Football (Might)­­ Comes Home

“Revenge is a funny thing…”

No wonder if all Englishman and fans of Three Lions around the world are on cloud nine following England’s superb triumph against Croatia in Wembley Stadium last night. That has put Capello Babes officially qualified on World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The pain has been cured, when all Englishman cried lamenting their failure two years ago. As we know, Croatia vanquished England in the Wembley rain to sweep them out of Euro 2008 and Steve McClaren out of a job. And now, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard scored two goals each to exact their own personal revenge for that horrible night. Eduardo scored no more than consolation goal in 73 minutes, and then Wayne Rooney adding another near the end. England blew Croatia’s chance to lead Group 6 by beating them five goals to one!

English Premier League Still The Best

There’s just one day left to end the transfer window this summer. Still, any possibilities can be occurred in 24 hours ahead. Recent major transfer display out two Ex-Real Madrid’s Dutchman Wesley Sneijder & Arjen Robben’s transfer saga. Sneijder finally agrees to join Inter Milan for 5 years contract while Robben has moved to Bayern Muenchen in undisclosed deal. The last name above even just made a very impressive debut by scoring twice against Wolfsburg and led The Bavarian to beat that Bundesliga title holder three goals to nil. Meanwhile in the other saga, Manchester City have also strengthened their defense by signing English international center-back Joleon Lescott from Everton. Another “not needed” player of Real Madrid Rafael Van der Vaart also has a chance to leave Santiago Bernabeu after ruling out from 25 registered players for La Liga this season.

Ferguson Must Ready For Their Title Drought

“That has always been the case here at the club. When you lose the last game of the season you have two or three months to reflect on the disappointment. We have not enjoyed that. But we will cope and bounce back.”

Sir Alex Ferguson

The summer transfer window has yet to close. We still have about three weeks left to come to the deadline. Many hot transfers have been signed. The world transfer record even has been broken by 80 million pounds Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid & Manchester City (till I wrote this article) is the club with the most expenditure to sign new comers. Serie A has again lost their super star Zlatan Ibrahimovich due to a swap deal for Samuel Eto’o. Flamboyant striker Andrei Arshavin promises a bright future to Arsenal who have lost Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City. David Villa can leave Mestalla in the right price. Again, it’s a very great movement in the current economic climate, where many lower league clubs are struggling to even survive, let alone compete in the transfer market. I really enjoy it!!! It’s none of my business if all the big arrivals won’t improve the quality of players in the domestic country. However, La Liga as the most stunning domestic league after Kaka, Ibra, & Ronaldo’s arrivals is no longer part of RCTI sports programs next season. So sad!!

Shock of This Week in Marriott

“Heal the world, make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me”
Michael Jackson

I’m so sorry to hear that. Again and over again, the bomb has exploded in my beloved country, Indonesia. At least nine people have been killed, including tourists from Australia & New Zealand and dozens injured in explosions that ripped through the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta either Indonesian people or numerous prominent expatriate business people. Those hotels were hit by separate bombings just two minutes apart. It has put Jakarta into a no-go area, at least for next two weeks. As we know, JW Marriott hotel was also the scene of a bombing in 2003.

I can’t deny I’m so full of scared to stay at the vital building in Jakarta. I’m speechless. These attacks probably were aimed to shake Indonesia’s stability after election. Mr President, SBY on his press conference emotionally said that they are threats of trying to murder him as president. That’s it, they were coordinated attacks! I’m in the same boat with people who says this attack was carried out by a terrorist group, though it’s too early to say if it’s the same network.

Ferguson Again Makes a Laughing Stock

It beats me how Sir Alex Ferguson can make a decision to sign ex-England international Michael Owen for two-years deal to play at Old Trafford. No transfer was paid to former Owen’s club Newscastle United. He had been out of contract since he snubbed a new contract offer from The Magpies in December 2008. He becomes only the fourth footballer in history to played for both Manchester United and their rivals Liverpool. Last summer, I locked horn with Fergies decision to sign Dimitar Berbatov. And look, I think Berbatov signing is truly under expectation.

Here’s the deal. There is no doubt that Owen is a world class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level. He is former European player of the Year. However, last season was arguably Owen’s worst. He missed all of the pre-season matches and training of the 2008-2009 season due to a bout of mumps. He also suffered a calf strain during the summer months which kept him out of the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a game which Newcastle drew 1–1. That’s it, he also is very injury prone, this­ with age probably will not get any better. Moreover, his wages are too expensive.

Something Wrong on Megawati’s Imaging

Well, I don’t know how exactly I should write the title to represent this article, but I just wanna talk about her team’s performance, especially her marketing team in the presidential election. After watching the candidate debate in Metro TV tonight (plus its commercial break), I got that there’s something wrong in Megawati’s imaging as one of president candidate who concerning to democracy economic and putting herself on behalf of the citizen. I guess many people somewhat admire her lack of adorable when she said, “If I were a president…”

No, it’s not the point. I’d say if Mega did a good job when she were a president, she should be elected again. In fact, she didn’t. But it’s not a big deal for me when she tried to show up her “experience” to be a president. I’m concerning to the issue she’s been blown up in her advertising.

They Left Me No Choice

This morning, I listened to Jason Mraz’s song “A Beautiful Mess” while reading a newspaper article about Indonesian election. It’s been regaining my consciousness toward Indonesian presidential election. You know, it is getting closer. Three candidates of Indonesian president 2009-2014 has been competing in the election for reaching the top position in my country. The incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is still the sentimental favorite among others, Megawati Soekarnoputri (Mega) always be consistent with her political criticism against SBY and her vision concerning to democracy economics, meanwhile Jusuf Kalla (JK) still tries to win citizen’s heart by sounding Indonesian independency toward foreign country.

Here’s the deal. I’m not into political party. Therefore, I tend to put my self on the neutral side among the candidates. I don’t really care whose side will be win the election. I’m indifferent, actually. After watching their debate in Trans 7, I got they just put themselves into safe position. They didn’t tell us about their differentiation among others. It seems that everything’s gonna be all right whoever wins the election. And then, I’m getting more confident to be in indifferent position.