Hi all, Sorry for the late post on this. Its about a week since the big day for any Red Devil fan in Malaysia.
The 1st game took place in Bukit Jalil Stadium last Saturday. For those who bought their tickets early, they got free training passes on Friday evening to watch both teams train.
I took half the day off on Friday so I could get to the stadium early. The training starts at 5.30pm but i arrived at about 3 something. Since there are no seating restrictions for the training session, i went to the supposed RM308 seats. The seat location wasnt bad, I was seated facing the centre circle. I was expecting a long wait for them to appear but time passed faster as the Malaysian team came out to train at 4,30pm. They did some kickabouts and applauded the crowd, Then at 5.30pm, Man Utd players entered the pitch and we started to get excited. First Paul Scholes came out, then Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. THen followed the rest of the team; to a standing ovation.
It was obvious who the fans favourites were on Friday itself. Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and surprisingly, Michael Owen had the bigest cheers that day. I bet most of us left the training session eagerly anticipating for the real game to begin the next day.
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Woke up on Saturday to send my mothers car for servicing before coming back to do some laundry. Then headed out to Midvalley to celebrate a friend's Birthday in the afternoon. If you are reading this SL, happy belated birthday to you!!
Then at 3pm, headed towards Bkt Jalil Stadium for the big game. Unfortunately the roads leading to the stadium was badly congested. And every car contained some1 whow as wearing red, hahaha!! So i decided to turn back and drive back towards the Tasik Selatan LRT to park and ride the train there.
Big mistake. Ended up paying RM5 for parking (i think the operators were taking advantage of the huge surge in MU fans) which i think is overpriced, since Bkt Jalil only charges RM2. THen the station was also overcrowded with supporters of the Red Devils. When the 1st train arrived, it was so packed, i dont know how some people could continue to squeeze themselves into the crowd. Totally so packe dthat when the door closed, some of the people were squashed, LOL! So i waited for the next train, and the next train was slightly less full, but damn full for any rush hour day of the week. But this time, i'm determined to squeeze myself inside as i didnt want to be late. It was so packed i didnt have to hold on to any thing in the train. We were just standing.there wasno room to even lift my arm to hold on to something, if there was anything left to hold on to anyway.
Reached Bkt Jalil and went straight into the stadium. My RM98 ticket was free seating so I had to go in early to get a good seat. My location this time wasnt too bad. I was seated right at the middle of the pitch on the 2nd tier, facing the same spot i sat in the day before for training. The ticket mentioned that the match would begin at 5.30pm. I arrived at 4pm. I was expecting a long wait as I dodnt believe that they will get Man Utd to play so early in the day, when the sun is still up. I expected the match to begin at maybe 7pm, when it would be a bit cooler.
But luckily for me, I was wrong. The player came out for a quick warm up session at about 5pm. And the match began at about 5.45pm. The Man Utd players look a bit rusty if you ask me. Strayed passes and some sloppy ball control allowed the Malaysian players to capitalise on those mistakes.
The final score was 3-2 to the Red Devils. It was an exciting match as the Malaysian players did their overwhelming best to give the Man Utd players a good workout. I think Man Utd were glad to come out with a victory after a blunder by Ben Foster allowed Malaysia to equalise but Owen late winner save Man Utd the blushes.
After the game, I stayed back to watch the prize giving ceremony as well as the to see Giggs, Scholes and Neville do their cooldown session. I left the stadium at about 8 something. And i thought the nightmare of commuting was over. It wasnt.
They shut all the entrances into the LRT station and only allowed several people in at once to avoid flooding the station.THe problem was, the area outside the station was overcrowded! It was such a hot and humid mass of humans that a lot of people lost their temper. Can you imagine, if a quarter of the people in the stadium had to take the train back, that would mean 20,00 would be stuck there for some time to come.
I was one of those many many frustrated commuters that day. ANd i swear i will never take the train to Bkt Jalil anymore despite recommendations from the newspapers and traffic police. I managed to get into the sardine packed train (sardine isnt the rightr choice of word, more like luncheon meat, no place even for the sardine sauce). And when i got into my car at the parking lot, I had to contend with the jam to get out of the parking lot. That alone took me half an hour. Sigh...
THe match was a good one, but the commuting really sucked big time. i'm sorry if i dont have any pics uploaded yet, i took about more than 800+ pics combined for the 2 matches and training session. Will upload it soon, and will also blog about the 2nd match later on.
Till then
Boodyboy, out!!
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