i injured my knee today. while entering the car i smashed it against the metal frame of the car, incuring a bruise and limited, if not excruciating painful, movement. i was hoping to run tmr for the first time in a week, but by the looks of it, oh well, live to die another day.

yesterday the s'pore lions played the uzbek umbrellas at their homeground in tashkent. we lost 1-0, but many if not all will agree it was a much improved performance from the lions. they played the way we know they can, defensively sound at the back, always willing to throw their bodies in the line. lionel lewis was again back to his usual solid self, showing a display which justified claims that he's one of the top keepers in asia. the goal was not his fault, but really, it wasn't really anyone's fault. well, if you want to push it, you can say its isa halim's fault, had he moved up when he cleared the ball then Aleksandr Geynrikh and another uzbek umbrella would be in an offside position. but like i said, that's really stretching quite a bit. but to concede only in the 80th minute, after such a valiant and inspiring display, is really tough luck on the lads. the defense put in a stirling display, with bennett back to his composed self, and the 20-yr old isa halim putting in a stronger performance than the man he replaced, the suspended noh rahman. all in all, the future for singapore football looks bright, and if i were saudi arabia, i would be worried. after all, raddy said the only team singapore should fear is the uzbek umbrellas. other than them, the rest are cake.

yesterday was ortega cup, which we lost 2-1 to sji. first thing i must comment on is the pitch. i thought the rjc pitch was terrible. but that was before we went to sji. well, the pitch had multiple gradients, if that says something. the fact that it was raining didn't help the conditions at all, with the ball sometimes skidding off the ground, or just coming to a complete stop altogether in the water. in comparison to the billard table pitch that was @ tashkent, the comparison is quite stark. our jersey looked quite nice i think, though it was the disgusting green from fbt, according to some.

well, as expected, i didn't play, so i took my time to get there, ironing a few more pieces of clothes before actually leaving the house. it was quite obvious from the play that we were struggling to adapt to the conditions. i guess this is down to a combination of both the waterlogged pitch and the fact that we are pampered by the artificial field that we play our interclass soccer on. our players are very obviously technical players, able to dribble and run with the ball. but with such erratic bouncing patterns of the ball, i daresay even the dutch team of 1974 will suffer. why, johan cruyff will have stormed off the field in protest!

IMO we were obviously the better team. sji dominated the first half, but i put that down to our inability to adapt to the field and of course, their familiarity with the field, seeing how the poor pitch is THEIR'S. we were trying to play our way up in the first half, but after a while you kinda get the point that that's a no-no. even mr eng told ask at half-time to forget about passing the ball on the floor, just pump it.

by in the second half, when balu shot from the kick-off, putting pressure on them from the start, thus setting the tone right. after that we were literally camping inside their half. whenever the ball went to our half, the defenders will simply slam it back into their half. the final ball was somewhat lacking but even when there were chances we didn't take them. we got a free kick just outside the area. jiehao took it, it went over the wall and skidded off the ground. the keeper didn't make a clean catch and spilled it into the path of the onrushing manish. manish, who is dubbed the most clinical finisher in the level, and would definitely hit the target from this range, but amazingly, blasted the ball over from 2 metres out.

still, that was before balu scored his imba goal. out on the left flank, with his back to goal, and two defenders to his back. somehow, somehow, he managed to turn and get past them. got into the box, got past another defender i think, towards the near post, before slotting it into the far corner.

and in the words of the sji commentor, simply magical goal.

oh, and we are playing his class next.

you know what?

damn it