} i really like football. :)

sigh. the world cup is over. although im not too disappointed by the results, it was kind of an empty victory, to me. i thought the 3rd & 4th placings match was a lot more exciting. :) and it would have been a more fitting end to the tournament.

i mean it was really great. i didnt watch the first half cos i only woke up at 4am, haha, but the second half was when all the action started so im not disappointed about missing the first half. :P 4 goals! and 3 kicked off by the same person. it was just so fun to watch. both sides put up a great fight but schwensteiger was just amazing, i think he really brought a lift to germany's performance when he scored his first goal. portugal was commendable too, especially luis figo. thanks to him they managed to score a goal near the end. :) sad that he's leaving, but at least he played admirably for the last time.

but the final... i thought it was less exciting. :| the first part was somewhat interesting, with the penalty kick.. it was kind of heart-stopping cos YOU THOUGHT HE MISSED *GASP* but it actually passed the goal line and you just felt this intense relief wash over you. so that was great. :) <3 zizou. hahaha. :D the rest of the game was just.. bland, though, i slept through most of it. T_T and when they had extra time i couldnt take it anymore and went to sleep.

so thats why, when i woke up to check the results the next morning, I WAS SO SHOCKED TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE RED CARD. sighh. i was just so upset by it. kept thinking and thinking about it for these past few days... -_- not because france lost (cos i wasnt really supporting them anyway) but because zizou had to end his career with a red card! imagine how bad that must feel. and because he was provoked (according to the news it was some sort of heavy racist jibe).

i got really worked up about it naturally, and i was also upset that, because of what happened, practically everyone seemed to regard zizou as some kind of mad, irrational person. cos no one saw what really happened and thought he just went mad and headbutted materazzi. and it looked as though he wasnt thinking, wasnt thinking about his role as a captain or about his team. i got really angry about that, because its as though all the other great things he ever did went forgotten because of that one red card. it's only now that they look more into it, and realise that he was provoked, etc etc.

i actually wrote a really long long rant about it, but before i posted it my internet went down. i think its better this way. if materazzi was at fault, then one day people just wont respect him as a player anymore. if zizou was at fault, then im okay with it because this is probably a first. before this, i've never seen him commit any serious foul or anything. he has always been the playmaker, the captain, the leader, the cornerstone of the team. there is no use blaming anyone anyway. the thing about blame is that it always gets passed on, until someone dares to quietly take it all in. and we all know who that person is for this case. and i admire him still in all respects.

anyway, im glad that zizou got the golden ball. i hope everyone else will look at all the great things he has done instead of focus on that red card. after coming back to the national team for world cup despite having announced his retirement before, i think he really deserves a good rest now.

au revoir, zizou. i will miss seeing you play so much.

the strange thing about the end of the world cup is it has made me feel quite nostalgic at times. made me think about when i started watching football and supporting england. and the 2002 world cup... it was so fun. i got to watch it with my dad cos he wasnt working in indo then. i remember watching the south korea vs dunno-who match with him, i think it was the quarter finals... we were so happy when korea won.. whooped and jumped around the place haha. :) and i remember at the last world cup they had this advert featuring all the star players from different countries... part of the song went something like:

we will live for Love United
stand together undivided
we will stand up for all the people of the world

i think it was featured as a stand against racial discrimination. that was really nice. they didnt have anything like that this year, but they had the against-racial-discrimination day thing, so it was good.

and it gets me thinking about the next world cup. 2010. i definitely wouldnt miss it for the world. but it makes me wonder about where i will be by then. i will be 21... will i still be in singapore? or maybe i will be back in indo... or maybe if some miracle takes place i will be studying in the UK. and then who would i be watching the world cup with? where will i be watching it? would i ever get a chance of watching a world cup match with the brudders... will we still keep in contact by then?

oh well. thinking too much. haha. :) for now i will just express my gratefulness to those who organised this wonderful tournament, for keeping me occupied for the past few weeks. back to the hard reality now, but there's always the next one to look forward to, right? :) hehe. so i will bury my football-fangirl alter ego for now. before i start scaring people.

2006-07-12, 6:45 p.m..
before } after