World Cup 2010: The Historic Finals

Technorati tags: World Cup 2010, Final, Analysis, Prediction

Spain is the World Cup 2010 Champion!!! After 116 long minutes, Iniesta kicks one in past Dutch goalie Stekelenburg to win the tournament. They create history in becoming the first team to ever win the World Cup after losing their opening match, and the first team in recent history to win both the European Championship and World Cup. The low point is that Fernando Torres, who came in as a substitute pulled his hamstring a little later on, collapsing onto the field in agony. The match ends after 30 minutes of extra time, Spain 1 – 0 Netherlands. More in a separate post later on… Walski’s gotta get some shuteye!

Half-time Update: It’s been a rather cagey first half, which as Walski had predicted has been physical and more a foul-fest than anything else. 5 yellow cards in the half, three against Netherlands (Van Brommel, de Jong and Van Persie), and two against Spain (Puyol and Ramos). De Jong’s foul was the most dramatic – a kick to the chest of Alonso. And at the end of the first half, it’s even at 0-0.

Original Post:

Is it Walski, or has the last month just whizzed us by?

Whichever the case, we’re now at the end of the 2010 World Cup, and in slightly less than an hour’s time, the final clash to determine who takes the cup home will commence.

This time around, it will be a final between two teams that have NEVER won the cup in their history – Netherlands vs. Spain.

In a few hours’s time, though, that circumstance will change forever – one of these two teams will be crowned world champions. Spain, in fact, have never reached the finals in any of their previous twelve tournament appearances. And then you have Netherlands, who played in the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals, but ended up becoming runners up on both occasions.

Germany, who lost to Spain in the semi-finals, won 3rd place after beating Uruguay 3-2 yesterday.

So will it be Netherlands or Spain prevailing in the final? 
(analysis and prediction, in the full post)

From an analysis standpoint, both teams look to be quite evenly matched.

Head-to-head analysis between NED & ESP (from FIFA.com)

This may or may not be a good thing, as there is a possibility that they’ll cancel each other out, making it for a final that’s frustrating to watch. Between the two, however, it’s apparent that Netherlands plays a more physical game, committing more fouls (FC) and receiving more yellow cards (Y) compared to Spain. Throughout the tournament, Netherlands has also scored more goals (GS) compared to Spain.

In terms of passing, however, Spain has had an 81% pass completion rate, compared to 72% for Netherlands.

Strategically, Spain will probably try to draw the Dutch and out-play them on the passing game. The Dutch, on the other hand, will apply a more zonal defense strategy in order to shut the Spaniards out of their passing game. That’s Walski’s guesstimation of what will happen.

His prediction? Walski thinks that Spain have the firepower, the finesse and the patience to overcome the Dutch. But it will be a physical game, for sure. He doesn’t have a score prediction, but he reckons that it will not be a very high-scoring affair.

More later, after the game…

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World Cup 2010: The Final Four

Technorati tags: World Cup 2010, Semifinals, Predictions, Football

UPDATE @ 1300hrs July 8th Looks like Walski’s 50% track record holds – Spain beat Germany in their semi-final match, paving the way to the Spaniards being featured in the World Cup finals for the first time in their footballing history. They will meet Holland on Monday, July 12th at 2:30am (Malaysian Time). We will be discussing the finals in a separate post, coming up real soon.

UPDATE @ 0800hrs July 7th With the first of the two semi-finals done and dusted, it looks like one of the teams in the finals on July 11th will be the Netherlands. Early this morning they beat Uruguay 3-2 in a thrilling game. The poll, incidentally is closed, and we’ll discuss the results after the second semi-finals between Spain and Germany, at 2:30am July 8th (Malaysian Time).

The good news is, some of Walski’s World Cup 2010 Quarter-Finals predictions were accurate. The bad news, only half of them were. A mere 50% – not a good thing if he were a gambling man (which  he fortunately isn’t, Vincent Tan, or no Vincent Tan).

Argentina and Brazil, both whom Walski predicted would feature in the semis, were decisively knocked out by Germany and the Netherlands, respectively. And by decisively, they were whooped real good – Argentina succumbing to 4 unanswered goals, while Brazil lost to the Netherlands 1 – 2 despite scoring two of the goals in the match. Okay, so one of them was an own goal.

And that can mean only one thing – we need to do another poll: which teams do you think will feature in the finals. There are, of course, four possibilities:

• Netherlands vs. Germany
• Netherlands vs. Spain
• Uruguay vs. Germany
• Uruguay vs. Spain

For the heck of it, Walski threw in an additional fictitious choice – Referees vs. Linesmen. So far no fights have broken out between them, but with this World Cup tournament that’s been full of surprises, you never know… 
(Walski’s picks, and more, in the full post)

To be fair, this poll will be a very short-run one, and will close at 2:30am (Malaysian Time) on Wednesday morning, July 7th, which incidentally will be when the first semi-final match kicks off, between Uruguay and the Netherlands.

So, spread the word around, and get your friends, family and pet iguanas to vote – Walski wants to make this poll as inclusive as possible.

As for his picks, Walski wants to believe that it’ll be an Uruguay vs. Spain final. Now, that may go against the grain and momentum shown by Germany and the Netherlands, but it’s still within the realm of plausibility.

Germany have been formidable – their youth, inventiveness, and mechanical efficiency have proven to be a devastating combination. Spain, on the other hand, have still yet to play to their fullest potential. To overcome Germany, therefore, they’ll need to step up their game several notches. As demonstrated in Germany’s demolishing of Argentina, flair, skill and playing the beautiful game too slowly can be a fatally bad strategy when going against the German juggernaut.

Uruguay have been resilient – not quite the best side on paper, but Walski thinks they have what it takes to put the squeeze on the Oranjemen. Pun intended. Personally, it is Walski’s totally biased opinion that Brazil were unfortunate victims of less than perfect refereeing. It’s also testament that skill and flair don’t always cut it against a more physical team, something that Uruguay should be aware of.

So there – Walski’s called ‘em. He may be way, way off this time, but there have been more surprises in this World Cup than there are half-tones on a vuvuzela, so you never know.

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World Cup 2010: And then there were Eight...

Technorati tags: World Cup 2010, Group of 16, Quarter Finals, Predictions, Football

Just in case there were any of you who were disappointed, appalled, or even pissed off with the post from yesterday about the vuvuzela, Walski would like to apologize. Just a tiny bit.

Of course, an small apology alone may not be enough for some of you, so he feels he’s gotta make amends, as well.

Hence, this post.

The early hours of Wednesday morning saw the last of the eight matches in the Round Of 16. Walski has heard talk about how some of the match-ups at this stage read like Quarter-Final games. And those who thought so would be right, what with games like Germany vs. England, Spain vs. Portugal, and Argentina vs. Mexico. 

What Walski will do here is to give a quick summary of all 8 matches, from his perspective, plus what we can expect at the end of it all.

We’ll get back to the topic of local politics and other shenanigans in due course, but the World Cup only happens once every 4 years, and yes, Walski likes football.
(results from the Group of 16, and more, in the full post)

This is pretty much how the games panned out, the visual indicator below courtesy of the FIFA site. Clicking on it will take you there, which links you to the individual match reports, just in case you’re interested.

We start off with the Uruguay vs. Korea Republic match, which was played on Saturday, June 26. The Korean Republic was one of two Asian teams that made it to this stage, the other being Japan. Although the Koreans lost 1-2, they didn’t go down easily, and never gave up. Uruguay makes it to the Quarter-Finals for the first time since 1970 when the tournament was held in Mexico, and where the South Americans clinched 4th place, losing to Germany in the 3rd placing match

USA vs. Ghana was the other match in the pairing, which saw the sole African representative overcome the Americans in extra-time, after the match finished at the end of 90 minutes squared off 1 – 1. Throughout the tournament, USA pulled off late goals to salvage their matches, which saw them top Group C. It would appear that the USA team literally ran out of steam, and succumbed to an early extra-time goal by Asamoah Gyan in the 3rd minute.

This sets up both winners to meet in the 2nd Quarter Finals match at 2:30am on July 3rd (Malaysian Time).

The second pairing saw two fairly exciting games, Netherlands vs. Slovakia, and Brazil vs. Chile, held on Monday, June 28. No big surprises – both Netherlands and Brazil winning their respective ties, setting up a Final-like match to be played on July 2nd.

This time’s Round of 16 had its fair share of controversies, two of the most major ones happening in the Germany vs. England and Argentina vs. Mexico grouping.

Down by 2 – 1, England were denied a Frank Lampard equalizer late in the first half, which viewed through the instant replay, saw the ball a good yard over the goal line. Oddly enough, both the referee and linesman didn’t deem it a goal. The case for using goal line technology was once again brought back to life – FIFA, which later apologized for bad refereeing in that and the Argentina-Mexico game, said that it would now seriously consider using technology in disputed refereeing decisions.

But perhaps it was moot anyway – England went on to lose by 4 – 1. The question remains, however, as to whether or not it would’ve been a different game had the equalizer been allowed. England fans would definitely say “Yes, it would have”. The reality, though, is that England were outplayed by a more youthful and tactically more creative Germany. As much as Walski would’ve liked to see them advance, he does think that England’s lackluster performance in the group stage indicates that they really didn’t deserve to go any further.

The Argentina – Mexico game had its controversy as well when Carlos Tevez was not ruled offside, subsequently scoring the Argentines’ first goal in the 26th minute. Replays later showed that Tevez was a good yard offside. Another case for instant replay to be used. Hopefully FIFA will finally allow its use soon. But two more goals put the controversy to rest, the game ending up Argentina 3 – 1 Mexico.

This, of course, sets up another Final-like match up in the quarter final stage, Argentina vs. Germany, which will be played on Sunday, July 3rd at 10pm (Malaysian Time).

The Round of 16 also saw what Walski called the Battle of Iberia – Spain vs. Portugal which, arguably would’ve been more apt as a semi-final matchup. Spain booked their place in the Quarter Finals by winning the match 1 – 0, the sole goal by striker David Villa, who now currently has 4 goals in the tournament, tied for the Golden Boot top spot with Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain and Slovakia’s Robert Vittek. Walski reckons that Villa  will eventually grab the honors.

For Asian fans, the biggest disappointment in the Round of 16 must have been the Paraguay vs. Japan game, which saw the match go past both the 90-minutes and two extra time periods, culminating in a penalty shoot-out. Quite equally matched, the two teams pretty much cancelled each other out on the scoring front. After 120 minutes of play, it ended up with a 0 – 0 stalemate. Paraguay prevailed, and the South Americans advanced to the Quarter Finals, with the final score standing at 5 – 3, fueled by a miss by Japan’s Yuichi Komano, whose shot hit the crossbar. Penalty shoot outs are a very cruel way to settle a football match, but such is the beautiful game sometimes.

From the result of this last grouping, it will be Spain vs. Paraguay in the Quarter Finals, in which Walski predicts Spain will prevail. The Spaniards have way too much quality for the Paraguayans, and it would take a total Iberian fuck up for Spain to not advance.

With the Round of 16 done and dusted, we have a mostly great Quarter Final lay-up to look forward to this weekend, beginning Friday night at 10pm (Malaysian Time) – oh, and who Walski thinks will advance:

July 2nd at 10pm (Malaysian Time)
Walski' pick: Brazil - although the Dutch haven’t done too badly thus far, their performance has been “just enough” to get them through, and so Walski will have to go with the Samba Boys for this one. Under Dunga, Brazil has been somewhat uncharacteristic of past World Cup squads – yes, they still have that Brazilian flair, but they also have a credible defense this time. Granted that the Netherlands have representation from Liverpool (Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt), the mind overrules the heart on this match-up.

July 3rd at 2:30am (Malaysian Time)
Walski' pick: Uruguay – yes, it would be nice to see Ghana advance to the semi-finals and beyond, but Walski thinks that the Uruguayans have more quality in their squad. It will likely be a close match, but he reckons Diego Forlan might be a tad too much for the Ghanaians to handle. The African representation will probably exit the tournament on this one.

July 3rd at 10pm (Malaysian Time)
Walski' pick: Argentina – undoubtedly, this will be the most anticipated and thrilling of the Quarter Final match-ups. Germany has been very impressive throughout most of the tournament, but their game against Serbia in the group stage shows that they’re not unbeatable. Youth prevailed in Germany’s triumph over England, but the Argentines are a team on a mission – glory for their nation and their iconic coach, Diego Maradona, who has truly been an inspiration for the team. And that may just be too much for Germany. Either way, this will be one heck of a game to watch. If you got any other plans for Saturday night, ditch them – this one will likely be the best game of the entire tournament. On paper, at least. 

July 4th at 2:30am (Malaysian Time)
Walski' pick: Spain – the Spanish, it can safely be said, have had to travel a very difficult path to get this far – losing their opening game, and meeting some formidable opponents along the way to the Quarter Finals. It’s been a World Cup of surprises and upsets, but Walski thinks this one match is Spain’s. It would take a total breakdown in the Spanish side for it to be any other outcome. Then again, the ball is round, as they say. The Jabulani perfectly so. Regardless, Walski’s quite confident that the Spaniards will progress and overcome the Paraguayans in this one. And maybe even a goal from Fernando Torres. 

~ ~ ~ o O O O o ~ ~ ~

Now, Walski hopes that none of you take the predictions above as a basis for placing a few wagers. There are other possible outcomes, and what you see above is based purely on his own assessment, an unscientific mixture of gut feel and minor analysis. For instance, fellow blogger Syed Akbar Ali, in his posting a few days ago, had predicted an Argentina-Holland final on July 11th. If Walski’s picks are accurate, this won’t be the case. But we’ll soon see.

The ideal, pie-in-the-sky final? For Walski, Brazil vs. Spain. But let’s see how the weekend pans out. Whatever the outcome, the rest of the tournament will still be very much watchable, looking at the various possibilities.

For Malaysian football fans, Wednesday and Thursday nights this week are like a gift from Sepp Blatter for the sleep-deprived. No exceptions. Not even for Walski and the Mrs, who were reacquainted with our bedroom last night, in which we hadn’t slept pretty much since the tournament began two weeks or so ago. Similarly for tonight. Well, at least we managed to catch up on our sleep. A 2-night respite we’ll definitely need, in preparation for this weekend…

And so, with eight teams left to battle for the 36cm high, 6.175 kg solid gold trophy, vuvuzelas aside, the remainder of the 2010 World Cup looks to be a thrilling ride for football fans the world over. Not to mention a few more late nights for the Mrs and Walski…

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World Cup 2010: All abuzz about a plastic annoyance named Vuvuzela

Technorati tags: Humor, World Cup 2010, Vuvuzela, Parodies

If there’s one feature that has set the 2010 World Cup tournament apart from its predecessors, it has to be the overwhelming stadium noise, largely due to a colored plastic horn called the Vuvuzela. This, by far, has been the noisiest world cup, bar none.

A single vuvuzela, reportedly, has an average sound pressure of 127 dB. If that doesn’t mean much to you, the sound a lawnmower makes is around 90 dB. This, apparently, makes the vuvuzela even louder than a car horn (which on average produces 100 dB worth of sound).

Now, multiply that by 30,000 – Walski’s guesstimation of the average attendance – and you can very well imagine the magnitude of noise we’re talking about. If you need earplugs for a Formula 1 outing, or a Nine Inch Nails concert, you’ll probably need two for a typical South Africa 2010 World Cup match.

Subsequent World Cup tournaments, after South Africa 2010, will probably feel like they’re being played in libraries. Unless the Brazilians can come up with something louder and more annoying, in time for 2014.

For the home audience, the overwhelming cacophony of vuvuzelas translates to the continuous buzzing not unlike a large swarm of bees. Not exactly damaging to your sense of hearing, but definitely annoying. Especially to this one very prominent home viewer.

But it’s not all bad news – some other netizens have put the annoying vuvuzela to good use, just to prove a point.
(the vuvezala meets Twilight, Middle Earth, and more, in the full post)

Frankly, Walski is quite ambivalent about the Twilight film franchise. He’s actually watched the first two films in the saga – the second one, New Moon, on a flight recently. So, for the sake of completeness, he’ll most likely watch Eclipse as well, though that said, Walski won’t really go too far out of his way, nor is he like waiting with bated breath for its release on June 30th. He’s a sucker for any film that features vampires. Bonus, if there are werewolves thrown in.

And because he’s not read the Stephanie Meyer book series (nor does he have any pressing desire to), who knows – there may even be zombies in the upcoming films, which would make them just perfect. Better still, if there are vuvuzelas involved.

But back to the tapered piece of annoying plastic that has so succinctly characterized the 2010 World Cup – what if the vuvuzela had existed during the other world cup that South Africa has hosted – the 1995 Rugby World Cup? It would have surely changed the atmosphere in the stadium. And undoubtedly, this film would’ve been different, too.

You have to love these viral parodies. But there is one vuvuzela movie parody that Walski’s saved for last. One parody to rule them all…

As a bonus, The Fellowship of the Vuvuzela comes with a music video – Taking the Hobbits to Isengard.

Walski has an idea of using the annoying vuvuzela in a parody of his own. He’s not sure if anyone else has thought about it, but he reckons that the thought may have crossed the minds of some people.

He’ll keep mum about this idea – for now. Suffice it to say that if it does come to fruition, you folks will be the first to know…

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Poll Position: Your World Cup 2010 Predictions

Technorati tags: Football, World Cup 2010, Poll Position, Opinion Poll, Prediction

Walski has to admit that he’s not been updating this blog as regularly as he’d like to. In fact, myAsylum has been the diametrical opposite of Ibrahim “Froggy” Ali, whom we seem to be hearing from almost every other day.

The reason for Walski’s lack of activity is the very focus of our recently-concluded poll: the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament, currently being held in South Africa, the first time football’s ultimate challenge has been held in the African continent.

In any case, the group stage of the World Cup 2010 has just concluded early this morning (Malaysian Standard Time, GMT/UTC +8), and so Walski thought this would be as good a time as any to splash the results of the recent myAsylum poll, which has closed to coincide with the end of the group stage.

Predictions, by the way, that are still plausible. Apart, of course, from North Korea, who were in Group H (with Brasil), and who were quite convincingly knocked out. Unless, of course, you want to believe what the DPRK Press Man has been tweeting.

According to him, North Korea is still pretty much in the running, and that FIFA is investigating their qualification status (via Twitter). Any facts to the contrary are, therefore, nothing but imperialist Western propaganda.

It wouldn’t surprise Walski one iota if it turns out that the 4% came from the DPRK Press Man himself…
(poll result plus Group Result analyses, and more, in the full post)

But kidding aside, it’s interesting how you voted in the poll, and of the 7 countries you voted for, 6 actually graduated to the Round of 16, which is a great result. From here, the Winner of Group A will meet the Runner-Up of Group B, and Runner-Up of A will meet Winner of B, and so forth for the other C/D, E/F and G/H group pairings.

Group A, which featured former champs France, saw the biggest upset in the tournament to-date, when France failed to make it to the second round. Despite having a group of talented players, the team under coach Raymond Domenech simply could not gel together, and could only manage a draw (with Uruguay) and two losses (to Mexico and hosts South Africa).

This once international football powerhouse only managed to score one goal in the three group games. Adding insult to injury, Nicholas Anelka, was sent home just before their final group game against South Africa, as a result of a falling out with the coach.

Hosts South Africa, despite not making it past the group stages, didn’t go down easily, managing a win (against France in their final group match), a draw (against Mexico in the opening match), and a loss to Uruguay. And as far as the African representation situation went, they were not alone – out of the four countries to represent the continent, only Ghana made it past the group stage.

Group A – Winner: Uruguay, Runner-Up: Mexico

One of the only two teams that ended the first stage with all 9 points came from Group B – Argentina, whom 11% of you picked to win the tournament. The Argentines topped the group, winning all three matches, while South Korea emerged as runner-up.

Co-hosts for the 2002 World Cup, the Koreans proved to be no pushovers, in a group whose runner-up was decided only once all the final group games were done and dusted. Although they did lose to Argentina, they managed to beat Greece, and drew with Nigeria, finishing the group stage with 4 points. Unfortunately, they lost to Uruguay in the first knockout stage game, which saw the Asian team down by a goal during most of the match, equalizing in 68th minute, but eventually losing the game when Uruguay scored the winning goal in the 80th minute.

Group B – Winner: Argentina, Runner-Up: Korea Republic

For most Malaysians, England, in Group C, is perhaps the most familiar team, because of the large following that the Barclays Premier League has in the country. Walski reckons that because of this familiarity, 11% of you picked England to emerge champions.

That has to be the only plausible explanation, as they were not at all impressive, only managing two draws in their first two matches (against the USA and Algeria), and literally squeaked through to the knock-out stage by beating Slovenia 1-0 in the final group game.

The other team from this group that made it into the poll was USA, picked by 4% of the respondents. USA topped Group C, equal on points and goal difference with England, but because USA scored a goal before England in the group stage, they topped the table.

Group C – Winner: USA, Runner-Up: England

When Germany opened their Group D foray with a resounding 4 – 0 win over Australia, many thought that the 2006 host would simply stroll through the group stage. Well, not quite – they were beaten in the second game 0 – 1 by Serbia, and barely edged Ghana a goal to nil in their third game. Two wins, however, secured them top spot in the group.

Ghana, which was the group runner-up, only managed a win, a draw and a loss, to finish with a better goal difference above Australia, who had the same number of points. As it turns out, Ghana became the only African nation to survive the group stage.

Poll-wise, Germany was favored highest amongst the 7 teams chosen – 29% of you felt that the three-time world champions would lift the trophy at the end of this year’s tournament.

Group D – Winner: Germany, Runner-Up: Ghana

The other Asian team to make it past the group stage came from Group E. Japan were impressive – two wins, over Cameroon in their opener and Denmark in the third match, and making the Netherlands Oranjemen struggle in one goal in Japan’s loss. It could be that Japan were an underestimated team – Walski recalls what the radio pundits thought before the last group game with Denmark, that the Danes would surely triumph over them. Not to be. Japan trounced Denmark 3 – 1 in the final group match.

Another African disappointment was from this group – Cameroon, who lost all three group games, and finishing last in Group E.

Team Netherlands did well in the group stage, winning all three games (the only other team apart from Argentina to do so).

Group E – Winner: Netherlands, Runner-Up: Japan

The biggest disappointment of the tournament had to be  Group F, where defending World Cup holders Italy was placed. Walski is not sure how much money punters lost betting on the Italians, but they ended up finishing last in their group, after only managing two draws (against Paraguay and New Zealand). That said, the dismal performance by the defending champs was not totally surprising, being that the squad fielded had the highest average age out of all 32 teams.

Almost everyone Walski spoke with thought New Zealand would be World Cup 2010’s sacrificial lamb. But the Kiwi All-Whites did much better than most people, even expert pundits, thought they would, ending the group stage unbeaten. Of course, they didn’t win either. But they can definitely go back home with their heads held high, especially after managing to score against Italy in a 1 – 1 draw.

In the end, it was Paraguay and Slovakia that made it past the group stage, in that order, with Paraguay winning one, and drawing two. Yes, Group F was that kind of group – not exactly the most exciting games to watch, apart from Slovakia’s 3 – 2 win over Italy (who to be fair, came very close – but a case of too little, too late). That, and watching New Zealand keep everyone else to a draw. But you’d really have had to be a die-hard football fan to watch all the games in this group. Walski will be the first to admit that he only watched 2 out of the 6 Group F games.

Group F – Winner: Paraguay, Runner-Up: Slovakia

Group G – on paper, the toughest group in the tournament, dubbed the Group of Death – was perhaps one of the more interesting groups to watch. Not only did this group have Brazil, who have appeared in the World Cup tournament more times than any other nation, but it also had a little known-about North Korea.

Truth be told, Walski for a while did have this offbeat fantasy of seeing North and South Korea in the finals. Possible on paper, but not in reality, as the North Koreans lost all three of their group matches, including a 0 – 7 drubbing to Portugal. Interestingly enough, back home in Kim Jong-Il Land, Korea DPR’s opening game against Brazil (arguably their best performance) was delay-telecast, while their loss to Portugal was shown live. Despite their almost impossible chances of getting past the group stage, 4% of the poll respondents thought North Korea would eventually bring the cup home to the Supreme Leader.

Brazil, in our poll, was favored by 18% of the respondents to be the 2010 champions. For that to happen, though, the five-time champion would have to perform much better than they did during the group stage. But Walski’s been told that the team, coached by the legendary Dunga, can very well make it through to the very end. Dunga’s coaching style has been described to Walski as being “pragmatic”, with the gas pedal not down to the metal too early on. We’ll soon see – Brazil will have their group of 16 match early Tuesday morning (Malaysia time) against Chile.

Football pundits and prognosticators, prior to the start of the tournament, thought that Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) would be the most promising African team, and the team to beat from the continent. That turned out not to be, as they ended up finishing third behind Portugal. But if Portugal had lost in their game against Brazil, then Ivory Coast would have needed to win by a margin of at least 8 goals against North Korea in the final match, which they did win, but only by 2 – 1.

Portugal, the other favorite from Group G, came away from the group stage with the highest scoring win in the tournament to-date with their annihilation of North Korea in their second game, after starting off with a less-than-impressive 0 – 0 draw with Côte d'Ivoire. But the final group game against Brazil, which ended with a scoreless draw, you couldn’t fault anyone for thinking that it was a game for nothing much to fight for except who would top the group. This was really apparent in the last 10 minutes or so, when neither Brazil nor Portugal seemed interested in playing, being content instead to play with the Jabulani.

In the end, Brazil topped the group table, with Portugal in second place. All things considered, this was the preferred outcome anyway, avoiding a Brazil/Spain match-up in the Round of 16.

Group G – Winner: Brazil, Runner-Up: Portugal

Last, but not least, we have Group H, where Walski’s personal pick, Spain, eventually finished the group stage tops in the group. But it wasn’t an easy path to get there, after disappointingly losing their opening match to Switzerland. Apart from Walski, 25% of the poll respondents picked the Spaniards to emerge champions.

But Spain did come back in much better form for the remaining two games, beating Honduras 2 – 0, and runner-up Chile 2 – 1 in the final game. Even though Spain accumulated the same number of points as Chile, the Spaniards had a better goal difference, which put them on top. Walski was a tad afraid that Spain would emerge group runner up, which would’ve meant meeting Brazil in the Group of 16.

Many other Liverpool FC fans probably picked Spain to win the tournament, due to the fact that star striker Fernando Torres was part of the line-up, plus the inclusion of a few other current and former Liverpool players in the squad. But whether or not they can progress into the Quarter Finals is another question. What Walski has seen so far would indicate that they have not been playing to their full potential. Or so he hopes. Spain will have to take the game to geographical neighbors Portugal when they meet in the late game on June 29 (2:30am on June 30, Malaysia Time).

Chile, the runner-up in Group H, have the daunting task of meeting Brazil in their Group of 16 match, where historical statistics are clearly not on the side of the South Americans.

Honduras met Switzerland in the final group game, which was played purely for the sake of sportmanship, since both teams couldn’t have improved their position in the group table, no matter what the outcome of their meeting would have been. As it turned out, their meeting ended up with a scoreless draw.

Group H – Winner: Spain, Runner-Up: Chile

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The first two games in the Round of 16 have, in fact, just ended last night and early this morning. Uruguay, who topped Group A beat Korea Republic (South Korea), runner-up for Group B. Uruguay became the first team to qualify for the Quarter Finals, in a thrilling match where it ended Uruguay 2 – Korea Republic 1. The second game saw Ghana beating USA 2 – 1, with the game going into extra time. Ghana started the goal account early in the game, with USA equalizing in the 62nd minute through a Landon Donovan penalty. But Ghana prevailed after scoring the winning goal, very early in the extra period, through a 93rd minute goal by Asamoah Gyan. The USA, it seems, literally ran out of steam, having produced last-minute comebacks earlier in the tournament.

We’ll know in a few days time who else will advance to the quarter finals, but it does look like the eventual champion may just be from one of the 5 remaining teams you polled for.

Spain, if you were to ask Walski, but only if they survive their meeting with Portugal…

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One Cup to Unite them All

Technorati tags: Football, World Cup 2010, South Africa, Opinion Poll

It’s been often said that nothing unites people of different backgrounds and ideologies more than sports.

But out of all the sporting events, nothing unites the world more than football – or soccer, to differentiate it from the numerous types of sport with the moniker ‘football’.

And perhaps the most important event in the world of football is the World Cup – the pinnacle of world football competition, culminating in the finals, held once every four years.

Well, the four year cycle is here once again, and this time, South Africa plays host to the tournament, the first time ever that the finals have been held in the African continent.

This time around, the continent is well represented, with six nations vying for the ultimate football trophy: Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and of course, hosts South Africa.

As with previous finals, the one this time around sees eight groups of four national teams from the four corners of the world. No different from previous finals, Europe is the most-represented continent, with thirteen national teams (Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, defending champions Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland).

Asia/Australasia is represented by five teams: Japan, the two Koreas (Democratic People’s Republic [North] and South), and the two Australasian nations of Australia and New Zealand.

The Americas is represented by Honduras, Mexico and the United States of America (North & Central America), and the South American states of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Thirty two teams, with one single common objective – to be the world’s best in football.
(the tournament so far, prediction poll, and more, in the full post)

So far, four games have been played, covering Groups A and B. And from what Walski has seen so far, the tournament should be a good one this time around, promising some surprises and disappointments.

The opening match between hosts South Africa and Mexico (Group A) was a thrilling one, with South Africa drawing first blood when Siphiwe Tshabalala delivered a fantastic strike in the 55th minute. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, after Mexico managed to equalize late in the game during the 79th minute, via a goal by Rafael Marquez.

Another draw was to be the final result of the next Group A game between France and Uruguay, but a goalless one this time.

Day Two proved to be more exciting, with South Korea beating Greece 2-0 in Group B’s first match. Later, Argentina had to hang on tight to win over Nigeria 1-0 in the same group.

Group C’s first game, between USA and England is schedule to start at 2:30am (Malaysia Time), approximately one hour from the time of posting.

So, which team do you think will be victorious in the World Cup 2010 tournament? Walski has put together a poll, to ascertain your opinion. As of yesterday morning, it appears that the favorite to be crowned world champions is Spain.

Personally, Walski, too, is of the opinion that Spain will win. Despite what he thinks, however, he will also be watching Brazil, Argentina, and Englad quite closely. The latter, only because Walski follows the Barclay’s Premier League, and not because he thinks that England has a good chance.

So, what do you think? You can take the poll here, or by clicking on the image above. Alternatively, the poll is also displayed on the sidebar area to the right. The poll will be open until June 26th, the day after the last of the group matches is played. By then, it should be clearer which team stands a chance.

Incidentally, Walski has this crazy idea of a North Korea / South Korea finals, later in July. After today, we know that South Korea has a chance to go through, if they can maintain their performance. What’s left to be seen is how the North Korean team performs. Their first game is on June 15, when they meet Brazil – not a good start.

Any hare-brained ideas like the one Walski has? Leave a comment to tell him about them, and perhaps also about who you like in the tournament.

By the way, Walski has put together a list on Twitter aggregating tweets from about 25 World Cup news sources – http://twitter.com/walski69/wc2010 – do feel free to follow it. Also, Twitter has created a series of special event pages for World Cup 2010 – it essentially aggregates tweets about the tournament. Good stuff!

Walski hopes that the month-long tournament will go on without much tragedy, which had already struck, two weeks prior to the start of the matches, when singer Siphiwo Ntshebe – dubbed the 'Black Pavarotti' – died after battling acute bacterial meningitis. Again tragedy struck when after the World Cup opening concert when Zenani Mandela, granddaughter of former president Nelson Mandela, was killed in an accident, after the opening concert.

But so far, these tragedies aside, sad as they may be, have not put a damper on the tournament. And it is hoped that the next month will continue to be an exciting one for football fans around the world.

Granted, for Malaysia and most of Asia, the World Cup month is one that will be marked by lower productivity, late nights, thrills and heartache. For a football fan, however, the most important thing is to share the best football the planet can offer, with the rest of the world.

The World Cup is truly the one sport tournament that unites us all, no matter where we may be.

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Anfield: Liverpool advance to the semi-Finals

Technorati tags: Football, UEFA Champions League, Liverpool, Arsenal

One of the requisites of being a Liverpool fan is having to endure the agony of watching this team falter when you least want them to.

But not today.

Torres celebrates after putting Liverpool ahead (picture taken from BBC Sports)

Winning convincingly over Arsenal, after drawing 1-1 twice in a span of a week, Liverpool upped their game this morning to ensure them a 9th semi-final appearance in the UEFA Champions League, where they'll meet Chelsea, who beat Fenerbahce at home 2-0 (winning 3-2 on aggregate).
(a convincing win for Liverpool, in the full post)

The goal account for the evening was opened by Arsenal through Abou Diaby in the 13th minute. Sami Hyypia equalized at the half-hour mark with a header, from a Gerrard corner kick, that beat goalkeeper Almunia. The second half saw another superb goal from wonder boy Fernando Torres, putting the Reds 2-1 up in the 69th minute.

But the lead was short-lived - in the 84th minute, Adebayor finished off a great run by Theo Walcott all the way from deep in Arsenal territory. At 2-2, Arsenal would have emerged victors, courtesy of the away goals rule.

That, however, was not to be - captain Steven Gerrard put away a controversial penalty late in the second half, after Ryan Babel was brought down in the box, with 5 minutes to go in the game. Babel, however, provided the fourth and final goal 2 minutes into extra time, putting to rest any controversy, and paving the way for Liverpool to meet league rivals Chelsea in the Semi-Finals.

Waking up at 3am on some mornings is worth every sleepless moment... Watching Liverpool play in key matches is always a guaranteed emotional rollercoaster ride, and this morning's game with Arsenal was no different.

Standing is the way of another Champions League final is, of course, Chelsea, whom Liverpool will meet in the semi-finals.

Time to get some rest until the next rollercoaster ride...

Click here for the full post......

Shi'ites 2 - Hadhari 0

Technorati tags: Football, AFC, Asia Cup, Malaysia

It looks like the Shi'ites are better than Hadhari'ites. When it comes to football, at least.

And so, with this fantastic scoreline - err, Walski knows that many were expecting a worse defeat - this one nightmare of a tournament is over for Malaysia, and it is now confirmed that we're the worst footballing nation in Asia. And perhaps, too, the Persians were being kind last night. The Shi'ites could've won by a bigger margin.

The good news is that the worst nightmarish performace Malaysia's put up in recent footballing history can be put behind them.

The bad news? That this is about all the good news there is.

Being that we've been brought up on a fast food way of doing things, and knowing that certain people want results overnight, Walski can only be cynical about what His Highness the FAM President said about wanting to overhaul FAM (via The Star). Okay... no offense, but he's been the President of FAM for how long now?

And why overhaul the engine, when it's the rest of the car that's falling apart?
(more sucky football, in the full post)

Well at least HRH the Deputy President did the honorable thing and resigned. Now, Walski can expect one of two things to happen. Either,

A - the whole FAM gets the proverbial boot, and the entire structure restocked with non-politicians, and those that are competent football administrators, or
B - tai chi becomes the favorite FAM elite's past time.

Which would you put your money on? Walski's almost afraid ask actually. Because over the years, we've heard talk about doing this that and the other to improve Malaysian football. And the result? Well, you know, Walski knows...

You see, to Walski, it's not that we don't have raw talent to work with. Walski's sure there are loads of young, and not so young, talent when it comes to football. The problem, as he sees it, is that there are way too many unqualified people in posts they have no right to be in. The first thing to do, get rid of all the politicians.

The presence of political personalities helming and driving sports organizations in Malaysia, usually into the ground, is legendary. With the exception of squash, and maybe badminton, to a certain extent, Malaysian sports is totally the pits. Oh wait - there's also lawn bowling - but then again everyone knows that it's not a real sport to begin with.

Truth be told, Walski won't make any further suggestions, and chooses to wait 'n see what genius schemes get thought up this time around. Maybe they should try magic. Or get the makers of Kismis Jampi to conjure up some mystical, spiritual peanuts (or something) to feed our footballers with.

Walski's credit footnote: The title was inspired by the writings in Semusim Di Neraka, perhaps one of the better Bahasa Malaysia blogs out in the bloggerhood. Credit goes to the genius spending a season in Hell... in particular the reference came from here.

Click here for the full post......

Man Who?

Technorati tags: Humor, Football, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, Chelsea, Manchester United

Related post: UEFA Champions League 3rd & 4th Placing

At the 26th minute of Extra Time, Didier Drogba broke the egg-locked game, and became the scorer of the first goal in the new Wembley Stadium. And with that, Chelsea are placed 3rd, and Man Utd. 4th, respectively, in the UEFA Champions League competition, fitting into Walski's prediction of which team would win. Albeit not quite the way Walski thought it would pan out.

Incidentally, Chelsea also win the English FA Cup 2006/2007. And make it a double for the season, after earlier on winning the Carling Cup. Manchester United, recently crowned EPL Champions, have to settle for the single.

Drogba's goal saved the game from going into a penalty shoot-out, which is always a sucky way to settle a football match, albeit a necessary way. Earlier, an almost goal from Ryan Giggs, if it had been ruled as one, would probably have changed the game's landscape entirely.

Which is not the case with the new Wembley Stadium landscape. Or rather pitch-scape, which looked patchy and very uneven. And this was really the biggest surprise to Walski. Granted, they really had to rush the stadium's completion, which had already suffered from delays.

In any case, Walski is sure, that for Jose Maurinho, the best team won. Finally.

Click here for the full post......

UEFA Champions League 3rd & 4th Placing

Technorati tags: Humor, Football, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, Chelsea, Manchester United

Updates in the full post

Been a long while since Walski's blogged about football. This post is specifically dedicated to Man Utd and Chelsea fans...

Tonight, EPL's giants will fight it out to determine who gets the 3rd and 4th placings in the UEFA Champions League competition.

Who will clinch the 3rd & 4th places in tonight's battle?

Although officially, the match is being marketed as something else...
(more Liverpool-biased football thoughts, in the full post)

Kinda gives a slightly different perspective to the game tonight, doesn't it? Most Liverpool fans would probably see the game tonight from this perspective, the not-so-well Walski included. The tummy-flu has probably gone to his head...

In any case, the UEFA Champions League actual final will be later this coming week. Now, that is a game to look forward to, although with the Red's form this season, Walski doesn't dare make a prediction. That said, he would, of course, love to see Liverpool win it for the 6th time. Which Liverpool fan wouldn't?

Tonight's prediction? Well, Manchester United has this knack of choking when you least expect them to (remember the return leg at AC Milan?). Chelsea is no pushover either. So, Walski predicts that the game will go the full 90 minutes, another 30 minutes of extra time, then it will be down to penalties, with the Londoners clinching the game. It always sucks when a game has to be decided on penalties.

But hey... shit happens.

So, while the rest of the world watches tonight's game in the comfort of their favorite watering hole, Walski will be viewing it while nursing his stomach-flu suffering self back to full 100% operating condition...

Update @ Half-time (2300 hrs):
The score remains 0-0, in a game described as lacklustre, and played at "strolling" pace. The new Wembley Stadium pitch, which looks surprisingly bad, has been blamed, in part, for the deadlock, thus far. As of Half-Time, Walski's prediction seems spot-on...

Update @ Full-time (2352 hrs):
As of the full 90 minutes (plus change) the score remains deadlocked at 0-0, Walski's prediction still intact. Earlier, at the 58th minute, Paul Scholes (Man U.) made history as the first player to get booked in the new Wembley stadium. The pace of the match in the second half was definitely faster, but neither side could be said to be more outstanding than the other. Okay, maybe out standing in the sun, but as far as football was concerned, both teams were equally lacklustre. And so now we go into extra time... the 3rd and 4th places still undecided.

Update @ 1st 15min ET (0014 hrs):
Ryan Giggs almost broke the egg-lock with a semi-controversial, almost goal in the 14th minute, but it was ruled to not be a goal, and so the game continues into the 2nd 15 minutes...

Click here for the full post......

A chance encounter... the UEFA Champions League Trophy

Technorati tags: Football, UEFA Champions League, Trophy, Liverpool FC

It's been way too long since the last football related post, what with all that's been going on.

This was a real chance encounter for Walski and the Mrs (the bigger football fan between the two of us!). We just happened to be at The Curve on Saturday, March 24th, around the time the UEFA Champions League Trophy was to be unveiled for its 2-day display, as part of its Asian tour. The event was brought to Malaysia by the good folks at Heineken, who have, by the way, a website dedicated to the championship (with a nice cover-our-ass disclaimer, no less).

To be precise, the trophy was on display at the Piazza between The Curve and the Cineleisure Mall next door, on Saturday evening and on Sunday. So, if you're only finding out about it via this post, it's a little too late to go see it.

The Piazza in front of Cineleisure was the venue

Yes, there was all the glitz, fanfare, small-time fireworks, and lots of acrid smoke accompanying the unveiling of the trophy. Note to organizers: when having an event in a tent, it's not the best of ideas to incorporate pyrotechnics of any kind... something to remember for future reference!

Aftermath of firesparklers, confetti and smoke - in a tent!

But eventually, the smoke did settle down, and with any event, speeches had to be made. To the best of Walski's recollection, officiating the ceremony were folks from Guinness Anchor Bhd and UEFA (can't remember the names, however).

The trophy for the biggest club championship in the world

This trophy is of course the exact same one that Barcelona FC won last year. The previous trophy, won by Liverpool in that spectacular final in Instanbul in 2005, is now living in Anfield. It was, of course, presented to Liverpool permanently, by virtue of their being 5 time winners of the cup.
(the trophy, and thoughts on Liverpool, in the full post)

Commemorating the might Reds victory - 5 time champions of Europe

Ah, yes. For Walski and the Mrs, while the trophy was something to gawk at, what caught our eyes most were the Liverpool related displays that adorned the tent. Perhaps one of the most exciting finals in recent history, the AC Milan - Liverpool final in Instanbul two years ago was definitely an early morning to remember, particularly if you're a Liverpool fan.

The 2004 - 2005 Final: The Most Incredible Final in History

Since Walski had to crop and resize the pix, you probably can't make out what the plaque reads:

The most incredible final in history. AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini scored in the first minute and the Italians were 3 - 0 ahead by halftime. Inspired by Steven Gerard, however, Liverpool FC came back to make it 3 - 3. Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek was the hero in the shoot-out, saving Shevchenko's shot to spark wild celebrations for Liverpool FC.
"The cup ended up in Steven Gerard's bed. He wouldn't let go of it!"
Liverpool FC Chief Executive Rick Perry, 2005

And really, can you blame Stevie G? Walski knows of a number of die-hard Liverpool fans who watched the first half and didn't bother watching the rest. And really kicked themselves after finding out the final results.

Will the boys make it #6 this time around?

Being a Liverpool fan is really a life-long exercise in masochism - and this season is no different. Just when you thought they were rebounding back, they go and throw a game away. But somehow, their performance in the Champions League is as if it's a different team playing altogether, from the English Premier League.

This year, though, the recent draws for the Champions League Quarter Finals looks promising. Liverpool have to next get past PSV Eindhoven, the team that knocked Arsenal out in the last 16. What is a little worrying is that PSV's coach is the same one coaching Benfica last season. Benfica, of course, knocked Liverpool out quite unceremoniously.

The Mrs, however, is optimistic. She thinks that the draw has worked out in Liverpool's favor. And she may be right. We'll just have to wait a bit and see. PSV hosts Liverpool on Wednesday, April 3rd (early morning April 4th Malaysia time) for the first leg of the Quarter-Finals, with the return leg at Anfield 8 days later, on April 11th.

As for the other teams, Chelsea vs. Valencia on April 4th (never a good thing to play home first, heh heh), Man U. meet Roma away the same day, and AC Milan host Bayern Munich on April 3rd. For both Chelsea and Man U, they play their return legs with one day less to prepare, on April 10th. A sign, perhaps, in Liverpool's favor?

The prediction? Liverpool will meet Valencia in the semi's, with AC Milan and Roma making up the other two teams. The final will see Liverpool beating the crap out of Roma, to lift the trophy for the sixth time...

And with no apologies whatsoever to Man U. & Chelsea fans...

Walski's photogallery footnote: Finally, at long last, Walski now has a digital camera again to play with (with undying love and thanks to the Mrs). And so expect more original pix on this blog. Of course, when the situation warrants it, Walski will continue to generate the parody pictures, fear not...

Click here for the full post......

A Somewhat Sad Weekend in Review

Technorati tags: Rants, Reflections, Malaysia, Blogsphere, FIFA World Cup, Deutschland 2006

All things considered, this past weekend was pretty sad for several reasons.

FIFA World Cup Deutschland 2006
The two teams that Walski was following were shown the exit over the weekend, namely England and Brazil. So for yours truly, the tournament is pretty much over, but Walski will still watch the finals, regardless - it just won't be as much fun, that's all.

The World Cup this time around was rife with bad refereeing all around. Kinda makes one miss Frankenstein, the nickname Walski gave to the world's best referee, Pierluigi Colina, who retired last year. He was both fun to watch and to-date still the best international referee to grace football.

While England did fall victim to bad refereeing, especially the red card shown to Wayne Rooney (it all went south from there on), and Beckham's teary exit didn't make matters better, Brazil was quite simply outplayed by an inspired France team - no real complaints, really. The Brazil team simply did not show up. That French Jinx again...

Malaysian Blogsphere Loses An Icon
But closer to home, the Malaysian Bloggerhood will now be without Brand New Malaysia, when Mack Zulkifli decided to call it quits. This blog was Walski's daily must-read, and provided a very level-headed view of the goings-on vis-a-vis Malaysian politics and social issues. Many attribute Mack's calling it a day to this post on Jeff Ooi's Screenshots, but Walski thinks that the real reason, although related, is much deeper than simply a post. Perhaps Mack just needs to chill for a bit.

Regardless, the absense of Brand New Malaysia will leave a gaping void to many bloggers, Walski included. Mack, you'll be sorely missed! Walski hopes that this will be more of an extended hiatus, rather than a total bow-out.

But with every cloud comes a silver lining (in the full post)
MENJ's War On Walski (WoW) has somehow uncovered a fan (for Walski, not UltraMENJ)! Walski will not reveal details here, as this momentous development deserves a full post. Suffice it to say, for now, that it is a new blog deserving of your attention...

And so another week ends, but on a somewhat sad note. The plus side, maybe, is that Walski will be able to sleep better, now that the World Cup semis aren't exactly must-watch anymore.

Meanwhile, it's business as usual at myAsylum, with lots of bigotry and stupidity to fight... and a fresher Walski.

Now, if only we can get the damn Streamyx to work at home...

Click here for the full post......