Arsenal Arsenal

Just, I took a cab home from Taylor's College at around 3pm after my class.
I was abit hesitant at first to enter the cab but I just had to go home as Chrisanne told me she was going to gome home at 7.30pm today for some studying at the library.

So anyway, I assumed the price I need to pay for a trip from Subang Jaya to Shah Alam is around RM20 because that was what I paid the last time I took a cab from Subang Parade to my house. But I don't even know if I was cheated that time. And I'm not even sure if I was cheated just now.

So when I opened the door asked if he could get me to my house, he asked me for a rate. "Biasanya bayar berapa?"

I gave a ?_? face and started thinking.
Damn. How much should I say. If I said RM20 will I be cheated twice?! I don't know cab rates these days. I don't use em. How much how much.

So I just tried my luck and said,
"Kira-kira 15 ke 20 ringgit macam tu la"

Then he said, "Beri rate la, senang sikit"

Me : Oh er... RM15 la.

He just showed a slightly annoyed look and agreed to take me. Like it's too cheap or something. But he may be acting so I wouldn't know.

Oh well. If anyone somehow DO know the taxi rates from SJ to SA, pls let me know. Thx. So I won't feel like I'm being cheated anymore.

--------

Looking at the topic of this post simply sums what I was going to post about.
It's the long-awaited classic. The game which promised to be the most exciting game ever played in a CL finals. The game of all games. Yeah, I'm talking about the Champions League Finals showdown between Arsenal and Barcelona.

U see. I was an Arsenal fan ever since few years back and I became more and more passionate for 'my' club as the years went by. I was obviously upset they didn't do well in the Premier League this season but on the other hand, the Champions League glory became possible.
I wasn't very excited bout the finals until a few hours before the match as I read the write-ups to the match online and newspaper articles which triggered the hype.

I would imagine being extremely happy to see Henry lifting the cup and the confetti raining down in full glory.
So I stayed up and watch. I had to.

But what happened to the so-called 'promised-to-be-a-classic' game?

At the 18th minute, Lehmann whose form has been fantastic this season especially in the Champions League, got sent off.
I looked and was shocked to my guts.
The dark clouds just overshadowed me at that very moment. And my hopes of seeing Arsenal in Champions League glory came crashing down in front of my very eyes.

Arsene Wenger has tried so hard. Arsenal has gone so far. Everyone has spoken so much.
But it was unavoidable now. Defeat I meant.

Pires got taken off. Almunia replaced as goalie.

I was almost proven to be wrong when Sol Campbell headed the ball into the opponent's net.
1-0 to Arsenal.
Scored with 10 men.
I couldn't contain my excitement and I started messaging the people I know who was interested.

Scored with 10 men. Wow. Arsenal. Truly magnificient. 10 men against the Spanish Champions and scored. Just wow.

The commentators seemed to agree with my viewpoint.
They seemed pissed, annoyed and frustrated with the referee.
Henry and many other Arsenal players got yellow carded with their 'hard' tackles. All Henry did was initialising a fantastic tackle. But he got yellowcarded.
Barca players came tackling late from the back. Many times. Yellow card offences for sure. But all the referee did was to give the free kick in Arsenal's favour.

Halftime came and I managed to take a breather. 10 men. What can Arsenal do.
I didn't write them off just yet. There is still a chance. A small glimpse of hope remains glowing in the dark.

Barca pushed like mad in the 2nd half. As expected.
All Arsenal did was defend. But they even managed to almost scored some as well with great runs from Fabregas, Ljungberg and Henry. But with 10 men, it is simply too tiring. They either lose their footings after a while or concentration on attack cannot be of 100% as they are afraid of the counter attack.

At the 79th minute, Barca equalised. They looked like scoring ever since Lehmann got sent off. With that goal, the 16 hour record mark Arsenal not conceding a goal came to an end. I was not upset with the way Arsenal conceded the goal. 10 men against Barca. Too big of an advantage to give I'm afraid. Eto was fantastic too I admit.
Then came the moment where my prayers all ended.
Barca scored a 2nd just 2 mins after they scored the first.
End of the match. Fullstop.

It was a climax-less CL Finals with at least one of the teams not to its full potential obviously. Lehmann who had a record of 100% saves in the CL would be the difference in this match. If it was 11vs11 with the on form goalkeeper still, I believe Arsenal had a chance to score even more. They looked great. Very focused until the sent off. Heck, they even had a chance at the 2nd minute. From that 2nd minute, I became more confident. All until the nightmare 18th minute.

Pires will have something to prove as he may be leaving to Spain next season. Arsenal were just great last night I thought. Even with 10 men. They defended extremely well and even had many, many opportunies to score considering their 10 men status.

Alot of ppl will come and tell me, "well they lost, get over it"
But I can't.
If Arsenal did lose with the fairest of referees and the best of the teams,
I would not be that disturbed.
But it obviously didn't happen. The game which was hyped up weeks and weeks by the media and the people around was simply destroyed by the red card decision.
It's just very unfortunate that we will not know if the truly best team had won.

And don't come telling me the game will end up the same even with 11vs11. Because it's not true. I believe people who start laughing at Arsenal now would be the people who didn't watch the match. The climax-less, one-sided CL Finals. 10 players having to work the work of 11 was simply too much especially against a quality side from Barca.

I repeat, it is just very unfortunate that no one will know if the best team had won.
It started off with what it promised but the game ended at the 18th minute. That was how I see it.

All that being said, I have to give credit to Barca. I believe Ronaldinho proved why he was the World Player of The Year with his fantastic dribbles and sight for goal. He was just simply too hard to tackle 1on1. I thought Eto was their best with his never-ending commitment and his skills were just electrifying. I like that man. I thought he was very professional too with the way he played the game.

Now the speculations will begin regarding the future of Thierry Henry.
I hope he stays, of course.. but it will only depend on what he sees in Arsenal comparatively to the team he saw at Barca. If I were him, I will definitely see that Arsenal simply had as much or maybe more quality to the spanish team that night.
With Henry already claiming that London was his one true home, I hope that even if he leaves, it wouldn't be the reason of seeing that Arsenal cannot match his ambitions.

Because I honestly felt they certainly did early this morning in Paris.
At the very, 'interesting' CL finals.
Arsenal to the end.

-alexeO-