The Manchester United - AFC Schmozzle...Malaysian Idiocy

So the Malaysian government's huff and puff strategy looks to have finally blown the AFC house down...MU will come to Malaysia during the Asian Championship-after all, as MU proudly declare, Malaysia is its 2nd home, and Malaysia is proud to have MU over to help celebrate its ...wait for it...50TH YEAR OF INDEPENDENCE!!!

Aaah, the nationalist Malay dominated Malaysian government-the same one which won't allow the Singaporean airforce to use its airspace, the same one which disallows dual citizenship, the same one that insists that its citizens not ape foreign cultures but follow its own, the same one that continues to pursue rent-seeking, urban middle-class Malay welfare, the same one that rants and raves against Western imperialism despite their silent support of the Sudanese government (ask Petronas what it is doing there)...yes them, they need MU over to celebrate Malaysian independence (nevermind that it'll actually be 44 years, not 50, but who are we to quibble over 6 years, eh?).

Upon becoming the Asian Championship co-host Malaysia (via the Football Association of Malaysia [FAM]) agreed not to anything detrimental to the cause of supporting the showpiece of Asian football, and this included not organising any high profile matches on its shores during the duration of the championship. But of course $$ talks, and MU can bring lots of money to Malaysian shores, not least with all the MU fans heading in from Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta and probably Khartoum. It's Visit Malaysia Year 2007, if you haven't noticed already, with all the advertising on the Old Trafford hoardings this season. So why not sideline a binding agreement then? Why not indeed...

Malaysian football is now a joke-everything's a mess and nothing will improve till the administration gets a shake-up. The FAM is as unaccountable to the AFC as Mugabe is to his parliament. It cares not a jot what the AFC thinks, it will do the bidding of the government. I cannot wait till FIFA decides that governmental interference has occurred and suspends FAM before the championships get underway. Imagine the national shame and humiliation when the co-host is barred from participating in the event. But any news is good news, so I assume bad news will only draw more tourists to the beaches of Malaysia then?

This is truly the death of football in Malaysia-we got it all; governmental interference, administrative incompetence, an angry rising giant willing to show its claws (no, not China, but the AFC). For this Malaysia will pay the ultimate price. The AFC will not forget this slight in a hurry...but nevermind, clear the decks, MU's in town!!! They will happily help Malaysia celebrate National Day on 27 July...yahoo!!! Nevermind that the country is planning to do the same...on 31 August...

Visit malaysia Year-come one, come all, watch how the asylum conducts itself when the doctors are out...

Barcelona v Chelsea - A Disgrace of a Game

Anyone not a Barca or Chelsea fan (and probably them too) must have been embarrassed at what transpired as an excuse for a football match early this morning. What a disgrace watching multi-millionaires cheating, diving, and whingeing at every given opportunity. As early as the 3rd minute we have Cashley Cole diving, and near the end I thought Terry should have been applauded for kicking the ball at Deco rather than been booked after his 'fall' from a Ballack 'tackle'.

Fantastic players and all we witnessed was petulant behaviour-what a joke!!! I'm sure the ref will be blamed by all and sundry (the coaches already have) but what can he do when everyone around him have no intentions of playing fair? Messi already made clear of that when he said players will do everything to win, and it's up to refs to police that. The real culprits are Rijkaard and Mourinho - and both teams should be kicked out of the competition just for being jackasses. if that's football, god help us all.

Mind you, 4 great goals when both sides bothered to play football, and I thought a very fair result at the end of the day. The only postive from this is that surely Barca v Werder Bremen will be a clasisc encounter between 2 sides that can play wonderful football. I hope it doesn't end up like this disgraceful match though.