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I'm Excited about AFF 2014. Really.
Posted on November 22, 2014 by asiafootball
Gee, I wonder where I can get all these Indonesian stuff on any Nike store in Indonesia…because I have checked stores in Jakarta and all they have are Barcelona and Manchester United.
Tonight, Southeast Asian football will look at itself. For the next one month.
The ASEAN Football Federation (ASEAN is Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Championship begins tonight with Philippines vs Laos. Of course, nobody will actually see that, so we move on to the proper opening match featuring co-host Vietnam taking on my country Indonesia. Tomorrow Malaysia will face Myanmar while the real match of the day would be between Singapore and Thailand. All the way to the second leg final on 20 December 2014, five day before Christmas and at the same day with the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup Championship final. So it's a double treat for the winning nation (I really can't think of anyone, really). Philippines and then Real Madrid.
That one-month long tournament idea it's just stupid. I blame Nike. And Suzuki. And Fox Sports Asia. We can have the whole championship wrapped up just in two weeks but this is as long as the World Cup. In 2010, the prolonged tournament was a recipe for disaster for Indonesia. Indonesia did well, then president Susilo B. Yudhoyono watched Invictus and thought of himself as Nelson Mandela (Irfan Bachdim became Matt Damon) and showed up to the playoffs, effectively ruining Indonesia's morale and integrity.
I apologize, though, for blaming Nike. Even Nike Indonesia does not take this tournament seriously. Yesterday I went to the mall and saw a display of #RiskEverything with Irfan Bachdim and his tattoos (2014 appearance for Ventforet Kofu: 0) but the Nike store had only few away shirts, probably leftover from last season. No polo or jacket or cap. In contrast, from the same mall's Adidas outlet I have collected Japan's jersey, t-shirt, jacket, cap, and backpack. All I have to do is wear them all and be like Joey Tribbiani.
This picture has nothing to do with Asian football.
How could the "football crazy" Indonesia cares little about the Red and White? That's because Nike Indonesia cares little about it. That's because the football crazy Indonesians care more about Germany, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Juventus (and Japan, in my case). That's because we don't think we'd win the championship, even as we are crying war. Then again, maybe so our neighbors.
So I assure you, not just Nike Indonesia (and their customers) cares about the lack of availability of Indonesia merchandises, we also don't care about the other teams. Enemies. Opponents. Foreigners. Sports tabloids and newspapers can write a little about "players to watch" and predicted lineups, but don't expect too much from television.
So, I take the responsibility to educate my fellow Indonesians a little about teams that Indonesia will defeat and that will defeat Indonesia, and to give an introduction to the world on Indonesia and other Southeast Asian teams.
Surprisingly, the ones with Japanese touch. Maybe Vietnam have taken its rivalry with China to a new level. Coach Toshiya Miura had experiences with Omiya, Sapporo, and Kobe in the 2000s. Their female supporters can be the most visible and enthusiastic ones, and the host advantage can be with them.
Foreign-based player? No.
The Ace: Le Chong Vinh, number nine. Experienced unsuccessful stints with Leixoes in 2009-10 Primeira Liga (they were the worst team) and Consadole Sapporo in 2013. Did not score in 2012 championship, though.
The Foreigner: Mac Hong Quan. Born in Czech, he was with Sparta Prague B before moving to Vietnam in 2013. Still an underachiever.
Problem Child: Dinh Thanh Trung. Left Hanoi over dispute, he played in Division 2 last season.
The perpetual dark horses, Philippines grew from one of the worst teams in the region (and Asia) into a feared one, thanks to half-Filipino players recruited from Europe and United States. They became fine footballers and decided to play in the United Football League and dating models rather than busting their asses in European lower leagues (they still can date models there, right?). If they still can't reach the final, blame UFL.
O yeah, their coach is Tom Dooley, one of my heroes when I supported United States in early 1990s.
Foreign-based players? Several. Goalkeeper Ronald Muller in Servette, captain Rob Gier in Ascot United, Jerry Lucena in Esbjerg, and Martin Steuble in Sporting Kansas City. Until they will play in UFL and get cozy.
The Ace: Mark Hartmann, who scored 27 goals this season with Global. Might overshadow old favorites like the Younghusband brothers.
The Foreigner: Most of the team, but the peculiar ones would be defender Daisuke Sato and midfielder Misagh Bahadoran.
The Problem Child: Surprisingly nothing, but expect them to argue with the referees and challenge other players with combative gestures.
Indonesia can't let go of the big country syndrome – since we have so many people and have the biggest area, we have to be the biggest bully of the block, right? I hope new president Joko Widodo can help the team concentrate now and let publicity takes the back seat. Austrian coach Alfred Riedl worked for Vietnam again and again from late 1990s to mid 2000s.
If Indonesia makes a rip-off of Cantabile, he's very suitable to play Franz Stresemann.
Foreign based player? Sergio van Dijk, once an attraction of A-League, plays for Suphanburi in Thailand.
The Ace: Uruguay-born Cristian Gonzales, consistently one of top scorers in Indonesian Premier League and has good record with Indonesia. At 38, however, he's getting fatter and fatter.
The Foreigner: Besides those two, there's the Nigeria-born defender Victor Igbonefo.
Problem Child: Being a stereotypical stern Austrian, Riedl omits Irfan Bachdim and night club regular Diego Michiels from this team. Unfortunately, he also omits IPL 2014 MVP Ferdinand Sinaga, who I believe deserves a forward spot better over van Dijk.
The Poland/Greece of Southeast Asia – you'll need to copy and paste their names rather than typing. The lovable losers who survived the qualification run. Coached by English Dave Booth, a veteran of Indian football (and Grimsby Town's 1973 Player of the Year).
Foreign-based player: Soukaphone Vongchiengkham (pasted) plays for Thai Division 1 club Saraburi.
The Ace: Him, maybe.
The Foreigner: None.
The Problem Child: None as far I know.
The defending champions and eternally an annoying shrimp for its larger neighbors, at least in football. They are expected to reach semi finals, at the expense of neighbors and rivals Malaysia. They are now the only team to have an ethnic Chinese footballer.
Foreign-based players: LionsXII, where most of the players work for, compete in Malaysia Super League. Other than that, Hariss Harun plays for Johor and captain Shahril Ishak, 2012 Championship MVP, is in Johor II. Baffling, no?
The Ace: Khairul Amri, on his tenth year with the Lions and scored four goals in the 2012 Championship. This year he's the top scorer in the Malaysia Super League who is not a Brazilian or Argentine.
The Foreigner: For the last ten years, Singapore had been powered by naturalized players from England, Nigeria, China, and former Yugoslavia. Not anymore. Gabriel Quak, on the other hand, becomes the first Singapore-born ethnic Chinese who's good enough for the national team since Goh Tat Chuan played in early 2000s. Ironically, in Chinese-majority Singapore, his name and feature are unique for Singaporean football. Maybe just like Hugo Lloris in France.
The Problem Child: Khairul Nizam, brother to Khairul Amri, served eight matches ban in 2010 for brawl against Beijing Guoan Talent players.
Another favorite for the championship and have to decide who they hate most – Singapore, Thailand, or Indonesia. Coached by Dollah Salleh, the legend of late 20th century's Asian football. If Singapore are the team to feature a Chinese player, this is the one to support if you're into Indian footballers.
Foreign-based players: None.
The Ace: Indra Putra Mahayuddin. A favorite of 2000s, he disappeared from international football scene and stages a comeback this month.
The Foreigner: Malaysia has never naturalized any foreign star or a foreigner with Malaysian background, although they had accepted few Muslim Burmese in the past. The Indian Malaysians I talked about are Gary Steven Robbat and Kunanlan.
The Problem Child: Safee Sali. He's a nice guy who's got into some troubles several times. The first Malaysian who played in Indonesian Super League, he was promised number 10 shirt at Persija Jakarta but got number 55 instead. A somewhat working analogy of his time in Indonesia is like a Japanese star who plays in K-League – both Indonesians and Malaysians are okay with it and he was not heckled, but both parties saw him as tainted. In 2014 Johor almost handed him over to Selangor, but eventually he stayed with Johor.
Difficult spellings too, but hey, it's essential to remember their names. Traditionally seen as the big boss of Southeast Asia, they are in crazy and unstable forms in this century. This week they defeated New Zealand 2-0 but lost all their qualifications matches for Australia 2015. Like Malaysia, they entrust the national team to a national hero, Kiatisuk Senamuang – who scored 70 goals for Thailand from 1993 to 2006.
Foreign-based player: None.
The Ace: Kawin Thammasatchanan, best goalkeeper of the 2012 edition and one of the most formidable goalkeepers in Southeast Asia, standing at 185 meters (6 feet 1 inch).
The Foreigner: Charyl Chappuis, formerly a reserve player in Grasshopper Zurich and a member of Switzerland winning team at the 2009 U-17 World Cup. He graduated from Thailand U-23 last year and scored his first senior goal this year against Kuwait.
The Problem Child: Thai generals. I really want to support Thailand but if they do good, the generals will take credit for the "happiness".
Who cares.
So, that's the preview of eight teams competing in AFF Suzuki Cup 2014. As I'm writing this conclusion, Philippines have overturned a 0-1 shock from Laos into a 2-1 lead. Please enjoy this feat of Southeast Asian football since there won't be any at the Asian Cup.
Posted in Asian National Teams, Continental, Editorial	| Tagged Alfred Riedl, Charyl Chappuis, Cristian Gonzales, Daisuke Sato, Dollah Salleh, Gabriel Quak, Gary Steven Robbat, Indonesia, Indra Putra Mahayuddin, Irfan Bachdim, Kawin Thammasatchanan, Khairul Amri, Khairul Nizam, Kiatisuk Senamuang, Kunanlan, Laos, Le Chong Vinh, LionsXII, Mac Hong Quan, Malaysia, Mark Hartmann, Myanmar, Philippines, Safee Sali, Sergio van Dijk, Shahril Ishkak, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Tom Dooley, Victor Igbonefo, Vietnam	| 1 Reply
Their love is for Manchester United, really
James come from Manchester. "Just Like Fred Astaire" was a soundtrack of my high school romance.
Few days ago I was surprised to know that Quinton Fortune is now an assistant coach to Cardiff City U-21. Hmm…Ole Gunnar Solksjaer…Quinton Fortune…Cardiff City.
Then, Salford City, which plays in…um…Northern Premier League Division One North is half-bought (50% shares, you see) by Singaporean Peter Lim. So that's why the other owners – Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and the Neville brothers (and yeah, Nicky Butt, he played for MU didn't he?) were often spotted in Singapore in recent years. I thought they were just paying a visit to Paul Parker, who is now a Singaporean pundit.
I fell in love with Manchester United after borrowed Manchester United: The Double (often mistranslated by Asian pirates as Manchester United 2) in 1994. A serious bug (or deliberate design?) made Andy Cole always, always injured for 99 days even when benched. It is hectic as Sensible World of Soccer, but at least I could win the FA Cup and the EPL, unlike in Sensi.
Anyway, then Britpop came and I followed the EPL when everyone else in Indonesia was following Serie A (we always prefer Continental Europe than UK, unlike Malaysia-Singapore and Thailand). So there you go, from Giggs, the left midfielder in The Double, to Fortune, the sub midfielder in FIFA 2003 (I played Pro Evo Soccer/Winning Eleven since then, until returned to FIFA in 2009). Now they are working or partnering with a Southeast Asian Chinese.
Was Rio Ferdinand in MU back in FIFA 2003? Because he's in Queens Park Rangers now. Well, he's the only link between QPR and MU now. O yeah, there was Park Ji-sung.
Like Cardiff and Salford (and Valencia, probably), QPR is owned by a Southeast Asian. Not Chinese, but Indian. Tony Fernandes, perfectly the Southeast Asian version of Richard Branson (he was indeed a protege) operates Air Asia, Southeast Asia's hippest airline (when my plane to Singapore was airborne, Girls' Generation was played over the PA. I screamed in orgasm although sitting next to a Malay old man). He was also the Southeast Asian Donald Trump, being the boss of the regional version of The Apprentice. Actually there are more qualified of candidates here (being a nutty conservative/conspiracy theorist) but they are too camera shy.
You might remember that QPR sported the Malaysian Airlines logo in 2011-12 season. One year later, it changed to Fernandes' own Air Asia. Coincidentally, in 2012 Cardiff City stole the headlines with the red dragon makeover. And theeen, Cardiff players were the one who wore the "Malaysia" word on their red shirts. Fernandes moved to Jakarta, to the heckles of who he described as "right wing bloggers".
My Australian professors offered a wisdom – never, never believe rich Asians who said they were born poor. They were always born rich. Fernandes at least acknowledged his childhood of learning business from her mother's Tupperware tea parties and his love for piano, while Tan's family background is mysterious. All stories about him begins in 1985, when the 33-year old acquired the Sports Toto lottery from his good friend, then Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammed.
Peter Lim followed my professors' rule by declaring that he is the son of a fishmonger…before saying that he's an alumni of the Raffles Institution – Singapore's most elite secondary school. In Australia, as an accounting student, he worked as a waiter, cook, and cab driver, although I'm not sure international students are permitted to become a taxi driver there. He built his fortune back in Singapore by becoming a real estate broker for Indonesian clients.
The second rule to be a Southeast Asian tycoon is to be close with the center of power, i.e. the ruling party. Australian and American tycoons can donate billions to the opposition party and criticize the government, but Malaysia and Singapore have not seen any change of government since their foundations. So Malaysian tycoons are friendly with the National Front coalition (the Chinese through Malaysian Chinese Association, the Indians through Malaysian Indian Congress), while Singaporean tycoons keep good relations with the People's Action Party.
Make the movie. Make the movie. Make the movie.
Peter Lim was known outside Singapore when he courted every club in Europe – Liverpool. Rangers. Valencia. Milan. Finally this year he settled with Valencia. Has he? Valencia did receive considerable coverage this year in Singapore, which is bit weird for a region that cares only about La Liga because of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
The third rule applies to Singapore – no one is permitted to be a famous tycoon in Singapore. No one is permitted to be more famed than the Lee family who runs the government. Peter Lim is probably the first tycoon of the 21st century that many people outside Singapore have heard of, and it's precisely because of the Liverpool proposal and the Valencia purchase.
So we have the abrupt switch from "Malaysia' sponsorship from Fernandes' QPR to Tan's Cardiff, Manchester United Class of 92's visits to Singapore, and the excitement of Valencia purchase. My guess is that Tan and Lim work for the government.
The real owners of Cardiff City and of Valencia (and Salford) are the Malaysian and Singaporean governments, respectively. Just like Manchester City is owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Paris St. Germain is owned by Qatar. They are not Glazer brothers or John Henry, who can contribute billions to American political parties but do not work on behalf of Washington.
Still, they are unhappy with what they have. Because their (the billionaires and the governments) main prize is Manchester United. So far they have to be content with faux-MU – Salford, red Cardiff City, Rio Ferdinand, and Valencia. Valencia? Yes, when they have got Mata back. Too bad about Solskjaer.
Posted in Business, Editorial	| Tagged Cardiff City, Club ownership, Glazer Brothers, John Henry, Liverpool, Malaysia, Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Paul Scholes, Peter Lim, QPR, Quinton Fortune, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Salford, Singapore, Tony Fernandes, Valencia, Vincent Tan	| Leave a reply
A History of Southeast Asia and the World Cup: 1993-2013
These stories happen most likely when you're around.
1993: Hunger Games III
How the world had changed. West Germany, the champions of 1990 World Cup, were no longer there. Klinsmann, Matthaus, and Illgner were still around, added by some not so notable easterners like Thomas Doll and Andreas Kopke (who might be the only easterner in the German team for World Cup 94). Hipsters' choices Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia did not exist anymore, while AFC experienced an explosion of new species.
In school I learned that Southeast Asia was essentially Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and I only had to learn about these six countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, and Brunei) because the rest were dirty commies. But now Indonesia and Japan trumpeted their roles in building new Cambodia and United States welcomed the opening of Vietnam.
Sour Myanmar, however, still refused to join the pool party and withdrew from Group B of First Round AFC qualification, leaving Taiwan to be bullied around by Iran, Syria, and Oman. Congratulations to three unimportant Taiwanese who managed to score a single goal. You made life less painful for the goalkeeper(s).
Group C had three Southeast Asian teams including newcomers Vietnam. 1994 was a high time for Indonesian economy with buzzwords such as globalization, cyberspace, and Asian values. No such joys for the national team, who went down to group hosts Qatar 1-3 on first match. North Korea then did a one-two on Vietnam and Singapore before doing Indonesia 4-0, all just in five days. Sheez.
Singapore had their first win against Vietnam with legends Fandi Ahmad and V. Sundramoorthy, only to be smashed down again by Qatar in three days. Life got worse for Indonesia after losing 0-1 to Vietnam (Ha Vuong Ngau Nai scored). Do you want more, Indonesia? 0-2 to Singapore then, Mohammad Rafi Ali and Sundramoorthy. Trust me, Indonesia know better "Agony of Doha" than Japan. Yes, Qatar. 1-4. Both them and North Korea really had fun with the Southeast Asians, before Singapore registered 1-0 wins against Vietnam and Qatar (Ali and Ahmad). Indonesia had its only victory, a 2-1 to Vietnam, before lost by the same score to Singapore.
North Korea won this bloody group, with Singapore coming third with five wins. Singapore Lions attacking midfielder Varadaraju the Dazzler (kids, there was no S. League and Singapore played in Malaysian league) scored four goals, officially one of the best footballers in Southeast Asia this year. Indonesian press were so unhappy with the seven defeats.
In Group E, Malaysia were lucky enough to be put with Macau and to host the group. Azman Adnan equalized against Kuwait and Malaysia had their second draws to Saudi Arabia. Sexy time came against Macau with Adnan scored a hattrick while both Azizol Abu Haniffah and Abdul Mokhtar scored two goals. 9-0. Then the matches were moved to Riyadh and bad times came with both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia scored five on Malaysia between them. At least there were Macau. 5-0 this time with two more goals from Adnan and Paramasivan Ravindran. So we had Sundramoorthy from Singapore and now Adnan (who played in Selangor) from Malaysia. What about Thailand?
Too bad for Thailand, they were grouped with Japan and UAE. The 1992 champions of Asia, so eager to travel to United States, kicked off with 1-0 win to Thailand. Three days later in Tokyo, Thailand won 1-0 to Sri Lanka (Kiatisuk Senamuang) – and lost with the same score to UAE. Thailand then defeated its nemesis (this is a nerdy trivia question: "Who were Thailand's World Cup qualification rivals in 1980s and early 1990s?") Bangladesh again, 4-1, with a hattrick by Piyapong Pue-on.
In Dubai, Thailand lost to Japan and UAE before defeating the South Asians with five goals scored by Piyapong Pue-on, the Royal Thai Air Force striker. A bittersweet but promising year for Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, and a completely forgettable year for Indonesia.
"Why 1990's Singapore rocks". I agree.
1997: Football in the Time of Cholera
1997 ended the roaring 1990s for Asia abruptly – Thai Bath collapsed and with it Thai, Malaysian, Korean, and Indonesian economies (all built upon weak and corrupt foundations). Japan, who had struggled with recession since 1991, experienced mounting social problems evident in manga Great Teacher Onizuka.
Of course, no one knew what was coming in March, when Azman Adnan scored again against Bangladesh, held Saudi Arabia goalless, and took it easy against Taiwan. Things went sour as usual away from Kuala Lumpur – Taiwan held Malaysia 0-0 and Saudi scored three. Naturally Malaysia defeated Bangladesh again but that's all about it.
In Jakarta, Indonesia had fun 8-0 against Cambodia before disappointingly held by Yemen – and by Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Bad memories of 1993 reappeared and came true. After two draws with Uzbekistan and Yemen, Uzbekistan killed off Indonesia 3-0 in Tashkent, two weeks before the deluge of 2 July.
Thailand braced themselves against South Korea and Hong Kong, appearing for the last time with its British colonial flag (before flying its Chinese colonial flag next semester). Piyapong Pue-on equalized early in second half before Ha Seok-ju and Choi Moon-sik put down Thai resistance. Thailand defeated Hong Kong 2-0 at home, before it was revealed in November that four Hong Kong players bet their losses for two goals. Such low lives. Hong Kong defeated Thailand 3-2 at home, and so their defensive play in the last match against South Korea were meaningless. Looking from their World Cup records, it's astonishing that Thailand were seen as the big boys of Southeast Asia in the 20th century.
It was worse for Singapore…were the signs of the fall down actually visible early in the year? Asians intoxicated with Spice Girls, David Beckham, and Netscape Navigator certainly didn't see it coming. Singapore simply had no chance against Kuwait and Lebanon, two easy opponents they should have overcome. Singapore would stand tall during the financial crisis thanks to steady influx of Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai money.
Finally, the Philippines. After decades, they finally got their hands on football and lost to Qatar, Sri Lanka, and India. The end.
2001: Without Japan and South Korea
Japan and Republic of Korea hosted the 2002 World Cup, everyone had recovered from the financial crisis and enjoyed the new millennium. Laos and Philippines were grouped together so they could see which one were worse: the Philippines, who Laos defeated 2-0 and held 1-1. Other than that, they were both shooting practices for Oman and Syria.
Malaysia had the honor of playing football with Palestine, the rallying point of the Muslim world. But first they had to endure 5-1 beating by Qatar before Akmal Rakhli scored two past Hong Kong. Unfortunately, they lost both to Palestine and Hong Kong before defeating Palestine 4-3 in a battle royal before lucky 400 people in Doha on 25 March 2001. I need the footage of this match uploaded on YouTube, please. Rakhli from amateur French club FCSR Haguenau (a reject of Strasbourg) scored two goals again.
Singapore football was still in slump. Draws with Kuwait and Kyrgyzstan and losses against everyone else.
Thailand, meanwhile, became the first Southeast Asians since Indonesia in 1985 to pass the first stage. They got an easy group consisted of Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan and they took the chance well with goals from Seksan Piturat (Sinthana), Kiatisuk Senamuang (Raj Pracha), and Sakesan Pituratna. Oh wait, this is actually Piturat. So did he change his name or different spelling or what?
There was this group where Brunei met India, Yemen, and UAE. Humiliation ensued.
Finally, Indonesia kicked off its campaign with five past Maldives. Then six past Cambodia. Two again to Cambodia. Two to Maldives. Wonderful. And theeeen…they met China. China won twice. Close but no cigars. But nothing to shame of. Except for the unrealistic Indonesian press.
Vietnam also did well against Bangladesh and Mongolia, but not against Saudi Arabia.
Because of Thailand, I have to continue my story instead of moving on. Without Japan and South Korea (sourpuss North Korea didn't participate as they didn't want to visit both nice places), there were these seven Arab states, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Thailand. Thailand were slammed 0-4 on first day by Iraq before held Iran 0-0 in Bangkok. The pattern continued – drew and losses with five goals scored by Piturat, Senamuang, Sutee Suksomsit (Thai Farmers Bank. Remember them?), and Worrawoot Srimaka (BEC Tero Sasana). OK Thailand, you have done what Malaysia cannot.
Nobody dyed their hair blond. I'm disappointed.
2004: No Second Place
Either other nations got better in football or Southeast Asia got worse in football. Both then. Laos lost to Sri Lanka but something happened: Guam and Nepal both withdrew and FIFA picked a lucky loser – Laos whose loss less severe compared to Bangladesh, Macau, and such. Iran, Jordan, and Qatar thanked them.
Singapore's woes continued by losing 0-1 to India, 1-2 to Japan, and then 0-7 to Oman. D'oh. 3600 people who kept their hope high watched Singapore defeated India 2-0 at Jalan Besar Stadium with goals from Indra Sahdan and Khairul Mohammad.
You should see Malaysia tho. After decades of coming close to the next round, this time they were utterly simply verily destroyed by Kuwait, China, and unbelievably, Hong Kong. Twice.
Things seemed predictable first for Thailand – lost to UAE, won against Yemen, lost to North Korea, lost to North Korea again. Whoops. They got their act together and superbly defeated UAE 3-0 (Anon Nanok, Thredsak Chaiman, and Jiensathawong Jakapong – now known as Nontapan Jeansatawong…I don't create bad luck for him for writing his old name, do I?) before held 1-1 by Yemen.
Vietnam did well against Maldives, but not against Lebanon and South Korea.
Ditto for Indonesia. Losing to Turkmenistan (start of a rivalry forgotten by Indonesians) 1-3, they didn't convince anyone with narrow win and a draw against Sri Lanka, lost again to Saudi Arabia, before Ilham Jaya Kesuma (Tangerang) scored three past Turkmenistan.
No second place, because all Southeast Asia were in third and fourth places.
2007-2008: Three-Stages Vetting
Let's try something new – Asian countries except Japan, South Korea, and prodigal sons Australia must prove their worth first. So Thailand put 13 past Macau, Myanmar received 11 from China, Vietnam were destroyed by UAE, Malaysia lost to Bahrain, newcomers Timor Leste lost to Hong Kong (playing their home match in Indonesia), Singapore defeated Palestine 4-0 in Doha and were awarded 3-0 victory when Israel prevented Palestine players from leaving Gaza Strip and denied them the chance of admiring the Changi Airport. Indonesia got it easy against Guam.
Next, Thailand and Singapore defeated Yemen and Tajikistan respectively while Indonesia, after lost 1-4 to Syria at home, threw the game away by immersing themselves in a series of demotivational seminars and book discussion. The result? Syria 7 Indonesia 0. That's the spirit.
So Thailand were grouped with Japan, Bahrain, and Oman while Singapore were with Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. By June 2008 Thailand had known where they were heading – losses to Japan and Bahrain and draw with Oman. No, they did not score any win.
Singapore, meanwhile, defeated Lebanon 2-0. After a decade of agony, Singapore decided to ask foreigners playing in the S. League who were charmed with the clean and safe streets, the lavish malls, the beautiful women and the impossibility to play for England, Nigeria, China, and Australia to play for the Lions instead. The results: Awesomeness and increased jealousy from neighbors. They heroically lost 3-7 to Uzbekistan, then got foolish and fielded Qiu Li, whose transfer of citizenship from China to Singapore had not cleared. Uzbekistan won 1-0 but FIFA awarded the 3-0 result. Qiu Li played again when Singapore lost to Saudi Arabia 0-2. In the end, Singapore defeated Lebanon 2-1 with Baihakki Khaizan and Ramez Dayoub scored own goals for both teams. Never mind the FIFA sanction – the naturalization model worked. How else you would defeat Lebanon?
2011-2012: Never mind the World Cup. Let's try being good in football first.
So here we are. Oh okay, 2011 happened three years ago. Right. Mohammad Safiq Rahim (Selangor) and Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak (Negeri Sembilan/ATM FA) scored against Taiwan, with a twist. Taiwan heroically won their home match 3-2 and thus lost to Malaysia by away goal rule.
Philippines, playing the naturalization game by recruiting half-Filipinos boys in Europe and United States who played football (there were plenty of them!) defeated Sri Lanka. Without naturalization (well) Vietnam put 13 past Macau while Timor Leste, sporting Brazilian names and Australian grass root spirit, conceded seven Nepalese goals instead.
In the second round, Thailand defeated Palestine 1-0 and passed the round in dramatic fashion – Murad Alyan scored in the injury time only for Datsakorn Thonglao to equalize at the last chance. Laos managed to score three past China, which was good enough for a team receiving 13. Indonesia-Turkmenistan showdown happened again, and at least now Indonesia fighting properly – after a 1-1 draw in Asghabat, they gave all before 88 thousand crowds in Jakarta and Uruguay-born Cristian Gonzalez (who met his Indonesian wife in Uruguay instead of Indonesia) scored a brace. Actually Indonesia led 4-1 before the lapse defense gave supporters double heart attacks in the last 10 minutes.
No such luck for the German and English Filipinos as Kuwait put five against them and FIFA awarded Oman two 3-0 wins over Myanmar due to crowd trouble (they hurled objects to Oman's goal while singing the national anthem) in Yangon. Qatar defeated Vietnam and here's the real deal: Singapore v Malaysia.
Apparently only 6000 Singaporeans (maybe a good number of them were actually Malaysians) interested to see this "Causeway Derby" (come on, we need a scarier name. Singapore is the only nation in history to be expelled from a union. Imagine the Scots insisted to stay in union with the English, but the English could not take it anymore and declared instead of granted the independence of Scotland). In this battle royale, Safee Sali (Pelita Jaya) scored directly from kick off while Aleks Duric (Tampines) equalized in seven minutes. Singapore led 4-1 at half time, but on the second half Abdul Hadi (Terengganu) and Safee scored, before Duric sealed the victory for Singapore. Here are the highlights and all videos I found on YouTube on this match supported Malaysia.
90 thousand Malaysians crowded Bukit Jalil Stadium on 28 July 2011 and Safee scored to make the aggregate 5-4. Chinese born Shi Jiayi equalized and Singapore won the derby, kicking out Malaysia from the competition. Securities cordoned Singaporean supporters and they were permitted to leave only after the stadium was cleared from Malaysian supporters.
So once more, Singapore and Thailand represented Southeast Asia for the third round. Singapore lost all matches against China, Jordan, and Iraq while Thailand defeated Oman 3-0 (Sompong Soleb from Bangkok United, Teerasil Dangda from Muangthong United, and own goal from Rashid al Farsi) and held Saudi Arabia 0-0. Other than that, they lost to Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
One last thing: Indonesia.
There's the cruel parody of Lightning Seeds' "Three Lions" which I remember goes like "Three Lions on a shirt/Luiz Scolari still grinning/Thirty(forty? fifty?) years of horror/never stops me from screaming". It's the same way in Southeast Asia. We've recruited Europeans with blood relations, we've naturalized foreigners playing in our leagues, we've partnered with European clubs, we've hired big has-beens as coaches, and Southeast Asia still couldn't defeat the Arabs who seemed didn't have to try. At least now we've been good against South Asians although FIFA ranks them higher than us.
Both Southeast Asians and West Asians glue themselves to couch clad in Real Madrid jerseys, play wicked Winning Eleven, and making online comments about how crap Cristiano is. Then after despairing about the national team, both of us admire Japan, their bushido spirit and Captain Tsubasa and all, sparing no positive thought for South Korea and Australia.
We have our hometown heroes, our childhood memories, and it's good that in this age of Twitter and Instagram, we feel we are too rich and royal to support the local club but we are so proud of our national players who are either half-white or coming from the same ethnicity with us. We buy their jerseys from the Nike store in our favorite malls.
But you know one thing we lack of? Unlike the Japanese, we don't bust our asses playing football. We are nations of DIFM (Do It For Me), not DIY (Do It Yourself). I don't know how the Saudis got their World Cups, but that's how Japan, Australia, and Republic of Korea qualify again and again.
Great stuff. How's the football?
Posted in Asian National Teams, Continental, Editorial	| Tagged 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, AFC, Akmal Rakhli, Aleks Duric, Azman Adnan, Bahrain-Indonesia 10-0 Southeast Asia, Causeway Derby, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kiatisuk Senamuang, Malaysia, Philippines, Piyapong Pue-on, Qiu Li, qualification, Safee Sali, Seksan Piturat, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Teerasil Dangda, Thailand, V. Sundramoorthy, World Cup	| Leave a reply
A History of Southeast Asia & the World Cup: 1934-1989
Posted on June 9, 2014 by asiafootball
These days with World Cup 2014 video game I'm playing around the Southeast Asian teams. Hm, Singapore do have some Singapore-born Chinese, like Joey Sim and Andrew Tan (actually there are only two of them). I wish I could enjoy Indonesia better but nah, although I'm happy that EA still rates them stronger than Malaysia and Vietnam (that's weird.)
So, rather than previewing Australia, Japan, and Korea in the World Cup (ready for the mess?), I want to tell you stories on how did Southeast Asia keep failing in their World Cup campaigns.
1934-1954: One and Only Dutch East Indies
Asia, 1934. The whole continent was under European, American, and Japanese rules with the exception of fractured China. The Europeans and Americans had introduced football in Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Western Asia. Some ethnic-based clubs had been formed for identity bonding and nationalism, just like migrants in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and United States formed their sporting clubs. The Japanese, meanwhile, were more into baseball and lovingly taught that sport to the Taiwanese.
Since no one in East Asia wanted to sail all the way to Italy, no country or territory was interested with the 1934 World Cup. Three Middle Eastern (now only one of them is in AFC) countries were in Group 12 – Egypt, Palestine (consisted of nine British, six Jews, and an Arab), and Turkey who withdrew. So Palestine might be the first Asian team in the World Cup, and this Palestine was the precursor to modern Israeli and Palestine national teams.
Indonesian media love to point out that Indonesia were the first Asian team in the World Cup. With the caveat that it competed under the name Dutch East Indies back in 1938 and they lost to Hungary 0-6 in first round. That's all. No more story.
Indeed there was no Indonesia back in 1938, there were Dutch East Indies. Only them and Japan were available in the Asian group – I wonder what had happened to French Indochina (while France hosted the World Cup) and the Philippines (United States were regulars at 1930s World Cup). The British Empire naturally were too arrogant to join the continental tournament. So Japan withdrew since they were too busy killing the Chinese and preparing for the invasion of Asia, leaving Dutch East Indies sailing across the Indian Ocean to France.
Here is the roster of the Dutch East Indies squad against Hungary and their supposed ethnicity:
Goalkeeper: Tan Mo Heng (Chinese, HTCNH)
Defenders: Frans Hu Kon (Chinese, Sparta), Jack Kolle (Dutch/Eurasian…maybe even Jew, Excelsior)
M: Sutan Anwar (Minang, VIOS), Frans Meeng (Chinese, probably, SVVB) (captain), Achmad Nawir (Javanese, probably, HBS)
F: Frans Taihuttu (Moluccan, Jong Ambon), Henk Zomers (Dutch/Eurasian, Hercules), Tan Hong Djien (Chinese, Tiong Hoa), Suvarte Soedarmadji (Javanese, HBS), Tjaak Pattiwael (Moluccan, Jong Ambon)
Coach: Johan Mastenbroek
And introducing the plushie.
Some 2-3-5 it was. You can see why modern Indonesia is not too proud of them – too many Dutch and Chinese for modern Indonesian liking (supposedly Muslim Indonesians have no problem with the Christian South Mollucans/Ambonese, which still contributed many players to the national team until 1980s). 9000 people watched the match in Reims on 5 June 1938 where Hungary took 4-0 lead by half time.
Fast forward to 1950 and Asia was wrecked by Second World War. The communists took power in China, independence wars raged over Vietnam and Indonesia, pro-American governments were busily snuffing communism out in Japan and South Korea, India still mourned the loss of Gandhi, and communist rebellion took place in Malaya. Philippines seemed to be the only orderly place in Asia.
Philippines, however, could not afford sailing to Brazil and so they withdrew, along with Indonesia and Burma. India withdrew for one of two reasons – either because they could not play barefoot, or because they also could not afford the trip. Maybe both of them. FIFA gave up looking for a replacement.
In 1954 only East Asians contested the qualification. Republic of China withdrew so the South Koreans began the long tradition of kicking Japanese asses with a satisfying 5-1 match in Tokyo.
1957-1969: Withdraw, Withdraw!
Indonesia were back as the muscle of Southeast Asia (pretty much because no one else competed). Anti-communist Republic of China withdrew, knowing that if they won, they must face something more repulsive than Indonesia – the People's Republic. The 2-0 victory against China in Jakarta is still a legend of Indonesian football history, along with 0-0 draw against Soviet Union in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Gowan (in South Sulawesi) Ramang, who grew up playing foot volley and thus a master of volleys and scissor kicks, scored both goals. He would score two more goals in the away match in Beijing, in which Indonesia lost 3-4, and Indonesia passed by better goal average (after a pointless 0-0 third match in Burma).
In the Second Round, Indonesia and Egypt spectacularly withdrew because there were Israel. Sudan agreed to move on only to change their minds in the final round. FIFA, however, could not let Israel go to Sweden without winning any match, but even Belgium refused to play them (did Belgium have any interest in Muslim world at this time?) so Wales grabbed the ticket after defeating Israel 2-0 twice. Indonesia threw away its big chance because of religious and quasi-communist politics. Ramang himself would be disgraced in 1960 with accusation of bribery, which was more likely a slander related to political struggles between communists, Islamists, and the Army.
Indonesia blew another chance in 1961 as it withdrew from a three way competition against South Korea and Japan. Certainly Sukarno's quixotic "revolution" has alienated Indonesia in the region and apparently Indonesia did not like South Korea enough, although Sukarno loved Japan – his new wife was a geisha provided by Toyota, Naoko Nemoto. Korea kicked out Japan again before going down to Yugoslavia in intercontinental playoff. By this time I believe it's safe to say that Filipinos didn't care about football.
1965 was an even weirder time. All African teams withdrew and only two Asian teams were available (keywords: Southeast Asia. Domino Theory). Both of them were from the Korean peninsula. Australia finally went into the picture while South Africa, grouped in the Oceania Confederation of Football, were banned. North Korea refused to play in the imperialist land of Japan (which had lost interest in football, thanks to South Korea) and South Korea refused to play in Cambodia, so South Korea said anyong. North Korea gleefully kicked out Australia 6-1 and 3-1, with German-Australian Les Scheinflug scored both goals (I don't really care about North Korea).
Apparently 1969 was still not a good time for Southeast Asia to compete, although Indonesia had joined the anti-communist bandwagon, securing peace in the region south of South China Sea. South Korea met its foil Australia while still taking the pleasure of beating Japan. In the end, Israel qualified to Mexico.
Everybody hated us.
1973-1989: I Couldn't Believe Thailand were that Bad
In 1973, South Vietnam, which was on the verge of collapse, competed. Surprisingly, they defeated Thailand 1-0 in Seoul while Malaysia went down to Hong Kong 0-1. In the next round South Vietnam were eliminated by both Hong Kong and Japan. Israel and South Korea aced Group 2 while finally the first match between Southeast Asian teams took place: Malaysia defeated Thailand 2-0 on 23 May 1973 in Seoul thanks to Rahim Abdullah and Harun Jusoh. South Korea naturally topped the group.
Indonesia, meanwhile, were grouped together with Iraq, Australia, and New Zealand. A bit weird arrangement. Maybe AFC and FIFA wanted to prevent another walk out by separating Indonesia and Iraq as far as possible from Israel (curiously, Muslim Malaysia had no trouble playing Israel – they lost 0-3). In a tiring six matches marathon over twenty days in Melbourne and Sydney, Indonesia scored only a victory over New Zealand, thanks to Maurice Tillotson's own goal. So Australia went on to defeat Iran and then South Korea.
AFC and FIFA played a little sadistic hunger game in 1977 – grouped all Southeast Asian teams in one block. Over 15 days in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore (first appearance), and Hong Kong were beating each other (Sri Lanka withdrew early). The hosts looked strong before being trumped 0-4 by Indonesia at the last day, and so Hong Kong walked away as the winners. From these four Southeast Asian countries, only Singapore, powered by Quah Kim Song, managed to score two wins in this group. In the final round, Hong Kong would lose all their matches against Iran, South Korea, Kuwait, and Australia.
In 1981, the Southeast Asians were spread into different groups and there was no assigned host for Group 1. So the Indonesians traveled to Suva, Auckland, Melbourne, and Taipei, to the joy of PSSI suits and their wives. Indonesia scored two home victories, 1-0s against Taiwan (officially called Chinese Taipei now) and Australia. New Zealand, instead of Australia, topped the group.
Malaysia and Thailand found themselves on the same group again over a week in Kuwait City. 2-2 and another shock – South Korea failed to top the group.
Finally, the Singaporeans spent a Christmas in Hong Kong, drew with Hong Kong and lost to North Korea (North Korea didn't have problem playing in an imperialist British colony. That's also new).
Malaysia tripped South Korean's start on 10 March 1985 with a 1-0 victory in Kuala Lumpur (Dollah Saleh). The next week, they defeated Nepal 2-0 (Hassan Sani and James Wong) and looked like South Korea's campaign would be killed off soon. Zainal Hassan scored a hattrick against Nepal in Kuala Lumpur (5-0) and the last match in Seoul was the decider. The Koreans scored early and Malaysia were kicked out despite three wins – Korea passed through goal average – 7 to Malaysia's 6. That was really hurt.
Indonesia also rampaged early with victories against Thailand, India, and Bangladesh and Bambang Nurdiansyah and Dede Sulaiman became the stars. After first away victory to Thailand, Indonesia petered out and lost to Bangladesh and drew with India, but enough to top the group. Thailand were only able to defeat Bangladesh 3-0 at home.
Brunei, recently independent from United Kingdom, started off by receiving goals from Macau, Hong Kong, and China. End of story. Singapore were also unfortunate enough to be grouped with Japan and North Korea, although they managed to draw North Korea 1-1 at home.
In the next round, Indonesia lost to South Korea. Thus ended the legend of Sundanese Dede Sulaiman.
The hair. The shorts. The mustache.
The hunger games returned in 1989: South Korea were grouped together with Malaysia and Singapore. Korea won EVERY match without letting anyone scored against them, while Malaysia and Singapore scored victories against Nepal. Singapore and Malaysia drew 2-2, anyway.
Thailand, meanwhile, delighted with 1-0 victory against Bangladesh before going down repeatedly to China, Iran, and yes, Bangladesh. How humiliating it was.
Finally, Indonesia became the champions of draws by holding both North Korea and Japan 0-0 in Jakarta and Hong Kong 1-1. Their only victory was only 3-2 win against Hong Kong which supposedly was a good spectacle: trailing 0-1 for one hour, Mustaqim equalized only for Nang Yan Leung to score again at the 64th minute. Then Herry Kiswanto scored ten minutes later and one minute before full time to turn the table, denying Hong Kong its only victory in the group.
(*Look, I hope somebody has the television footage of this match and kindly uploads it to YouTube. 250 million Indonesians will thank you*)
Those are the stories of qualification for now. Since the Cold War was ending, over the next four years more countries would join in the Asian qualification. Part 2, 1993-2013, is coming up.
Posted in Asian National Teams, Continental	| Tagged Australia, Bambang Nurdiansyah, Dede Sulaiman, Dollah Saleh, Dutch East Indies, France 1938, Hassan Sani, Herry Kiswanto, history, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, James Wong, Malaysia, Nan Yan Leung, North Korea, OFC, Quah Kim Song, Ramang, Singapore, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Sukarno, Thailand, world cup qualification, Zainal Hassan	| Leave a reply
6 Things from Asian Cup qualification final day…and friendlies
Posted on March 6, 2014 by asiafootball
Still the boss.
My gosh, a new post in less than a month! It's just that yesterday's international orgy frenzy was so awesome I had to make some notes. Here they are.
1. Cahill: Still the Boss of Asia.
When he ruined Japan back in World Cup 2006, coming in for Mark Bresciano at the 53th minute, Tim Cahill still represented Oceania Football Confederation. Indeed, he had the choice to represent Samoa (like his brother Chris does). I could not hate Tiny Tim – he did his job, and he did it better than Shunsuke Nakamura and the forgettable Hidetoshi Nakata.
One year later, Australia joined the AFC Asian Cup and many Asians – Arabs, Chinese, Indians, and Malays – did not welcome the white 'intruders' well. Oman were close to welcome Australia into the barrack, but Tim saved Australia's face on injury time. Iraq did the job (3-1), before Australia defeated Thailand soundly 4-0.
Australia came into the knockout rounds as favorites against Japan, and this time Japan prevailed in the penalty shootouts (Cahill scored). Japan's victory, however, felt hollow after Iraq took all the glory. Seasons afterward, Cahill became a cult player in the Premier League – goals after goals with the football hipster's (if you can say so) club Everton. Then he thought that's that and 'retired' to United States, where again he used heads and feet to score for NY Red Bulls.
Meanwhile, Australia had no other player like him while Japan produced Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda and Korea released Son Heung-min and Ki Sung-yong. No Australian player took the center stage of European leagues in the past two years.
Not everyone in Australia takes well the news that the 34 year old is still Australia's prime goal scorer and best player. But with his reliability and relatively lack of drama (compared to Kagawa in Europe and Ki in Korea), how come you don't love someone who keeps scoring for your team?
Australia 3 Ecuador 4 (Cahill 2 goals. Ryan was subbed for Langerak at second half, who then was replaced with Jones after Langerak was red carded).
2. Who's Asia's best goalkeeper? Kawashima or Ryan?
It was Mark Schwarzer. He had mixed records with Middlesbrough and Fulham, but any Asian goalkeeper is lucky enough to be trusted by a European club. Maybe the impression that they are "too short". Maybe the sense that they are either not aggressive and commanding enough, or too panicked and erratic to guard the posts. Schwarzer, Federici, Jones, and Petkovic were recruited by European clubs because they are European Australians.
Then Eiji Kawashima became the first Japanese goalkeeper to play in Europe since Kawaguchi was booed in England and Denmark in early 2000s. It was not easy – he had to contend with the "Fukushima Kawashima" jeers in 2011 and Standard Liege benched him several times before he survived loan consideration and saw rivals Anthony Moris and Yohann Thuram-Ulien loaned out instead.
Schwarzer still wants to play for Brazil 14, but Australian coaches wanted a younger face. They might have found it in Mathew Ryan. Kawashima might be the safest hands in Belgian Pro League with streaks of clean sheets, but Ryan prevailed over him when Club Brugge defeated Standard Liege 1-0 last Sunday.
Kawashima played for 90 minutes against New Zealand and how he missed Liege's defense on the second half. Meanwhile, Ryan logged off when it was Australia 3 Ecuador 0 and partly bemused, partly amused, by the sight of his rivals Langerak and Jones messed things up.
O yeah, Jung Sung-ryong restarts the competition with Kim Seung-gyu for Korea's number one, but one of them has to be able to play in Europe eventually. And that's a tall order. On Iran? Daniel Davari is just terrible for club and country.
Japan 4 New Zealand 2. Japan scored four goals in 20 minutes then let New Zealand pulled back two in the next 70 minutes.
3. Korea can do better.
Poor, poor Greeks. Losing 0-2 to Korea twice – on neutral and home grounds. Park Chu-young has redeemed himself much sooner than the Greek economy and football have. Korean football is still an anomaly after the 2011 match fixing scandals – plenty of promising stars in Britain and Germany, hidden gems in Japan and the Gulf, and clubs with strong performance in Asia. But put them against Uzbekistan and Iran and I'll be very stressed out for 90 minutes.
At least now Hong Myung-bo knows that Korea can win without Park Ji-sung. This is not a totally good news, as now there's a dilemma to call him for Brazil 14 or not. And if he's called and he heeds the call, should he be a marquee sub or a starter? Is it wise to gamble eternity for the decision, knowing every movement and final result of a World Cup match are remembered forever?
Actually, Korea have nothing to lose. They know they will not win the World Cup and the best possibility is to pass the group stage. Nobody expects Son Heung-min, Koo Ja-cheol, Ki Sung-yong and Kim Young-gwon to become global brands (they even aren't hipsters' favorites). The goal of the Class of 2011 is to win the 2015 Asian Cup.
But the expectation and demand of the people of Korea can be overwhelming and burdensome. Forever they'll curse a player who makes a mistake and make a catchphrase out of a missed opportunity. Korea can do better if only their fans lower the expectation and let things go easier, but no. They will want Korea to win gold.
Greece 0 Korea 2. Park Chu-young returned from disgrace with the first goal.
4. China must stop relying on luck.
Lucky losers China are. Had Zhang Xizhe missed the penalty kick against Iraq, it would have been Lebanon who qualified, leaving no East Asian team to qualify via proper process. China go to Australia 2015 as lucky losers, the best of all third place teams. During the qualification process, China won twice, two 1-0s at home to Indonesia and Iraq. This is not good enough for the country with the supposedly most exciting league in Asia (well, more foreigners will agree with that claim than most Chinese do). Not good enough for players who play week in week out for Guangzhou Evergrande.
In Australia 2015, China might have bit of luck on their side. But that's not enough. It's about time they have some players good enough to play Europe by their own merits.
Iraq 3 China 1. China qualify to Asian Cup 2015 as the best third-place team, above Lebanon.
5. Southeast Asia: Some Try, Some Don't.
One terrible thing for Australia, host to the next Asian Cup, is that no Southeast Asia country coming. Southeast Asians make up a great part of Asian-Australians: Chinese and Indian Malaysians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Thais, and Chinese and non-Chinese Indonesians. These Asian residents and citizens might not have flocked the stadiums had their teams qualified, but there would be spotlights on both Australia and Southeast Asia. Some European Australians might even support Thailand or Vietnam out of family or social relations.
Malaysia and Vietnam were Southeast Asians who tried hard. Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia did not try hard. Thailand are a puzzling case. I just praised Buriram United, and yet the national team lost all their matches – against Lebanon, Iran, and Kuwait. Lest they could have done were putting a fight against Lebanon and Kuwait. Instead they conceded at least two goals in each match – three goals was the norm. No way the political crisis is a valid excuse.
African stars in Europe have lamented on how corruption, football as political tools, petty rivalries, elites' obsession for watching European football, and ignoring grassroot development destroy the supposedly promising national sides. It's the same story in Southeast Asia.
Thailand 2 Lebanon 5. Saudi Arabia 1 Indonesia 0. Yemen 1 Malaysia 2. Vietnam 3 Hong Kong 1. Oman 3 Singapore 1. Only Malaysia finish the group at the third place.
6. Stop AFC Challenge Cup, please.
Ironically, Philippines have the good chance of being the sole Southeast Asian representative in Australia 2015, if they win the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. The Challenge cup is supposedly a medium for the weakest teams in Asia to get something to care about. But it's never that. It's a sneaky ploy to get India and North Korea to play in the Asian Cup although they don't deserve it. It's a device to jump the queue.
I get the point if AFC wants India to love football. I get the point if AFC wants Philippines to love football. What I never understand is why AFC loves North Korea (qualified to Asian Cup via Challenge Cup). If money is the answer, then we have a very disturbing situation, because North Korea gets its money through crimes.
Even according to the current FIFA ranking, Philippines do not belong in the Challenge Cup. Now they are the strongest team in Southeast Asia, and I believe it. Indonesia and Singapore (and Malaysia, actually) fit in better to be put into the Challenge Cup, although it won't be done. It'd be too humiliating for both these football crazy countries and for the AFC. But if the Challenge Cup's category is "for countries where football is not the primary sport and/or whose national leagues are in um, developing stages" then North Korea do not fit the first category and India don't fit the second. AFC Challenge Cup is a big fat junk and it should be kicked out.
Otherwise, the winner of the challenge cups must face lucky losers of the proper Asian Cup qualifications – if North Korea or Philippines want to play in the Asian Cup (India, mercifully, were eliminated by Bangladesh), then they have to prove that they are better than China and Lebanon first.
AFC Challenge Cup 2014 is set to begin on May 2014. The winner will qualify to the Asian Cup. "Favorites" are Turkmenistan, Philippines, and Myanmar.
Posted in Asian National Teams, Continental, Editorial	| Tagged AFC Asian Cup 2015, AFC Challenge Cup, Australia, Belgian Pro League, Brad Jones, China, Eiji Kawashima, Everton, goalkeeper, Hong Myung-byo, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jung Sung-Ryong, Keisuke Honda, Ki Sung-yong, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mark Schwarzer, Mat Ryan, New Zealand, NY Red Bulls, Park Chu-Young, Philippines, Shinji Kagawa, Singapore, Son Heung-Min, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Tim Cahill, Vietnam, Zhang Xizhe	| Leave a reply
Three Stories+
It's been a month. Let's say that I'm experiencing the Kagawa Situation (it's the title of a Robert Ludlum novel). Well, he's back into action last Wednesday, so I expect to be like him soon (Kagawa, not Ludlum).
O yeah, unfortunately I don't think I can do better than Kagawa in helping Japan winning the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. That's because I heard that Pro Evo Soccer 14 is terrible. Good points: it has Japan and AFC Champions League. Bad points: As always, JFA and J. League and Konami refuse to release J. League Division 1 outside Japan. The presentation always makes me wonder what has gone wrong with Japanese aesthetic. The chance to play ACL is tempting, but PES has let me down too many times before.
What really pisses me off is it's licensing Argentine and Chilean leagues but not Japanese. At least with FIFA I can play K-League Classic, A-League, Kagawa, Honda, and Son.
Which brings me to the main topic and the supposed sole topic of this entry: Asian-European footballers. I had noticed that FIFA rated Nagatomo at the same score with Austrian and Munich sideback David Alaba. Just few days ago, after he kept Austria's hope for Brazil 14 alive by scoring against Ireland, that I knew that his mother is Filipina.
The next day, I learned that a Hamburger SV player named Lam scored. I thought "OK, a German like Phillip Lahm." German alright, but his surname is Cantonese, a variation of Lin/Lim. Zhi Gin Lam joined the first team squad since 2011 and this week's goal against Dortmund was his first.
And of course, Indonesians are really proud of Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan. Both Alaba and Nainggolan have already played for their European national teams – otherwise you can bet the Philippines' and Indonesian football associations will ask them to migrate to Southeast Asia (Nainggolan has appeared in an Indonesian cigarette advertisement with the Becks. But of course, it's football media ad, not cigarette).
As for Lam, well, at this point I think the competition to be in the German national team is tough, so let's see if the Hong Kong FA approaches him like they have with English-born Sean Tse (er, actually he hasn't played for Hong Kong) and James Ha (for HK U-23).
Anyway, none of the name I mentioned has Asian father and mother. Alaba's father is Nigerian while the other names have European mothers. Just wondering if it's really helping to be half-white/black when you are becoming an athlete – and why don't more fully Asian men don't/can't/won't become athletes.
That's all about Europe. I certainly have neglected Japanese and Korean leagues for sometime, in which is a promising year for my supported team Yokohama Marinos (and another meh for Busan. At least, again, they are better than Jeju and Seongnam). Even I was just aware of the Asian Champions League's results tonight, because of Lekhwiya's crappy shooting skills (1. they hit the bar accurately and 2. they have Nam Tae-hee). And to my surprise, it was a great arrangement – Korea, China, and Japan all go to the semi finals. Feisty semi finals, in which a Korea team (Seoul) must travel to Iran and Japan (Kashiwa) meet China (Guangzhou). Hopefully they won't be too ugly.
Maybe I'm just happy that Qatar again learns the lesson that money doesn't equal to wins if they don't invest it to grassroot football and local players the way Japan and Korea do.
Of course, Qatar has no history of land reform, heavy industry, and indigenous population holding professional skills and experiences. That's why the government has more money than Japan and even Australia do.
O yeah, the Singaporean police has arrested Dan Tan. Hooray.
Posted in Asian National Teams, Asian Overseas, Continental, Editorial	| Tagged AFC Champions League, Asian-Europeans, Austria, Belgium, Dan Tan, David Alaba, FC Seoul, FIFA 14, Guangzhou Evergrande, Hamburg SV, Hamburger SV, Hong Kong, J. League, Japan, JFA, Kagawa, Kashiwa Reysol, Lekhwiya, Michel Platini, PES14, Pro Evolution Soccer 14, Qatar, Radja Nainggolan, Singapore, Zhi Gin Lam	| Leave a reply
Sing Sing Sing
Posted on April 1, 2013 by asiafootball
The largest football stadium in Singapore. During a matchday.
I went to Singapore recently. It's a delight for any Indonesian to go to Singapore, especially a Chinese. 1.5 hour flight and suddenly homie we major. The streets are clean and orderly and you can actually walk on the pavement (and there's such thing as a pavement/sidewalk).
And the met. In Indonesia you only see train scenes when watching anime and probably Korean drama (and some American action movies), there it's the real thing. With office girls and school girls preoccupied with their Galaxy Notes (iPhone was so last year). Going here and there at anytime without worry. I stayed outside until 11 pm in places far away from downtown and I was happy. And yeah, the people in Singapore were friendlier than in Indonesia. Go figure.
Oh, football. First, the boycott on S. League is still on effect. Not that it makes much difference – ordinary Singaporean is indifferent about the league. What matters are Manchester United, Barcelona, Milan, England and Spain. But the city is overall pretty sterile from football environment, even during the World Cup qualification week. At least outdoor.
I did not find anyone wear football jersey. I did pass a suburbia field where Chinese, Indian, and Malay teens played football together, and that's about it. The Adidas and Nike shops were like the ones I used to visit in Bandung when vainly hoping for Japanese and Korean merchandise (and actually finding some good stuff randomly).
The winner was Goal@313, 313 Somerset mall. They sold Japan jersey, Kashima and Hiroshima jerseys (premium price), and complete jerseys from all over Southeast Asia (what I really hate about Indonesian fandom is that it's really aloof about Southeast Asian football, bordering on racist ignorance). I settled for a Singapore polo shirt since a) it's not something you'll find elsewhere and b) I'd just love wearing that stuff in Bandung, like screaming out "I'm Chinese". I could buy Japan 13-14 kit online with cheaper price (the shirt, not the shipping cost), if they're doing great in the Confederations Cup. O yeah, every staff in the shop was male Malay, with one wearing Loic Remy's Marseille jersey. They were reviewing European qualification goals on a smartphone.
Japan, however, blew it away. I had worn "My Team is South Korea" shirt days before and reserved the "Japan 2011 Champions" (Asian champions and Women's world champions) for Wednesday. God they were unbelievable. It was not unlucky. It was horrible. On Wednesday morning I pondered on wearing that shirt. Would people care? But then again, I was to go to Chinatown that day, and nowadays there are a lot of Chinese FOBs (Fresh Off Boat) there. So no. It's your fault, Al Z. And CSKA, for holding Honda.
So outdoor, Singaporeans are not so crazy about football. News were buzzing about World Cup qualification results, including from Asia (Indonesian media care less about the AFC, anyway), and local news also featured results from the S. League. But I did get the impression that football is seen as a Malay sport here, maybe similar to how France is seeing football as an African sport. The Chinese are more into swimming and table tennis (watched a table tennis match in an alley).
I often think what my life would be had I been born in Singapore. Would I still be a liberal? Would I still went 'back' to Singapore after graduated from Australia, or would the drive to migrate to Australia was even stronger? I had thought that had I was good in mathematics and swimming and was born in Singapore, I'd join the Navy. I also had a thought that I could be a policeman, although it's a pity that I couldn't arrest Dan Tan and put him behind the bars. The only police action I saw was interrogating a geeky punk in front of the train station.
So, that was that. I am sure had I not been boycotting the S. League, I'd have spared some time to watch a football match. It's easy to reach the stadiums, I know the teams and the key players, and the football scene is so safe. And I want to know how many Chinese were watching the game.
Posted in Asian Leagues, Asian National Teams, Continental, Editorial	| Tagged Chinese, Indonesia, Japan, Keisuke Honda, Malays, S. League, Singapore	| 1 Reply
"So uh…you think they have good sushi bar in Liverpool?"
"Nah, me and the Saints have regular get together in London."
Certainly these weeks have been full of mixed news for Asian football (cancelling my earlier draft of 'It's Even Worse'. To sum up, it's the case of great news in Europe and bad news in Asia.
Start with the Dan Tan saga. Slovenian Admir Sulic was arrested gave himself up in Italy after a short flight from Singapore. And I did not even have to put another theory that Dan Tan is in Singapore. He is in Singapore, protected by the Singaporean police. And Interpol has no problem with that.
So why does Singapore protect him? The saving face theory is still in effect, plus another theory. The arrest of Tan can trigger investigations and spotlights on international banks involved on this major scandal. And Singapore (and even Interpol) does not want to disturb the peace of minds of all the big names here…HSBC, Citibank, Standard Chartered, several Swiss names…I'm just firing names here, but considering they did and do business with Iran and gave middle fingers to United States for having problem with that, well, I went ahead. Singapore is an important banking and finance hub in the world, like Hong Kong it relies on these incomes to become a big city, and no way it will let integrity and justice stand in the way of wealth and reputation. Just ask Interpol (so kids, give up on your dream to become an Interpol officer. You are not going to become James Bond with a badge).
For many in Singapore – British pundits, member of the governments, and perhaps ordinary football fans, this is a 'victimless' crime. Random Africans, Arabs, and Eastern Europeans told to fix something in an unimportant league or international friendly where punters could gain some extra cash necessary for their Audi, Patek Phillipe, and condominium aspirations. What matters is Manchester United, the Three Lions, and Barcelona are winning.
Therefore I continue my boycott on the S. League.
Then good news comes from Portugal. Forty Chinese youth are playing in Portugal. They are not the best – the best are with China U-23 to learn disappointment, mediocrity, bullying, and match fixing. They were the next best things and were shipped to Portugal in a project made by Chinese and Portuguese football federations. Portugal needs the money and China needs a proper football environment. For the young Chinese, the cultural differences are not just about food, weather, and language. In China they would live in cities of dozen of millions, while in Portugal they are staying in towns populated by hundred of thousands, and we are talking about a Catholic country. But these towns have strong football culture and working leagues, while Chinese megapolises (well, they are over 10 million people big) have only one club. Good luck for them, although it looks like a typical Chinese case of Do-it-for-Me rather than Do-it-Yourself.
Second good news is from the English League Cup final. A match of two fairy tales – League Two mid-rank Bradford City vs the pride of Wales Swansea City. Bradford City's achievements won them the support of the South Asian communities who saw the club as the pride of white bigots who harassed their business after games (like how black South Africans saw the Springboks). Michael Laudrup put Ki Sung-yong on the defense, to the bemusement of Swansea supporters. Instead, it was a master stroke as he not only held the line but even initiated the charges by Michu, de Guzman, and Dyer. And the link to Guardian Football's discussion on Ki made my Twitter entry favorited and retweeted by Korean girls. Sweet.
Back to bad news from the Asian Champions League. Which is actually good news for Thailand with Buriram and Muangthong holding Sendai and Jeonbuk. Predictably, this is a bad start for J. League teams except one. It's also a disappointing day one for Korea, with one win (a good one for FC Seoul) and three draws. Even from China's perspective, it's also a bad start with with two losses, although Guangzhou were overjoyed with complete ownage over Urawa. Australia is also experiencing sinking feeling with a single representative in the AFC Champions League and the Mariners rely more on the teamwork rather than stars quality, with Matt Simon gone to Korea and Daniel McBreen, Matthew Ryan, and Bernie Ibini-isei yet to prove themselves in the national team.
And well, you know the next big good news. Shinji Kagawa scored three goals, the second in his career. Japanese journalists posted in Manchester (not a bad deal, smaller than London but more functional than Liverpool and Birmingham) only to follow him are still enjoying their big catch prior to the match against Madrid (here's hoping they are for second and even bigger treat). Liverpool go to 'want that one' mode and return to Keisuke Honda. Again, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel with that news.
It's sad to end this story with the twist – good news from Asia and bad news from Europe. Good news: Sergio van Dijk is enjoying himself in Bandung, Indonesia, with four goals out of four matches. Five goal less than another naturalized Indonesian, Cristian Gonzales, but he's going there.
The bad news from Europe? A week after he was panned by Vigo press for being a dud forward, Park Chu-young is not included into Team Korea for the crucial World Cup qualifier against Qatar. When you have got Son Heung-min and Ji Dong-won, you want to take two K-League strikers, and you have Kim Shin-wook and Lee Dong-gook. Despite Park's six goals in the 2014 qualifying campaign last year. If I had been Choi Kang-hee, I'd choose Kim too over Park. Maybe June is a good time for him to enter the National Service. He's had two World Cups and he won't go to Brazil at this rate. Just like Julio Cesar.
Posted in Asian Overseas, Continental, Editorial, Transfer	| Tagged Admir Sulic, AFC Champions League, Bernie Ibini-isei, Bradford City, Buriram United, Celta Vigo, Central Coast Mariners, China, Choi Kang-Hee, Cristian Gonzales, Dan Tan, Daniel McBreen, Guangzhou Evergrande, Interpol, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Ji Dong-Won, Jonathan de Guzman, Keisuke Honda, Ki Sung-yong, Kim Shin-wook, Korea, Lee Dong-Gook, Liverpool, Manchester United, match fixing, Matthew Ryan, Michu, Muangthong United, Nathan Dyer, Park Chu-Young, Persib Bandung, Portugal, Qatar, S. League, Sergio van Dijk, Shinji Kagawa, Singapore, Son Heung-Min, Swansea, Urawa Reds, Vegalta Sendai	| Leave a reply
Agony of February
Just keep doing better, man.
February. 30ish days after your New Year's Resolutions, you meet the truth that some old troubles stick. Others are popping out. That fresh start is not really fresh. People replaced their calendar with dread – O God, it's one month already and I'm still like this?!
As for me, health problems keep dragging me down and prevented me to write on the scram from Shanghai and the Singapore fix sooner. But let's get it on with the bleeding.
First paragraph applies to Korea. Now they are six months away from their last victory – 2-1 in friendly against Zambia back in August. Then draw with Uzbekistan, and then loss to Iran, and then…loss to Australia at home.
In February 2013 Korea attempted to be international and held friendly with Croatia in London – so Ki SY and Lee CY could take trains, Park CY, Son HM, and Koo JC could take budget flights, while Croatia could bring in the heavies.
Indeed they were. Ah, 0-2 at half-time. Well, Mario Manduzkic is certainly better than Mario Gomez, isn't he? Let's try second half, this time with Lee Dong-gook, Park Chu-young, and Kim Bo-kyung thrown in. Ah, 0-4. By guys who played in Everton and Fulham. For comparison, Australia also went down 2-3 to Romania in Spain…but they scored twice. Well, their defenders, anyway. And that after winger Robbie Kruse had a great weekend before the match.
If I were a Korean, I'd be so envy toward the Japanese, who enjoy the spotlight with Shinji "I'm not good enough" Kagawa, Keisuke Honda, and Shinji Okazaki. And Yuto Nagatomo, who is playing for Inter and might play for Munich or Manchester United. Granted, Latvia didn't send its best team to Japan (i.e. no Hamburg's Artjom Rudnevs), but see how offices were like on Thursday morning in Tokyo and Seoul. I even wore Samurai Blue scarf to work – flu-chic.
Umm, now in Shanghai people are celebrating New Year, Anelka and Drogba must be not on their minds. In mid-January I was searching the reasons why they left – Shanghai sounded supposed to be a fun place to play easy football and gaining easy money. Turned out the explanations were so simple.
Shanghai boss Zhu Jun is a bizzare character in first place. Some say that he's more interested in self-publicity, oneupmanship, and online gaming business (The9) rather than football business. That could be the logical explanation behind the sellings of Duvier Riascos (24 goals in 39 matches) and Gao Lin (to scandal-tainted Guangzhou Evergrande, well this is back in 2010). That's why Joel Griffiths left (he wasn't happy in Beijing either). That's why Tigana was sacked just after five matches.
That's why the team went on strike in October. Zhu Jun himself was unhappy – his business partners in the Communist Party didn't give him 'his fair share'.
I was one of those who believed that Anelka and Drogba could flourish in China. The men themselves had pictured great lives in the great Far East metropolitan. The result was like what I wrote in the 2012 review – goals to force a draw, frustrations, and Anelka sulking on the supporters. When they left, Shanghai Shenhua supporters blamed the club – or saying that actually they were too good for Shanghai. And so greed and ignorance of several tycoons (and their cronies in the government) cancelled the rise of Chinese football.
Worse thing came out of Singapore, and also with worse reaction. The fixing of boatloads of friendlies, lower leagues, and even probably the Champions League match between Liverpool and Debrecen. For years everyone had spoken about 'Asian gambling syndicate'. Now we have names – Dan Tan Seet Eng (Dan is his English name. His Chinese given name is Seet Eng) and his lieutenant Wilson Raj Perumal. WRP was arrested in Finland soon after he berated some players who didn't fulfill order. There were stories that it was Tan who tipped the police because Perumal blew his budget and had too many debts to the boss.
Why it's a worse news? Not just because it's a major international crime. But it's depressing how Singapore reacts to the scandal. Major media outlets (controlled by the government) did put it on headlines, but no more than that. Now it's a forgotten story in Singapore. Several Westerners believe that Dan Tan is not really a fugitive – he's still in Singapore. I wonder if many Singaporeans think the same – they don't say. Even these days it's easier for correspondents to know what the Chinese think (through anonymous interviews and lurking on microblogs) than what do the Singaporeans think.
So why does the Singaporean government seem to aloof on Tan? I don't believe that they have the share from his profit – it's rather the very annoying Asian concept of 'saving face'. One explanation on why do Singaporeans control the fixing industry rather than the Chinese is because the islanders speak English and the passport has very good reputation. Being a small nation, Singaporean passport holders can travel the world effortlessly under the radar. And even after this scandal is known worldwide, they are protected from law and media scrutiny simply because of that saving face thing. Not just from 'mere outsider' but from the Malay minority and neighbors. Chinese and Indian Singaporeans cannot afford to live with the fact that they can be baddies too. The government cannot live with the fact that it lives from dirty money. And they are lucky again – the world pays more attention for bad news from China than from the unassuming Singapore.
And so, the result was the destruction of Southeast Asian teams in the first round of 2015 AFC qualification. Jordan – Singapore 4-0. Thailand – Kuwait 1-3. Iraq – Indonesia 1-0 (that was okay, actually). Qatar – Malaysia 2-0. Vietnam – UAE 1-2. Saying that 'we suck' isn't enough. Putting too much attention on English football (only for 4-5 teams, actually) while looking down on local football is the issue. Southeast Asia and China have their asses kicked by West Asia and they are supposed to angry about that, not just merely shrugging (Hong Kong got my credit for holding Uzbekistan 0-0). And yeah, Singapore disappoint again. Big time.
At least there's a ray of hope. Tonight Buriram United join Muangthong United in representing Thailand in the AFC Champions League, after defeated Brisbane United 3-0 on penalties. Buriram's forwards were composed by non-Thai Asians – Japanese Kai Hirano and American Anthony Ampaipitakwong. It's actually unfortunate that Australia only has 1.5 allocation, with Uzbekistan having a very weird arrangement – 1.5 in West and 1 in East. But that means Australia, and Southeast Asia, have to fight hard to get more spots in the Champions League. Yes you, Southeast Asia.
Posted in Asian Leagues, Continental, Editorial	| Tagged 2013 AFC Champions League, 2015 AFC Asian Cup, A-League, Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Australia, Brisbane Roars, Buriram United, China, Croatia, Dan Tan Seet Eng, Didier Drogba, dishonesty, Duvier Riascos, February, friendlies, Gao Lin, honesty, Japan, Joel Griffiths, Kai Hirano, Keisuke Honda, Ki Sung-yong, Korea, Lee Chung-Yong, Lee Dong-Gook, Muangthong United, Nicolas Anelka, Park Chu-Young, Robbie Kruse, saving face, Shanghai Shenhua, Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki, Singapore, Southeast Asia, syndicate, Thailand, Wilson Raj Perumal, Zhu Jung	| Leave a reply

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Create an FSA ID and password at fsaid.ed.gov. Dependent students: Both you and your parent, whose information will be listed on the FAFSA, will need to create an FSA ID and password.
Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at fafsa.gov. If you are attending Fall 2018 and/or Spring 2019, use 2016 tax information to complete the 2018-2019 FAFSA available October 1, 2017. Be sure to include Iowa Central's school code: 004597.
If you have not taken a visit to campus, plan one soon!
Our housing is filled on a first-come, first-served basis and fills up quickly. Complete the Housing Contract and pay your $125 in-state and $300 out-of-state housing fee.
Talk to your guidance counselor about external scholarship opportunities.
Contact your admissions representative or call Admissions at 1-800-362-2793 to have your fall schedule set up. Classes fill up quickly, so enrolling early ensures getting the best class availability.


Edgefield County School District is a progressive district serving approximately 3,500 students and 500 employees. The district consists of 7 schools and a Career and Technology Center. We provide students access to rigorous academics that lead to multiple post-secondary pathways. Edgefield County School District strives daily to grow all students into world class citizens who are developing the thinking, personal, and relational skills needed for continued success in a changing society.


text:
How Living in the White House Strengthened the Obamas' Relationship
"It's definitely brought us closer," Michelle Obama said.
By Erica Gonzales
Dec 8 2016, 5:31 pm EST
The Obamas only have six (yes, six) weeks left in the White House. Although they've endured eight years of hard work and stress as the First Family, the past two terms have actually done great things for Barack and Michelle's marriage, FLOTUS reveals. "It's definitely brought us closer," she told People in a new interview.
That closeness applied to both their tight-knit relationship and physical proximity. FLOTUS explained that the president's former roles as a senator often kept him away from home and traveling often. However, in the White House, they're almost always under the same roof.
"It wasn't until the White House that we were together seven days a week, that we could have dinner together, he had time to coach the girls' teams and go to all their events," she told the magazine.
And although the job entails its share of hardships, the First Lady said the best way to deal is to "fall back on the normalcy and the love of your family."
President Obama also expressed his pride in how Michelle held up her role at his side. He said of his spouse:
"I also think that watching Michelle as First Lady has just increased my awe and respect for her. She had to adapt to a life that she might not have chosen for herself, but also there's no blueprint for being First Lady. And to see her and her team be, at once, really impactful on policy but also fun? You know, it's fun when you see your spouse shine. And she's shone."
Miss them already.
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See Where the Obamas Are Living After the White House
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See the Christmas Decorations at The White House


The Broseley Hereford 5 Multifuel / Wood Burning Stove incorporates unique side viewing windows so the beauty and warmth of the fire can be seen and felt from all aspects of your living room. The highly controllable primary and secondary air wash features ensure you will have a clear view of the fire.
The Broseley Hereford solid fuel stove has a large firebox to accommodate larger logs and an adjustable grate for multifuel burning. With an output of up to 5kW, the Broseley Hereford woodburner is suitable for larger rooms.


Connectivity Design Wins at Major OEMs. During the third quarter, the Company received a new design win for SECSConnect™ software from a major disk drive manufacturer, and two wins for CIMConnect™ software.
New Cimetrix EDA/Interface A Connectivity Software. The Company delivered the next generation software to develop connectivity that complies with SEMI EDA/Interface A standards. The new product, CIMPortal™ Plus, is based upon the award-winning CIMPortal software, and offers semiconductor equipment manufacturers the features they need to support the latest revisions to the Interface A Standards, while reducing the time and effort required to develop equipment models.
New WTWRI (Wait Time Waste Reference Implementation) Application Delivered to SEMATECH. The WTWRI application processes data collected from production equipment and automatically calculates the values of the standard Time Elements. Factory industrial engineers can use this application to quantify active and waiting times for production material, identify areas of waste, and see how to improve equipment throughput and factory cycle time. While this application is initially intended for semiconductor manufacturing, it could be used in many other industries.
Commenting about the third quarter, Bob Reback, president and chief executive officer of Cimetrix stated, "At the beginning of 2013, many industry analysts predicted a down year, with an upturn in the semiconductor equipment industry starting in the third quarter. While we were hoping that timing would hold true, we found that many of our customers were experiencing delays in orders from the fabs, and the result was that we did not get the new designs and runtime licenses we forecasted. We operate in a cyclical industry, and that is why we are prepared for periods when there is a lag in the industry.
"On the positive side for this quarter, we completed a major upgrade of CIMPortal, our EDA/Interface A connectivity software. CIMPortal Plus delivers new features and capabilities to give chip makers the capability to determine when and how much data to collect, making equipment data collection much more efficient. The launch of CIMPortal Plus reinforces our leadership in software for Interface A. In addition, we continue to leverage our close collaboration with SEMATECH and leading chip makers as we invest in R&D projects for new product opportunities."
Our customers have reported an increase in machine shipments in the fourth quarter, which has given us a strong start to the quarter, plus we expect to close a number of significant new design wins that slipped out of the third quarter that will lead to healthy SDK revenue. Cimetrix believes we will return to profitability in Q4, and all indications are this up cycle will continue into 2014.
Cimetrix (OTCQB: CMXX) develops and supports factory automation software products for the global semiconductor, photovoltaic, LED, and other electronics industries. Cimetrix factory connectivity software allows for rapid and reliable implementation of the SEMI SECS/GEM, GEM 300, PV2, and EDA standards. Our flexible equipment control framework software is the latest technology that enables equipment suppliers to design and implement their supervisory control, material handling, operator interface, platform and process control, and automation requirements of manufacturing facilities. Cimetrix products can be found in virtually every 300mm semiconductor factory worldwide and include CIMControlFramework™, CIMConnect™, CIM300™, and CIMPortal™ Plus. The added value of Cimetrix passionate Support and Professional Services delivers an outstanding solution for precision equipment companies worldwide.


text:
Q: Why is Realtime Database update sometimes delayed by the burst of token renewal? In a Node.js background app that run periodically to write to Firebase Realtime Database from App Engine, sometimes I encountered a huge delay that can take up almost a minute.  The code that perform the write operations is just simply:
await ref.update(updates);

The code has been completed on-time, but somehow the process wasn't completed yet.  Curious, I added enableLogging(true) to enable verbose logging.  I found that when the delay happened, there is a lot of lines that looks like:
2021-01-18 01:25:17.512 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1525,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.515 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.515 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1526,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.517 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.517 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1527,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.521 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.521 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1528,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.523 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.523 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1529,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.524 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.525 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1530,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.527 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.527 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: {"r":1531,"a":"gauth","b":{"cred":"..."}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:17.530 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: Auth token refreshed
...
2021-01-18 01:25:38.705 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1525,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911538}}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:38.812 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1526,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911538}}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:38.880 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1527,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911538}}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:38.940 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1528,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911538}}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:39.068 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1529,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911538}}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:39.112 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1530,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911539}}}
Default
2021-01-18 01:25:39.213 WIT
[Realtime Database] p:0: from server: {"r":1531,"b":{"s":"ok","d":{"auth":null,"expires":1610911539}}}

Looks like these lines are refreshing auth token, but they're done so many times in such a short time and the write operation is pending until these operations are done.  I'm using default credential from App Engine.
Looking at the Firebase Admin SDK source code at https://github.com/firebase/firebase-admin-node/blob/master/src/firebase-app.ts#L136, the token should be renewed every minutes from 4 minutes before the token expires.  What would have caused this lot of "Auth token refreshed" logs?
The App Engine consists of several instances that uses the same service account to perform Firebase operations.
Each instance have dynamic setInterval() operations and lot of setImmediate() to prevent event loop to be blocked.

A: This is solved after I changed the authentication from application default credentials to dedicated service account.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Andrea Radice and Folco Orlandini collaborate together on the design of several highly personal and incisive style products. Graduates at the Milan Politecnico, the first in industrial design, the second in architecture, meet after several work experiences. In 2008 they started a creative relationship that led to the implementation of several projects for Italian and international companies. Andrea and Folco, guided by the idea of ??design intended as an emotion that combines functionality with a lasting shape. They believe in designing projects that are the synthesis of three elements: paternity, irony and improvement. Each creation is followed through all stages of growth. From the first idea to the development to the production, every phase step by step. Irony, understood as a constant search for what goes beyond the simple and obvious meaning of the object, has always distinguished the way of life of the two designers and hence their design approach that is always based on an improvement of what already exists. Growing means improving and improving means to be able to design products that are always better, from a productive, aesthetic, ergonomic, economic, (and much more) point of view. Since 2008, RADICEORLANDINI studio has designed dozens of products for various furniture companies such as Alivar, Casprini, Domitalia, Dorelan, Elite UK, Fast, Infiniti, Metalmobil, Potocco, Quinti Sedute, Schuster Brazil, Skitsch. Among the various awards they received: in 2007 first prize in the MOV Design competition, 2010 special mention Young & Design, 2011 and 2013 Good Design Award Chicago Athenaeum.
OI SIDE DESIGN has developed a complete unique Collection, using simple geometric lines allows creating tímeless shapes. Island Collection unites nature and design, nautical plywood combined with latest-ion tech material and tecnocemento that provides an extra value to the Collection.
Product designers, strategic consultants for industrial design, Sandro Meneghello and Marco Paolelli establish Meneghello Paolelli Associati ten years ago. ?Both graduated at the Politecnico di Milano, under the guidance of Roberto Palomba and Paolo Rizzatto, after different international experiences - from Central Saint Martins in London and Norwegian University of Science &Technology in Trondheim, to Köln Kisd University and EDF R&B in Paris, they set their studio in Milan. ?They have received several international recognitions, including seven Red Dot Design Award, five Design Plus, two Good Design Award, one ADI Design Index, two special mention for the German Design Award and six mention to the Young &Design.
Technical Engineering in the University of Basque Country, she extended her knowledge in furniture design at IED in Madrid. Working in different studios from Groningen (Netherlands) and Florence (Italy) she has got the ability and soft skills expressed on OMA. Every experience in the diverse projects in which she has participated has helped her consider different perspectives when creating a design. These new creations are inspired in the wood's warmth and simplicity and the color's joy.
Miguel Angel Garcia is an industrial designer, specializing in product design, and collaborates with different studios and manufacturers. Among his major projects we find Pott, a collection of lamps which combines tradition and innovation. Awarded in different furniture fairs.


text:
using OpenSim.Region.Framework.Interfaces;
using System;
using System.Drawing;

namespace OpenSim.Region.CoreModules.Scripting.DynamicTexture
{
    public class DynamicTexture : IDynamicTexture
    {
        public DynamicTexture(string inputCommands, string inputParams, byte[] data, Size size, bool isReuseable)
        {
            InputCommands = inputCommands;
            InputParams = inputParams;
            Data = data;
            Size = size;
            IsReuseable = isReuseable;
        }

        public DynamicTexture(Uri inputUri, string inputParams, byte[] data, Size size, bool isReuseable)
        {
            InputUri = inputUri;
            InputParams = inputParams;
            Data = data;
            Size = size;
            IsReuseable = isReuseable;
        }

        public byte[] Data { get; private set; }

        public string InputCommands { get; private set; }

        public string InputParams { get; private set; }

        public Uri InputUri { get; private set; }

        public bool IsReuseable { get; private set; }

        public Size Size { get; private set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Use json_decode on a multidimensional array im trying to decode a 2-dimensional array in php with json_decode.
I create my array like this:
    $query3 = 'SELECT * FROM `files` WHERE `company`="'.$_POST['company'].'"';
    $result3 = mysql_query($query3);
    $return_type = "files";
    $data_files;
    while($row3 = mysql_fetch_object($result3))
    {
        $data_files[] .= json_encode(array("cat" => $row3->cat, "name" => $row3->name));
    }

at the bottom of my code i use this:
$return = json_encode($data_files);

my result looks like this:
["{\"cat\":\"3\",\"name\":\"Flyer Vorwerk C-40 11\\\/2013\"}","{\"cat\":\"4\",\"name\":\"Katalog Sommer 2013\"}","{\"cat\":\"5\",\"name\":\"Beutel wechseln\"}","{\"cat\":\"5\",\"name\":\"Teppich sauber kriegen\"}","{\"cat\":\"3\",\"name\":\"Flyer Vorwerk C-70 11\\\/2013\"}"]

sadly there are too many qutoes, but when i remove the first json_encode(); in the mysql section the result looks like this
["Array","Array","Array","Array","Array"]

i could remove the qutoes with preg_replace(), but i want to know if there is a better solution.
i would really appreciate your help.
btw, sry for my crappy english!

A: $data_files = array();
while ($row3 = mysql_fetch_object($result3)) {
    $data_files[] = array("cat" => $row3->cat, "name" => $row3->name);
}
return json_encode($data_files);

Don't double encode your values!