Its Like FINALLY...
I was utterly emotional when I got to know the timing for the clash of the Reds. I had signed up as a participant in the NUS Mitsubishi Challenge by which the event had been confirmed to end after 9pm. Knowing there was no way my team would entirely miss the match since we were all soccer freaks, we hatched up plans to leave the dinner/prize presentation ceremony as earliest as we could. Our race might have ended at 5.30pm earlier, but we still had one last race to run for: to be able to watch even the last dying minutes of the game, for our team of four consisted of die-hard supporters of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal (ABU).
We even stooped to recce-ing Yishun before the dinner for the place to watch at since the ceremony was to be held at Orchidville Mandai Rd and that we were mostly from the East and were not familiar with the area.
That morning, I decided to carry my Liverpool bag from Adidas, probably hoping this would somehow bring in the luck that the team had sorely been missing all this while. It is true that we lost to United for the last 6 games, but I remembered 2 fateful games where United was totally outplayed by Pool throughout the match, only to win 1-0 by a corner kick that happened in the dying minutes of the game. That I knew, my team just didn't have their Lady Luck shining on them then. But with the amounting luck that Liverpool has been riding on this season so far, I somehow knew this season would have a turning point at some point of time.
Throughout the dinner, I was dependent on the updates by my brother who was watching the game at home. When he told me Tevez had hit the net in the 3rd minute, those hopes I had diminished, consoling myself of the "jinx" Liverpool seemed to always have with United. The second update came with me almost screaming my head off in the middle of the dinner and possibly disrupting the event: Liverpool had equalised!! An own goal by Wes Brown! Hope is all but not lost yet!
By the time the runner-ups of the race were announced, we were all edging by our seats, ready to leave. With no due disrespect to the rally's winners, it was not because we were sore losers or anything, but it was just the match that proved too much to be missed. We left right after the winner was announced, with some other teams also eager like us to make their way out, either having the same agenda as us or just trying to avoid the possible bottleneck problem of the cars later on.
It was the 72nd minute when we reached the coffee shop. Gerrard and Babel had just come on and Liverpool were definitely stronger than United in the midfield. The anticipation for something big was probably bigger than that of the GMax Extreme Swing before our teammate released the lever. And true enough, it came as a perfect pass from Kuyt to Babel before the latter fired home in perfect motion!
I was almost in tears. The feeling came almost as surreal as to how I felt for Istanbul. This was Manchester United, our arch-rival, the team that could dethrone us of the most number of league wins in history if they pick up as champions again for this season, the team we had been struggling against for 4 seasons. And we won it. Finally. Really, I can't even describe my delirium at that point of time.
As gracious as he could be (probably forced to be so due to 3 ABU fans against only him), our United fan shook our hands, admitting to the defeat.
Being a Liverpool fanatic, I really do not wish to jinx anything by saying that we would win the league this season and it is still too early in the season to conclude anything. But I do feel something different about my team this season. Maybe they just need to run around for a few matches like headless chickens before deciding on a common direction. And that common direction, I saw it when they won United.
And that is why, being headless chickens as they were, they still would never walk alone. Never.
We even stooped to recce-ing Yishun before the dinner for the place to watch at since the ceremony was to be held at Orchidville Mandai Rd and that we were mostly from the East and were not familiar with the area.
That morning, I decided to carry my Liverpool bag from Adidas, probably hoping this would somehow bring in the luck that the team had sorely been missing all this while. It is true that we lost to United for the last 6 games, but I remembered 2 fateful games where United was totally outplayed by Pool throughout the match, only to win 1-0 by a corner kick that happened in the dying minutes of the game. That I knew, my team just didn't have their Lady Luck shining on them then. But with the amounting luck that Liverpool has been riding on this season so far, I somehow knew this season would have a turning point at some point of time.
Throughout the dinner, I was dependent on the updates by my brother who was watching the game at home. When he told me Tevez had hit the net in the 3rd minute, those hopes I had diminished, consoling myself of the "jinx" Liverpool seemed to always have with United. The second update came with me almost screaming my head off in the middle of the dinner and possibly disrupting the event: Liverpool had equalised!! An own goal by Wes Brown! Hope is all but not lost yet!
By the time the runner-ups of the race were announced, we were all edging by our seats, ready to leave. With no due disrespect to the rally's winners, it was not because we were sore losers or anything, but it was just the match that proved too much to be missed. We left right after the winner was announced, with some other teams also eager like us to make their way out, either having the same agenda as us or just trying to avoid the possible bottleneck problem of the cars later on.
It was the 72nd minute when we reached the coffee shop. Gerrard and Babel had just come on and Liverpool were definitely stronger than United in the midfield. The anticipation for something big was probably bigger than that of the GMax Extreme Swing before our teammate released the lever. And true enough, it came as a perfect pass from Kuyt to Babel before the latter fired home in perfect motion!
I was almost in tears. The feeling came almost as surreal as to how I felt for Istanbul. This was Manchester United, our arch-rival, the team that could dethrone us of the most number of league wins in history if they pick up as champions again for this season, the team we had been struggling against for 4 seasons. And we won it. Finally. Really, I can't even describe my delirium at that point of time.
As gracious as he could be (probably forced to be so due to 3 ABU fans against only him), our United fan shook our hands, admitting to the defeat.
Being a Liverpool fanatic, I really do not wish to jinx anything by saying that we would win the league this season and it is still too early in the season to conclude anything. But I do feel something different about my team this season. Maybe they just need to run around for a few matches like headless chickens before deciding on a common direction. And that common direction, I saw it when they won United.
And that is why, being headless chickens as they were, they still would never walk alone. Never.
Labels: Liverpool
posted by Ryu Arashi @ 11:19 AM
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