With the match delicately balanced at 1-1, Malaysian referee C Ravichandran awarded a penalty to Singapore as Thai defender Niweat Siriwong and Alam Shah fell inside the box as both went for a long ball.

Furious with the decision, Thai players surrounded Ravichandran and protested vehemently. Then, Thai coach Chanvit Phalajivin gestured to his players and urged them off the pitch. They did so, and remained on the sidelines for 15 minutes, gesticulating and refusing to return to play despite the pleas of several officials, including Football Association of Singapore general secretary John Koh.

Singapore could have sat back and prayed for the Thais to let indiscretion end their championship run. If they had not returned to the field of play, the trophy would have almost definitely been Singapore by default.

No one would have asked the Lions to play this Sunday second leg if the first was not completed.

After much persuasion, the Thai side returned and Singapore Mustafic Fahrudin converted the spot-kick as the match clock read 97 minutes to put Singapore ahead.

Singapore have chosen not to win the Asean Championship by default, for it unlikely that they will protest last night decisions. So they have to go and win it with 90 minutes of solid, honest work.

-The Straits Times (none of Avramovic words were published)

‘I don’t understand what the Thai coach was doing, or what point he was trying to make,’ he said.

‘I don’t think that’s right. This is sport; it should be played like sport.

‘There were many players in the area. They were pulling our players all the time. Their punishment came in the end,’

‘A win is a win and I felt that we fully deserved our victory tonight,’ said the Serbian (Avramovic).

‘We got a great first goal from Noh Alam Shah and the penalty I felt was a punishment for the Thais because they were using their hands all the time during the game.

‘I didn’t see the incident clearly but they were using their hands all the time to pull back our players. There was even an incident earlier in the second half when Alam Shah was pulled back which should have been a penalty.

‘But I felt that our players did really well tonight. Congratulations to them and the people who came out to support us.’

-Soccernet.com

Singapore did not deserve to win, despite The Straits Times and Radojko Avramovic wanting to have you believe otherwise. Our game plan was simple, get physical and not allow the Thais to find their rhythm. That was not hard to achieve, Aide, Precious, Mustafic and Daniel looked absolutely massive in comparison to the puny Thais. However, yellow cards curtail that plan and three out of the four Singapore midfields were cautioned in the first half. Speaking of the first half, it was scrappy and I can only remember one shot on target. That was Alam Shah goal, exquisitely executed after the ball made its way to his feet after two blocked shots. Now that we had to curb our aggression, the Thais found their feet and promptly scored after some fluid passing. That seemed to drain the local team of its confidence. Their mediocre passing got even poorer and there was a mix-up between Jia Yi, Daniel and Mustafic, wasting a free-kick in a decent position. On the other hand, the Thais got their game going and created better opportunities. As the game wore on, I could not help but feel that if there were to be a goal, it would be scored by the Thais. Then came the talking point.

The Thai players behaved like women petulant children who did not agree with their parents?decision, pussyfooting around for more than ten minutes. They should have grown some balls and behaved like men, i.e. leaving the stadium and forfeiting the match or taking what they perceived as a bad decision in their stride and getting on with the game but no, they displayed behaviour fitting boys a quarter of their age.

Maybe that is an indicator of how much the standard of Thai football has slipped. Just barely a decade ago, the Thais would hardly have batted an eyelid at the one goal deficit to make up for the return leg in Bangkok. Come to think of it, forget that, the championship would have been done and dusted in Singapore, with the Thais banging in two or three goals without reply.

Nevertheless, I would still consider the Thais the favourites to lift the trophy on Sunday. I foresee a referee intimidated by the crowd and favouring the Thais. If he were to award Singapore with a penalty, I think there would be a riot. Hence, the Thais will be able to get away with dirty play. In addition, the Thais have a higher skill level and their passing is much more fluent. Being positive, Avramovic is the best coach of the local team I have ever seen, if anyone can land us the regional trophy whilst beating the Thais en route for the first time (Singapore did not meet the Thais in 1998 and 2004), it has to be him.

Come on Lions!

What the hell? It has been more than a week since my last entry? Have I been so busy until I have lost track of time?

Life never seems to get boring and I made my maiden trip down to St James Power Station last night with Nic. Totally clueless, we joined the first queue we saw and it was rather long. At least we did not feel that old after checking out the fellow patrons. Whilst queuing, this chap sauntered towards us for directions and I my answer was that I did not have a clue, I was just waiting for the stamp, which should grant me access to all the rooms. He got the same answer from the others and sought help from the door bitch instead. Now why did he not think of that in the first place?

Anyway, I turned out to be right and we could venture anywhere once we had the stamp. We almost got lost immediately and I felt that they should provides maps of the place, at least for those who are there for the first time. We finally found our destination, Power House, where another friend, X, of mine was. However, it was packed to the brim and we found it a turn off so we settled down at the corridor and watched football.

X could not locate the bar, so I had to look for her again in Power House. What followed was either a great way to create a first impression (sort of, had not seen her for two years) or how to make a complete fool out of yourself, whichever way you look at it, or both. Bored of waiting due to the high volume of human traffic, I attempted to vault over the staircase divider. What should have been a simple crossover for someone with legs as long as mine did not materialise. Instead, I fell off the railing. If anyone witnessed a tall guy in white falling off the staircase railing at Power House yesterday, it was me. Personally, I found it hilarious, I wish someone took a video of it and I would include it in this entry. Having suffered only a few bruises, I picked myself up immediately. What followed was merry chatting, dancing and drinking with X and her friends.

Just before we called it a night, we headed to Dragonfly as the girls deposited their bags there. There was a police raid and we had to wait more than half an hour for its completion. The rain only made the wait more uncomfortable. Oh well, at least it was not pouring.

It was a good night.

Filled with enthusiasm, BQ and I scoured Chinatown Complex for travel deals on Thursday. To some extent, we achieved our aim, but also received a lesson on how to provide bad customer service.

Our first stop was an agency which my Junior College mate worked at. If looks could kill, we would have died instantaneously when his gaze shifted towards us. I could feel his piercing stare boring a hole in my body as we walked towards him. Nevertheless, we requested for quotes for three possible destinations and moved on. I will probably enquire if he had an off day when I meet him next week.

The lady at a rival company who attended to us looked like her boyfriend just dumped her, but not before shagging her and pocketing her savings. BQ and I certainly did not feel like customers, we felt more like we were unable to stump up the latest installment that we owed the bank and we were there to offer our sorry excuses. She certainly did not look too pleased with our pathetic explanations. We were transported back to reality when we were handed the quotes and made an exit.

The third chap who served us was marginally better, telling us to take the brochures ourselves instead of churning out the figures from his computer. Oh well, at least he did not look pissed at having customers. The ladies at the fourth shop we strolled into may have had major vision problems. Either that or they would be fined for every minute that their eyes were not fixated on their computer monitor screens. After looking at their brochures and discussing them without any assistance for a few minutes, we decided to ask for prices and details. She produced them without acknowledging us at all, she could well have been talking to another colleague via some secret communication device found in the monitor or keyboard.

Deflated, we ended the bargain hunting session and headed elsewhere.

BERLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder Sebastian Deisler is retiring from football at the age of 27 because of injury.

Deisler, who missed last year’s World Cup after undergoing knee surgery for the fifth time, announced the decision at a news conference held by Bayern on Tuesday.

‘I no longer have any real faith in my knee,’ the player said. ‘In the long run it’s been an ordeal.

‘I can no longer play with the right level of enjoyment and I don’t do anything by halves.’

Blessed with speed, dribbling ability and an eye for a cross, Deisler was once widely seen as being the next great German player but fitness and psychological problems meant he was unable to fulfil his promise.

After making his Bundesliga debut as an 18-year-old with Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1998, Deisler played for Germany for the first time in 2000 and looked set for great things when he agreed to join Bayern from Hertha Berlin in 2002.

Injury kept him out of the 2002 World Cup, however, and continuing problems meant he hardly figured for Bayern in his first season.

He was sidelined for five months in the 2003-04 season while being treated for depression but he returned and looked a much happier man following the birth of his son, Raphael in 2004.

He was one of the outstanding players in the Germany side that reached the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in 2005 and Juergen Klinsmann was hoping to play him on the right of midfield at the 2006 World Cup.

Another knee injury suffered in a training in 2006 dashed his hopes, though, and he also missed most of the first half of the current season.

He returned to make a handful of appearances as a substitute at the end of 2006, including one quite brilliant display that earned Bayern a 2-1 win away to Hamburg SV.

The stage appeared set for a return to his best in 2007 before he finally decided enough was enough.

After showing so much patience with the player, Bayern were clearly disappointed by his decision to retire and manager Uli Hoeness held out hope of yet changing his mind.

‘I don’t understand his decision at all,’ Hoeness said at the same news conference on Tuesday.

‘If he feels in condition at some time in the future he can always come back.’

Deisler won 36 caps for Germany and scored three goals.

In the Bundesliga, he played 135 times and scored 18 goals, winning the league and Cup three times apiece with Bayern.

The walk to the bus stop felt familiar and yet foreign as it had been weeks since I went to school. For the record, I went to school from elsewhere on Wednesday. A new express version of the bus that I normally take was introduced and I boarded one of those, as both buses came at the same time and the non-express one was packed to the brim. I felt bemused at the disparity, for the express bus had a lot of available seats. Did a difference of up to a dollar in bus fare make so much of a difference? I did not complain though, and made myself comfortable. A grand total of ten minutes was shaved off the journey duration, leaving me distinctly unimpressed.

I was looking forward only to playing Dota in school. Was confident and excited before the match but lost yet another Dota game in school (four and counting), I seem to be jinxed in school. Sigh…

Was the first one present for my grandmother birthday dinner. My eldest uncle’s family was atrociously late, show more respest to the matriach, for crying out loud. Of all places, she chose one that I frequent, I could mentally taste the dishes before they even entered my mouth. As if that was not bad enough, she chose the less palatable dishes. Oh well, at least the food was secondary, since I realised that for some loved ones, the most valuable gift of all is one’s time. Knowing something and experiencing it are actually quite different, it was quite a humbling lesson.

It was a good day.

This is for Nic:

Isn chee bye a wonderful vulgarity? It is truly delightful and easily my favourite Singaporean expletive, precisely because it does not sound like one. It is Hokkien for agina? but it is so much jauntier than its British four-letter equivalent, which sounds so guttural, particularly when it is said sneeringly through the side if a Londoner mouth. Like my mother. That always got my attention when she called me in from the street.

Chee bye, on the other hand, comes across as a formal farewell to the unfamiliar ear. You can almost imagine Jeeves and Wooster crying heerio! Bye!?Such a breezy exclamation, it appears to crop up at the most inappropriate junctures. Two drunks argue in a Toa Payoh coffee shop and, no matter how personal and objectionable the bickering gets, they conclude by shouting heerio! Bye!?Well, that is jolly decent of them, isn it?