Barca simply Magnífico!

The glittering success...

See ya... sucker...

Manchester United discovered what it is like to lose a European Cup final as brilliant Barcelona ruled Rome on Wednesday, securing a comfortable 2-0 win.

If there is any consolation in failure to become the first side to retain the trophy in the Champions League era, it is that they lost to a side as fluent and brilliant to watch as they are.

The glittering success...

Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi scored the goals either side of half-time but to single those two out for special praise would be unfair on their team-mates, and particularly Xavi, who was simply awesome.

For once Cristiano Ronaldo could provide no magic of his own, instead getting increasingly frustrated as defeat loomed.

It was a shame really. Although having done so much damage to others down the years, he does now know how it feels.

Twenty four hours earlier, Sir Alex Ferguson had spoken of reaching into the far corners of his brain for an inspiring word or two prior to kick-off.

As half-time approached, that same grey matter might have preferred a word or two about Barcelona's performance.

Sublime would have been one. Bewitching, mesmerising would do equally as well. For a football man like Ferguson it would have been a joy to watch if his side were not the ones trying to stop it.

The kind of football that allowed the Catalans to hit six goals past Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium last month was not in evidence for the first eight minutes or so as United held sway.

However, once it began to emerge, Ferguson's side had precious few answers.

Eto'o....! Shudoh...!

Score!

The shape of the contest might have been so different had Park Ji-sung been able to snaffle the rebound after Victor Valdes had failed to hold a stinging Ronaldo free-kick.

Instead, former United man Gerard Pique shot across to block what proved to be his old club's best opportunity of that opening period.

Like his team, Ronaldo was clearly in the ascendancy in his personal duel with Messi.

How rapidly things changed. In the twinkling of an eye Andres Iniesta, one of the brightest starts in the Barcelona firmament, slipped a pass to Eto'o.

The Cameroon striker cut inside Nemanja Vidic, then held off Michael Carrick as he prodded the ball goalward with enough strength to take it past Edwin van der Sar.

Suddenly the strategy of containment and hitting at pace on the counter-attack suggested by the inclusion of Park and the exclusion of Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov did not look such a good idea.

Ferguson's team shot across the pitch, able to do little more than firefight as Messi, Iniesta and Xavi lit bonfires all around.

Had a Messi flick found Eto'o in the area, it would have probably brought Barcelona's second. Rio Ferdinand's agility saved his team.

Xavi curled a free-kick just wide, Vidic pumped the ball away after Van der Sar had failed to hold a cross shot, the slick passing wearing United down all the while.

The arrival of Tevez at half-time had to come, and with it a more overtly offensive approach.

Yet in taking such bold action, Ferguson knew he was playing right into Barcelona's hands.

Xavi picked out Thierry Henry with a brilliant pass. The former Arsenal star cut inside Ferdinand with ease but could not find the finish, a similar mistake to the one that proved so costly for Arsenal in Paris three years ago.

When Xavi saw his free-kick come thumping back off a post, memories of 1999 and the mauling United nearly took at the hands of Bayern Munich sprang to mind.

Yet this was different. Ferguson's team were poor until the unforgettable ending. This time they were simply ripped apart by the only team on the planet who can match them.

The introduction of Berbatov midway through the second half was effectively Ferguson throwing his book of tactics out of the window and not worry about the consequences if it all went wrong.

Sadly it did. Quite quickly as Xavi's curling cross dropped perfectly for Messi, who guided his header over Van der Sar.

You play beautifully and well deserved...

Ronaldo's world player of the year crown was slipping and Valdes managed to get in the way of a close-range effort that would have given United some hope, as would the volley from Berbatov that followed.

Berbatov had another chance too, although by then Carles Puyol had seen two efforts saved by Van der Sar.

In truth, the Dutchman was his side's best player, which just about says it all.

Pep done it again!

All Images are belongs to Soccernet and GettyImages

I'm disgusted...

This man just fucked up our best chance in winning the Premier League for the first time in 19 years...

As I am blogging this, Liverpool was beaten 2-0 by lowly Middlesbrough. Before game time Liverpool was 2nd and Middlesbrough is second last.

Why this is happening? Well, we play 4-5-1, with El-Zhar as the lone forward! WTF! We have an unknown when others are having the like of Berbatov and Anelka.

Why the fuck he wanted to sell Robbie Keane??? At anytime he is better than the bunch we are having except Torres.

Keane was sold, then where is the replacement? David Ngogg? Dirk Kuyt? Big time flops you have there...

Congrates to MU.

Nightmare of 2008

Brace for the worst...

Spy? Or just purely romantic...

Another article I came across in CNN online.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- She was "The Korean Seductress Who Betrayed America," a Seoul socialite said to have charmed secret information out of one lover, an American colonel, and passed it to another, a top communist in North Korea.

In late June 1950, as North Korean invaders closed in on this panicked city, Kim Soo-im was executed by the South Korean military, shot as a "very malicious international spy." Her deeds, thereafter, only grew in infamy.

In 1950s America, gripped by anticommunist fever, one TV drama told viewers Kim's "womanly wiles" had been the communists' "deadliest weapon." Another teleplay, introduced by host Ronald Reagan, depicted her as Asia's Mata Hari. Coronet magazine, under the "seductress" headline, reviled her as the Oriental queen of a vast Soviet "Operation Sex."

Kim Soo-im and her love triangle are gone, buried in separate corners of a turbulent past. But in yellowing U.S. military files stamped "SECRET," hibernating through a long winter of Cold War, the truth survived. Now it has emerged, a half-century too late to save her.

The record of a confidential 1950 U.S. inquiry and other declassified files, obtained by The Associated Press at the U.S. National Archives, tell a different Kim Soo-im story:

Col. John E. Baird had no access to the supposed sensitive information. Kim had no secrets to pass on. And her Korean lover, Lee Gang-kook, later executed by North Korea, may actually have been an American agent.

The espionage case, from what can be pieced together today, looks like little more than a frame-up.

Her colonel could have defended her, but instead Baird was rushed out of Korea to "avoid further embarrassment," the record shows. She was left to her fate -- almost certainly, the Americans concluded, to be tortured by South Korean police into confessing to things she hadn't done.

Historians now believe the Seoul regime secretively executed at least 100,000 leftists and supposed sympathizers in 1950. This one death, for one American, remains a living, deeply personal story.

Wonil Kim -- son of Kim Soo-im and Col. Baird -- is on a quest to bury the myths about his mother, a woman, he says, "with a passion for life, a strong woman caught up in the torrent of historical turmoil, and drowned."

The son, a theology professor at California's LaSierra University, was the first to discover the declassified U.S. documents. Now he has also found an ally, Seoul movie director Cho Myung-hwa, who plans a feature film on Kim Soo-im.

"He betrayed her," Cho said of Baird. "He could have testified. But he just flew back stateside to his American family."

The soft-spoken theologian, 59, and the veteran moviemaker, 63, both say that to grasp the Kim Soo-im story one must understand that young, educated Koreans of the 1930s and 1940s largely favored recasting their feudal country in a leftist mold once rid of their Japanese colonial rulers. But the U.S. Army's Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge, taking charge in southern Korea at World War II's end, vowed to "stamp out" the communists.

Kim Soo-im, born in 1911, was among the educated elite. An orphan, she was schooled by American missionaries, eventually graduating from Seoul's prestigious Ewha women's college.

In 1936, as a female office administrator, she was featured in a Seoul magazine article on the new generation of liberated young women. Smart and fashionable, with a circle of sophisticated, politicized friends, she later met an older married man, Lee Gang-kook, a German-educated intellectual active in Seoul's leftist movement.

She became his lover, and Lee rose to political prominence after Japan's defeat. But within a year of the U.S. takeover, he faced arrest as an alleged security risk and fled to communist-run northern Korea.

Kim Soo-im's fluent English, meanwhile, had made her valuable to the U.S. occupation. She was hired as an assistant by Baird, the Americans' 56-year-old, Irish-born military police chief. Baird secured a house for her and took to spending nights there, according to Korean and American witnesses in the declassified record.

"She had a baby by Col. Baird," Kim's friend Nancy Kim would later tell U.S. interrogators. "We all knew. He slept in the house many times. The baby looks like the father."

When the U.S. occupation army withdrew in 1949, succeeded by an advisory corps, Baird shifted to assisting the national police, and his American wife joined him in Korea.

Finally, on March 1, 1950, Kim, no longer U.S.-employed, was arrested by South Korean police, joining thousands of others ensnared in President Syngman Rhee's roundups of leftists.

"It was witch-hunting," said historian Jung Byung-joon, who has studied the case. "The South Korean police and prosecutors hated her because she was the lover of Lee Gang-kook, and then of Col. Baird, and nobody could touch her. They waited for their chance."

On June 14, 1950, nine days after Baird sailed from Korea, Kim Soo-im faced a five-judge South Korean military court and a long list of alleged crimes, including obtaining vehicles from the colonel that she lent or sold to "communist" friends, and transporting Lee Gang-kook to the northern border in 1946 with a U.S. Army jeep.

The most serious charge accused her of eliciting the classified 1949 U.S. withdrawal plans from Baird, and relaying them to the northern communists.

As her court-appointed lawyer noted, the government presented neither material evidence nor witnesses to back up the charges. But on the trial's third day, according to a summary in the declassified U.S. file, Kim Soo-im confessed and was sentenced to death.

Just weeks after her execution, however, and across the Pacific, U.S. military investigators reviewing Baird's role were hearing confidential testimony from Army officers indicating Kim's conviction was a contrivance of the Seoul authorities.

On point after point -- alleged illicit use of jeeps, an Army truck, a radio and other items for "communistic activities" -- Baird denied such dealings with Kim, and the Army inspector general's office repeatedly found that "the evidence does not substantiate the allegation," according to the long-secret record.

On the espionage count, officers up to Gen. Hodge himself testified Baird had no access to classified details of the troop withdrawal. Besides, the withdrawal's outlines had been reported in Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper available to all.

The investigators concluded there was only a "remote possibility" Kim Soo-im used Baird as alleged -- one that couldn't be fully disproved, since she was dead.

Col. William H.S. Wright, head of the Korea advisory group, testified that her confession was probably forced through "out and out torture," probably near-drowning, or waterboarding, as it's now known.

A Korean source backs this up. In a 2005 Seoul TV report on Kim Soo-im, longtime government propagandist Oh Jae-ho said he learned from a police official that the defendant had to be carried into the courtroom to confess.

Wonil Kim believes his mother gave in because otherwise "they would send her right back to the torture chamber."

The year-old orphaned boy was adopted by a church administrator and his wife, a head nurse at the hospital where Kim gave birth. In 1970, the Korean family moved to the United States, where Wonil Kim eventually earned a Ph.D. in Old Testament studies.

He was told about his birth mother as a teenager, and her old friends later informed him about his father, to whom he bears a strong resemblance. The painful legacy never left his mind.

Not long before Baird died in 1980, at age 90, Wonil tracked the old colonel down at a Rhode Island nursing home. Baird rejected his illegitimate son, speaking instead of a "Mr. Smith" as the father, Wonil Kim said. But after his death, Baird's family was "very warm and accepting."

Crucial questions remain unanswered in the declassified files -- about the mysterious Lee Gang-kook, for example.

A profile drafted by Army intelligence in 1956 said Lee reportedly was employed by the CIA. And, in fact, the North Koreans executed Lee as an "American spy" after the Korean War ended with a 1953 armistice.

Historian Jung, who discovered that declassified profile at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, still believes with other historians that North Korean leader Kim Il Sung had Lee and other southerners executed to eliminate potential rivals.

The isolated document remains a puzzle, nonetheless. Wonil Kim suspects that his mother, entrusted with a U.S. military vehicle, did help her lover Lee get to northern Korea in 1946, a time when it was still easy for intelligence operatives to cross the 38th Parallel. Was Lee somehow linked to the Americans?

This June his quest for the truth led Wonil Kim to a surprising figure, a feeble, 88-year-old Seoul lawyer who as a young army officer was one of five judges who sent Kim Soo-im to her death.

After meeting the son, elderly ex-soldier Kim Tae-chung spoke briefly with the AP, defending the long-ago verdict, but saying he'd told Wonil that Kim Soo-im "to me didn't look like a bad person."

Was she tortured? the AP asked. "All I know is what happened in the courtroom," Kim Tae-chung protested.

Wonil Kim said he found the old judge "a very gentle kind of soul" who "believes he did the right thing." Their hour together proved "cathartic" for both men, he said.

November 4th - History is created

Barack Obama told supporters that "change has come to America" as he claimed victory in a historic presidential election.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there," Obama said in Chicago, Illinois, before an estimated crowd of up to 240,000 people.

With Obama's projected win, he will become the first African-American to win the White House.

Obama had an overwhelming victory over Sen. John McCain, who pledged Tuesday night to help Obama lead.

"Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much, and tonight, I remain her servant," McCain said.

McCain called Obama to congratulate him, and Obama told the Arizona senator he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them can work together.

*****************************************************

'THIS IS YOUR VICTORY,' says Obama.

Sen. Barack Obama spoke at a rally in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, after winning the race for the White House Tuesday night. The following is an exact transcript of his speech.

Obama:

Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.

Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Scorpio

I should have knew it.

Dealing with Scorpio is so disappointing, frustrating and excruciating.
There is no way to know the truth...

Sakujo. Sakujo. Sakujo...

My Most Interesting...

Hey you! Yes you, who is looking at this page...

If you like photography, please do visit this.

Thanks in advance... ;-)

The final puzzle to our Holy Grail?

Written by Richard Jolly. Republished by Geovanni.

One man cannot win a title, but he can make a huge difference. Last season, Cristiano Ronaldo did. And this year? There are several reasons for believing that a 19-season wait might just end by the most compelling one wears Liverpool's No. 9 shirt. Fernando Torres managed 33 goals last year, but silverware eluded him. But when Torres takes aim, he usually hits the target.

Eight days after his brace decided the Merseyside derby, Torres made it back-to-back Premier League doubles. More importantly, he rescued Liverpool from a seemingly irretrievable position, rousing them from a performance that, for 45 minutes, was at best mediocre. In the process, he provided Manchester City with an unwanted reminder of the chasm between the genuine contenders and their wealthy pursuers.

City may covet Torres. They are unlikely to get him. Dirk Kuyt's warning that Steven Gerrard cannot be prised from Anfield (or maybe, if it is ever built, the new Anfield) may also apply to the top scorer. There are, it appears, some players money cannot buy. Yet with a deserved two-goal advantage at half-time, City seemed to be heralding their arrival among the elite. What followed was a comeback to rank among Liverpool's finest. There were mentions of Istanbul afterwards, and they were justified.

Normally, however, such memorable fight-backs are orchestrated by Gerrard. While the hitherto quiet captain was involved in the first two goals, however, the catalyst was Torres.

''We know how important Torres is for us,'' said Rafa Benitez. ''He's always a threat for defenders, he can score and also his mentality.'' He displayed a characteristic combination of instinct and timing to arrive in City's six-yard box to convert Alvaro Arbeloa's low cross.

Suddenly, Kuyt is our flying Dutchman...

Gerrard, who had begun that move, then whipped in the corner that Torres met with an emphatic header for his second goal. An unusually glaring miss deprived the Spaniard of a hat-trick but, in added time, Yossi Benayoun cut the ball back from the byline for Torres. His shot rebounded off Robbie Keane, but into the path of Kuyt, who mustered a Premier League goal for the first time since November.

By that stage, both sides had been reduced to 10 men, but their attitudes were instructive. City were depleted when Pablo Zabaleta's reckless tackle on Xabi Alonso resulted in a red card. It was just, but a sense of injustice remained at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Liverpool, having made all three substitutions, had Martin Skrtel stretchered off. Benitez is often branded cautious, but his decision to deploy just three defenders and press for a winner was promptly justified.

''Physically we are in a good condition,'' said the manager, whose team have become second-half specialists, with only Manchester United's Wes Brown scoring for them in the first 45 minutes. ''Credit for the mentality of some of the key players. The positive thing is the reaction of the players, the character and belief is the key. The determination was fantastic, much better in the second half than in the first half.''

That is an understatement. City shone for 45 minutes, negating the strong spine to the Liverpool side by attacking intelligently on either flank. Both goals came from moves on their right wing. For the opener, Shaun Wright-Phillips' cross found its way, via a combination of Arbeloa and Robinho, to Stephen Ireland to wallop his shot in.

Wright-Phillips' played a pivotal part in the second. Unable to halt him legally, Albert Riera fouled him and Javier Garrido beat Jose Reina with a magnificent free kick.

While a cheaply-acquired Spaniard could score from 25 yards, a costly Brazilian could not from four. After Wright-Phillips travelled 70 yards with the ball, his cross was volleyed over by Robinho. That would have been 3-1 and, in all probability, game over.

What followed was significant. The replacement of the hapless Fabio Aurelio, who had been tormented by Wright-Phillips, with Andrea Dossena was both a merciful release and the key to subduing City's outstanding individual.

''I thought we were excellent in the first half,'' said Mark Hughes. ''We really took the game to a very strong Liverpool side, a big strong adept side. We caused them as many problems as any side this season.''

That includes Manchester United and Everton and is a correct assessment. But given City's first-half superiority, Liverpool's response was equally significant. There are teams who frequently score late goals and, even when they involve ricochets, it is rarely a consequence they do.

Level on points with Chelsea and with Manchester United's habit of scoring in the final stages, Liverpool are very much in the title race.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Fernando Torres
There is a case for Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was superb, but Torres was the man who turned the match Liverpool's way.

MOAN OF THE MATCH: Many of the Manchester City fans informed referee Peter Walton that he wasn't fit to referee after Zabaleta's departure. They should reconsider: the Argentinian's challenge was precisely the sort of dangerous tackle that warrants a straight red card.

MANCHESTER CITY VERDICT: Their quartet of attacking midfielders showed that this is a side of genuine creativity. Wright-Phillips was the pick of the quartet but some of Elano's contributions, whether his passing or his tracking back, were also noteworthy. Yet City may require the balance Martin Petrov, often their best player last season, offers as well as a finishing touch. The underwhelming Jo, thus far, does not look a £19 million striker.

LIVERPOOL VERDICT: It was a remarkable second half but, once again, the dependence upon Gerrard and Torres was outlined. While Kuyt actually managed the decisive goal, they are the two proven match-winners and the two potential additions to that select band, the wild card Ryan Babel and Keane, were only on the bench. Albert Riera and Kuyt were preferred to the former on the flanks to add solidity and balance. They certainly provided the latter, along with cover for the struggling full-backs. Bringing in Dossena for Aurelio would mean there was less need for the left winger to track back, though.

OUT OF THE CUPS: Manchester City may be the richest club in the world, but that did not stop them running out of polystyrene cups. Evidently the billions from the Gulf are not being invested at Asda.

A word a day in Pakistan...

Learned another funny word today:

"sea robbers" from Liāqat.

Literally meaning the pirates

XD

Islamabad trip...

All the exotic places... - On my way to Islamabad

It's about the timing. After what happened at Marriott Hotel, I went for this short day trip to Islamabad for business... I would be lying if I am not concerned. But then again, you can't avoid the accuracy of death...

First impression is that the city is very wide, spacious. It's much smaller city compares to Lahore, and much cleaner. Well, it's a well-planned city and most of the government office is here. No wonder...


It's Ramadhan and literally food can't be found. Ali Asif brought me to Rahat and got me some really good bakeries... and we had lunch in his Civic. What a good experience again... (opps, he is fasting, it's only me who eat.)

Travel time around 4 hours. Stopped multiple times along the nicely built motorway by Koreans to fill up CNG. Browsing the mountainous side of northern Pakistan and enjoying their twilight. I slept most of the time... damn tired after having to wake up damn early for this trip.

More photos here.

Shattered peace of Marriott Islamabad bombing

Just moment after the new Pakistani President Zardari offered the militant the olive branch for peace, the bombing struck again right at the capital and within the parliament building.

Even under tight security, the massive explosive render Marriott Hotel almost into nothing but beam and broken pillars. These places is like, hangout place for foreigner like us... I wonder how can we possibly try to avoid these places...


But I think the question will be more on, how you can avoid the accuracy of death... You can never.
I wish those dead won't died for nothing... May their soul rest in peace and may peace be brought back to this land.

Some good pics...

Taking a break...

After the long trip in Lahore, am finally back and laying low, real low...

My body is drained due to the project and expectation... Thankfully there are still a lot of hospitality to put some warmth into the reality. A day before I left, there were storms and the weather becomes much cooler. Luv it.

For time being, am gonna get my deserved holiday break and lay low under the sun and radar.

Back in Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari just sworn in as the 14th President of Pakistan's 61 years history. I hope Mr. Zardari can steer Pakistan out of the militant insurgency storm, and bring the much needed peace and democracy back to the people of Pakistan.

My ori Canon EF-S lens...

Speaking about photography, I just realized Hasan still owes me a lens which he lost in a home burglary somewhere last year.

It was my original Canon EF-S lens 18-55mm. It's not really a good lens (stock lens never been good except those included in higher range DSLR) but still, it's my ori lens. I should have ask him to pay back with a Canon Speedlite flash... =p

Speaking of which, he is still holding my Hoya CPL filter...

Calm before the storm... Musharraf says he will resign.

Live: President Pervez Musharraf resigns...
Press Information Department/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Latest news: Under pressure over impending impeachment charges, President Pervez Musharraf announced he would resign Monday, ending nearly nine years as the head of one of the United States’ most important allies in the campaign against terrorism.

After the recent suicide bombing, this is the next turbulence I have witnessed in Pakistan so far. From the live telecast, I can see many people rejoiced over this decision. There is even a report on surge of the Rupees. One will wonders, how can this be reacted in such a rapid fashion...?

Photo: Shakil Adil/Associated Press

The speech was delivered in a calmly manner by President Musharraf. But it's hard for one to ignore the impending storm... It's just manner of how big it is...

Let's hope that this political unrest is not going to wreck havoc in any means of Pakistan's progress...

It's been a difficult 61 years of independence...

As the president leaves the office...

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

the lawyers celebrated in front of the presidential office...

Photo: Farooq Naeem/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Merah putih teruslah kau berkibar...

Happy Independence Day! Indonesia...

Jiweh-Jiweh Pakistan!

14th August is a national holiday, the day Pakistan gained independence from the rule of the colonial British.

Today suppose to be a day where Pakistani celebrating it with unity and jubilation, but it ends up being a mourning day for those killed last night in a suicide bombing attack. The toll include a severely wounded sub-contractor of mine.

The attack took place at the busy Dubai Chowk in the Allama Iqbal Town area at about 11:34pm, as citizens poured into the streets before midnight to celebrate the 61st anniversary of Pakistan’s independence.

This makes my holiday a quiet day. We decided to spend time at home and reduce our mobility. There is just too much risk out there, further with speculation that Taliban is launching a possible retaliation on the recently military operation carried out on them by the Pakistan army.


Other than all these uncertainties, Lahore has been a nice place to me... in fact, an exotic one...

First week in Lahore...

Famous Mughal Tikka Masala

The last weekend i went to this place called Coco's cafe to have dinner. Make a booking few days ago due to it's a tourist spot. It has a very nice view and it is an open air cafe at the top of the building. I booked the highest terrace, where you need to climb stairs to another level/platform built on top of the roof. Perfect. I will never forget this experience. Even my colleagues who had stays here for 2 years had never had been here!

On the way back, the driver bring us thru the lively-side of Lahore: the old city. There are so much live! Unlike the superficial urban city where people only go shopping, dining, cinema or clubbing with dramas. This place full of people negotiating in their business, selling cloths, people rubbing shoulders crossing here and there, shouting, lights, smokes from the oven, horns over the busy congested traffic junction, and stares from the curious on-lookers... this is like Lahore, been transported back to the British era.

Lahore never sleeps...

We cut thru the red-light district, where women sitting there await the untold destiny from another man. Pimps smiling and soliciting customers, trying to seal deals before they call it a night. Lights glared my eyes before I can set my sight... As low as Rs70k, you can get a taste of being a fallen-angel loosing your night in the devil's den. I didn’t. I came here only to witness, to thrive within it by shoot with my favorite frame.

After getting out of the area, we are stuck in a congested junction full of people. Shops everywhere and people just chat and pass the night under the silhouette of yellow candescent lamp. There is this light transport scooter stopping still in the middle of the road with the driver sleeping inside! I guess he wouldn’t mind, you can loose your soul but not you sleep. We all have to literally avoid him and pass thru the congested area...

Curious eyes...

Along the way home, we passed thru busier streets. There are people lying on the road side, getting massage service... Dust mixed in the air... I think that's their particles of life... No Gucci or Dolce Gabbana, all they have is the weathered cotton cloth best suits the summer weather. Life, back to its original point... You don't need those superficial to live a vibrant life... Life itself is what it should be vibrant about.

As the night falls deeper... as my dimmed window of apartment draw closer... I heard a whisper, that my heart was left there at the old city…

Dinner with The Emperor's Mosque

Dinner at the Coco's Cafe, old city of Lahore

Lahore is used to be under the Mughal Empire. One who knows about Mughal will definitely aware about their awesome ability in architectural craftsmanship like the Taj Mahal.

So it's not surprise that this city is called the Garden of Mughal. And being the new "emperor" in town, I was always eagerly await to pay visit to the Mughal's work, such as the Badshahi Mosque, also dubbed as "The Emperor's Mosque, built by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.


The site is situated in the busy old city of Lahore. So going there during the day time of the working days is out of question. So I planned a trip and bring my colleagues there for dinner at the famous Coco's cafe.

Apparently it's a tourist restaurant and pre-booking is required to secure nice seats... ;-) I did that and we got the highest terrace all by our own. Though the view looking down to the adjacent buildings is kind of scary. The place is a perfect place for couples candle light dinner. I bet anyone who will dissolve in this romantic ambiance...


Puffing shisha and divulging the local Pakistani food, the most pleasant satisfaction for me is being able to witness the grand view of The Emperor's Mosque under the dimmed light (due to the chronic load shedding problem in Pakistan now)...

Still, nice photos being captured. ;-) The food is OK only but the price is more on the high side. Anyone who wants to dine here, prepares to at least USD 18 per person.

More photos here.

Surprise Surprise...

Today, surprisingly I received 2 unexpected messages from 2 unexpected person: S.M. and T.M.

The thing is, it's always soooo late... and when I am not around in Jakarta...