ball

Malaysia-football mad nation. Is it true? For me, it is absolutely true. People are talking football here and there. Some are willing to buy original replica jerseys, or even pirated ones just to show their support towards their teams. Most Malaysians support teams from the English League, such as the four teams that are so-called the Big Four, which consists of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and a team that I hate the most. But some prefer teams from other European countries. For instance, Real Madrid and Barcelona from Spain, and AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus from Italy. Sometimes, the jerseys that the football die-hard-fans would have the names of their favourite players printed on their backs. We might see Cristiano Ronaldo buying fish at the morning market, Fabregas selling pirated VCDs, Gerrard selling toys at the night market or Lampard hanging around in One Utama. But that’s not the real them, the people are Malaysians, who just don’t realise how not-so-European-look their face are. Haha.

Every weekend, most men will go to nearby mamak stalls, or even gather with their friends at home in front of the television to watch their favourite teams in action. Don’t be surprise if at three in the morning, you see a lot of people cheering and screaming their heart out in front of the TV. ESPN is a must watch, Astro is obliged to be installed at home. It’s all about the love for the game. Maybe the commentary of the games played sometimes in different language, but one word that everyone will understand, and celebrate, which is, “Goal!” Even if you are a Malay, Chinese or Indian, or even Nepalese, the word ‘goal’ in football means only one thing-victory.

Every evening, people will go the field of any condition, to play out their favourite sport. People with age ranging from 5 to 40 will play their heart out at the field. Skills of Messi, dribbling of Deco, and good goalkeeping ability of Cech, all can be seen performed by the players. Even though they are not as good as the real players, but at least they try. For example, I have a friend who wants to be a freestyler. For those who don’t know what freestyler is, I can tell you it is a person who performs football skills. Some of them may do it as a career. Oops, back to my friend. I think he have the skills, just he still have to do many practices, and he can be like the pros. But the good thing is he doesn’t stop trying, and that’s what most needed, determination.

Adidas, Nike, and Puma. The three biggest sports brands, fulfil the needs of the football players. From the jerseys to the boots, it may cost a person hundreds of Ringgit. To be honest, I bought my football boots for RM150. My mom would nag me about this, but I still keep it away from her knowledge. Haha. Sorry mom. Yet, the big question here, why did I willingly to spend a lot for football. Again I can say that it’s all about the love for the game.

Maybe this post may disturb the people who don’t like football, mostly the girls. But I do find some of the girls that love football as boys do, although some only love to watch the sexy players only. So, whether you like football or not, it’s up to you. It’s your call. My love for sports is towards football. What sports that become your favourite then?

* Here I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Mr Derick because of the untidy collage my partner and I had done. But we already did a new one and hang it on class' wall. I'm sorry again, sir.