World Cup Withdrawal Symdrome

The World Cup is officially over. After a month of glorious football, the greatest show on earth has come to its conclusion with Italy beating France 5-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 during normal time and after extra time. However, the match wouldn't be remembered for the superb attacking football on show that night, but for a Zinedine Zidane red card which brought a glittering career to a slightly premature end. The pre-match hype was all about Zizou's last match before retirement and how it would be fitting to end a brilliant career by lifting the World Cup as captain of France. Alas, the fairy tale ending didnt materialise as he was sent off for head butting Marco Materazzi in the 110th minute. So, down the tunnel trotted a man in tears whose CV reads 3 FIFA World Player of the Year, 1 European Footballer of the Year, 1 World Cup winner's medal, 1 European Championship winner's medal, 1 Champions League winner's medal, 2 Scudettos winner's medal, 1 La Liga winner's medal, and numerous other medals. I would like to say au revoir to Monsieur Zidane and merci for all the beautiful football memories i have of you. It was a real priviledge to be able to watch you display your craft all these years.

This edition of the WC was totally awesome as i'm able to watch about 80% of the matches shown. Being unemployed certainly has its advantages. :) Matches were also much more enjoyable because i was able to do live match analyses and commentaries with a couple of my friends. Especially fun were the bitching sessions about England and how kayu they are. Hahaha. I know one of them is very happy right now because Italy just won the WC.

Anyway, to help me cope with the impending World Cup Withdrawal Symdrome (WCWS), i'm going for a short holiday to Genting with some of my friends - Choo, Ash, Gary, Siew Lin and Siew Har. For my next football fix, it'll surely has to be the Manchester United preseason tour of South Africa which would be shown live on Astro SuperSport. The first match is on July 15th at 9:10pm. Speaking of Manchester United, the new EPL season is 41 days away and they have not made any new signing. Come on, time is ticking and the other 3 big English clubs already have a head start on you. We need quality players in the middle of the park and certainly not a new goalkeeper. To a certain Cristiano "Cry Baby" Ronaldo, if you think that leaving United for Real is a good move for you, you can very well leave us because playing for United is a priviledge, not a right. We do not need players with questionable loyalties. I do hope Fergie keeps Ruud because he's a great goal scorer and still wants to play in the red jersey of United. And speaking of the red jersey, United are going to unveil their new home jersey this coming Friday and the new away jersey on August 24th. The bad news is that these jerseys will only last for a season as they are special edition celebratory jerseys to commemorate the 50th anniversary of United's first league title.

I guess it's time to save some money to buy a new jersey. If my elder sister is reading this, what do you think of a United jersey as a graduation present? *hint* *hint* Good idea rite? Just make sure it's the correct red jersey with a devil in the crest, instead of the one with a funny looking bird in it.