; the little -details- xXx

 woah.

that was a rush, man! 3-2 to the visitors--although admittedly, first half would go to bayern, with all their goals (klose 12', 17' and ribery 34') coming then, and second half went to lyon, for trying really hard through govou and benzema. the match would of course go to zippy franck ribery, who was hotter than hot in this match, and supported by bastian schweinsteiger at the other side, they were Lyon-slayers! michael rensing deserved a mention too for barricading his net after letting two in, pulling out all the stops to prevent the equaliser until the final whistle was blown. 

still, this "shifting the gear down" needs to stop--they lost a comfortable lead after slowing down just as when lyon finally found their stride (what did claude puel say to them in half time?) but the one touch football was really pleasing to the eye--klinsmann's vowed to change bayern's style of play to that of top english clubs (arsenal? xD) and it's well on the way. 

luca toni still needs to try harder. sigh. his luck's still a little bit down. but klose on the other end... 5 goals in 6 CL matches last i kept track of him! and this win marks bayern's 15th unbeaten match in all competitions in a row. lyon on the other hand... the moral looks like it's going to free fall like crazy, and what with no good news has yet to come out of l'hopital d'olympique lyonnais... puel would have to hope for a christmas miracle to pull the team to a win (although they're still currently at the top of the ligue 1 table).

what started out as a seemingly lousy season under jurgen klinsmann is fast proving itself wrong. christmas break's coming, and boy do i hope that next year, bayern would keep up this dazzling form of theirs (we're now tied with Hoffenheim for the league table! not bad for a club which started their seasons at the tenth place, huh?). 

don't you call yourself a real soccer player until you wear this:


hey, franck ribery does; so should you!

and oh yeah, happy thanksgiving and all that--i'm countin' down the days i get to actually be in a country that celebrates this pilgrim holiday with the turkey and the mashed potato and the pumpkin pie.

---------------------

anyway, the chiang mai's trip has been cancelled thanks to the volatile political situation there--aka turmoil--and in the interest of our--the students--safety. i've been expecting this since... actually, since i found out about the trip--my parents have been apprehensive since they've heard about it and my sister and my cousin, who are supposed to go to thailand with their school too already have their trips cancelled since the situation escalated there like a month or so ago.

still, i've been looking forward to it a lot (from the christmas gift exchange, to potential roomate bickering, to plain ol' fun listening to scientists, and real fun travellin' in a new city). sigh.

anyway, star worlds aired season 6 finale of friends yesterday and urgh, that episode--which is courtney cox's and matthew perry's favorite, by the way--still gets to me.

I thought that it mattered what I said or where I said it. Then I realized the only thing that matters is that you, that you make me happier than I ever thought I could be and if you let me I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way

*sniif*

okay, going back to swooning over yoann gourcuff and his zidane-sque deja vu moments during the match against chelsea yesterday. ahhh, him and diarra totally give Ligue 1 face as chelsea can only manage a draw against a side they trashed 4-0 before and unlike arsenal and united they aren't qualified yet!

10 december: bayern munich vs olympique lyonnais. stade de gerland. since both sides are already qualified anyway, this is just a match to determine who'll top group f. but still...

i can't waiiiittttttt!

I'm a happy happy bayern fan right now; and an even happier Miro Klose fan! Said striker scored two and set Luca Toni's maiden goal in "a galore of missed opportunities" and helped Bayern to get a 3-0 win and clinched qualification.

Lyon didn't get raped by Fiorentina despite having key players now regulars in Hôpital de Lyon; Fiorentina couldn't even take advantage of the fact that Lyon's defense isn't made up of first team players (Reveillere has officially joined others like Pjanic in said hospital) and instead Makoun and 'course, Big Benz happily scored one each to help Lyon clinch qualification with a 2-1 win.

Arsenal. Sigh. After getting owned by Aston Villa and Man City, all the Gunners can get is a 1-0 win thanks to a late Bendtner strike. What the hell has happened to this team, I seriously dunno; currently, I'm just hoping we can actually stay in the Big Four now...

Whoops. Orchestra now xD (Oh, the joy of Livejournal mobile...)

THANKYOU, AMERICA!

now, President Obama (well, in 77 days that title would be official!), the rest of the world's watching if you're going to carry out the changes you've based your campaign on. :D you've inherited two wars, a global financial crisis, a new world order (which is no longer American-centric, something most Americans worry about, what with the rise of China and Russia), a country with dying sense of nationalism, and oh yeah, the world may end by the final days of your term :O

good luck!

------------------------------

watched Quantum of Solace.

for a James Bond movie, it was just okay (hey, who am I to talk? I've only watched the Pearce Brosnan and the Daniel Craig era, so I may not be the right person to critic a 007 movie), but Daniel Craig nailed him again. How does someone roll charisma, coolness, sexiness together with a touch of humane vulnerability and anger (and still ooze so much charm) in one (smexy) package like that? Well, Daniel Craig can do it. :D

the guys watching the movie would probably drool like crazy; cars, guns and babes, and thrilling adrenaline-pumping chases are sprinkled everywhere in the movie.

bought a few books today--couldn't find the books that I really want, but I finally got my hands on Gargoyle; my sis has dibs on it, so I'd be reading Suite Francaise or Redemption Falls or something first. I'm now seriously addicted to historical dramas (Civil War, World War II, French Revolution, or even the Trojan War? Bring it on, ma puce!).

Anyone knows where I can find the Arsene Lupin series? I guess I should check the used books in Bras Basah--it's just that it's so faarrr awwwaayyyy and I've got one lazy ass.

And reminder to self: don't watch True Blood--not until I turn 21.

Champions League matches today--urgh, the thought of watching those lousy streams make my blood boil, but what the hell can I do? If I'm in Jakarta right now, I can watch it happily on cable, which isn't EPL-centric (sprinkling other league matches non-live doesn't count either).

Arsenal vs Manchester United in 3 days. Me and my brother are gonna be growling and snarling at each other until then.

You see? I didn't watch yesterday's Champions League matches due to obvious reasons (exams are comiinnnggg) and then all my three teams play their best!

Arsenal was a five-star team--hints of which they showed during the second half of the Everton game last weekend--who handed Fenerbahce their first home European defeat in three years. 6 goals were scored by the team, compared to one by the Turkish giant--admittedly, one is an own goal from Mikael Silvestre, but Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Adebayor, Theo Walcott, Alexandre Song, and here's another piece of good news: Aaron Ramsey were there to hand Luis Aragones his butt.


Bayern produced probably their best performance under Jurgen Klinsmann yet with Miroslav Klose nicking another goal as early as the fourth minute and Bastian Schweinsteiger and Ze Roberto adding more goals to their already impressive form. Fiorentina, whose domestic form is as sad as Bayern's, has now gone on three matches without a single win despite being a heavy favorite at the start of CL.

Pretty happy day for me after I found out about the results this morning--plus the fact that today's the last day of school! And oh yeah, the year 6s were graduating today. I wonder how our school would be like without them? They've always been the ones bringing most of the trophies to school and stuff--and to me, they're probably the most capable people to take up leadership positions in the school. Whewt, how time flies--the next thing I know, our batch may be the senior batch and the ones standing up there to be waved farewell upon!

Gotta get back to studying. Urgh. Let me just put some gratitious Juninho picture (because I covered him with Karim up there), a grinning Arsene Wenger, and a Miro shot (because he's sexy).

1. Lyon's neon yellow jerseys are very, very bright. It made me think of my biology revision, 'cause it made me think of the highlighters which I use in my revisions.

2. Game as lively as the neon yellow + white jersey combo on the field. At least until around the twentieth minute it was, with both sides testing each other--and then all frikkin' streaming links i try fail on me...

3. I HATE STREAMING and I HATE THE FACT THAT I'M SUPPOSED TO WATCH THIS STREAMED. 

4. Giving up now. Stupid Sopcast streaming is now showing soap operas instead of the match and all justinTVs streams fail on me. I need a frikkin' credit card next time--so I can watch the real proper streaming one in UEFA.com, and burn 8 US bucks from my pocket.

5. Arsenal's leading 3-0 now (Ben AffleckVan Persie + 2 Adebayor goals). Hah, never did expect them to lose against Porto. Bayern's tied with Lyon at 1-1; Puel has Demichellis to thank with an own goal in the first half (around when my streaming screwed up; I refreshed it to find the score 0-1 and I almost threw the mouse against my monitor--thank God for replays) while Ze Roberto equalised in the 51st minute (I saw only the celebrations--Klinsmann seems frikkin' relieved, thanks to really lousy streaming which shows me like one frame per one minute). Other news include the fact that Berbatov has finally scored in the Man U shirt, making it 2-0 for the Manchester United vs Aalborg game. I know all this because I'm now hanging around the Offside Liveblogging page while trying to decipher the pixels that seem to be suspended in time too long of a time to be a streamed video.

6. I REALLY HATE THE FACT I CAN'T WATCH THIS GAME. If I've got a credit card, I can always rewatch it in UEFA.com (for a fee, 'course)... I really hate the fact that I still need to pay watching real exciting football when I paid so frikkin' much to have a handful of channels apparently dedicated to it? Thanks a lot, EPL dominance--the only thing they showing right now is Arsenal's trashing of Porto--maybe if I bother checking I may find the Man U game as well. Oh, Ade just got his hat trick. 4-0 now. Okay, fine, Arsenal is dishing up an exciting match, but they're not the only clubs that can dish exciting matches only. The thing is, the cable would only provide what the market wants, and unfortunately, the market demands EPL CLUBS FTW. Let's see if they would show the Real-Juventus game, or they'd leave it behind in favor of ManU-something and Arsenal-something?

7. Ribery, mah man :D Not yet at his peak, awesome form, but still dangerous--and his presence is already making a huge change in the midfield. The streamings can hardly keep up with his breakneck speed :) urgh, if there's one thing I want to see post match is some Ribery-Benzema <3 at the end, seeing that they were so BFFs in the NT during the Euros. (Berba just made another goal for United, by the way--wow, he's proving me wrong about his expensive lack-of-usefulness).

8. Borrowski coming on for Ribery. Given Tim's form lately, he may actually score a late one here--given how I'm still expecting Benzema to score one. My streaming has utterly failed--it disconnects every five seconds now. Still think it would end in a draw :D uh-oh, wait, Juninho's off for Boumsong--Lyon may seem to go defensive and settle for 1-1 (kinda a gamble; how many people actually believe that Fiorentina wouldn't win against Steaua?--well, it's still 0-0 now, but...)

9. LOL whut I'm actually still attempting to watch the streaming--I guess I'm that desperate to try and watch this game regardless of the lack of quality. Well, at least it makes me use my brains early in the morning to try and keep up with the disfigured, pixellized forms on the screen as well as to try and understand the French commentary. Bayern actually still has that lack of finishing that bothers me, hmmmm... Lots of people criticise Bayern for fielding two over 30 strikers, but it didn't bother me last season when they (well, at least Toni) produced results--but he's forgiven tonight since Lloris made life very difficult for Toni (and Klose, and Oddo, and any other guy that tries to take a shot at the OL goal, actually) last night. Set pieces aren't brilliant as well, although Schweini can find someone like the one he'd just kicked, they usually can't put it away. Unless they do a Demichellis and put it away when they should be the one defending it. Lahm needs to focus more (as usual)--his lapse of concentration almost let to a Benzema goal.

10. Ah, kay that's the final whistle: 1-1! The commentators are now discussing about the game, and duh, they're talking mostly about the excellent Ribery (he is French...)--and whoops, that's it, the broadcasting's cut off. Looks like there'd be no Karim-Franck interactions for me to see. Mehh, Bayern won't be so happy with yet another not-a-victory, but at least it isn't a loss, which they had two times too many these past two weeks. Lyon would be quite thrilled to continued their non-beaten streak even while being away from home (if Bayern doesn't pick it up, they may be in trouble in Stade de Gerland in December), and they're now ahead of Fiorentina on the group ranking by number of goals scored. The unofficial (but generally agreed on) Group of Death is now quite neck to neck this way, I should think:

	P	W	L	D	GF	GC	GD
Bayern	4	1	0	1	2	1	1
Lyon	2	0	0	2	3	3	0
Fiorentina	2	0	0	2	2	2	0
Steaua	1	0	1	1	0	1	-1

11. Need to get 11.484 bucks (I converted it into S$) ready for the next leg Lyon-Bayern game in December.

Of course, such an epic match would probably rank really low in terms of "must-watch" for those of you who are convinced that
EPL is the only football league in the world, but it's your loss if you want to miss a clash between the Bundesliga giant against the League 1 giant.

Fun fact: Lyon's manager Claude Puel used to be teammates with Bayern's manager Jurgen Klinsmann in Monaco. So this is kinda like a highschool reunion, and instead of showing off who's got the bigger car or the prettier wife, they're bringing eleven players on field each to outo each other :)

on Domestic Record So Far

Olympique Lyonnais--6 wins, 1 draw -- VS Toulouse: 3-0 Lorient VS --: 0-0 -- VS Grenoble: 2-0 Saint-Etienne VS--: 0-1 -- VS Nice: 3-2 Le Havre VS--:0-1

Bayern Munich--2 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats -- VS Hamburger SV: 2-2 Borussia Dortmund VS --: 1-1 -- VS Hertha Berlin: 4-1 FC Koln VS--: 0-3 -- VS Werder Bremen: 2-5 Hannover 96 VS --: 1-0

OL VS Fiorentina: 2-2; Bayern VS Steaua Bucharest: 1-0

(And as of an extra stats: Lyon's been the victor for the past 4 encounters it had against German clubs).

Lyon's cruising through their domestic league, while Bayern's undoubtedly going through their worst season as far as anyone can remember.

Players to Watch

OL goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris

7 undefeated games this season so far--and 4 goals conceded. Incredible, incredible talent that Puel found this season and is definitely a worthy successor to Gregory Coupet so far. The 23 year old has already been called up for the French NT, and injects confidence at the back with his great reflexes and seriously unbelievable ability to make amazing saves.

Bayern goalkeeper: Michael Rensing

Already 2 losses in a row-and 10 goals conceded, with Bremen's 5-2 trashing a fortnight ago (some goals were his fault, seriously), but the 24 year old still has the club's backing as Oliver Kahn's next successor (no matter how heavy that legacy is). Also known as one of Germany's next top talent, he was also called up for the Germany NT. But to me, I think the idea of trying to live up to Die Kahn is a bit too... frikkin' stressful and that may actually affect his performance right now.

The Ribery
Previous Ligue 1 topscorer, and current one right now. Karim Benzema was worried about not making it due to a knock in the previous match, but all's well now, and he's all fired up against Bayern now and with Bayern defense being leakier than my air conditioner (what with all the defenders like Lucio and Lahm keep on forgetting that they are frikkin' defenders), he can be their worst nightmare.

Inspiration?

Bayern needs to win this in order to restore confidence in the fans and in themselves. Klinsmann would darn make sure everything go right since Hoeness is all bristling up, and most people are convinced his job's on the line for this one. Annnddd they'd be playing at home.

Lyon needs at least a draw to keep their champions league dream alive, and while the mood in Allianz Arena may be really sour and emo right now, the visitors would be at very, very high spirits, brimming with confidence.

Final words

It may depend on who scores first, well, one more than another--if Lyon scores first, Bayern may suffer from that horrible lack of confidence again and as they pound away in the opponent's half of the field, they may forget to protect their own. If Bayern scores first, it may not matter that much if Lyon keeps this pattern of equalising and scoring late in the game unexpectedly, especially if Bayern's defense--which seriously needs to be improved, preferably via a miracle--is caught by surprise. But in the department of scoring, Bayern may have a little bit of problem--I think Borrowski is like Bayern's best bet if we go by statistics since Toni and Klose are still not on form yet and Podolski suffering from that usual sometimes-invisible ailment again. They do make chances, and they can dominate possession, but they seem to be reluctant to deliver the finishing blow if you watch the last two games they lost.

But pushed in front of the home crowd to try to turn their horrible luck around, Bayern may have a few unexpected aces up their sleeves (eg. Ribery). I won't be surprised if the game ends in a 0-0, or a 1-1 draw after a really exciting match that I unfortunately would have to watch in streaming quality. :D