Shaikh Salman questioned!

For viewers of the excellent Qatari channel "Aldawri walkas" (league & cup), yesterday's "Almajlis" show was quite intresting.

Their set was recreated in the UAE to follow up on the 18th Gulf Tournament. As you must know, Bahrain got slaughtered as usual. So they were discussing that.

Amongst the crowds, were the Bahraini goal keeping icon Mr. Hmood Sultan as usual, and Shaikh Salman Alkhalifa, the top man of the Bahrain Football Association as a guest.

Simply put, the man was under a barrage of questions from Qatari, Iraqi, Saudi guests and others. Basically everyone asked in a nice way: "Why do Bahrain suck?"

The local media have often complained that opening the doors to make Bahrain players pro was bad as it hurts the team. And that's something Sh. Salman stated as well. but.. a smart man popped up and asked: "How can you say turning players pro is bad, while Matchala (Oman's coach) says its the best thing that ever happened to his players?". Here's a loose translation:

"Well, our coach have noticed that the professional players stamina is under what we require"

"How come? They play as first line start ups in the Qatari league, never missed a match or a practice. I'd understand if they were subs but they're not"

"well.. I'm simply quoting what our coach is saying"

"What do you think?"

"Well, they're awfully tiered because of all the matches they play"

"That can't be right! The Qatar league players have returned to their home teams in Oman Bahrain & Qatar itself. Why isn't this affecting them?"

"um.. well.. you see, being away so long, they lack the coordination and understanding achieved by staying under our supervision"

"yes, but the same goes for the other teams and they do not have that problem. Further more, most of your team players are playing together since '98!"

"....."

I couldn't believe it! They were really putting him on the spot! But they were right, whatever reasons we repeat for our failures, aren't exclusive to us. it only affects us. nice.

Khalid Jassim (the host) asked him later about our "imported" players (for those who don't know: there were several non Bahraini's given passports in order to compete for Bahrain. Both for football and other sports), Shaikh Salman said that he can't comment. His response was nice as he said: "As long as there are legal documents proving they are Bahraini citizens, I can't really treat them as not."

Interesting, but the host followed up "And how did they become citizens?"

"They meet certain criteria"

"How?"

"I did not take the decision to make them nationals"

"Who did?"

"Clubs."

"Do they have that power?"

"The government only does"

"And we know that the people behind these clubs have strong connections with the government. Right?"

I swear, he must have thought it was a simple guest appearance. I didn't even think they'll cross examine the man ON LIVE TV like that. But its true, Bahrain's team have little reasons to suck. There are problems but I have the feeling that I hear fake, unaccountable problems. It will all lead to some rotten smell. Whether turning a blind eye to the mediocre performances, or the shady reasons why coaches leave and infrastructure is poorer than that of a decent school.

I give it about 2 years before a real football scandal surfaces. Everyone hates it, everyone smells fish. While the BFA's PR says "We're A-OK!". Surely that can't last long.

this post is dedicated to my friend Nawaf. No reason, he simply asked me to dedicate it to him. God knows why.

Saudi trumps Bahrain 2/1

Ah but of course.

Bahrain played against Saudi Arabia an hour ago in the 18th Gulf cup. And lost.

While Bahrain lead the score through a penalty kick, Saudi soon scored back the same way.

What made matters worse is that 2 Bahraini players got sent off. Saudi's squad simply dominated the match thereafter, albeit with little effect. Its only logical that eventually they'll score and that they did.

*sigh* can't say I watch the match expecting otherwise. I did expect poor performance, but I didn't expect that 2 players get sent off. And it seems that the main goalie (Abdulrahman Abdulkarim) probably injured his left knee. great!

Mohammed Hussain (DF) got into a rage after being sent off (2nd yellow). Most people do but his rage was quit long! He was very persistent and violent, it took about 3 players, a coach assistant and a slap from the coach himself to get him in order and out of the pitch. That's gonna leave a black spot on his record there.

Ah well... Here's hoping for better results.

18th Gulf Cup launched

The 18th Gulf Cup Tournament have launched yesterday in Abu Dhabi, UAE. with UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman & Yemen Participating.

I love these tournament. I don't know, but you can smell the rivalry in the air. Its like when two neighbouring schools play. Here, everyone wants to best the other, and to some, its more important that the world cup, because you see, you can rub it in your neighbour's face afterwards! :)

Yesterday UAE played the opening with Oman, which ended in a 2/1 score in favor of the Omanis. The ref was tough. But I can't cut any slack for the Emarati team who were obviously violent.

And to my surprise, Yemen beat Kuwait to score in a match ended in a draw. The Yemen team was always a pushover. Of course being high on Qat does that. HOWEVER, Qat was banned this tournament and whuddya know? Yemen got an amazing 3 pass efortless goal! Kuwait was lucky to draw with a penelty kick goal. They deserved to lose.

Yeah I know, the skill levels are lacking. But still, this rivalry smell is so tempting!

Bahrain is not Freezing

Today many people have sent me e-mails bearing the picture shown to the right (click on it for a bigger view). The email said:

NEXT WEEK WE ARE IN FOR A SEVERE FREEZING – AS PER THE MET DEPT GET READY FOR
IT
AS WARNING HAS BEEN SOUNDED

So my wonderful wife e-mailed me asking how true it is, as my father is a Meterological Forecaster with immense experience, this is what I got:

This is an 8 day forecast, the met office here usually issue 5 day forecasts,
due to the decrease in reliability long forecasts have.
My father exclaimed
that while we have Northerly winds now, Friday & Saturday will see Sothern
winds (aka: Koos) making it unlikely to go to freezing degrees.
They also
expect more rain, and temp around 19 max – 13 min.
Everyone can call the met
office at 17323073 to confirm
Also, by going to weather.com (the Weather
channel's website) we see that their predictions are the same as our met office.
Picture attached and the link is below: http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/BAXX0001?from=36hr_topnav_business

There you go. You can click on the 2nd picture to see weather.com's 10 day forecast. reast easy, and ask everyone who sent this to you to verify a story before they send each piece of unproved crap to your inbox.

Have a happy and wet week end!

How ugly is this woman?

I heard of killer beauty but.. killer ugliness?

According to the Inquirer, theres this 17 year old Chinese boy who met a 19 year old girl online. She said she was pretty and had a nick name that meant "flying skirt"!

They met, he was surprised to find out she is 10 years older than him, and butt ugly!

He got depressed.

Stopped eating for 4 days.

Then hanged himself from a tree.

Do you freaking believe this? Call me insensitive, but THAT is funny. Stupid idiot! God help us if Conan or Craig get a hold of this!

Figo will transfer to Al-Ittihad. CONFIRMED!

In a statement that goes against what Inter officials said, Luis Figo, the Portuguese player has signed a contract with the famous Saudi club "Al-Ittihad".

Mr. Mansoor Albalui announced yesterday that the superstar and former Real Madrid player will be on contract for a year starting July 1st, 2007.

Still, Mancini's words were partially true, that Figo isn't leaving Inter to join the Saudi club. Figo will wait until his contract expires in 6 months and then will join the Saudi powerhouse. The contract was signed here in Manama, Bahrain yesterday. The contract amount was unannounced but speculations revolve around 4.5 million euro.

It should be a great new opportunity for both player and team. Figo has allot to give to the club and football in this region and Al-Ittihad is one of the strongest Asian teams, winning the Asian champions league several times and enjoys immense following both in Saudi and outside.

You can read the report here (If Arabic isn't a problem), or just go and see the other pictures.

Libya builds Statue for Saddam?

The BBC reported that Libya wants to erect a statue for Saddam Hussain.

..

Why do you want to that? Really? What good will it do?

Libya called 3 days of mourning upon his execution and cancelled the Eid al Adha holidays.

You can always depend on Alqaddhafi to wake you up, huh? :)

WTF? You sick bastards!

This is Ashley.

You see her here pictured last month aged 9.

Do you know what her parents did to her?

They made her a female Peter Pan.

How?

They took her for surgery to remove her uterus, appendix and still-forming breasts, then treat her with high doses of oestrogen to stunt her growth.

This will make sure she never ever grows up.

..

Does anybody see whats wrong with this?

Her parents are defending their decision to do so by saying that she is afflicted with a severe brain impairment known as static encephalopathy, she cannot walk, talk, keep her head up in bed or even swallow food. a condition that the ethical committee in the hospital makes them think that she can never voluntarily reproduce and the procedure shall make it easier to help and will "improve her quality of life".

This is 5 star, grade A, Prime Bull shit. They have jointly mutilated the kid! Despite her ailments they cannot do that. Why don't you just kill her? She will suffer allot less by being dead won't she?

The times online are holding a debate to see what people think. You may wanna vomit there if you so wish.

Mancini Denies Figo's Transfer to Saudi Club

Today's Akhbar Alkhaleej news paper reported that Inter's manager, Mr. Roberto Mancini denied rumors of Figo's transfer to the Saudi famous club "Alittihad".

Mancini also denied other rumors about Real Madrid's David Beckham's potential move to Inter.

However, Mancini commented "Figo will remain with Inter, until further notice". This was transelated from Arabic so it could easily mean "Unless situations change".

Shown here is Figo training at the Bahrain National Stadium yesterday 3rd, at a cold 11C weather.

Bahrain Vs. Intermilan: Utter and complete nonsense

This may probably be the first post I do in Arabic (For the convenince of Newspapers and locals), English will follow the Arabic.

لقاء "منتخبنا" الوردي (ما يستاهل كلمة أحمر) ضد فريق إنترميلان مجرد من أي معنى أو فائدة.

يحتفل الإتحاد البحريني بمرور خمسون عاماً على تأسيسه. للأسف, إحتفاله هذا مثل اللي يضحك على خيبته. فبم تفرح يا إتحاد؟

لن أوغل في التاريخ وأستخلص العجز المزمن عن الإدارة, لكني سأستعرض لكم هذه المباراة فقط. ولكم أن تعدوا كم مرة أستميح الأعذار لكم.

أولا: إعلان المباراة

إستاء الجميع, إذ لا يشعر أحد بأن هناك ما يحتفى به (وأرجوكم أعفوني من ردكم المعارض, وأذهبوا لأي قهوة أو نادي وأسألوا أي شخص ما رأيه بنتائج البحرين الكروية طيلة الخمسين عاماً الماضية). و على شح أسباب الفخر ووجود منشآت تنشف ماء الوجه وتفشل, لا يجدر بنا الإنفاق على إحتفالية لا داعي لها.

ولكن, قلت ماعليه! يبيلهم لاعبينه يتعلمون يلعبون جدام لعيبه عمالقه. فيغو و تولدو و أدريانو. عشان ما يخافون, إي نعم.

ثانياً: إعتزال خميس عيد

طبعاً المباراة تحولت إلى شبه مباراة إعتزال حق خميس عيد وأنه بيلعب 10 دقايق! شلون؟ ما كان الهدف من المباراة تدريب وإعداد جاد؟ شلون يلعبون لاعب معتزل, بس عن خاطره؟ وثانياً عيب تلصّق خميس عيد في المباراة كأنه فكرة ثانوية. لا, اللاعب لازم له حقه. مو حيالله إلعب عشر دقايق بعدين تحمل تقول ما سوينالك إعتزال! تراهي الحركة مهيب سنعة.

ولكن, قلت ماعليه! التكريم هذي أحسن من ماميش. و بعد هو يستاهل. وإحنا ما عندنا ميزانية (ليلحين أقص على روحي) وتدريب المنتخب مايتأثر دام بيلعب 10 دقايق بس. معليه.

ثالثاً: إشلون يتحول الإحتفال إلى طينة

بعد هذي كله, ياوا يقولون أن سامي الجابر ونواف التمياط بيلعبون مع منتخبنه الوطني؟

وجان زين أهمه اللي طالبين يلعبون, إحنا رايحين حق لاعبين سعوديين وقلنالهم تعالو نبي نتسلفكم, لعبوا حق البحرين؟

عاد هني أتعذركم. خلاص. أشبتقولون؟ تبون تعريف كلمة منتخبنا الوطني؟

"منتخب", يعني ناس أمنقيينهم. "نا": يعني المنتخب مالنه إحنه.

أما "الوطني": فلها معنيين, الأول غراش منكر يسوونهم في الدواعيس والثاني يعني من نفس البلد.

بما معناه أن المنتخب, اللي هو الناس اللي منقيينهم, لازم يكونون من الوطن, الديرة نفسها.

شكراً يا إتحاد. لا المباراة بتكون تدريب, ولا حفل إعتزال ولا حتى بيكون فيها حك. أقول ماقصرتوا طول الخمسين سنة وفضايلكم مستمرة. والله يعين لا صوت الضحك يطلع من الخليج ويوصل إيطاليا.

Our national team's “Pink” (It doesn’t deserve to be called red anymore) match against Intermilan’s Blue & Black is utter & complete nonsense.
The Bahraini Football Association (BFA) celebrates its 50th anniversary. Celebrating this occasion is like laughing at your own stupidity.
I shall not delve into the past, I will merely show the incompetence of its management through the ages from that single game.

1) Announcing the match: People were upset. Sure they wanna see Intermilan and there is a huge following for them here. But seriously, there is little to be proud of. And with the sorry state of our infrastructures, this money can be put to better use. STILL, I said that’s fine. Our young team needs to face off against giant players like Figo, Toldo & Adriano. They need to build their experience.
2) Khamis Eid’s retirement: Khamis Eid is to retire at this match? And play a complementary 10 minutes? What the..? what was a good prep match became a semi-retirement match for Mr. Eid. That’s not right, is it? Also, the player has his own history and deserves a proper send off, not attaching him like that like an afterthought. That’s bad. STILL, I said that’s fine. He will be honoured just the same, we do not have a large budget (heh, still delusional) and 10 minutes won’t hurt practice much.
3) How to F*** things up: Sami Aljaber & Nawaf Altimyat, both Saudi players, are to play in OUR NATIONAL TEAM? AND AT OUR OWN REQUEST? WTF? What is your excuse now?
You may want a definition of “National Team”:
National: Means in Bahrain two things: cheap local booze or something of the mother country. Something patriotic.
And Team: means a selection of individuals.
For our dyslexic officials that means Bahraini members selected to play football. Not retired members and certainly not Saudi members.
What the hell can this match be now?
Celebration? There is nothing to celebrate. Training? You screwed that up. Retirement ceremony? Lie, it’s an obvious afterthought. This match won’t even be expected to be strong at all with this set up. Hello boredom.

Thanks BFA, this match will be utter & complete nonsense. Let’s just pray that the laughter heard all over the gulf does not echo in Italy.

College Saga Rocks!

We as avid hardcore gamers, and fanatic RPG lovers have seen countless of parodies of Street fighter, mario and other games.
None is finer than Mark Leung's Final Fantasy Parody "College Saga". Its a long (around 45 minutes) parody in 4 episodes, you can see the first episode below. Click on the link to college saga to see the rest. His work is really brilliant.
Leung, I salute thee.

Happy 2007 Everybody!

A new year is upon us.

Old struggles die, new struggles emerge. But life is a struggle anyway.

Within the anarchy are beads of joy and tranqulity. Find them and enjoy them.

Happy 2007 Everyone!