The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 10 Nov 2011 04:27 PM PST NOV 11 — No two weekends are the same and the past week brought along some disappointment as well as excitement. Seeing Tottenham Hotspur struggle against Fulham in the second half, despite having a comfortable 2-0 lead, was a real letdown. You would think that, anywhere on the continent, if a team has gotten into a 2-0 lead, they certainly will be in command of the game, playing the counter-attack, and trying to get a third goal. There just seems to be something about the English Premier League (EPL) where this isn't the case time and time again, don't you think? Often, it seems to me that the teams in the lead are more vulnerable than their opponents. Where is the consistency? But enough about the EPL, for this week anyway. For the next seven days, it is all about international football. The top footballers in the world are often playing for both club and country, and there will surely come a time when they have to choose to give up one or the other. Nemanja Vidic has made the choice, Park Ji-Sung has made it too, and now, Rio Ferdinand has to make that choice. Playing for your country is indeed an honour, but when it boils down to age or injury, and you know that your form is not as good as before, there is only one way to prolong your football career. Some veteran players still can play, but it will only be demoralising to them when they find out that they can no longer meet the standards they set for themselves. If you are somebody like Luiz Suarez, and the whole team relies on you, wouldn't it be better to leave than to be a liability? For Ferdinand, hanging up his England boots would probably be the wisest decision. In addition to coming under fire for his poor performance in recent weeks, especially for the game against Manchester City, the 33-year-old centreback has also been told by boss Sir Alex Ferguson that from now on, he would have to play fewer games for them so as to make way for his younger counterparts. Sacrificing his England boots is probably the only way for him to prolong his career. I do respect the players who make this decision. It may seem unpatriotic at first, but if you put yourself in the boots of a football player, the opportunities and exposure given by the clubs is much more compared with their national teams, not to mention the financial support as well. There is, however, one player that left me disappointed when he decided to retire from the international football scene, and he is former Japanese ace midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata. He achieved many feats, being awarded Asian Football Confederation Player of the Year in 1997, being made the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity (one of Italy's highest honours, more so for a foreigner), played for Japan in three FIFA World Cup tournaments (France 1998, Japan-Korea 2002, Germany 2006) and two Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000). He still had the ability to make a world of difference in international football and in a football match, but went ahead to retire despite many people persuading him not to. What a waste of talent. In my case, I realised that it became a lot tougher playing football internationally when I turned 31, so I decided to retire from that scene. The benefit for me was that it enabled me to play in the domestic Malaysian league until I was 36! In the football world, especially internationally, you should definitely go out on a high note once you've hit your peak. If you still want to hang on to your glory days, there is only one way to go, and that is down. So for me, leaving your national team is a very hard decision, and I respect the people who have the courage to make that choice. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 10 Nov 2011 04:21 PM PST NOV 11 — It seems like the hospital is my second home these days. And I totally blame it on the fact that my wife and I are first-time parents. Every little sniffle, cough, vomiting, sleepiness, loss of appetite, weird-coloured poop, etc, sends us revving to the paediatrician. There was a time (some of you will remember me writing about it) my wife and I took our then-two-month-old Athena to Bukit Tinggi for a short getaway. She developed a slight fever in the middle of the night and we called the front desk of the hotel to ask for their resident doctor. When we heard they didn't have one, we berated the hotel staff for not being responsible towards their guests. When we rushed back to the city and to Athena's paediatrician, she informed us that slight fevers like this are common for babies who are building their immune system. My wife and I laughed the incident off and promised ourselves that we would never be such kiasu parents again and would remain calm in future situations. Then a few months later, little Athena started vomiting in the middle of the night. At first we tried to stay calm, but when she started to choke while vomiting, that was it! We rushed to the hospital's emergency room. The nurse on duty started doing the necessary — taking her temperature, blood pressure, etc. My wife and I, of course, screamed at the nurse to not waste time and demanded she get the doctor over to see Athena immediately. Then the doctor finally showed up. He looked… young! Younger than me (and we all know I'm young!)! My wife and I looked at each other and discreetly shook our heads in disbelief. This "kid" is surely not experienced enough to treat our precious baby! The "kid" doctor took a look at Athena, thumped her tummy gently a few times and listened to us patiently as we described her vomiting. Mind you, Athena was fine by this time. She was smiling and gurgling away, all the while trying to grab the "kid" doctor's stethoscope while he was checking on her. The "kid" doctor spoke politely and calmly. He said not to worry and that Athena was just a little bloated. He prescribed some medicine and told us to go home. Again, my wife and I glanced at each other in disbelief. We took the medicine and drove Athena home for the night. The next morning, we woke up early (my wife even took emergency leave from work!) and immediately took Athena to her paediatrician. We even brought the medicine that the "kid" doctor had prescribed for her. We told her we hadn't given any to Athena because we wanted to check with her first. She just laughed and told us the medicine was fine and that Athena was fine too. She really did have a little bit of extra gas, which does happen from time to time. We smiled embarrassedly, shook hands and thanked her, and we were off. In the car, my wife and I, again, promised each other not to be such kiasu parents! Fast forward to just last week. Athena is now almost eight months old. She can sit up on her own, eat solid food and laugh at people who make funny faces at her. Now, little Athena has a small skin tag at birth that our paediatrician has recommended be removed just because it has been growing ever so slightly. So we scheduled an appointment with a plastic surgeon and he told us it would be a simple procedure that wouldn't cause any harm at all. The day of the surgery, we admitted Athena into the hospital and the nurses started to prep her for her simple surgery. When it was time to wheel her into the operating theatre, we met with the surgeon and the anaesthetist. They told us not to worry and that Athena would be out in an hour. So, my wife and I, who are now confirmed to be the least kiasu parents in the world, decided to go across the road to have tea at a really popular Malay kueh restaurant. After about 45 minutes of enjoying some of the best Buah Melaka and Soto Ayam in the Klang Valley, we walked back to the hospital. We strolled by the front desk of the ward, proud of how cool we were. As soon as the nurses saw us, they all screamed at us asking where we had been all this time! Athena had come out of surgery 20 minutes ago and was wide awake, screaming her lungs off and disturbing all the patients in the recovery room! The hospital had been trying to look for us. They went to the ward and we weren't there. They tried calling our phones but to no avail since we had conveniently left them in the ward! We immediately rushed to the recovery room and saw a nurse there frantically walking up and down while trying to pacify a screaming Athena. The doctors and nurses there must have thought we were such irresponsible parents. And to think that we were first-time parents too! Fast forward to today. Athena has recovered fully. And the main lesson learned? There ain't no escaping the kiasu-ness for first-time parents! * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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