… and for once, that’s a good thing!

I have to admit that I wasn’t over-the-moon thrilled when I found out that I had to attend the Chelsea vs Malaysian selection match. Nothing personal, it’s not like I’m a Man U fan or anything.
I just don’t find football all that appealing.
Period.

When it’s World Cup season, I find football even LESS appealing because NO ONE seems to want to actually have a conversation when they go out.
If you are anywhere with a TV screen during World Cup, chances are you’ll be speaking to a bunch of backs turned towards the TV.

The only person i could of dragging down with me from the office to make the experience of attending the Chelsea game more enjoyable was Sarah Chan.
Good ‘ol Sarah Chan.

Leaving the office early, we found ourselves stuck in an atrocious jam.

It was horrible. We had so much time, we achieved much nonsense in the car.

We took TWO hours to get from Bukit Bintang to Shah Alam Stadium, and i was ready to snap at anyone who’d dare to irritate me further.
Cars were parked down both sides of the main road and i managed to snag a lucky spot next to a security barrier. (Hmm? What? Can right? :p)

When I actually saw the stadium lit up in all its glory and heard massive cheers bursting from within, there was an undeniable electricity in the air.

Phone line coverage was down and some people were hanging around outside, unable to get hold of their friends *inside* who were having their tickets!

SarChan and i got in, and looked for the right entrance to which we could enter the stadium…

… if there was space to enter that is.

0_o

It was so crowded!
I thought there’d be no hope for us cos dahlah we’re not tall and dahlah we’re not crazed footie fans who’d elbow our way to the front, how on earth were we going to see the game?!

Standing pathetically on the sides in the crowd, we bumped into Natasha from Compass.
I think my first encounter with Natasha was when i took photographs for the Heineken Thirst training sessions a few years back.

Anyhow, Natasha totally SAVED US.
“Do you want to sit in the Heineken area?” she asked.
“Can we?!” desperation reeked out of SarChan’s and my voice.
“Yeah, there are a couple of free seats over there,” she offered up as she led us to the front.

“Oh my god, thank you so much..!” we said.
In actuality, we meant, “WE LOVE YOU.”

As we settled into our seats in the stadium, I realized that my fears of the match boring me were unfounded.

Our Malaysian selection, whom I read consisted of Under-23s and some veterans, definitely went on the field with the mission to show Chelsea what they were made of.
Barely three minutes into the match and the action was taken up a notch when our own Amiral Hadi Zainal broke free from Chelsea’s defense and attacked… only to miss the net by INCHES!
It was quite frustrating to watch seeing as we were THIS CLOSE to getting an early lead.
The collective groans and grunts of the audience were pretty funny (they came from SarChan too who used to watch football religiously)… sure the majority was dressed in blue, but deep down, we’re all cheering for the Yellow!

I think that caught Chelsea off-guard a little as they started to pick up the pace and strengthen their defense after that near mistake. They must’ve underestimated the Malaysian team seeing as they had previously trashed the Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals (4-0) and Shengdu Blazers (7-0).

Things were pretty one-sided after that early tease, as Chelsea dominated most of the play and finally scoring at the 27^th minute, courtesy of Nicholas Anelka and another from Ashley Cole (by way of Frank Lampard) at the 52^nd minute.

I think I went temporarily deaf during these two moments because the crowd (all 50,000 odd of them… reportedly the largest turn-out for Chelsea’s entire tour) went absolutely mad.

The second half, according to SarChan, was hard to watch.

There were some great opportunities for the Malaysian team to put one in the net, but we fumbled and had really “crap finishing”. Everyone would lean or stand up at their seats when a Malaysian player had the ball… anticipated at the edge of their seat as he neared the goalkeeper… and then groan and sit back down when the ball was passed aimlessly around. Damn potong stim.

Here’s a vid from one of those moments:

The final score, as you all would’ve known by now, was 2-0 which I thought was quite alright.

From what I could see, we put up a good fight and thank God, we didn’t end up trashed like those poor Chinese teams.
Man of the Match went to Frank Lampard but if you ask me, our goalkeeper Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias should’ve received the honour.
He was in top form that night and helped our team from conceding more goals.
There was a really nice save he did early in the game where he denied this sweet volley from Chelsea’s new boy, Deco. Although we only saw 2 goals, I have to say that it was in no way a dull match.
In fact, I was quite entertained and that’s saying a lot, coming from a non-footie fan like me!

See my entertained face.

As the referee blew the final whistle, I got up like everyone to move but SarChan dragged me down again.

“No, no.. we have to stay…”
“What? I’m done with ‘Football Time!”
“…. Because this is the part they take their shirts off!” she grinned.

I tell you the woman’s grin is infectious, and curiosity (ok fine, and hamsapness on my part) made me sit back down again.
True enough, I turned to the big screen and there in all its muscular glory was John Terry’s bare back.
And other bare backs.
Bare… tanned backs.

You should’ve seen the grins that were plastered on our faces.
And if anyone saw us at that moment, it would have been bloody obvious what we were doing.

At one point, this guy got up to leave and was loitering in front of me, blocking my view of the screen.
“Excuse me…” Dammit, this guy is taking up my cuci mata time! “You’re blocking my view…”
“Oh sorry!” he moved away quickly.

Trust me when i say women will ask for what they want when they really want it.

We left after that, and i couldn’t help getting shots of these cute kids dressed up by their parents.

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