Book Review: Match Fixer

Book Title: Match Fixer

Author: Neil Humphreys

What is it about: Unlike the two books that we had introduced before, this is a fiction book. So for those who don’t read biographies of people that you’re not interested and think football statistics are just so boring, this may be the book for you, especially if you are a West Ham fan.

This book tells the story of a young ex-West Ham reserve player, Chris Osbourne, who is trying to bring his football career back on track, at the S-League, the Singaporean League. If this is all the story going to talk about, of course it is not interesting, but it is more than that, it talks about match fixing in Singapore, and also some other part of Southeast Asia: How does the systems work, How is it being fixed, What kind of people are involved. You may be surprised by how deep it has gone into, and yes, this is just a story, but who knows? Everything seems so real. To one point, you may find you telling yourself..hmm..maybe, maybe this is true.

Films Review: Goal! Trilogy

Images via imdb

Film Title: Goal! ; Goal II & Goal III
Cast: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Anna Friel
Synopsis: Think this three films pretty much sum up what a footballer’s life is expected to be. Firstly, you try hard to get into a professional club, then you fight for a place in the first team. Secondly, you move on to a better club, one of the giants and plays in the European stage. Lastly, you play in the World Cup.

Jack Wilshere Answered Us on Twitter

Remember Jack Wilshere had an #AskJack session on Twitter last Thursday? Not sure if you have sent in your questions, but we did! And most importantly, Jack answered two of them!

Picture of The Day: Sergio(s) and Golf

Image via Real Madrid website

We know this is an old picture, but since we are going to a golf course to watch our first ever golf tournament tomorrow, it reminds us of the picture: Ramos playing golf. And this reminds us of Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia, not only because they share the same first name, but Ramos’ full name happens to be Sergio Ramos Garcia. Unfortunately, Sergio Garcia is not going to play in CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia that we are going to watch tomorrow. :P

Rosy Glove Can’t Save Granada

We screamed (in our heart) when we saw this pink glove! They are lovely, aren’t they?

Okay, let’s get back to the topic. I think we shall give Granada an applause for their performance against Barcelona last night. Although we hoped Barca can get that three points to keep the table interesting, we were gutted for this newly promoted La Liga team.

Their performance wasn’t flawless, but they have shown determination in defending one of the best team in the world. They were 10 men down early in the second half, yet they managed to keep Barcelona away from goal. The only goal Barcelona scored last night, was an awesome free-kick by Xavi. If not for referee misjudgement, which mistaken an onside move as offside, Granada could have grabbed one point at home against Barcelona.

In the end, another Granada player, Benitez, got his second yellow and was sent off. Bad news for Barca fans, Pedro picked up an injury in the game and was replaced by David Villa. Hope he can recover soon!

Image via Daylife/GettyImages

Canales Out for Up to Six Months

Image via ValenciaCF Facebook

Sad news to all! Sergio Canales suffers from  knee injury which can take him off the pitch for up to six months. He was forced to leave the field after 37 minutes while facing Athletic Bilbao. Canales is on loan from Real Madrid and has been a regular player in Valencia squad this season. A few players have shown their concern for the player:

A Weekend Full of Surprises

Image via Zimbio/GettyImages

Remember last season there was this weekend when every team at the top of the table lost points? Things only get better in the weekend that just passed, not only teams lost points, but, in a dramatic way!

Picture of The Day: Why Always Me?

Image via Daylife/GettyImage

No one can forget this three words after tonight, “Why Always Me?”, we can’t help but laughed when Balotelli revealed his shirt after scoring the first goal. “Why Always Me?”, the sentence passed our mind again, after Balotelli scored his second goal for City today. “Why Always Me?”, third goal scorer Aguero, forth and sixth goal scorer Dzeko and fifth goal scorer Silva can ask the same question as well, as they always make it to City score sheet. Oh what? We didn’t mention Man Utd lost 1-6 at home? Think everyone should know it by now, and maybe Ferguson can finally feel Arsene Wenger’s pain, now that they are being trashed by their noisy neighbor.

Messi Does Moonwalk Dance

While everyone is looking forward to the Manchester Derby tomorrow and nothing too exciting in the Premier League and La Liga today. Messi can keep you entertained! How? If you play Pro Evolution Soccer (PES 2012), you can look for this goal celebration. Someone posted this on Youtube and Messi does the famous Moonwalk move after scoring a goal, this may be the game producer’s way to pay tribute to pop king Michael Jackson. We really hope to see this in real life! ;)

Picture of The Day: Unite Against Racism

Image via Daylife/GettyImages

To us, THIS is more important than Arsenal scores at the very last minute yesterday; more important than Torres scored two goals last night and ended his Champions League goal drought; more important than Barcelona’s disappointing 2-0 result or any other scorelines in the Champions League.

We still remember the black and white wristband that were released a few years ago, and recent incident between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra apparently raised the racism issue again. We are not going to comment about the incident, whether we think who is right or who is wrong. Although racism does decline in football, it still exist, and we strongly hope that our players can be respected in every way, no matter what is their skin colour. As long as they provide us good football, we are happy! So let’s do what Captain Persie says, ‘Unite Against Racism’.

Abolish Relegation and Promotion System?! Seriously?

 
Image via Zimbio/GettyImages

According to BBC Sports, League Managers Association (LMA) chief Richard Bevan said that several foreign owners of Premier League clubs wants to abolish relegation and promotion system, which means no more relegation or promotion in England Leagues! The first word we can think of after reading the news is, Ridiculous! We can’t begin to imagine a league without relegation and promotion, at the same time we don’t share these owners’ concern on how much money they may lose due to relegation, because:

Picture of The Day: V For Victory

Image via AP/Daylife

'Two! I will score two today!'

Missing Out BIG Times…

Image via Zimbio/GettyImages

Okay, let’s see what we had missed last week. We missed the exciting last game day of Euro 2012 Qualifiers. Failed to witness our Spain team secured all 24 points in the group stage and goes into finals with their head held high without losing a single game in the qualifying!

We missed the play-off draws of Euro 2012, not because we are too busy but indeed last week was one of the least productive week for us in months, as I was sick and spent most of my time on my bed, or next to the toilet bowl, so we were unable to provide you with the latest news in the football world. We are deeply sorry about that! But since my body was complaining about not getting enough attention from me, I decided to get more rest and did as little as I can last week.

Tevez Back to West Ham?

We were skeptical about the rumor when we first heard of it, but according to Soccernet, the Hammers looks interested in the Argentine and will soon make an official bid to take the striker back to Upton Park, on a loan deal.

Tevez did spend some good times with the Hammers and helped the Championship team escaped relegation during his first season in the Premier League. Despite his discipline problems, Tevez will definitely be a good addition to the team in getting them back to the Premier League and played for the team before will reduce his time to settle down with the Hammers. The only problem remains will be Tevez salary which West Ham obviously cannot afford, therefore will City be happy to loan the player away but still pay for his salary just to get Tevez’s problems off their hands for awhile, when they are looking for clubs who can pay for a permanent deal? Or will they let him stay and continue having all sort of dramas?



What do you say, City fans? And Hammers fans, do you want to see Tevez back in Upton Park?

Image via Zimbio/GettyImages

Eye Mou: For You to Master Poking Eyes

Wants to be in an iPhone game? Very easy, just start poking eyes in a live football match for the world to see, like what the famous Mourinho did.

iPhone just released a new game called Eye Mou. What goes around comes around, in this game you can poke Mourinho’s eyes as much as you want! As a revenge for Barca assistant coach.

Feature: My Kind of Football

How would you answer, if someone ask you ‘What is football’? Will you say, ‘Football is 22 people chase after a ball, and try to get the ball at the back of the net’? If this is your answer, there are two problems in this statement. Firstly, there are 23 people chasing a ball, including the referee, but to be precise, there are usually just 21 people chasing the ball, because the goalkeepers do not ‘chase’ after the ball. However, today I am not going to teach you about football.

Sometimes, I get offended when people said to me, ‘You ONLY know about football.’ I hope you don’t see football as ‘only’ football, because there are clearly a lot of things in football and the word ‘only’ just not wide enough to include them. If a person sees football only as a ball being kicked around, obviously he doesn’t have a clue about football. If you see football as a sport, sorry, you do not know enough about football as well. Football world is like a network, and you can connect it to anything you want.

Rooney Father Taken into Custody

Image via Daylife/Reuters 

Wayne Rooney senior, Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney's father, was arrested with two other family members, for an investigation into suspicious betting activity, reported by ESPN.

Guess this will more or less affect Rooney's performance, the footballer will have to face Montenegro tomorrow, representing England in the Euro qualifying. Probably journalists have already prepared plenty of questions for Rooney to answer.


Hope we can hear more news about dad Rooney very soon.

All The Way Back to Football: The Story of Citizen Player, Michael Campion

Most people use the amount of money they earn, to measure their success in career, but this does not apply to Michael Campion, a footballer playing for The Citizen Athletic Association Limited, a club in Hong Kong bma 1^st Division Football League.

There is a connection between Campion and football ever since he could remember. ‘Since I was old enough to stand up is probably the correct answer, but I first started getting proper coaching when I was around seven or eight years old.’ His father was the first person who brought him to the field and this connection has never been broken.

Unlike other English kids who could be able to begin their football career at early age, being born and raised in Hong Kong had given Campion a different kind of pressure. ‘Education is very important for old parents, my parents really wanted me to go to university and get a proper education first,’ Campion explained. So despite went for trials at England clubs like Derby County and Nottingham Forest at age 16, he did not sign for any of them. ‘When you were age 16, you didn’t know what you want, but I could have maybe put up more of a fight,’ a bit of regret was there in Campion’s voice, now ten years later, he knows that was the thing that he should have fought for.

10 Days in Hong Kong: With Plenty of Football

We know we were gone for a long time, having fun in our hometown but now we are back from holiday and everything will resume to normal. Blog will be updated regularly according to schedule, from Monday to Thursday, then Saturday and Sunday. 

Here we are going to share what we have done in our ten days holiday, it began with an amazing wedding filled with Manchester United. Our friends Bob and Karen finally tied the knot and present us with a wedding full of Manchester United, as the two were both United fans and knew each other because of their love for United! Congrats again to the lovely couple! =)