My 2010 World Cup Diary: Howard Webb cause controversy again, This time for Singaporean

England have made it to the 2010 World Cup Final and it is not their football team that did it. English Premier League referee Howard Webb has been selected by FIFA to officiate the World Cup Final match between the Netherlands and Spain. I have never been impressed by Mr Webb handling of BPL football matches because those games have a tendency to be marred by controversy, of dubious refereeing decisions that affected the outcome of the game. Spurs have been the victim of such circumstances before and we're not the only team affected. Mr Webb is well-known for controversy and a simple search on the web would generate dozens of disputed football incidents where the man in black is the centre of attention of questionable decisions. Maybe that's the reason why he's been selected as the World Cup final referee because he always made headline news, very often for the wrong reason. Well, a decison made is final and there's nothing football fans like me can do except to hope for the best and maybe rant a little. That was what I did yesterday morning when I read that Howard Webb has been assigned the all-important task of the final game, I voice out my disagreement on my facebook page.

The "I hate Howard Webb" slogan link & perhaps the picture didn't goes down well with one of my dear Man U friend. Even before the World Cup final has kick off, the very mention of the name Howard Webb has caused controversy in the tiny Singapore and its involved WT Tey, me.

The slogan wasn't written by me and I certainly don't bear hatred towards somebody that I hardly knew. Football & the World cup has no place for hatred, it is a team sport, the most beautiful game in the world supposed to unite people. Remember how USA and Iran put aside their differences and played out a good sporting football game in France 98. I don't hate but disagree or at worst dislike Howard Webb handling of football matches. Maybe he's the favourite referee of Red Devil fans, that why there's a outcry of me hating Man U more than him.

Me hate Man U? Certainly no. I don't sing the Manchester United tune but that doesn't mean I hate them. Like the famous saying, I give credit when credit due. When Wayne Rooney failed terribly in this world cup, I whacked him as a world cup flop based on his performances for England on the pitch. Not because he played for the Red devils that I have to mark him for England failure. He has a big reputation coming into this world cup but even before the tournament, I don't rate him highly as the previous generation of English forwards like Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham or even Michael Owen. David Platt is a much better striker than him if you ask me. though his primary position is midfield. Rooney is not the ultimate centreforward that good old England need, regardless whether he play for Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur. He prove me correct with his performances in the this world cup and I can't understand why Capello keep sticking to him despite the early tell-tale signs of him flopping in the group games.

Me hate Man U ? I ponder and I still don't think so. I remember I bought an Eric Cantona video tape a decade ago. This is the title that I bought and I still have it in my football library.

I enjoyed the excitement and passion that the controversial Frenchman has given to English football back in the 90s and I wanted to keep it in memory. That's why I bought the tape, which was all about his performances for the Red Devils. Would I have bought it if I hate Man U? No, I want to remember a great EPL player and the English team of the 90s. Talking about Cantona, he was once Chrissy Waddle teammate at Marseille but didn't do as well as Waddle because he's got an attitude problem. He's done it for Manchester United on English Premier league level but not on the european competition and the world stage. Nevertheless, a Red devil legend and one of the best Premier league player, I acknowledged that.

Me hate Man U? I remember cheering for Man U in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final against Oldham and again in the final against Crystal Palace. Why? I think because I like watching Mark Hughes doing volley stunts, Neil Webb (ex-Nottingham) plays for them and lastly, a bit soft-hearted not wanting to see the then relatively humble Alex Ferguson get the sack. Damn, what a mistake, should have hope they lost. Alex Ferguson before his English football success, was about to be a managerial flop at Manchester United way back in late 80s after spending a lot of money & getting zero trophies for a few seasons. He did a "sian yu fan sheng" (salted fish turnover) with the 1990 FA cup win and prolonged his stay at Man U. The rest is history. On Neil Webb, if there wasn't Tottenham Hotspur, I would probably be supporting Nottingham Forest. Brian Clough Forest boys were playing entertaining football & winning league cups with a superb midfield of Steve Hodge, Garry Parker and Neil Webb. They are not big names but when together, they played like a big team. Neil Webb was transferred to Manchester United in the summer of 1989 and scored for the Red devils on his debut in a 4-1 victory over defending champion Arsenal. He went on to play for England in Italia 90 and played against Italy in the 3/4th place game which England lost 2-1. Looking back, I still remember how I wanted Manchester United to win the FA cup that year. From the all-important Mark Robin goal against 2nd Division Oldham in the semi-final, to the cup final 3-3 draw against Wright & Bright @ Crystal Palace and the final replay 1-0 victory with a Lee Martin goal. Oh man, would I remember all these if I hate Man U.

Mark Hughes last minute volley equaliser against Oldham Athletic in the FA cup semi-final.

FA Cup Semi-final replay against Oldham Athletic, start from 5:50 for Mark Robins winner.

As embedding has been disabled, refer to the 1990 FA cup final link @ : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqxSVE6pAts&feature=PlayList&p=8E215F3DDAAF8479&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=43

Man Utd lowest cost player Lee Martin win the FA cup for desperate manager Alex Ferguson in the FA cup final replay against Crystal Palace.

Looking at how cocky that Fergie is now, what a big mistake that I had made back then to support them to win the 1990 FA cup. I am not a Man U hater , neither do I support them. There is one club that I do support whole-heartedly regardless of up or down, the best English football team in the universe, Tottenham Hotspur.

Oh man, that Howard Webb is causing controversy before the World Cup Final even started. Can't believe it happen in my facebook page. Anyway, life is about being positive thinking. Hope to see a fair & square and entertaining football final tomorrow.

My 2010 World Cup Diary - Day 21

So far, my coverage of the FIFA 2010 World Cup was done regularly in my facebook account until Day 17 when my dear VIP decided to play a trick on me by changing my password & I can't access my facebook account. Actually, it was a good move as indeed, I'm probably spending too much time on facebook. So I spend few days away from facebook but still did follow the world cup. Had expected goalless draw between Japan & Paraguay and it really turn out to be a goalless game which Paraguay won on penalties. The payout for zero goal is 8. The Japanese surprised me in this tournament and more than held their own against the defensive Paraguayans. In the other game, I had expected a draw game and bought HT/FT bets with good odds for either side but it didn't work out, my 2nd loss in this year WC. David Villa 4th goal of the tournament ensure Spain a quarter-final berth. The Portugese leftback impress me though and had a very good game.

That was old news for the past few days. Today is the start of the quarter-final stage where the Netherlands will play mighty Brazil. Was @ the centre of hope yesterday and saw the odds for those win/draw/lose bet weren't good. Decided to play the higher odds bet such as HT/FT. My gut feeling tell me the Dutch-Brazilian encounter should be settle by 90mins and somebody should be leading at half-time. Wanted to buy Holland (HT) and Brazil (FT) but I think I mark the wrong tab and it turned out that I bought Brazil (HT) and Holland (FT). This mean I had to hope Brazil will lead at half-time while the Dutch need to secure a win by 90mins in order to win it for me. This is the ticket that I bought:




Being really kiasu, I decided to also buy Holland (HT) and Brazil (FT) just to make sure that my original intended bet was also placed with the centre of hope. In this way, I'm well-covered whether Holland or Brazil win. But it is really a long shot for me and the Dutch too as they attempt to defy history to beat the Brazilians. One of my former buddy who's a big Dutch fan even advice me via sms that Brazil has no weakness in the team. I replied his sms that football is not about theory, the Dutch can win. Just trying to justify my bet.

Once again, Chong Pang CC was the venue where I caught the game together with Yongquan. At 9pm, there was already a long queue, awaiting to get the entry stamp on our hands. I was bringing my grandpa to see a doctor @ Chong Pang and hence, was early for the stamp. Yongquan came later and the queue was long & we performed some magic before gaining entry into the live telecast venue. During queuing, I notice quite a few fellows wearing Brazilian jerseys. When inside the hall, there's was a Dutch jersey guy with Bergkamp words on his jersey. I shouted, Come On Brazil ! I need them to score an early goal to lead at half-time. Brazil did it through a very simple goal by Robinho, courtesy of some very bad defending by Holland. Yongquan was blaming the Blackburn Dutch defender Andre Ooijer who was a last minute replacement for a dutch defender called Mathijsen. Actually, I never notice this lad Mathijsen during my observation of the Dutch team. I think they're the most boring team in the world cup. For me, Robinho goal was a mistake in positioning by John Hetinga, not Ooijer. Nevertheless, it was 1-0 at half-time and I'm on track with my ht/ft bet with highest payout odds of 34 times. The Dutch didn't really threaten in the first half. Somehow, I feel Dutch will equalise in the 2nd half but not too sure if they can win it because Brazil looks very slick in their passing and counterattack.

The 2nd half was very exciting as Dutch equalized early with an own goal by Brazilian player Felipe Melo. Wesley Sneijder, imho, the best dutch player added a 2nd goal midway through the 2nd half. I jumped in jubilation together with the Chong Pang crowd, who are now supporting the dutch. Melo later got red-carded by the very polite Japanese referee who has a reasonably good game though I feel he is too polite. Also impressive 2nd half performance by dutchman Gregory van der Wiel. Melo did a stupid step on Robben. Brazil was down to 10 men. After that, it was all Dutch and they could have scored a 3rd goal in injury time but silly Hunterlaar and Robben wasted the golden chance as they were 2 on 1 with Julio Cesar, the Brazilian goalkeeper. That was the last piece of action and the final whistle blew seconds later. It make me $160 richer today with my bet yielding a return of $170 for a meagre $5. It was a blessing in disguise as I had marked wrongly on the scoresheet.

Hope the extra money can be put to good use in my final attempt to rescue the stray cat from AVA death sentence. I happen to run into a stray cat being trapped by Panasonic factory today during my customer meeting. Wanted to get it out but it was collected by AVA before I could do so. Tried with multiple phonecalls with their personnel but no success. Will try again on Monday.

Need to listen to Waka Waka..thinking of catching the next game Ghana vs Uruguay. My gut feeling is Uruguay will make it through but I heard the great Nelson Mandela will be there to support Ghana. His impact may be significant for the Africans.

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