A New World Cup Champion

Spain has won the 2010 World Cup!! Not only are they World Champions for the first time but they are also the first European side to win the World Cup outside of the continent. Spain are also the Euro 2008 Champions. This makes them the third team to hold both titles after West Germany and France.

I managed to watch it on TV1 (Malaysian local TV network) with my son. He fell asleep not long after the match started. I watched it for awhile and it watched me for quite sometime. I woke up again to catch a bit more of it but I ended up being watched by it. Then I woke up just in time to watch the extra time. And the goal. I thought Spain was a bit lucky to get the goal. It could have easily gone the other way as there was an infringement right before the goal. Unlucky Holland for not being awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box? Maybe. Third time unlucky for them. Would have been nice if they won the World Cup on the third attempt. Anyways, we will have to wait and see who will be crowned champion in 4 years time.

FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa

June and July is World Cup fever! 32 teams vying for the World Champion title, the right to lift the coveted Julius Rimet trophy. The right to be called The World Champion!!

Group matches were semi exciting. A few matches lit up the stage with a few upsets here and there. South Korea beat Greece, a former European Champions, Japan beat Cameroon, Switzerland beat Spain, the reigning European Champions, Mexico beat France, Germany lost to minnow Serbia, New Zealand drew mighty Italy, France lost to South Africa, another minnow, Slovakia beat Italy and Japan beat Denmark. France and Italy were sent home packing with their tails between their legs! England barely made it to the Last 16 but USA deserved to be in the last 16. South Korea and Japan went through with some great performance especially the 30 yard free kick goal from Honda!. Slovakia was the surprised package of the Last 16. Some gutsy performance from them.

The Last 16 round was good. Uruguay vs South Korea, USA vs Ghana, Germany vs England, Argentina vs Mexico, Netherlands vs Slovakia, Brazil vs Chile, Paraguay vs Japan and Spain vs Portugal. A few mouth watering encounters especially Germany vs England and Spain vs Portugal. I was rooting for a few teams. South Korea, Japan and North Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, Spain and England. Yes I know. Why England u ask? Well, I have no idea except for the fact that I have an affinity for them since I was young. Must be all those growing up with English Football on the telly. Well..South Korea lost Uruguay 2 - 1.The South Koreans can leave South Africa with their heads held high as they have performed very well. Ghana gunned down the US Mavericks. No last minute goal from them. Germany swept England aside with a pathetic 4 - 1 margin. Never mind the fact that one blatant goal that went in a yard from the goal line! Both referee and linesman were blind! German was superior in one way or another. Argentina easily went past Mexico. Tevez scored two goals - one from a blatant offside position and a legit one. The Netherlands entertained one of the surpised package in the Last 16 - Slovakia. It was a close one with the Oranje nicking it 2 -1 to go  thorough to the Last 8. Brazil made light work of Chile by cruising to a 3 - 0 win. Japan played to a 0 - 0 draw with Paraguay after extra time. They eventually lost in the first penalty shoot-out of the tournament (I thought they were unlucky to lose). Spain narrowly beat Portugal 1 - 0. On to the last 8.

Last 8 match up. Netherlands vs Brazil - the final that that was two matches early. The first goal was a gem - a through pass that by-pass all the Oranje defenders and a goal for the Samba boys. Oranje scored an equaliser and then an own goal by Brazil. That pretty much sums up the game. Brazil lost 2 -1 and went back home early. No samba celebrations this time. Up next, Uruguay vs Ghana. Played to a draw and a blatant handball that prevented Ghana from scoring was ignored. Amateur referee refereeing a high profile match. They lost 4 - 2 in the second penalty shoot-out of the tournament. A real heart-breaker and injustice for Ghana. The second final was between Germany and Argentina and a close contest was anticipated. However, that all fizzled out as soon as the Germans scored their first goal in the 4th minute. They finally cruised to a 4 - 0 win. Like Brazil, they are sent home packing in a rude awakening. Spain played Paraguay and struggled to beat them. One penalty each for both sides, both missed before Spain scored in the 83rd minute, the only goal of the match,.to go through to the semi-finals.

The Semi-Finals. First up, Netherlands vs Uruguay. A 3 - 2 thriller. The Oranje are in their third finals since being the losing finalist in both the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals. A 12 year gap. We now have to wait for Spain vs Germany game to see who will be in the finals to contest the right to lift up the Julius Rimet trophy. 

A lot of things happened in June.

First, was the Penang International Junior Open which was held from 1st - 5th June 2010 at the Penang International Squash Center, Bukit Dumbar. I wasn't involved with it this year as it coincide with school days. I only managed to go there after work which is about 4.30 pm like that. Most of the interesting matches had finished by then. It was still good as I got to meet some of my local and overseas friends. Only two players training under me participated but they did not do so well. The Penang girls swept all the girls title except GU13. None of the Penang boys won any titles but they did put in a credible performance.I think Max was the best performer in the boys category. My son Julian did not do so well in the BU11 category but it was a great experience for him. Hope he plays better next time.

The Milo All Star was right after the Penang Junior Open. It was held from 7th - 12th June 2010 at Astaka Squash Court, Petaling Jaya.. I went down with the Penang team as one of the officials. My job was to take the rest of the players who were not participating in SUKMA (the Malaysian Games) back to Penang. This is my first outing for a tournament in 2 years since I moved to Penang. It felt kinda awkward as it has been a long time I took a team for a tournament but I felt relax throughout the tournament as I was not in charge of the team. On the first day, I went for breakfast at a stall near the squash court and had 3 packets of nasi lemak and a glass of teh tarik!! Simply delicious..yummy!! On the second day, I had 6 packets!! Just could not resist!! Lunch was mostly at a row of shops about 10 mins walk from the Crystal Crown Hotel. Not a bad hotel actually. Dinner was mostly at Restaurant Ok, near the Hilton. Food there is great. Fully recommended. After dinner are team meetings.Review of the days matches, the next matches, who is playing who, what time going to the courts etc. Penang had two players who reached the final - Low Wee Nee in the GU 19 and Vanessa Raj who competed in the GU17. Wee Nee was crown Champion while Vanessa managed a Runner's Up position.

School holidays was from during the 2nd and 3rd week of June. I worked during the 2nd week of the holidays, so that was not enjoyable. I had to work five and a half days at school. So I spend my time downloading worksheets for my English classes. Found tons of it. Thank god for internet. School reopens on the 4th week of June. Did not feel like going back to school on the first day but what to do. We got to do what we got to do. Uneventful week.

14 June was my wife's birthday!! We went to El Mundo's, one of my wife's favourite restaurants, to celebrate her birthday. Scrumptious dishes we had indeed.

On the June 23, my son went for CIMB Rising Star in Kuching, Sarawak. He flew back on 28th June at 11 pm. He managed to maintain his ranking - 11th placing.

June 25th, my wife went back to Sabah to attend a cousin's wedding and came back on 27th June.. She went alone. Know what that means? It means I had my notorious super hyper-active 24 hours bunny Duracell battery son, Aidan Archer. I had to take leave because nobody can babysit him. One look at him and people are scred hahahaha. So I took leave on 26th June to look after him and I had to find other coaches to take my squash classes or cancelled them. However, it was really great looking after him. I enjoyed it very much. We bond during those 3 days together. I fed him, bathe him, made milk for him and putting him to sleep. He like the song : "This is the way Aidan go to school...". I will always have to find different ideas to sing....I sang it to him when he wakes up, when he takes his bath, when I am trying to put him to sleep. Every time I finished one verse, he would say moreee with the cutest voice and smile. He loves to watch his Hi-5, so I always put it on for him. It is also to keep him occupied so that he doesn't disturb me doing my work at the computer. It didn't work. He would watch for awhile and then come over and want to sit on my lap and put his toys on my computer table, near the keyboard, making it difficult to type. Sometimes he would come over and just hugs my hand. It just makes me melt.

Well, that is all for now. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. Should I update once a week or once a month? Hmm..time to ponder..