Post Chelsea Samsung Asia Tour friendly vs Malaysia

The match between Malaysia vs. Chelsea yesterday kicks-off at approximately 8.45pm. I parked my car at the Tesco hypermarket not far from the stadium. It just takes me & my sis less than 15mins to walk to the stadium but its worth escaping the massive traffic jam & double parking at the parking lot near the sidewalk by the roadside.

(With my sis at the Shah Alam Stadium that night)

For the 1st time I’ve experience having being surrounded by 45,000 Blues fans gathering at one time at the same place. Not bad at all. Compared to their visits in 2003 where there’s only about 5,000 – 10,000 Blues fans attended the FAPL Asia Cup at Bukit Jalil in July 2003. The Blues have definitely established & expanded their Asian fans here & I’m damn proud of it.

(Malaysia's Amirulhadi dribbles past John Terry)

Malaysia played well yesterday eventhough we lost 2-0 to the English giant. It’s a match known to many as the David vs. Goliath when Malaysia currently ranked 166th according to the FIFA statistics (June 2008) while Chelsea FC ended runner-up in English Premier League 07/08, UEFA Champions League & English League Cup last season.

(Anelka high-fived Terry after scoring the 1st goal for Chelsea)

Chelsea’s (No.39) French striker Nicolas Anelka breaking the deadlock by scoring at the 26th minute during the 1st half passing by defender Norhafiz Zamani & goalkeeper Mohd Helmi while their English Defender (No.3) Ashley Cole scored in the 54th minute on the 2nd half. However, I must say that Malaysia defended their half very well to avoid more damage being done to their side. I guess they’re being motivated by ‘do anything to prevent conceded’ attitude. After all losing 2-0 is not that bad compared to our last meeting when we lost 4-1 to them. We even lost 2-0 to Arsenal during their visit in 1999 and a whooping 6-0 with Man Utd in 2001, and 4-0 to Birmingham City in 2003.

(Ashley Cole reacts after scoring the 2nd goal for Chelsea)

At the end of the game, it was announced that (No.8) Frank Lampard won the Man of the Match (MOM) award. I saw at cardboard held by Frank that the MOM award-winner will get the latest Samsung handphone PDA like? Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that’s what I saw. With regard to the MOM award, I think the ones that deserve it should have been the Malaysian goalkeeper Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias because he manage to block & save crucial shot by Deco’s volley, Anelka’s, Essien’s & Terry’s shot-on-target. Maybe the award was to make Chelsea’s ‘fan-favourite’ to stay longer at Stamford Bridge? Remember this, when we held the pro-beach soccer at Batu Buruk, Terrengganu last time Eric Cantona won the MOM award w/out even laying 1 goal on the opposition’s net!

(In front of the Chelsea-Adidas official merchandise booth)

After the match ended, I decided to pay a visit to the Chelsea FC official booth which sells all sorts of merchandise. There were lots of people who wanted to buy the merchandise but there were only about 3 staffs attended to the throng of customers there. (2 at the counter 1 checking the stocks) While I was waiting patiently queuing up to be serve…there were some Malaysians who take the opportunity to steal some merchandise including the keychains & 1 white training CFC jersey. There was nothing that I can do, it all happens so fast. But I can tell that those snatchers look like some desperate uneducated & unethical mat-pit of mat-rempits who takes an advantage on the sellers. I waited there for 15mins and since none the staffs were able to entertain me, I decide to walk off the jammed-packed area w/out buying anything.

(Celebrating with other Chelsea FC fans right after the game)

Anyway, I really enjoyed the night. Although I missed the opportunity to go to Pavillion’s Adidas store at Kuala Lumpur the day earlier to meet the players. Seeing them on field is enough to satisfy my Chelsea footy enthusiasm. I wish I’ll get to go to Stamford Bridge in the near future…hopefully during my brother’s graduation sometime in 2010 Insyallah @ God’s willing.

Thank you Chelsea FC for your memorable visit of the pre-season friendly match & congratulations to the Malaysia Team for yesterdays’ best effort against The Blues. All the best for the next month’s Merdeka Cup @ Pestabola Merdeka football competition!