Shalom,
The sleeper must awaken (OK, quote stolen from one of my musical heroes, Maynard James Keenan)
Sorry for a lack of news lately, I have been quite busy. My personal website is progressing well and I expect to have it launched by the end of the weekend. It has been delayed very often due to several issues but I am planning to this time let nothing come in between it (and hopefully I won't change that plan this time ;)) and launch it very shortly now. Finally you could say...
Also, my fan forum for A Perfect Circle is upcoming, thanks to the help of an internet friend of mine who is technically more gifted than me and who is taking care of the technical side of launching the messageboard. It will be a new APC messageboard after the existing ones seem to have all gone online, leaving APC fans with no other resort than Tool forums where we however always experience the strange attitude that we are aliens in a place where we shouldn't be. Well, time for a change, and with this APC forum I hope to give A Perfect Circle fans a new hang-out spot on the web.
Lack of personal news yeah, but no lack of news in general. This week saw several football friendlies and although they were basically warm-ups for the upcoming tournaments and World Cup qualifiers, there were some really interesting fixtures for both fans of the top sides and the minnows.
First of all the top... Italy lost in Spain 1-0 while France beat rivals England with the same score. Franck Ribery scored the decisive goal in the Stade de France in Paris.
Holland struggled in Vienna where they faced a 3-0 score against one of the weakest teams at the upcoming Euro 2008. However, an incredible turnaround saw the Netherlands come back and win 3-4 in the end, leaving the Euro co-hosts with a very shocking loss, although scoring 3 goals against the Netherlands should give them some confidence. Neighbours Germany had less problems, winning in Switzerland 0-4, a big loss for the other Euro 2008 hosts.
My native Belgium lost 1-4 against Morocco and although 3 out of 4 Moroccan goals resulted from personal mistakes from the Belgians, this result can hardly be seen as uplifting and the bomb is about to explode with several players outing their unfulfillment about the national coach's tactical decisions.
My own favourites then: mixed feelings here. My one favourite Norway faced an embarrassing loss in Montenegro. 3-1 with Carew scoring the Norwegian goal when it was too late already however as Montenegro was leading 3-1. For the very new nation, preparing for their first World Cup campaign, this must be a huge victory although it also indicates how rapidly Norway have slipped to become a mid-table team in Europe.
My other favourites Israel did better. While not playing a great game, Israel won 1-0 against Chile in a sold out Ramat Gan stadium (10 shekels a ticket: that way you do fill the stadium even for a friendly!). Yossi Benayoun scored the goal, while reserve goalkeeper Nir Davidovitch made some crucial saves (he played the second half while first choice goalkeeper Dudu Awat had a relatively easy game in his first half). Maybe more important than the result itself: Barcelona's top talent Guy Asulin entered the game during the second half and earned his first Israeli A cap. Spain was trying to convince him to choose for Spain as he has dual citizenship, though Asulin followed his heart and chose for Israel. He is now having an A cap, meaning he can no longer change teams and is an Israeli international for the rest of his career now. I greatly encourage such an incredibly talented youngster chose to play for Israel instead of Spain, and I am sure within less than 3 years Asulin will be the leading man of the Israeli team. El el Israel!
My previous home countries... Turkey played in Belarus in difficult circumstances with freezingly cold weather. Despite that, a 2-2 draw was realised with Türkiye coming from behind twice.
Northern Ireland beat Georgia 4-1 with all-time top scorer Healy scoring... an own goal. I am sure Norn Iron fans will forgive him after having scored an all-time record nr of goals for any Northern Ireland player ever.
An interesting result was Malta versus Liechtenstein. Two minnows facing each other, with Malta winning 7-1. Not only the biggest victory ever for the tiny island nation, but also the 5 goals (including one pure hattrick) of star player Michael Misfud was remarkable. Congrats Malta!
Also interesting to me is Nepal beating Pakistan 2-1, a very rare victory for a Nepalese side that is considered one of the weaker sides in Asia. Pakistan did have its revenge as two days later they won the return game 0-2.
Some results I couldn't care less about, but maybe interesting for some of you: Brazil beat Sweden 1-0, Scotland drew against Croatia 1-1, Luxembourg lost to Wales 0-2, Congo got a 1-1 draw in Algeria, and a tropical derby between Jamaica and Trinidad-and-T. resulted in a 2-2. Probably you all think "who cares?" so I will quit here :)
Well, that is the football news for now.
But this is not all... I have been following Belgian football and KV Oostende in particular since childhood. I have emigrated Belgium and left my past behind almost 4 years ago, but with internet and tapes my family sent me, I still remained very up-to-date on the Belgian football. However, is this going to change and is my long-lasting love for KVO going to drop to a minumum soon?
The arrogant top teams are once against trying to capture the whole Belgian football in their power by once again wanting to reduce the number of teams in the premier division. Something I am very much against because the number of teams in the premier at least stops the sport from becoming elitist. Only the top teams benefit from reducing the nr of teams, for fans of any other club it would be desastrous. The top clubs thought giving some compensation cash to the smaller teams would help to get their stupid idea through. Also introducing play-offs was proposed, which even fans of top teams are very much against. Luckily the second division teams barred the proposal, the world is saved for at least a bit longer. But I fear now reforment plans will come up, and the moment the number of teams is reduced (making the league an elitist happening) I will officially stop following the Belgian league. I still love KVO, but if it plays in a league whose policies are against all I believe in, then it just makes no sense to keep paying attention and time into that league. Hopefully new reform plans will be barred as well, although I fear the top teams will do everything they can to push them through. I find it hard not to call this the murder of the Belgian football. At least I have my beloved Rosenborg to keep following in a passionate way but for KVO and the Belgian league it will never be like it was before if the league is reformed, I can only hope it won't happen.
If the reforms would happen, then I consider Belgian football officially dead and will stop following it. As much as I care about KV Oostende, if they are no longer in a league that I consider as honest, then I just don't see the point to loyally check all results weekly and have my family sending me tapes of highlights. In this case, I will stick to following Rosenborg who at least play in a league worth following with fair chances to all.
Meanwhile by the way, KVO is now struggling to stay in division 2. 18th out of 19 teams and the next month will be decisive if the team can stay in the second division. If not, a derby with city rivals VG Oostende awaits in division 3, as VGO solved its financial worries and is now close to promoting from 4th to 3rd division.
Some actually good football news (apart from Israel's win) is that my organisation CENF (I am their Secretary) is close to having a first game organised and already received over 10 membership requests from including Western Sahara, Southern Cameroons, Vatican City, Republic of Rijeka, Greenland, ... I am really excited about this and determined to make CENF a success.
Well, I close down with a song. "Bir", from Turkish metal pioneers Pentagram/Mezarkabul.
The Istanbul based band is known for its Turkish folk influences (while metal however dominates) and for its lyrics dealing with Middle Eastern issues, Turkish national pride and Islam. The song Bir could be seen as Islamic metal as, despite criticising some imams and priests, it is an ode to Allah. The song ("Bir" means one, referring to the One god Allah) tells never to fear anything or anyone because we are all coming from the same allmighty god Allah. The lyrics are in Turkish but the song rocks even if you cannot understand it. If you pay attention well you can hear Prophet Muhammed being praised in the song, while the chorus is an ode to God (Haktan comes from Hak, the Turkish word for God/Allah).
The chorus:
Korkma Ondan Bundan
Ne Ölümden ne hayattan
Bu Dünyada gördüklerinin
Hepsi Bir Hepsi Haktan
Ne Ölümden ne hayattan
Bu Dünyada gördüklerinin
Hepsi Bir Hepsi Haktan
Translated:
Never fear of them, those
Neither death nor life
All that we see on earth
is one, coming from one God (Allah)
I saw these guys live at Kurucesme Theatre just next to the Bosphorus. They are really good and worth checking out. Songs such as Anatolia deal with Turkish pride, while songs like 1000s In The Eastlands deals with the unnecessary suffering of Middle Eastern people. Definitely a band worth checking out.
Well, hopefully my plans aren't ruined again now and hopefully my site and APC forum are both up and running really soon now. Anyways, I will let you know when it happens.
For now, best regards to all of you.
Peace, and Allah Korusun.
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