MAS vs MAN UTD

Ok... where do we start from here, or how do we start from here rather.. When we talk about the above subject, which apparently was a football's friendly match played by one of the biggest name in world football (if not 'the' greatest name in world football) against one of the minnows of world football (we certainly not 'the' minnow of world football, we still have nations like Afghanistan, Djibouti and Cook Islands playing catch ups, the only difference is they don't have a 100,000-seater stadiums while we have 2, so do you get it??!!..), so the obvious question will be, who got to benefit it more from the other?

Some people say its our team, the Young Tigers so they called it, because we ought to gain experience playing against a top quality football team from Europe, who happened to be a back to back Champions League finalist and who also happened to triump in one of those 2 finals (I hope you guys don't mind me describing 'that team' the way i did, i just couldn't sink it deep enough to ignore that i am one their big fan....). But did the Young Tigers really got to learn anything playing in that match? It could be a yes and a no.. A yes for a start because i think they played really well, notwithstanding the fact that the visiting team was not playing their normal, highly charged, high tempo game (there you go again..) they normally associated with. Also notwithstanding the fact that the visiting team was playing a 'safe' game whereby they wouldn't lunged on 50-50 balls or made any tackles so as to protect, not the team they played against but to protect themselves, because no point of getting your i-got-paid-120,000 pounds-a-week self injured in a rather meaningless friendly match and miss the whole of the upcoming season (i wouldn't complain if it were me, not at all..) The Tigers passed the ball well, they ran the ball well, they defended well, they tracked their markers well, and well they even scored 2 goals (that rarely happen when they are playing against a European or South American teams, remember Brazil 2002?) So to put it into footballing perspective, these guys (the Tigers that is) can play football. You can argue about the size, yes no doubt the Europeans are bigger that us, but those are minor issues that, given time and dedicated programs, can be dealt with. Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford in 2003 from S Lisbon and did you guys noticed how small of a figure he was back then? But through a very good diet programs, he became as athletic as you could ever imagine for somebody who plays football, and through it come speed, stamina and so on and so forth.

It will also be a 'no' because after what they had performed in the last two games, if they fail to produce that same energy and mind sets on their next game against whoever it is, i bet you they'll get screwed from their bottom up to their head, oh for sure it will happen, just like what happened in the past, because the mentality will never be changed, not just of the players and football associations alike, also the mentality of the people of this lovely nation. We're hoping for a change and hope is what we'll get, because we will forever ponder whether and when the hope will be turned into reality, and for sure it's not gonna happen overnight...

I love football so much and i dream of watching my own national team staying consistantly competitive year in year out, don't mind the world cups, even a great footballing nation like England couldn't guarantee their participations in every WC editions. But so long as no drastic actions are taken to try to improve our own footballing standards, like i mentioned above, hope is only what i'll get..