We trotted, in a sea of red, our way to, probably and hopefully for real this time, the final National match at the Grand Old Lady. The atmosphere, in the stadium and outside after the win, was ecstatic. I remember the last time I went for a National match at Kallang was way back in the Malaysia Cup days, Singapore vs Johor. Lim Tong Hai, Fandi Ahmad, Malek Awab, David Lee, V Sundramoorthy, Abbas Saad, Alister Edward, Steven Tan, just to name a few familiar players. Today everyone lived up to that spirit once again with the trademark Kallang Roar and Kallang Wave. Even the Thai supporters joined in the wave! That's the charm of the beautiful game, easing recent political tension between the two countries, for a moment.
The first leg of Asean Cup 2007 Finals, Singapore vs Thailand, was certainly full of incidents. The referee from our traditional soccer rival country was promptly hurled with jeers when he was introduced. Thankfully he proved to be less biased as we expected. Of cuz, he was continuously hurled with more verbal abuse throughout the match. With the usual "Referee Kayu!" and "beep-beep beep-beep-beep butoh", the spectators united and cheered for our country. Fun and patriotic! For those who don't understand Malay, "kayu" means "stupid" and "butoh" is a rather offensive word which you can wiki for the meaning. =p Early in the game, as early as the first five seconds, the Thai players were falling like bowling pins! Yes, the first fell while he was still in the center circle after kickoff. And several of them were stretched off throughout the match. Tough day in the office for the medics! Perhaps the Lions were playing too fierce and rough? I wouldn't know. There was no instant replay and they were too far to be seen clearly. But the very least, we were able to join in the jeers and cheers and stood to point fingers whenever we wanted!
We sat on the goal side of the South gallery and were blessed with one goal from each team at each half of the game. Although in the second half we wished we had seen less actions on our side as our National team was defending from our side. Nevertheless, the goals and the Thai corners were entertaining. You will probably read all about the match in tomorrow's papers. Singapore beat Thailand 2-1. So I will leave the exciting report of the matchplay to the journalist. But I have to mention the weird incident at the final minutes of the game when the Thai team walked outta the pitch for nearly twenty minutes. They seemed to be unhappy over some decision... Not very good sportsmanship. It ended with a beautiful penalty that gave Singapore the win. Right at the top right corner of the goal, nothing the keeper could have done!
Next leg in Bangkok. Probably tough match ahead for the Lions. But a win is still a win. And tonight we will celebrate our victory. The last Kallang Roar in the old stadium. Ole ole ole ole! Ole ole! Hoy hoy hoy!
Oh btw, the only souvenir I have from the Kallang National Stadium is this ticket stub.
And some great memories from my younger days there which I will probably try to recall in another entry someday...
The first leg of Asean Cup 2007 Finals, Singapore vs Thailand, was certainly full of incidents. The referee from our traditional soccer rival country was promptly hurled with jeers when he was introduced. Thankfully he proved to be less biased as we expected. Of cuz, he was continuously hurled with more verbal abuse throughout the match. With the usual "Referee Kayu!" and "beep-beep beep-beep-beep butoh", the spectators united and cheered for our country. Fun and patriotic! For those who don't understand Malay, "kayu" means "stupid" and "butoh" is a rather offensive word which you can wiki for the meaning. =p Early in the game, as early as the first five seconds, the Thai players were falling like bowling pins! Yes, the first fell while he was still in the center circle after kickoff. And several of them were stretched off throughout the match. Tough day in the office for the medics! Perhaps the Lions were playing too fierce and rough? I wouldn't know. There was no instant replay and they were too far to be seen clearly. But the very least, we were able to join in the jeers and cheers and stood to point fingers whenever we wanted!
We sat on the goal side of the South gallery and were blessed with one goal from each team at each half of the game. Although in the second half we wished we had seen less actions on our side as our National team was defending from our side. Nevertheless, the goals and the Thai corners were entertaining. You will probably read all about the match in tomorrow's papers. Singapore beat Thailand 2-1. So I will leave the exciting report of the matchplay to the journalist. But I have to mention the weird incident at the final minutes of the game when the Thai team walked outta the pitch for nearly twenty minutes. They seemed to be unhappy over some decision... Not very good sportsmanship. It ended with a beautiful penalty that gave Singapore the win. Right at the top right corner of the goal, nothing the keeper could have done!
Next leg in Bangkok. Probably tough match ahead for the Lions. But a win is still a win. And tonight we will celebrate our victory. The last Kallang Roar in the old stadium. Ole ole ole ole! Ole ole! Hoy hoy hoy!
Oh btw, the only souvenir I have from the Kallang National Stadium is this ticket stub.
Comments