Arsenal Vs Malaysia 2011

The Bukit Jalil Stadium

Since its my first time going to the stadium, I can't deny that I'm a bit excited. There's a lot of booths outside the stadium selling Malaysia and Arsenal's jersey, merchandises and whole bunch of stuffs.

70% of the people there wore Arsenal's jersey. Me and my brother purposely wears Malaysian away jersey. I know I'm an Arsenal fan and Arsenal will win that night so I might as well wear the Malaysian jersey. You know, support your own country thing. Tho I kinda regret the decision. But more on that later. 

I can divide it into the  good part and the bad part. 

I'll start with The Bad Part.

1. Firstly, I didn't manage to go to the training session on 12th July since I had a freakin' midterm test. I'm so pissed off I can't really talk about that in blog. That was the whole point of me frantically wanting to buy the ticket early before.

2. Second, we arrived at Bukit Jalil around 345pm. Waited at the Red Gate from 4pm. The gate open around 530pm. Then wait some more until 845 pm.
Total waiting hour: +- 5HOURS.

Crowds queuing in front of the Red Gate.

If anything that I learned about myself that day is that WAITING, QUEUING FOR HOURS, SWEATING and BIG CROWD are NOT really my thing. If it's not because of Arsenal, I definitely wont be doing that again. Not if somebody offer me a million bucks to do that again..

Or maybe if Malaysia ever end up in World Cup.. then I'll reconsider..=P

Some Kazakhstan fan. Who prolly went there to see Arshavin.=P

3. The thing about watching in the stadium is, you can't watch the replay. If somebody scored, you can't watch it again. If somebody been fouled, you can't see the foul again..(-_-)

4. The Malaysian players were a bit disappointing. I was hoping for a more competitive game. I know its just a friendly but they could just put a good show for everyone to watch.

But I have to admit there's some good runs by Kunalan on the left flank and also one great free kick by Syafiq Rahim (I think) that made the most relaxed Szczesny stretched a bit.

5. Our field doesn't give a good impression either. They have to fix the grass repeatedly and during halftime.

6. I really can't stand being compressed in the sea of humans in my way out of the stadium. Not to mention the weird smells combined altogether.. poor my nose.. T_T..

At one point I was wondering: "God. Why am I here again??" 

Then God answered: "You're here to watch Le Prof and his boys you silly.."

The crowd at 5pm

The Malaysian team warming up

The Arsenal team warming up

Both teams entering the pitch 

Give respect to the Crown Prince.

 Kick Off: 8:45pm

Ramsey's penalty

The rest of the pictures got blurred due to the heats from the light and since I'm just using my 3.2MP SonyEricsson.=P

So The Good Part.

1.Our seat were exactly above the grandstand, so we kinda have a great view from above. I can recognize each of the player from where I sit.

2. The Arsenal away jersey is damn cool, they all look so chic in that one. I take back my word from few posts ago. I'll definitely buy one of those.

Pic taken from Arseblog.

3. After waiting hours in the stadium all tired and sweaty, the moment the boys come out from the tunnel, all the frustration is gone. I started smiled and smiled till my jaw crammed.

I was like, "Abang, abang tu Nasri! tu Nasri!" 

Then my brother was like "Van Persie long Van Persie!"

and I was "Vermaelennnnnn!!!!" "Wenger..!" "Pat Rice..!!"

Greatest feeling ever.......(^_^)

And it gets better when they respond to the crowd. Theo was one of the sporting one who happily waved back to the crowd and smiled to the camera. Nasri too, since Cesc is not around, he's like the main attention that night.

4 I don't know why, watching Vermaelen wearing the Captain armband made me so happy. For some reason, I really missed Vermaelen. Watching him played, worth every uncomfortable things I had to endure throughout the night. And he was fierce that guy..I was afraid his Achilles will acting up again... but I believe he's in a good shape and it's great to see him in full speed...=)

5. Ryo was feisty!  I think he's bigger than average Asian. He's even bigger than Walcott. And I'm suprised how small Theo is. No wonder he runs fast.

Okey back to Ryo, he managed to get all the attention he needed last night. He's fast, hardworking and he got skills. He really is something new to the team. I can't really say he's similar to a certain Arsenal player because he's not. 

I love the idea of having two sprinters on both left and right flanks. Love it!
Oh and talking about physical traits, Szczesny is a damn tall dude. He'll make a great Arsenal keeper for a long time.. Same goes with Jenkinson, tall defender indeed. =)

6. I suddenly wanted to be a Malaysian footballer. They got to shake hands, tackled, touched, talked and exchanged shirt with the Arsenal players! I'm so jealous!=P=P

7. It kinda fun to watch 2 or 3 people who wear different team's jersey got booed at the stadium. There's a guy who wore ManU shirt, Barcelona shirt and this one guy who wears Chelsea shirt with Ashley Cole's name behind his back. That guy got some guts I must say.=P=P

My brother too almost wear his Chelsea shirt last night, I'm lucky he didn't.=P=P

 The guy who wears the Barcelona shirt.

8. The atmosphere is great over there. The Bukit Jalil stadium is about 87 000 seating capacity, and I might say the attendance is around 70-80% of the stadium. I don't mind at all the fact that it's not full. It's a big stadium and also given the fact that the match took place on a working day. And I know Malaysia is full of Man Utd and Liverpool's fan and I'm really proud to be the minority supporters of Arsenal here in Malaysia.

9. There's also some fans who brought banners begging Nasri and Cesc not to leave. Good to see.=)

So that's that.

Now I've learned few things, If Arsenal ever gonna come to Malaysia again I have to do these things:

1. Go to the training session no matter what.

2. Be more alert to the events they're doing, like there's some signing session(or something) that they did in Midvalley Megamall that I just knew about. Damn it!
3.Go to their hotel. During the arrival or when they were about to leave. Sometimes they did an impromptu signing session. Like today.Sigh.

4. Wear Arsenal's Jersey. 

It doesn't mean that I'm not supporting Malaysia if I'm not wearing the Malaysian Jersey. I went there NOT to support either of the team. I don't really care who will win the match. I went there to watch The Arsenal players play in my home country. In front of my own eyes. So as an Arsenal fan, I think I should wear the Arsenal jersey. It doesn't make me less Malaysian if I wore Arsenal's jersey. So, lesson learned. 

5. And maybe save some money to buy the RM338 ticket next time. Hehehe..

All and all, still a good experience. So, 

Watching Arsenal here in Malaysia : Checked!. 

Watching Arsenal in Emirates : Soon.

(^_^)

Thanks to my beloved brother and my friends. 

Can't wait for the next season to starts. For now, back to your studies and FYP! =P