The Henry Conspiracy

18th May 2006, Thursday

Ok so officially I am only recieving like not more than 4 hours of sleep last evening.
As mentioned I tried to sleep at 11pm which I did and hoped that my alarm clock could wake me up enough to catch a supposedly classic final of the UEFA Champions League...
and surprisingly I was able to wake up even before the designated time of around 2.30am by perhaps pure impulse..only to go back to catch some more sleep realizing that I had woken up a wee bit too early (around 1 plus I think).

Anyway I wasn't groggy, not even bleary-eyed when the teams starting to come out of the tunnel after some time-wasting mass display and some French auntie diva breaking into vocal chords which none of the spectator at Stade de France nor millions of viewers in the 172 countries (as quoted by the commentator) watching this live extravaganza gave a hoot about...

So the match duly started slightly before 3am and Barca was putting early pressure with the usual slick passing with Ronaldihno in the engine room...
But when the Gunners put on a counter-attack, their main tormentor, Henry seriously tested Barca's GK, Valdes twice in as many minutes.
Then half way through the 1st half, I believed was Ronny who sent E'too through and outside the 6 yard box, the German No. 1 supposedly trip the Cameroonian...
Actually from replay, it seemed like E'too had already fallen on his own but Lehman perhaps had better not had a handful of his boot, thus the Norwegian referee was left but to show him the red card...
People would dispute he should had let Giuly's goal stand and Lehmann remained in this dream final...but then you don't hail from a country with 40% GST do you?

With 10 men remaining, suddenly Arsenal found their tempo and against the run of play, a Henry freekick was head powerfully by Sol Campbell into the top corner of Barca's goal with Valdes rooted (yeah he was definitely rooted)...
Henry did not seemed to busk into uncontrollable celebration and had to endure a kiss on the cheeks from a guy just recovered from depression.
With around 60 minutes or more left to find the equalizer, Ronny and gang just needed to find the midas' touch for breaking down a Gunner defence not conceding a goal since Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are still not snuggling together and jumping on Oprah's couch...
The closest they got was an E'too effort which substitute keeper, Alumnia just managed to palm away to make the probable goal hit the side bar...

I then try to entertain myself for the halftime of around 10 minutes, channel switching and bemoaning that if my alter ego, Krystofur van de Heinz is in the game, Arsenal would be 3:1 down now...(lack of sleep causes one to be delirious)

The match resumed with Iniesta coming in for a more more defensive Edmilson and it nearly was a shrewd substitution and the newly-capped Spanish international broke through the middle and had a shot on target but compatriot Alumnia managed to get the hold of it...
For some scary minutes, I thought ASREnal (sorry I just gotta rub that it but I don't really loath them as much as the moaning Mourinho's men) could have killed the game when Henry was one on one with Valdes, he should had put it away in his signature way but perhaps he had put on perhaps Emile Heskey's or Ronny Rozenthal's boots instead and the Catalans are still very much in the game...
Dutch MF maestro van Bommel haven't been playing too well and it was right for Swede hitman, Henrik Larsson coming to make his swansong while Oleguer who play as a rightback (while in my CM game he is only capable of playing CB) had been tormented by the fleet foot of Larsson's Swedish "kawang", Ljungberg and got himself a booking after several attempted to stop the winger and Rijkaard had to send on Brazilian Belletti on to preserve that numerical advantage.

The double substitutions worked magic for Barca in a now unforgiving Paris now with heavy rain pelting from the sky.
First Larsson, now the main danger in the middle to trouble Toure and Campbell, setup a delicious looking ball to E'too on the left which he darted in and sneaked the ball between Alumnia and the frame of the goalpost...
GAME ON!! That's what I exclaimed right then as well...
But little did I realized the best was to come with Larsson once again fighting for a loose ball on the right and fed the fresh-looking Belletti and he managed to tug the ball over Alumina and Barca is barely 10 minutes from their crowning glory.

I know it's bad to start time-wasting but Barca surely need to keep possession and keep the Arsenal attack at bay after Henry had shown more than one time that he could elude the tackles of Puyol and Marquez easily. Wenger threw in his last dice with Jose Antonio Reyes and pray for a miracle (well perhaps he should put in Bergkamp just for sentimental value since it would have been his final game in his illustrative career)...

But the final whistle was blown and I was exhilerated with the team I support actually won (as I had pondered for like a long time before they score that I could be the voodoo as everything I watch an important match live, the team I support will most probably taste defeat)
By then Mom was already up and ready to start the day and I quickly try to catch some more sleep before finally get up for my day at work too...

The post match interviews had Henry mincing his words that the E'too goal should not had counted for an offside..but then the Giuly goal should have counted as well..so no difference
But I felt it could a conspiracy brewing in Henry as he wanted to leave Arsenal a martyr till the very end and might changed for the Catalonia lifestyle in months time..and his lacklusture performance in terms of finishing could be aiding his future employer for only their 2nd European cup..and he was seen having a hearty chat during the cup presentation with E'too...perhaps they wanna go up that Brokeback Mountain someday, instead of going with Campbell who planted that huge smuack on him just now...

Then again do Barca really need Henry? Even without a fully fit Xavi or Lionel Messi, Barca is good enough to beat any other team...and on evidence a holding predator who could create goal scoring chances like Larsson would be the ideal foil in the middle while Henry might not be in that mold but with his talent, he should be able to adopt...
Sadly buck-toothed Ronny did not exert much influence on the game, he had some nice running and cheeky touches but generally I would give him an average 7 for no good attempt on goal and wasted freekicks and even corner kick as well...

I was quite surprised I didn't even fell into deep slumber on my journey to work and even now, almost 3/4 of the day gone I am feeling refresh...I think my regular workout is doing magic to my body...

However I came in to work with an email stating that the bandwidth of my webpage had been used up drastically over the past few days..and I know nuts about bandwidth except for tuning to radio networks while I am still a radio operator in the navy...
So I e-mailed the supprt helpdesk and they was prompt to reply that it could be due to heavy uploading and downloading that is eating up my bandwith and if it is used up my domain could be suspended for the rest of the month...
But seriously what is the point of getting a paid domain when I cannot to heavy uploading of files??

Japanese word of the day: 起きていること~o-ki-te-i-ru-ko-to~(Staying up) It's been a while since I stay up to watch live soccer matches but for the next month better keep the stock up for chicken essence, coffee and whatever methods to keep me awake at unearthly hours..