Oleh, Oleh, Oleh...

(I must apologise to you, dear readers, to have to tolerate my un-professional after-match commentaries about the World Cup. I just had to let out my observations of the, or lack of, excitment of the game. Please bear with me, for there are only 4 entry opportunities left to blog about the game :P)

Thank goodness the lousy Englishmen are out of the World Cup.

I think alot of World Cup fans watch the match with anticipation that England will, somehow or another, through luck or blessing, manage to overcome their lacklustre performance at the competition. I mean, being saturated with English football matches, it is natural that we hope to see the English players move on to the World Cup with stunning performance. But on the other hand, we are really tired of their same old boring performance, and wish that they could end our agony early.

As with other English matches, I didn't yell or jump when the match was played. It was only until the Portugese tried to score that I yelled. Somehow I kinda came to the conclusion: Any game with England playing is boring game. Look at the other matches with Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden, Ecuador... None of them are exciting. Pretty much predictable.

A little part of me still hope that England could score at the extra 30 mins. You know, I've always rooted for them every World Cup season. I really hope with a stroke of luck, they will score a dangerous 1-0 over their opponents. But, they never lor. So what to do. End up watching the cursed penalty kicks replayed again.

Actually it's quite drama, huh, the penalty kicks. Owen Hargreaves gave hope for a while. But after that, Frank Lampard (He-Who-Scored-Numerous-Eggs), Jamie Carragher , and even Steven Gerrard(oh-my-dear) also cannot save England with their penalties. Maybe Paul Robinson was over confident, I see Portugese goalkeeper Ricardo seemed very clear-headed and focused when he was at the goal post. Great saves.

Very jia lat, like that. England jin jia lat.

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Some comical moments as I watch the matches:

Whenever there are strategy discussion between coaches or players or team, I'd like to imagine them speaking in Hokkien, and it goes like this (with Singlish translation):

"Wa ka li kong hor, wa kong jit kor... jit kor... ka jit kor (pointing to notepad on hand) eh sai kick penalty lar. Jit kor beh sai... Ee yeh kar chek dio, bao su eh..."
I tell you hor, I'd say this one... this one.. and this one (pointing to notepad on hand) can do the penalty kick alright. But not this one, he sprained his leg/ankle, sure lose one...

"Oei, li ai mai tat? Eh sai tak beh? Buay sai tat tio bey kong leh. Mai ngeh ngeh lai hor..."
Hey, do you want to take the penalty shoot? Can kick anot? Cannot must say hor. Don't die-die want to try hor...

(When giving instructions to players who will be replacing another on the pitch)
"Lai lai, wa ka li kong... Li lip kee see choon, kio jit kor zao ling war jit peng, kee guard jit kor (points to player). An neh kuan, li dio ka jit kor partner, gia dio kew, pass hor ee, kua mai eh sai beh..."
Come, come, let me tell you... When you go in, tell this person to run on the other side, to guard the other player. If like this, you can then partner with this one, and when you get the ball, pass to him, see if he can score anot...

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Now I know why my colleagues say David Beckham looks good, but don't let him open his mouth. Wah biang, when he recited the no discrimination (or something like that) pledge of England, I really pengz. He sounds like a helium balloon. Or someone who has got his nosed permanently blocked.

I have never hear him spoken before. It really doesn't match his manly image at all.

So... cartoon. Hahahaha.... :)

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Yay! Brazilians are out! France is in and will meet Portugal. That will be a match to watch. So is the match between Germany and Italy. Die-die have to wake up at 3am to watch liao.

5 July 2006, Wed 3am Singapore Time	Dortmund		GER:ITA
6 July 2006, Thurs 3am Singapore Time	Munich		POR:FRA

(I thought I had deleted this post earlier, cos I didn't see the browser window while I was browsing at the FIFA website. Heng ah, post is still around. Otherwise, 1 hour of blogging goes to waste... :)