The blues almost turned scarlet!

Chelsea head off to a rocky start at their pre-season asia tour in Bukit Jalil National Stadium last night.
The premier league giants struggle and scraped to one nil victory against the Malaysian under-23 Olympic team. Even to sole goal scored by ivory coast striker Didier Drogba seemed doubtful as a result from a controversial free-kick at the 80th minute. The same,however, could not be said of the Malaysian side. The Tigers gave a glorious performance but failed to convert a couple of good chances into goals that they deserve. The Tigers had the opportunity to equalise at the 85th minute but striker A.Thamil Arasu manage to keep Chelsea's pride intact as he shot wide after being one-on-one with the keeper. The most dissapointing note of the evening came in the form of constant "boo's" by the crowd directed at  Yossi Benayoun, the first Israeli  to play in Malaysia in the first-half.
  Chelsea's forward Fernando Torres nearly scored at the 3rd minute of the game while midfielder Frank Lampard missed a sitter in the 16th minute after S.Subramaniam's poor clearance.


 The best chance for Malaysia to score in the first-half came from Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor during the 27th minute with only Henrique Hilario to beat but was deemed offside. In the 42nd minute, Lampard had  a beautiful oppoturnity as Kalou broke the Malaysian team's defence deadlock but the midfielder failed to convert the goal as he failed to reach the ball.


Benayoun encouraged the abuse from the crowd when he miskicked in front of the goal.
The starting 11 was replaced by Andres Villa Boas at half time allowing the likes of John Terry, Drogba, Nichola Anelka and Daniel Sturridge. However, it made no difference to Chelsea besides the controversial goal from Drogba.


Chelsea will be playing against Thailand and 2 more matches in Hong Kong before wrapping up their Asia Tour.

Look out for photos soon! (technical glitch is preventing me from uploading them)

Latest happening among fans in Liverpool pre-season asia tour 2011!

BPL teams Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea are currently on their pre-season tour in Asia. Obviously, their fans in Asia are super excited at the chance to catch their team in action on local soil. But let's not forget about the genuine football fans. Priorities are usually given to the specific team fans when the team travels to a certain country which is definitely fair and deserving for their fans. However, there are the "real" football fans who loves a good game of football regardless of the teams that are playing. Fans must always respect others who attend the game even if its a supporter from a rival team. But this was not the case when Liverpool had their training session in Malaysia leading up to the game with the local team. A Man Utd supporter attended the training session only to be booed and was forced to take off his man utd shirt. The Man Utd supporter did take off his shirt only to have liverpool fans to force him into wearing a liverpool jersey! The poor fan eventually walked off shirtless only to return wearing a Malaysian team jersey. Many Liverpool fans who booed the guy will probably argue stating that he probably  should not have walked in wearing a united shirt in the first place. But when a logical point of view is taken in, the guy does have free right to wear whatever he wishes to wear and he does not deserve the treatment he got. Besides, he paid to be there just like the rest of them. Let's consider this senario even if it does not apply in this situation. What if he was not a football fan in the first place? What if he just randomly choose to wear the jersey? I find it absolutely disgusting that people actually treated him the way they did. Recently, Arsenal was also in Malaysia for their pre-season tour and i wore a Man Utd jersey to the training session as well as on the game night itself but the Malaysian Arsenal fans didnt seem to mind at all. I think fans should be proud that fans of other teams are willing to watch their team. That just goes to show that they respect the team. But dont just take my word for it. Here's a link to the video i came across in youtube which showcase what really happened at the Liverpool training session Asia Tour 2011 (Malaysian leg).

Edwin Van Der Sar in Asia for trophy tour!!



VAN DER SAR LIFTING THE TROPHY TO THE CROWD!





VAN DER SAR SMILING TO THE FANS



Van der sar was recently in Malaysia for the united trophy tour. The newly retired goalkeeper toured Kuala Lumpur with the trophy. Around 5PM (local time), Edwin was at Starhill Gallery in Kuala Lumpur for a corporate event (invitation only). However, that did not stop die hard united fans from gathering outside the event to catch a glimpse of the lanky goalkeeper. The 38 year-old then made the final stop for the Malaysian leg of the tour at KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre) around 7.45pm (local time) at the convention centre's outdoor park nearby the fountains. Eager fans have been gathering since morning to see the trophy and the keeper. Fans pushed through the crowd hoping to catch get Van Der Sar's autograph. The crowd sang "Glory glory Man United" as Van Der Sar lifts the trophy to the crowd as soon as he stepped out of the buggy. The keeper also interacted with the crowd and amused them by threatening to throw the trophy into the crowd!!! A smile was plastered on Edwin's face as the crowd throws random but hilarious questions at him from enquiring about David De Gea to Opposition team, the crowd certainly amused the trophy ambassador. At the end of the day, as the sun sets at KLCC,
Van Der Sar and the fans were seen leaving the park looking exhausted but with a smile plastered on their faces.

Having the fortunate privillage of being there, here are some photos that i manage to take amidst the chaos! It might not be the best photos as i try to survive being squashed by the fans but these are personal candid shots and i hope you enjoy it! (the rest of the pics will be uploaded in a matter of hours due to technical difficulties- sorry) 



STARHILL GALLERY (WHERE EDWIN MADE A STOP WITH THE TROPHY)