For more about me, please read this.
This is just a publicity post.
Since he is one of my best inter-batch friends back at the Malay College, I feel very much compelled to help promote his new site. He is Fqrl and he has just launched a new site called Under These Skies.
Simple but great design with blending color and banner. I’ve added his site under Puppets.
Go. Go pay him a visit now.
And Lada, you need you get your ass up and start updating.
The first few weeks of the semester seem to be very good to me.
First of all, I’ve rejoined the Solar Car Team and applied into the leadership rank. Through this, I hope to join the 2005 race crew. The team will be racing in both the ASC, of which Michigan failed to qualify last July and the WSC 2005 in Australia.
Though I really want to join the crew and seriously want to commit my time to the team, I am currently having a problem with it. If my study schedule runs at its current steam, I’ll be graduating a semester earlier, seven months short of the ASC 2005. And so, currently I am trying to reduce my pace in any way possible.
Zooming back to present time, at hand, I am in the field hockey team and will be up against MSU in Lansing. Admittedly, its just a recreational team but I couldn’t remember when the last time a recreational sport team had gone this far.
This semester is going to be sweet.
Furthermore, The __earthinc has expanded its influence in the blogosphere. It has attracted a modest numbers of people and the visitors are no longer are limited to my circle of friends. This might be the result of me participating forums and newsgroups. The other factor is the search engine. The search words linked to The __eartinc usually could be categorized to the environment, politics, science and sports. Frequently this site has been ranked top ten in various search engines for various searches concerning soccer (especially about Ajax and Holland), economics and the environment. And the best thing is, the search word Eugen Slutsky, the economist that derived the demand equation in The Law of Demand, ranked The __earthinc No. 13 out of 179 on Google and 13 out of 119 at Yahoo!.
The average number of visitor has also risen. Right now, for the past four months, the average have been over 200 people, with average unique visitors (a number of visitors with unique internet protocol addresses per month) may well made up about half of that figure.
I guess, after almost 2 years online, this site is going strong after all. After almost 2 years, my life is heading uphill after a bad fall.
To those of who have helped making is site relatively successful compared to other small sites, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The final whistle was just blown by the referee. AC Milan 1 – 0 Ajax.
Well, one good news though. Gattuso received a red card in the final part of the game. Unluckily, Ibrahimovic received a yellow card 2 minutes later and so far, Ajax has collected three yellow cards. This is going to hurt later.
Update on the rest of the matches:
Manchester United 5 – 0 Panathinaikos
Rangers 2 – 1 Stuttgart
Partizan 1 – 1 Porto
Real Madrid 4 – 2 Marseille
Besiktas 0 – 2 Lazio
Sparta Prague 0 – 1 Chelsea
Club Brugge 1 – 1 Celta de Vigo
Inzaghi gets holders Milan off to winning start
By Simon EvansMILAN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – European champions AC Milan began their title defence with a 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax Amsterdam thanks to a 67th minute strike from the in-form Filippo Inzaghi on Tuesday.
Inzaghi drove home a loose ball after Ajax keeper Bogdan Lobont had parried an Anrdriy Shevchenko shot to get Milan off to a winning start in Group H.
But Carlo Ancelotti’s side had goalkeeper Dida to thank for a magnificent save in injury time to keep out a close-range strike from Ajax midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, minutes after Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso had been sent off.
It was a hairy end to the night for Milan and until Inzaghi’s strike, his sixth in four games including his goals for Italy in recent Euro 2004 qualifiers, Ajax had produced the better chances.
The win was not a spectacular opening to the European season for Milan but they still managed to display the combination of attractive football, determination and luck that guided them to last season’s title.
Ajax, beaten in the quarter-finals by Milan last term, showed they will again be a difficult side to beat although they will regret not making more of their extensive possession.
CLASSIC PASSING
The Dutch side, displaying their classic passing game, had the best chances of the first half with the influential Rafael van der Vaart striking the bar with a free-kick in the 25th minute before Dida was forced into a diving save to keep out a Zlatan Ibrahimovic header.
Milan’s main inspiration came from 21-year-old Brazilian Kaka, making an impressive Champions League debut after being selected ahead of Portugal’s Rui Costa.
Kaka drew roars of appreciation from the San Siro crowd with some delightful touches and frequently troubled the Ajax defence with his dribbling.
But too often Milan moves broke down in the final stages of attack and they then found it hard to regain possession.
Milan’s best efforts before the break were a Shevchenko volley that flew over the bar and a Kaka drive just wide after a swift reaction to a poor clearance from Lobont.
Ancelotti was forced into a change in the 33rd minute when Alessandro Costacurta limped off to be replaced by Dane Martin Laursen with captain Paolo Maldini moving over to left back.
CO-OPERATION
There was little between the two teams after the break and it took a rare piece of co-operation between Milan’s goal-poaching forwards to provide the breakthrough.
Inzaghi turned well on the edge of the Ajax area and fed Shevchenko whose low shot was pushed out by Lobont only for Inzaghi to pounce on the loose ball and fire them into the lead.
Milan then launched a series of attacks as they sought a second, Shevchenko going close twice, a first-time shot after a great ball from substitute Serginho was parried away and then Lobont did well again to keep out a header from the Ukrainian.
But Milan’s plans to wind the game down were disrupted when Gattuso was dismissed after striking out at Ibrahimovic and Ajax piled forward in hope of a late equaliser.
It almost came when after a piercing run from Hatem Trabelsi, who had troubled Milan’s left flank throughout, the ball fell to van der Vaart but Dida pulled off a stunning save to foil the close-range strike.
Inzaghi has just scored. Sighed…
According to UEFA.com:
“Inzaghi plays the ball to Shevchenko, whose shot is blocked by Lobont but Inzaghi is able to slot the ball into an empty net. Great link-up between Milan’s strikers there but Lobont will feel aggrieved that his fine save fell straight into the Italian international’s path.”
Halftime in San Siro and the game is still scoreless. Meanwhile, Escude and Van der Vaart recieved their first yellow card for the new season.
According to UEFA.com, Ajax, like in April, is dominating the game in term of possesion.
On the other games, Manchester United seems to be cruxifying Panathinaikos with four goal against nothing, Stuttgart is leading Rangers by one goal in Scotland, the Real-Marseille game has the scoreline of 2 to 1, and Celta is looking to grab three points from Brugge. All other games are still tied at 0 – 0.
The referee has just blown the whistle in San Siro. Second half is under way. Koeman meanwhile has directed Sneijder to replace Snock.