So 2 months ago I jokingly asked Pat via e-mail, “hey wanna go watch Arsenal B play Malaysia?”
He replied “Sure!” and I was like, “er, okay…”
So we went to the game yesterday, and I certainly had no regrets. We left Puchong at about 7pm and traffic was surprisingly smooth all the way except at the IOI Mall flyover. We parked right on the TPM flyover and walked a short distance to the stadium. Traffic control was very good, and the atmosphere at the stadium was carnival like with Ella’s “Standing In the Eyes of the World” blasting from the speakers.
Security was okay, I got a light pat down from a RELA member. But i notice they didn’t pat down the Caucasian girl beside me… In the stadium we got pretty good seats, near the corner flag. I heard this morning there were 60k supporters in the stadium.
(First sight of the pitch. It’s surprisingly well lit!)
Everyone was pumped and started cheering wildly at anything and everything on the field. Even the Gunnersaurus mascot.
Sorry for the pathetic photos, i had to use my Galaxy S. And all i could do was drool at the guy beside me with his Canon 550D with zoom lens.
(Crowd goes wild when the Gunners run out to warm up.)
A chant of “NASRI! NASRI!” goes on when Samir Nasri appeared, which was really nice. But i doubt we can really do much to keep him at the club this or next season.
And they’re off! I must say, watching the match live, time goes a lot faster than on TV. Malaysia played quite well in the first half, with Kunalan testing Vermaelen a few times on the left wing. But towards the end of the 1st half and the entire 2nd half, I guess Malaysia lost focus and couldn’t get possession. Not easy playing against the one of the best passing team in the world.
Towards the end of the match, the biggest cheer of the night was when Wenger brought on the biggest stars – van Persie, Sagna, Arshavin and Nasri.
So in all, it was a great atmosphere. Traffic out of the area was manageable, was home by 11.30pm and found out that my very own NEIGHBOUR was also at the match!
2 Comments
Boone
Guess the Malaysian players were just overawed by Arsenal’s passing later in the game and watched in amazement. Still good on them for putting up a good fight.
I was reading the match report on EuroSport, and it was funny, cos it just mentioned Arsenal players, and just referred to the Malaysian players as “the goalkeeper”.
Astro chose to screen the Liverpool vs Guangdong game live instead.
simon
Our goalkeeper was pretty good for most of the match, kept the scoreline respectable. But goal 3 was mostly avoidable, he was caught out.