ANSARA Taiping 2 : 3 Reko Clan FC

Today is our third friendly match before the resume of Liga Alumni match next week against VIOBA. Again, our keeper is unavailable and I have to fill in the position even when my fingers still feel numb from the last week match. Today's opponent are actually my old team back when I was playing with my Kajang friends. However, the only person I still recognised is their manager and the current team consisted of young and skillful players. This is proven when they got two quick goals in the first half. I could not do anything to save the first one because the ball went into the top corner of the goal in a flash. I could do something about the second one (like diving) when their striker managed to beat our offside trap and faced me one-to-one but I'm just hoping that he will just shoot right at me (which he didn't).

We started our second half with the same players and formation and got punished by the third goal that went in exactly at the top corner of the post (just like the first goal) which I think even Van der Sar will not be able to do anything about it. We responded by substituting our midfielders  with two attacking minded players and we managed to get back in the game with two successive goals. However our third goal never came by the time the final whistle is blown. Even though we lost to a better team today, I'm still confident we will be able to do a major upset on VIOBA next week, provided I'm not the keeper.

The unwanted 'little brother'

Not under my research expertise

Just bought two new books today. I started with Soccernomics (even though I'm currently reading another book on Tun Mahathir) because it's first chapter is so riveting that I could not let it down until I reached the next chapter. Basically the authors talk about why England never win any major tournament since 1966. Come to think of it, we could ask the same question on our own Harimau squad, why they never win any major tournament since ... hmmm, that's a tough one (SEA Games does not count due to age ruling). The book outlines three major problems affecting England and I think it mirrors the exact things that have been plaguing our own football team; the importance of import players and playing abroad, players' family background and football network. And they found that England are actually not doing bad at all. I wonder if they ever did the statistics on Malaysia they will get the same conclusion.

Muzikal Tun Mahathir

  

 

Jo's mum gave us two tickets to watch Muzikal Tun Mahathir at the Istana Budaya and I thought this would be a good opportunity to see my old friend, Morgan Tay in action. He got an acting part in the show but I'm not sure which character he is playing. Unfortunately I found out that he already got another acting commitment on the day we are supposed to watch the show so his part has been taken over by somebody else. Nevertheless we went to the show and found that it was not a bad musical although I think the director can quicken the pace a little bit as not to make it too draggy. The music scores are nice but not memorable enough to last after the show. Some of the actors got great potential and Erra Fazira is a class above the rest. I bought two programme books, one for the Muzikal Tun Mahathir and another one is for Muzikal Tun Perak, which was the first theatre I watched in Istana Budaya back in 2000.

FEP Expo Stall

In conjunction with UPM 34th Convocation, all the faculties have been tasked to set up stalls to showcase their excellence in teaching, research and community works to the visitors of Bukit Ekspo. I have been asked by the Dean to set up the stall for our faculty, FEP (Faculty of Economics and Management). Datuk Seri Noh bin Omar, Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry was invited to officially open the expo and to visit the stalls afterwards. However, due to time constraint he is unable to do the visit and the deputies of vice chancellor were kind enough to have a look at all the stalls prepared by us.

Maisarah with her umbrella

Preparing the FEP Expo Stall

ANSARA Taiping 7 : 0 B. B. Bangi Seksyen 3

Today is our second friendly match after Hari Raya and the players really need to improve on their fitness and stamina. Last week we drew 1-1 against B. B. Bangi Seksyen 7 team. This time we are facing their Seksyen 3 brethren. Both our keepers were unavailable for this match so I had the honour to don the gloves. Ilyas and Maisarah were with me because Jo had to attend a charity dinner in the evening. I asked Ilyas to take picture during the match and all the photos above were captured by him. In then end we had an easy game, scoring seven goals past the opponent's keeper and I can't remember when was the last time I kept a clean sheet throughout the match. Well, I'm definitely not complaining.

More house visits during the weekend

After Hafiz's convocation, we visited Madun's house which is situated nearby and met few of our friends there. Then we went back to Bandar Baru Bangi to visit another old friend, Zainuda. My tummy is nearly full by the time we get home and I'd better think fast on ways to keep my BMI on a reasonable level.

Hafizudin's graduation day

Our initial plan for this morning is to show Babah how to get to Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia from Bandar Baru Bangi. Today is the first session of the university's 26th convocation and Hafizudin will be one of the engineering graduands to be given their scrolls by the Sultan of Pahang. When we heard that the ceremony will end by noon, we decided to wait and spend our time exploring the university itself. There were many food and souvenir stalls and there were also lots of exhibition organised by the traders and the students themselves. Ilyas and Maisarah never got tired running and playing around the campus. After the ceremony ends, we took the usual family photos and saying goodbye to them because we still have a long day ahead.

Aizat - Sungai Lui

Farewell dinner for Awa

Awa is going back to the UK in the next morning so we treated him dinner at the Pappa Rich restaurant in Bandar Baru Bangi. Afterwards we took him to see our house as he never went there since he arrived here one day before Hari Raya.