Thomas Cup/Champions League
Malaysia lost in the Thomas Cup semifinals to China, 2-3... Hafiz Hashim was never the rigth guy to depend on for whatever match, whether 2nd singles or 3rd singles. It would have been easy to try and blame Koo-Tan but the fact is that Malaysia's singles veterans are fast losing it. Wong Choong Hann admittedly is a fighter but can't keep pace (and just came back from injury), and the juniors are not quite up to speed yet. But they should still have been given the chance to play and experience the big match, as I said, Hafiz was never really the man once the 21-point system came into play (he excelled only in the 7-point, best of five format).
Manchester United celebrated their 2nd Europeans Champions Cup trophy in 9 years, beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties, with Cristiano Ronaldo making his trademark stop-start run-up to the ball but ultimately unleashing a terrible shot. He had done well early in the game, directing a teasing Patrice Evra cross into the bottom corner of Petr Cech's net, which left the keeper rooted to his spot. Chelsea equalised when a strike (from Essien?) hit two United defenders, and the ball found its way in front of Frank Lampard who lashed home past the stranded (and grounded) Edwin van der Sar. Chelsea who were overshadowed by United in the first half stormed back into the game in the second, and threatened to score on a few occasions, thwarted only by the defensive dominance of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, who in particular made a few timely challenges. Didier Drogba hit the post with a rasping curler from outside the box, and Frank Lampard swivelled inside the box, turning 180 degrees before firing a shot onto the United crossbar. United had had chances in the game too, with Cech denying Carlos Tevez, then Owen Hargreaves, from an incisive counter-attacking move in the first half, and substitute Ryan Giggs saw his slightly chipped shot from the outside of his boot cleared by John Terry's head after receiving a brilliant cutback.
Extra time marked a series of scuffles, in which Didier Drogba was sent off for a slap on Vidic (and credit to the Serbian, he did not clutch his face and fall theatrically to the ground a la Rivaldo, or even Drogba), and (was it?) Ballack got a yellow. Ballack had been missing shots all day, trying from distance more than half a dozen times when passing the ball or holding it up seemed more intelligent options.
The ball was to hit the United woodwork one more time in the match. After Ronaldo's miss, the stage had been all set for Chelsea. Van der Sar had got his hands to two Chelsea penalties but not done enough to deny the goals, and John Terry slipped as he took his shot. Van der Sar went the wrong way, but the ball clipped the outside of the post and went out. Terry did look like he made a good shot, but obviously everyone has made huge light of the fact that he did slip when taking the penalty. Sudden-death penalties were then taken, and fittingly so, Ryan Giggs scored United's last penalty before Anelka's effort was saved by van der Sar, who dived to his right to palm the ball away.
Manchester United celebrated their 2nd Europeans Champions Cup trophy in 9 years, beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties, with Cristiano Ronaldo making his trademark stop-start run-up to the ball but ultimately unleashing a terrible shot. He had done well early in the game, directing a teasing Patrice Evra cross into the bottom corner of Petr Cech's net, which left the keeper rooted to his spot. Chelsea equalised when a strike (from Essien?) hit two United defenders, and the ball found its way in front of Frank Lampard who lashed home past the stranded (and grounded) Edwin van der Sar. Chelsea who were overshadowed by United in the first half stormed back into the game in the second, and threatened to score on a few occasions, thwarted only by the defensive dominance of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, who in particular made a few timely challenges. Didier Drogba hit the post with a rasping curler from outside the box, and Frank Lampard swivelled inside the box, turning 180 degrees before firing a shot onto the United crossbar. United had had chances in the game too, with Cech denying Carlos Tevez, then Owen Hargreaves, from an incisive counter-attacking move in the first half, and substitute Ryan Giggs saw his slightly chipped shot from the outside of his boot cleared by John Terry's head after receiving a brilliant cutback.
Extra time marked a series of scuffles, in which Didier Drogba was sent off for a slap on Vidic (and credit to the Serbian, he did not clutch his face and fall theatrically to the ground a la Rivaldo, or even Drogba), and (was it?) Ballack got a yellow. Ballack had been missing shots all day, trying from distance more than half a dozen times when passing the ball or holding it up seemed more intelligent options.
The ball was to hit the United woodwork one more time in the match. After Ronaldo's miss, the stage had been all set for Chelsea. Van der Sar had got his hands to two Chelsea penalties but not done enough to deny the goals, and John Terry slipped as he took his shot. Van der Sar went the wrong way, but the ball clipped the outside of the post and went out. Terry did look like he made a good shot, but obviously everyone has made huge light of the fact that he did slip when taking the penalty. Sudden-death penalties were then taken, and fittingly so, Ryan Giggs scored United's last penalty before Anelka's effort was saved by van der Sar, who dived to his right to palm the ball away.
posted by cheez~ at
12:44 am
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