Another Victory Over The Argies

Sven-Goran Eriksson's men's performance on last Saturday evening against Argentina sent a strong signal to the rest of the world that England will be one of the major contenders for the World Cup 2006 in Germany. It was a colossal match, both teams putting their finest display, only that the Lady Luck smiled on Michael Owen to deliver the killing blow at stoppage time at the end of the game. With this match, England has once again defeated the mighty Argentina for the second time in a row in an international meeting since their last meeting at the World Cup 2002 in Korea-Japan. While the last meeting was decided by David Beckham's 'revenge' penalty kick, this time it was decided by Owen's header. While almost everyone thought that the match would end up as an entertaining draw, one should never conclude the outcome of the match until the final whistle. Take another example of the Euro 2004 match between England and France and you will know what I mean.

Festive Season

One can tell that the festive season is already happening with the noisy and distracting but somewhat welcoming waves of fireworks in the night sky. Though they lack the grandeur and intensity of those prior to welcoming the new year or the Merdeka special, it is easy to be mistaken that it is the Chinese New Year celebration instead of the Deeparaya. As we Malaysians live in a multicultural, multiracial society, we tend to share the excitement and the festive mood together even though some of us do not actually celebrate some of the festivals. The irony that fireworks are played during Deepavali and Hari Raya(and even Christmas!) serve one fine example. Anyway, wishing all Hindus in Malaysia a Happy Deepavali and all Muslims in Malaysia Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri..............and now where's the lighter and my pack of Moon Travellers?

Hail King Phillips!

For the first time in 7 meetings in the English Premier League, Aston Villa have finally defeated their Midlands nemesis, Birmingham City, thanks to a superb Kevin Phillips strike in the 19th minute. It was shown live on Astro SuperSports at 7 pm, which I would have catch it had not been my grandma's birthday dinner at a simple decent Chinese restaurant at the same time. Though football is my passion and especially since the team that I have been supporting since I was 7 would be playing that time in an important derby clash with the Blues, I'd still perform my filial duties first :) By the time the reunion gathered over my aunt's place, the match was over and I could only catch several seconds of the Manchester City-West Ham match. It was only through my brother's GPRS-enabled mobile phone that I got to know that Villa won.

Kevin Phillips, a former England international, has been impressive since donning Villa colours. Past statistics have shown that he's been known to be the match-winner in derby clashes, notably during his days with Sunderland and Southampton. Now with Villa, he has done it again. Hope with this victory, the Villans will start climbing the Premiership ladder and fight for a place in Europe. Many things can happen in the next 29 games!

No More Credit Card Facility at Petrol Kiosks?

It's being a happening topic lately that the petrol stations will be discontinuing the credit card payment facility due to the decreasing affordability of the stations to bear the service charges levied by the banks. I don't know how this idea popped up but I only knew about it over Mix.FM Morning Breakfast Show by Richard and Shaz couple of mornings ago.

Several members of the public had voiced out their sheer disapproval that it's really gonna be hugely inconvenient for the many lot of us who chose the card to avoid the queue, or saving the cash in hand for other purposes.

I for one is a regular user of the credit card payment facility as my reason is just like anyone else's: convenience. Though it is arguable that fraud is an absolute possibility here, it doesn't make any difference if you were to go shopping at a nearby department store using a credit card, or if you ever were to shop online.

So how? Just put it this way: Banks should place consumer interest first and their profitability second. I understand that banks levy charges on petrol kiosks for providing the credit card payment facility as one of their services. If wouldn't be a surprise if the kiosks owners cringe on seeing a customer swiping her credit card to top up petrol into her car cos they will have to bear the service charges. Banks & the kiosks owners association (can't remember the association's official name) would have to work out something. Discontinuing the card payment facility is one major step backwards on the increasing significance of customer service......................and don't tell me they eventually gonna start thinking of shifting the charges to customers to bear instead! :X

Did Beckham-sama Deserve The Red?

I watched the England vs Austria World Cup qualifying match last night with enthusiasm and faith that Sven-Goran Eriksson's men will thrash the out-of-sync and managerless Austrian team at Old Trafford, home of David Beckham's former team, Manchester United. Just as what he did in the last two matched with his current club Real Madrid, playing as right flank pounding lethal crosses towards opponent's territory for either Crouch or Owen to pick it up and deliver the goals. It was Mr. Dependable, Frank Lampard who smacked the goal from the penalty spot.

And then the unexpected came. Beckham was judged to have fouled Austrian defender Andreas Ibertsberger in an aerial challenge and was given a yellow card. Then about 30 seconds later, he was controversially sent off after he was judged to have fouled the same player with a last-second restrained challenge, and left Ibertsberger on the ground 'grimacing' in pain. I thought the yellow card was harsh. Beckham jumped with his hands down and tried to head the ball, not the man. Then I thought the red card was even harsher. At the very moment, I knew Beckham knew that it's gonna cost him if he were to stick a leg out to challenge Ibertsberger for the ball, and he didn't. It was just a contact of the Austrian's boot and Beckham's knee.

It is time for video refereeing to be implemented for soccer, at least on such international occassion like the World Cup. Too many controversial decisions had been made, and will be made.