“No, I like women.”

[Original Post at my Blog | My Blog]

...thus said Diego Armando Maradona, the manager of the Argentina football team, during the post-match press conference on 15-Jun-2010 after beating South Korea 4-1.

In a matter of hours, his Argentina team will play Germany in one of the most eagerly waited quarter-final showdowns of WC’10. Therefore, it seems befitting to write about the man who has brought and is still bringing cheerful colors to the footballing world.

A writing about the man who becomes the best example to illustrate how a particular technician is slowly, but looks surely, changing from a utopian to a pragmatist (i.e., a cold blooded calculating b*st*rd).

[I hope my c.b.c.b analogy won't bring me any serious implication in the future. I've heard and seen too often unexpected consequences of publications, in any form, on the ’net.]


The Utopian Technician, in the Past...
the technician had a rigid view on footballers. The view that as role models, they must be perfect in all their conducts.

No flaws are allowed, at all.

Therefore, it becomes strikingly obvious this technician had paid no admiration to Maradona (still a player at that time). He’s not fit to be a role model. He “cheated” with his hand-of-God goal. He was totally messed up with drugs. He was completely out-of-order for firing an air gun to journalists. And so on.

Mention Maradona, and the technician was left wondering how could this player be idolized by many people. He has, afterall, the most screwed up life...


The Pragmatist Technician, Now...
after years of seeing various things happening, the technician is becoming less and less utopian. Instead, the technician becomes more and more realistic in viewing circumstances. That...

footballers are just humans. And no human is perfect.
Therefore, flaws are the norm, while perfection is the most impossible exception.

That’s how the technician accepted that Maradona should be a solely judged by footballing standards — playing and managing. His flawed character does not in any way deny his greatness as a footballer. Whatever his weaknesses are, they do not take away his right to be admired as one of the greatest footballers ever grazing this world.

Besides, how can he, as a manager now, not be liked for being a refreshing droplet in the desert of “football managers”?

He dared to get back passionately (read: swear/curse) at his detractors (i.e., journalists, commentators, and a host of arm-chair critics) when his Argentina team had managed to barely qualify to the final-round of WC’10

He who cheekily yelled at a paparazzi “What an ***hole you are. How can you put your leg there where it can get run over, man?” after accidentally drove over the paparazzi's leg.

And when asked by a journalist why he always hugged and kissed his players after games, he responded candidly (scroll to the bottom): “No. No, I like women. I still prefer women. I am dating Veronica who is blond and 31-years-old. No, I have not gone limp wristed. But I like to acknowledge and congratulate my players when they play as well as they did today. ” And his facial gesture when hearing the question? Priceless (click here if you don’t see the video below).


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic


Epilog
This is the man, the football manager, who is coloring the footballing world with his imperfection and flaws and weaknesses. [See also the top-10 Maradona’s crazy moments in WC’10]

It’s extremely rare to find such a spirit among football managers nowadays. Probably only Jose Mourinho is on par. Of course, Mourinho has been in the business longer, so he might have a few more tricks under his sleeve. Nevertheless, give Maradona enough time, and I’m sure he’ll equal Mou (in terms of character, that is). Just imagine the banters that will occur, if both ply their trade in the same league...

By the way, if you’re still reading ’til this point, then allow me to wholeheartedly offer you my eternal gratitude. And not only that. I also congratulate you for reading my one rare post on football, after “retiring” from it (club & international) nearly a year ago.

Demolition...

Good things and bad things happen.

The good thing is, 1-4 at OT :D. Ha, beat that! Even if LFC don't finish as the league champion, this is definitely another step forward. Imagine if the manager is allowed to operate with a full authority, not undermined by some PHB (pointy-haired bosses).

And the bad new is that it happened while I'm suffering a gastric pain.

Yeah, because of my gastric, since yesterday (Fri) I've been living on porridge only (plus a bit of other soft food). And, I've to repeatedly told myself to calm down during the match: don't get excited, and don't be nervous when the opponents had freekicks/corners. Not to mention the need to get another round of antacid during the half-time!

Anyway, I need to savour this rare victory against the arch nemesis on their own den. And probably, another spoon of antacid in two hours one hour later.

Aiyoh, ...

... title challenge is over. 0-2 as of now, and could've been even worse.

Lost...

and there goes the nice weekend...

Statement of Intent! And, my Gastric...

1-0 to Liverpool!

And the tension almost did my gastric.

This certainly equals the tension on 25-May-2008. That time, LFC had to protect the 3-3 score, against AC Milan in the UCL final, to force the penalty. This time, LFC had to protect our 1-0 lead for 80+ minutes.

Though it's “protecting”, but we didn't just park a bus in front of our penalty box. We still attack, playing one-touch football. XA almost doubled our lead; it's very unfortunate that this freekick hit the post.

All in all, what a statement of intent from LFC to the rest EPL clubs!

Ps. JC's scouse accent is surely very hard to discern :)

King of Comebacks!

So, that's M'boro (or “mie rebus” aka soupy noodle, according to S'porean), Marseille, MU, MCity, and today Wigan.

Surely now LFC is seen as glowing with an unbeatable magical aura. It's like in Hollywood action movies, where no matter what happens, the protagonist just keeps getting up to finish the scripted happy ending.

On the down side, continuous dramatic comebacks (plus RB persistant refusal to make changes before the 70th minutes) really does no good to my heart. Also, I think I really need to start calming down a bit during the equalizer or the scoring of the winning goal. It's late and it's definitely not good to wake up a few good souls who've probably in their level N4 of sleep.

Special mention to XA who is building a growing number of victims in his repertoire: NV (vs MU), TC (vs Evtn), PZ (vs MCity), and AV (Wigan). Now, who perpetuates the rubbish myth that he can't handle the hustle-and-bustle of EPL?

Pain

“Lib” just won 2-0, so it's the time for the late pre-match interview again :)

Martin Skrtel: I'll make Everton feel pain
“Pain is part of being a footballer. If you don’t like it then you are in the wrong job. When you play in the centre of defence you have to be prepared for pain.”

It's not that I like pain very much. No, it's totally the opposite. But the mention of it by MS is just befitting with the Naruto story right now. One of the major antagonists is named Pain, and he/they/she/? has/have been getting a major screentime for these last couple of months. His goal? That's right, to bring pain into his (manga) world (here and here).

In the meantime, we're top of the league (at least, for a very short moment until the 10pm SGT matches kick off).

Victory!

Of course, this blog won't have been here had we not beat the devil deservedly just now!

Journalist: Some comments were made by Alex Ferguson about Robbie Keane and the price you paid for him — were they ill-timed?

RB: I think he was surprised about the price because he was cheap. They paid around £30m for Berbatov, Rooney or Ferdinand — or even £35m for Tevez. That is maybe where the surprise came from. [pre-match interview from the official site]

It's not unusual for RB to be “ji-ji-hi-hi” when responding to journalists. This certainly adds to his repertoire, along with “crystal ball” and “rushing to hospital”.
[“ji-ji-hi-hi” is a hakka phrase. (Un)Fortunately I've no idea what the English translation looks like. If you want to know the meaning, go learn hakka :P]

I was late by 10 minutes after buying my dinner, and already the score was 0-1! Which made me so anxious and finishing my meal like crazy in just a few big scopes. But everything is now so so rosy :D. Because it's 2-1 — yeah yeah I know that burying THE most important information is NOT a good writing style. But heck, who cares, at least for now...

It's just a joy to see wave-after-wave of attacks from our left side. Yep, left side, which was the weakest point up until the prior match two weeks ago. No LFC fan would have dreamed to say this before. And what's more is the sight of seeing SG, FT, and (the little) RB warming up! Just show how strong we're now (boasting mode on). And DK, despite all the critics, was involved in several LFC's most dangerous attacks — his assist is obvious and need not be mentioned anymore!

And the Monster. A special paragraph for him who was just on the mission; probably to pay back his red-card contribution in the last season's match against the devil in OT.

Season Ended

Not the best ending. Definitely will be back next year! UCL 2005 was won mainly due to the 6 crazy minutes. UCL 2007 was won by only 2 minutes (1 in each half). Still, it's a deserved victory --- those who take their chances will be victorious.

I bet for Holland to win WC2006. But then I lost my receipt, and Holland indeed failed. I had a similar affair for this UCL 2007. Before it begun (in mid 2006, that is), I placed a bet for LFC to win UCL 2007. I realized that I've lost the receipt before the return leg of the semifinal. When we made it to the final, I was made up that this was not a bad omen. Bah...

Btw, I'm not superstitious, but sometimes it's good to pretend to be a completely different person. It's the same as playing RPG, no?

The End of an Era

In his last league match, he was substituted one minute before a penalty was given for his beloved club. Wish that he was still in the pithc to take the penalty.

During RE's era in the 90ish, RF was (and is still) one of my favourite players in this club, along JR and SM. My first affair with this club was on 80ish when the only (national) TV station in my country, at that time, broadcasted two cup final events: one against Crystal Palace and the other against Wimbledon. Unfortunately, we lost in both matches. And considering my age at that time, it is amazing that I still have a faint memory of a disallowed goal by PB, though I can't remember against whom. Since then, I didn't follow the club due to lack of live broadcasts.

Things started to change in the 90ish where private TV stations were allowed to operate. And one benefit of living in my home country is that live football matches are broadcasted by normal TV stations; no need for TV cable even nowadays! Thus, I started to follow my club again.

Unfortunately, it was a dark period for us. Really, when I started, it was one or two years after our League Cup victory, then Coca-Cola cup, in <= 1993. The only consolation is that we had the trio of RF-JR-SM and also played attacking football. However, we were very inconsinstent and was terribly weak in defending high balls. I remember in league season 96/97 where this weakness was exposed in two successive matches. The first was an away match, mid-week, against PSG in the UEFA cup. Three days later, we faced MU in Anfield in a league-title-deciding match, only to be beaten 1-3 after conceeding 2 goals from GP (corner) and 1 from AC following a deep cross. Only in 2001 that for the first time I witnessed my club to lift tropies, a treble season I must add. It was even sweeter as RF scored in the League Cup final, UEFA cup final, and the last match against Charlton which sealed our entry to CL qualification 01/02.

Much have happen by then. For RF, he was sold to LU. He was injury plagued but his goal record while there still shows why he's called a natural striker. He then moved to MC and looked a pale shadow of his former self, until the mid of last season (05/06) when he made a comeback to his boyhood club. And he arised. His goals helped the club sealed the 3rd position the league.

This season, he made less appearances. But after we confirmed our place in next season CL qualification (07/08), in the last three league games, he had become a starter. Today, in the last league game, he played for nearly 90 minutes. If only he stayed in the pitch for one more minute. Maybe it's a fate that he's not supposed to score in the league's last match, but in the truly last match (CL final 06/07) in Athens, the home of gods. After all, his nickname is 'God'.

Ya, one can always dream. As RB said, "People must dream. That's what's good about football."

PS. the match ended in 2-2, with LFC coming from behind twice. Considering that RB's LFC have made two spectacular comebacks in their cup finals, is this a preparation for the CL final?

Lightning Strikes Twice at the same Place

Finally, two sides with a rich European history and high pedigree. This is much much better than some (read: two) wannabees who are "jago kandang" (good only at home/domestically). Ya, I'm already got carried away...

An Unproductive Month

For me, May is both an unproductive month and a thrilling one. For these 3 years, it's been difficult to fully concentrate on what I should be working on, thanks to RB, his "chess pieces", and all the Special Ones (didnt' watch, but got an sms from the Philosopher this morning). This is potentially the beginning of a another red dynasty after so many years; started from two 0-1 losses in cup finals in the 80's against Wimbledon and Crystal Palace, then fast forward to the spice-boys era till now.

For these last 3 years, May has also been my source of inspiration (i.e. my terribly bad habit) in finding some silly parallel events.

It started on 2005: a submission, followed by the great & miraculous glory in Istanbul, and then my first publication (after a countless number of thank-you email).

A similar sequence was repeated in 2006: a submission, followed by the pulsating victory in Cardiff (I was in Tsukuba at that time), and then another publication.

This year: a submission of my small little book summarizing what I had been doing for these 5 years, plus another possible submission in this near future, followed by yet another final --- this time in Athens. Of course, I strongly hope for a great outcome on 23-May-2007, for it will give me a much needed false sense of confidence when I desperately defend my serial procastinations on an unknown date, time, and venue.