wordless blabber

After a hectic two months competition, Singapore finally reclaim the Tiger Cup which we last won back in 1998 with a lucky shouldered goal. This time, the Singapore Lions beat the Indonesians 2-1 ( 5-2 aggregate ) at the National Stadium to lift the trophy in front of a capacity 50-plus thousand crowd.

It was sweet victory for the Lions back in home soil which should help erase some of the torments suffered since Singapore left the Malaysian League. The lowest point this past decade was the 4-0 thrashing in 2002 by our neighbours, Malaysia. Most of that team had long gone with the current squad averaging around 23-25 years old.

Here is a full match review.

Photo taken from tigercup.org

As for me, I was glad to be at the National Stadium to watch this match. Credits must be given to Skunk who managed to get the tickets as they were sold out within two days of sales.

It was especially special since I started following the Lions way back when I was a little boy and any major victories we had occurred overseas - like winning the Malaysian League back in the 80s or that 1998 victory in Vietnam. This is the first time where Singapore lifted a trophy on home soil. It is a fitting tribute to the National Stadium which will be probably be torn down this year for the new Sports Hub.

So we went down early anticipating throngs of people and jams. Getting there 2 hours before was a smart move as the stadium was quickly being filled. As usual, there were numerous rounds of the Kallang Wave, which is just the localised version of the Mexican Wave. After the customary national anthems, VIPs shaking hands with players etc, the game started. And that's where the fun began.

For people who never experience those days of Malaysian league soccer, you won't get the feeling of the stadium floor shaking as people stomp their feet while they wait their turn for the Kallang Wave to reach them. With a shout and raised arms, usually with both hands filled with newspaper confetti, the Waves screams pass for another round.

Another sign of an exciting match is when opposition players scythe down our players or when the man in black gives questionable decisions or cards at our players. Then some handy fans with whistle or foghorns will do the "por-por, por-por-por, por-por-por-por", followed by a loud and unison shout of butoh which according to google is either a jerk or dick, depending on which site you follow. Good for us, there plenty of both tackles and questionable decisions and couple of debatable caution and sending off. For example, the Indonesian goalie should have been sent off for handling outside the box, but he only got a yellow card.

Another fun thing to take note at such matches were the comments fans provide to people around them. For example:

• towards the referee - Oi police please go and arrest that #@%#$ referee
• towards an Indonesian player who supplied a few crosses which went nowhere - We will give you your PR soon

It is also a good place for people to learn new ways of describing anatomies and also the colorful expressions of the English, Malay and Hokkien language which I will not list them -- you have to be there to experience and learn it.

Lastly, after the final whistle, I was hoping to hear Queens' We are the Champion being played over the speakers instead we had Ricky Martin's La Copa de la Vida! Considering how many are fans of European soccer, which customary will play Queens' tune after a final as a tribute to the winner. But it was still a joyous occasion for the 50-plus thousands who were there. Maybe just maybe, except those hundreds of Indonesian fans who didn't wait long to leave their exclusive area even before the awarding of the medals to their national team.

And I have a bad sore throat after 90 minutes of shouting, cheering, swearing, singing, screaming and more swearing. It was fun -- let's do it again soon!