It began with Kimi, who started in pole position, lead in the early stage. But, it was Alonso & Button who really looked dangerous. Alonso even overtook Michael on the outside of the track! Alonso took the lead after Kimi pitted on lap 17. A misunderstanding on lap 26 saw Kimi drove into the back of Liuzzi's Toro Rosso. Both out. As the track began to dry, Michael, from nowhere, began to clock faster time. Alonso pitted on lap 51. As he exited the pits, he was struggling to control his Renault. Just after several corners, he was in the barriers & out of the race. That left Button in the lead for the remaining of the race. Back then, Michael was in the 2nd place, until De La Rosa overtook him on lap 66 after several attempts. A lap later, it was Heidfeld's turn to pass Michael, at the same chicane. Michael had a bad luck this time as his Ferrari hit the back of the BMW. It damaged the suspension, Michael retired from the race. I guess Alonso was smiling at that time.. And me too was smiling! Michael's style of defending (from De La Rosa & Heidfeld) I consider as reckless. No point to defend like that when your car was underperform. It's dangerous!! Michael was then classified 9th. The race finished with Button finished 1st, De La Rosa finished 2nd (his 1st podium) & Heidfeld finished 3rd. A deserved victory for Jenson....

But today, Kubica who finished 7th, was disqualified after his BMW was found to be underweight following the race. It means Massa moves up to 7th place while Michael moves to 8th. Lucky Michael. He's now just 10 points behind Alonso.

Yesterday's highlights:

Ligue 1 : Sedan 0 Marseille 0

SPL : Hearts 2 Celtic 1

ELC : Coventry 2 Sunderland 1
ELC : Derby 2 Southampton 2

Acura Classic (Final) : Maria Sharapova bt Kim Clijsters - 7-5, 7-5

The Pole Story

Just what I want to see....Raikkonen in the pole position while Schumi & Alonso are not in the top 10. Schumi will start in 11th, Alonso will start in 15th. However, I think both of them still have big chance to score at least a point in today's race. Another driver worth to be mentioned, BMW's Robert Kubica. The debutant Polish driver made a good start to his F1 career. He'll start in the 9th spot. Berpandukan sesi kelayakan semalam, I think it will be a good race today. Both Ferraris, McLarens, Renaults, Hondas & Toyotas looked strong. The starting formation looks interesting, but pity, Hungaroring has not enough overtaking spots.

Yesterday's highlights:

M-Cup (Q-Final) : NS Naza 1 Sarawak 1
M-Cup (Q-Final) : TM FC 3 MPPJ 0
M-Cup (Q-Final) : Perlis 3 Terengganu 2
M-Cup (Q-Final) : Perak 3 Penang E&O 0

Ligue 1 : Rennes 1 Lille 2
Ligue 1 : Nancy 1 Monaco 0
Ligue 1 : Auxerre 1 Valenciennes 1
Ligue 1 : Bordeaux 2 Toulouse 0
Ligue 1 : PSG 2 Lorient 3

SPL : Rangers 2 Dundee Utd 2

ELC : Birmingham 2 Colchester 1
ELC : Ipswich 1 Crystal Palace 2
ELC : Leeds 1 Norwich 0
ELC : West Brom 2 Hull 0

F1 Hungary GP : Raikkonen in pole position, again!

Acura Classic (S-Final) : Maria Sharapova bt Patty Schnyder - 7-5, 6-4
Acura Classic (S-Final) : Kim Clijsters bt Nicole Vaidisova - 6-2, 7-6

European New Season Heats Up

Ahha..after the SPL began, yesterday was the France Ligue 1 turn. Only 1 match played, the defending champion, Olympique Lyonnais vs FC Nantes Atlantique. Lyon won 3-1. Woohoo!!! A great start for them. Today, 8 matches will be played & another 1 will be played tomorrow. For SPL, this week will be the 2nd week. The match of the week surely will be the match between Hearts & Celtic, last season top 2 teams.

In F1, Alonso will start his Hungary GP today with 2 seconds penalty in each qualifying sessions - Q1, Q2 & Q3. With his current form, I don't think he will score any point in tomorrow's race. The penalty was given for an incident involving him & Red Bull's Robert Doornbos during yesterday's practice session. I guess we will see another 1-2 finish for Ferrari tomorrow. Ahhh..suck!!! Hopefully Kimi, Pedro, Jenson, Rubens, Jarno, Ralf, David, Nick or even the debutant Robert Kubica can do something against the Ferraris.

Yaa..lastly, the M-Cup. Today, 4 q-finals matches will be played. It is a bit weird to see the schedules, really. Why the 1st leg is going to be played at the group winners' home? Usually, the group winners will play at their own stadium in the 2nd leg, right?

Yesterday's result:

France Ligue 1 : Lyon 3 Nantes 1

This weekend's schedules:

1. Malaysia Cup : Q-Finals 1st leg matches (5/8)
2. France Ligue 1 : Opening matches (4-6/8)
3. Scottish Premier League : 2nd matches (5-6/8)
4. Formula 1 : Hungary GP - Hungaroring (6/8)