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Not staying up for soccer

I am back from one soccer-crazy country to one where some people fancy it's a soccer-crazy country. More about the trip itself later but a bit on soccer now. And probably I will have not much more (or maybe I will have nothing more) to say about soccer. My days of soccer-watching were over when the playing days of Marco van Basten and Paolo Rossi were over.

I believe there are times when people think that Singapore soccer can make it but I'm sorry to say that I think it's just a dream. Patriotism aside (and I'm one of those kids who was glued to the radio for every Malaysia Cup live commentary back in the 70s and early 80s), I don't know how we can hope to beat countries which are really and truly soccer-mad. When you drive past villages in Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand, you see kids running around kicking the ball (or playing sepak takraw). I don't really see that kind of thing here.

In Thailand, the opener between Germany and Costa Rica was telecast live on EVERY SINGLE local channel. And EVERY SINGLE match will be telecast live on at least one channel.

Now for the downside. I read a couple of articles about the huge number of Thai students (sec school age and older) who are gambling on World Cup matches and the consequences of them doing so. I know some people think nothing of 'minor', 'harmless' football betting but I think no matter how small you bet, there is always the chance that you will do it again, and that you will bet 'bigger'. And I'll bet our sec school age and older students are also engaging in this type of 'harmless' betting.

So anyway, I'm back and therefore will not be watching live matches since there is no soccer craze in this house and we are not paying any extra subscription for those channels.

Anyhow, I was glad not to miss the men's and women's French Open finals. I was also glad that Nadal won.
I'm not a fan of his or anything but he is a tough and hard working player, and he is better than Federer on clay. Actually, I would have preferred to see Nalbandian play Nadal but too bad he had to retire from the semi-final match. Thought he was playing well. I wonder how he would have fared. I mean, we have watched Federer versus Nadal a few times so for a change, charging-bull-like Nalbandian versus charging-bull-like Nadal might have been interesting.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
my husband was a huge fan of marco van basten. up till today, he still tells me about his greatness with such passion! yah, the pay per view thingy by starhub is sick! how to pursue sg soccer dream when u dun even have such a big event free on national tv?!there's basically no support, or rather, very superficial support for excellence in sports by the authorities.
dee from royal leisure
7:13 pm
Anonymous said…
Dee,
Fancy that, another van Basten fan! How is he as a coach? I haven't been following his 'new' career.

Chang Beer (local company) is sponsoring the telecast in Thailand. Don't know why there's no willing sponsor here.
11:06 am
Anonymous said…
according to my husband, he was just a so so coach as ajax. so now he is considered as an inexperienced and unproven coach for the national team. the only "courageous" thing he did, (which could work for him or against him) was to drop the big names in his world cup team, as they have proven to be disruptive in previous major games. my husband likes it that he is brave enough to do this and give the opportunities to new younger potentials.

for our country, i think it's very justifiable for the govt to sponsor a sports channel on national tv since they always say they want sg to excel in sports! once "sports" become the way of life, it won't be difficult to find a sponsor.
dee from royal leisure
10:42 pm
Anonymous said…
What about Tiger Beer and Singapore Pools as sponsors?
2:53 pm
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