Jumaat, 9 Mei 2014

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Sharapova into semis as Serena withdraws in Madrid

Posted: 09 May 2014 07:15 AM PDT

May 09, 2014

Maria Sharapova (pic) beat Li Na to book her place in the last four of the Madrid Open as top seed and reigning champion Serena Williams pulled out of the tournament today.

Williams was due to face Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals but pulled out due to a thigh injury she had been carrying since sweeping aside Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic in the first round on Sunday.

"I have a left thigh injury and, unfortunately, have to withdraw from this year's Madrid Open," said Williams.

"It happened during my first round match. It started to get better, but most importantly right now, I just need some time to rest and recover.

"It's beyond words. It's so frustrating."

However, the American insisted that she will try to defend her title at the Internazionale BNL D'Italia in Rome next week.

"I am planning to play in Rome. Fortunately, I have a bye next week so will have an extra day of rest.

"For now, I will take it one day at a time and take advantage of some extra rest."

Sharapova has been beaten by Williams in Madrid in the last two years, including in the 2013 final, and the Russian is now the favourite to clinch her first title in the Spanish capital as she edged a thrilling match against second seed Li 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Li looked on course for the semi-finals when she broke to lead 4-3 in the second set.

However, Sharapova broke back immediately and, despite needing four set points, finally forced the match into a deciding set when Li netted at 5-6 down in the tie-break.

There were three breaks of serve to open the third set, but Sharapova took control when she finally consolidated the break at 3-1 and was gifted the final game when Li double faulted on match point.

The four-time Grand Slam champion will face third seed Agnieszka Radwanska or French qualifier Caroline Garcia in the semi-finals tomorrow. – AFP, May 9, 2014.

Guardiola ready for a celebratory beer shower

Posted: 09 May 2014 07:09 AM PDT

May 09, 2014

Pep Guardiola (pic) said he was ready for the traditional beer shower later today, on the eve of Bayern Munich's final Bundesliga match, to celebrate the Bavarian club's 24th league title.

"I know it's a big tradition and I like traditions," the Spaniard said.

"If the players want to do it, they can do it. In any case, I don't have any hair!"

Bayern in fact wrapped up the Bundesliga title on March 25, with the home match against Stuttgart tomorrow bringing the curtain down on a season which saw Bayern crash out of the Champions League semi-final 5-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid.

"Maybe for many people it's only another title, but for me it's a first in Bavaria," Guardiola said

"And it's the most beautiful. We beat Chelsea (for the UEFA SuperCup) and won in Marrakesh (to take the Club World Cup title). But be it in Spain, Italy or elsewhere, winning the championship is the most important."

Surprised to learn that he would have to make a speech from the mayor's balcony later Friday, Guardiola joked: "If it's short, it won't be a problem."

Also lying ahead for Bayern, the former Barcelona coach stressed, was the German Cup final against Borussia Dortmund in Berlin on May 17.

"We've mulled over a few things for a day or two after the defeat by Real, but we've since focused on the Cup," the 43-year-old said. – AFP, May 9, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

Movie heavyweights line up in race for Cannes glory

Posted: 08 May 2014 08:21 PM PDT

May 09, 2014

Cannes will roll out the red carpet next Wednesday for the start of the world's biggest movie festival, with a line-up of directorial big guns poised to go head-to-head in a year of comebacks, swansongs and star debuts.

Heavyweights David Cronenberg, the Dardenne brothers, Jean-Luc Godard, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach are among the film-makers who will battle it out for the top Palme d'Or prize at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

Launching the 12-day movie extravaganza with a blast of controversy will be the premiere of "Grace of Monaco", the keenly awaited biopic in which Nicole Kidman stars as the former Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.

Already embroiled in not just one but two rows, the film has become a high stakes affair for French director Olivier Dahan who has taken on Grace's princely family, the Grimaldis, and US distributor Harvey Weinstein in pursuit of his cinematic vision.

Dahan and Weinstein have been locked in a dispute for months over what the Frenchman has called Weinstein's "catastrophic" alternative version of the film.

Dahan's edit will be the one shown at Cannes but reports say Oscar-focused Weinstein is still not happy and wants more scenes for US audiences covering the actress's time in Hollywood.

Grace's children, who are not expected at the premiere, have denounced the film's trailer as a "farce" and accused its makers of hijacking their family history for commercial purposes.

High stakes premiere

There will, however, be no shortage of star-wattage with Meryl Streep, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Tim Roth and Kristen Stewart among the red carpet possibles.

Double Oscar winner Sophia Loren, 79, one of the last great sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, will supply some old-school glamour when she attends an out-of-competition screening of her latest film "The Human Voice".

All eyes will also be on debuts by Canadians Ryan Gosling and Xavier Dolan.

Gosling's "Lost River" – in the new talent Un Certain Regard section – will test if the 33-year-old "Drive" star can make the transition from leading man to director.

And wonder kid Dolan – who at 25 has already had three films screened at Cannes – will make his debut in competition with "Mommy".

Eighteen films will be in the running for this year's Palme d'Or with New Zealand director Jane Campion heading the festival jury.

Famed for its winning combination of French Riviera glitz and art house gravitas, the festival prides itself on discovering the movie world "auteur" of tomorrow such as Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino.

Festival organisers select only a fraction of the 1,700 films submitted each year to compete for the top prize, with a competition slot at Cannes considered one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed on a director.

It will be the end of an era if as expected Loach's "Jimmy's Hall" turns out to be his final feature film before he gives up the director's chair to concentrate on documentaries.

The British veteran film-maker and Cannes regular, 77, who made his name with "Up the Junction" (1965), "Cathy Come Home" (1966) and "Kes" (1970), won the Palme d'Or in 2006 for "The Wind that Shakes the Barley".

Glitz and gravitas

Others for whom this year could be their last Cannes outing include French "New Wave" director Jean-Luc Godard, now 83.

Festival chief Thierry Fremaux admits it is anyone's guess whether the Swiss Godard will turn up for the screening of his 3D film "Adieu au Langage".

He skipped the premiere of his movie "Socialism" in 2010, mysteriously blaming "problems of the Greek kind".

"He has promised to be there, which doesn't mean anything of course," Fremaux joked last month.

A more low key US presence for 2014 comes in the form of Tommy Lee Jones' western "The Homesman", recommended to Fremaux by last year's head of the jury Steven Spielberg.

The film marks the "Men in Black" actor's first return to the competition since he brought "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" to the Croisette in 2005.

Also back in competition are Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne with "Two Days, One Night"; a win for the brothers would make them the first film-makers to lift the Palme d'Or for a third time.

John Boorman's "Queen and Country", being screened out of competition in the Directors' Fortnight, will be a festival highlight.

The British director's sequel to his hugely popular 1987 film "Hope and Glory" comes more than a quarter of a century after that film picked up five Oscar nominations.

Asia and Africa, meanwhile, will be represented in the main competition this year by Japan's Naomi Kawase with "Still the Water" and Abderrahmane Sissako from Mauritania with "Timbuktu". – AFP, May 9, 2014.

‘Noah’ film denied release in China after Muslim bans

Posted: 08 May 2014 07:26 PM PDT

May 09, 2014

Biblical epic 'Noah', starring Russell Crowe, has been banned in Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries. – Reuters pic, May 9, 2014.Chinese authorities have refused to allow the release there of biblical epic "Noah", starring Russell Crowe, which has already been banned in a string of Muslim countries, a source said.

Paramount Pictures tried to secure a release slot for the vast Chinese mainland market by stressing its "environmental message" and special effects, the Los Angeles Times reported.

But getting the Bible-based story past China's cinematic gatekeepers was difficult, given Beijing's sensitivities on religious issues, it said.

A source familiar with the issue, who declined to be identified, told AFP simply that the film "will not release in China", declining any further comment.

The film, which swept to the top of North America's box office when it was released in March, has been banned in Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries.

The newspaper cited one source who suggested "Noah" may have been refused a Chinese release for commercial reasons, because several other Hollywood blockbusters are due out there in the coming weeks.

"Godzilla" is due in Chinese cinemas on June 13. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" took US$10 million (RM3.22 million) in its first day in theatres over the weekend, while "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" has made more than US$115 million in China.

It has grossed US$99 million in six weeks since its release in the United States, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. It has made another US$233 million overseas, the LA Times reported.

The film also angered some Christian institutions in the United States over Crowe's reportedly unconventional portrayal of Noah, who is regarded as an important figure in both Christianity and Islam. – AFP, May 9, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

Blood, guts and ribs as Chinese performer suffers for his art

Posted: 08 May 2014 10:58 PM PDT

May 09, 2014

Having one of his own ribs cut out to turn into a necklace, enduring a slashing from neck to thigh – He Yunchang will do anything for art as long as it does not kill him. – AFP pic, May 9, 2014.Having one of his own ribs cut out to turn into a necklace, enduring a slashing from neck to thigh – He Yunchang will do anything for art as long as it does not kill him.

The extreme performance artist's head is almost entirely shaved and his face flecked with faint scars from his shows. His blood-drenched, often naked masochistic displays are intended to demonstrate that some things are worth making sacrifices for.

The 23 cm rib he had voluntarily surgically removed as China celebrated the opening day of the Beijing Olympics – on the auspicious, once-in-a-century date of 8/8/08 – hangs around his neck on a gold loop, dragons' heads biting down on either end.

The operation was intended to demonstrate his own individual autonomy, he said, a decision he could take for himself "while many other things are out of my control".

"There are more powerful people in society who make decisions for others, and there are rules and social morality which restrict people," he told AFP late one night in his studio on the outskirts of Beijing, in the raspy voice of a 120-cigarette-a-day smoker.

In one of his latest works, in March he painted the fingernails and toenails of 10 mannequins – with his own blood.

"I want to convey the message that I am ready to pay a high price to show my concern" about the world, said the 48-year-old, a married father of one.

"My principle is that, if it's worth the pain, then my safety comes second. But I keep things under control. It is important that I do not let myself die."

Cut from neck to knee

He's still photos, paintings and sculptures have been exhibited and sold across Europe and America.

Their popularity derives from his drastic performances, often almost as excruciating for his audiences to watch as they are agonising for him.

In a 2010 performance titled "One Metre Democracy", He gathered 25 people for a poll on whether he should endure a knife gash – without anaesthetic – from his collarbone to his knee.

The idea was approved by 12 to 10, with three abstentions, and a doctor carried out the incision in a procedure that lasted several minutes, with voters posing for a group photo afterward while He lay naked and bloodied on a bed.

The artist has also stared at panels of 10,000 glaring watts of light bulbs to damage his eyesight, encased himself in a cube of quick-setting concrete for 24 hours, and burned his clothes while wearing them.

He once hung upside down from a crane for 90 minutes holding a knife in a rushing river, blood dripping from cuts in his arms made with the blade, in a symbolic mixing of the liquids.

Among his less extreme endeavours, he also carried a stone from a beach in England on a 112-day journey over 3,500 km by foot – only to put the travel companion back where he found it.

Silent rebukes

"He Yunchang is an alchemist of pain," said Judith Neilson, founder of the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney which specialises in contemporary Chinese art.

"He Yunchang evidently believes that pain and extreme discomfort, deliberately planned and willingly undergone, have a transcendent quality – and that it is this quality that raises mere action to the level of art," she said.

His performances "serve as silent rebukes to contemporary Chinese society, where people undergo all kinds of suffering for money precisely because they see money as the ultimate protection against suffering".

Although contemporary art has flourished in China over recent years, the ruling Communist Party maintains tight controls on freedom of expression and only a minority of artists convey political messages with their work.

He has avoided directly confronting the authorities and says: "I generally stay quiet and calm. I don't make waves".

But China's most renowned dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who has faced detention and strict surveillance for his more confrontational work, praises the approach of his friend and neighbour in Caochangdi, an avant-garde artists' community on the outskirts of the capital.

He's art "always has a mix of play, personal history, political message and poetic romance", said Ai.

"Everything that is happening in China today, with development, old structures and Communist doctrines, are all stuck together," Ai continued.

He's work "is trying to pull life out of the ruins".

His performances are not always easy to carry out, and he has run into trouble with officialdom – although in the US, rather than in China.

In 2005 police thwarted his attempt to stand naked on a rock atop Niagara Falls for 24 hours.

Two years later officers in New York stopped him as he organised a game of mahjong – again naked – using bricks in place of the usual domino-sized tiles.

Several hospitals refused to carry out the rib removal without a medical justification, until he found a willing doctor in his home province of Yunnan, in the southwest.

"This has been my wish for many years," He recalled telling surgeons. "If you can help me realise it, then you're actually helping me, not harming me." – AFP, May 9, 2014.

Less TV during pregnancy may prevent childhood obesity, study shows

Posted: 08 May 2014 07:50 PM PDT

May 09, 2014

Having a healthy baby begins by turning off the TV while pregnant, suggests a new study. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, May 9, 2014.Expectant mothers can help prevent childhood obesity early by adopting healthy screentime habits even before the child is born.

That's the overriding conclusion of a new study presented this week at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Vancouver, where researchers said that women who ate in front of the TV during meal times while they were pregnant were five times more likely to expose their infants to TV during feeding times than their counterparts.

"Reinforcing healthy media habits during pregnancy may help reduce infants' mealtime media exposure and impact long-term media habits in children," said lead author Mary Jo Messito.

For their study, researchers analysed data from an early childhood obesity prevention programme conducted for low-income Hispanic families at Bellevue Hospital Center/NYU School of Medicine in New York.

Mothers were followed until the babies were three years old. During their third trimester, 71% of the 189 participants reported watching TV during "some" meal times (compared to options like "never", "often" and "always") while 33% of mothers said their three-month-olds were also exposed to TV during feedings.

"Identifying specific maternal behaviours and characteristics associated with child TV viewing during meals will help early childhood obesity prevention efforts seeking to promote responsive feeding and limit TV exposure during infancy."

The latest research builds on a body of work that has shown a link between increased screen time, poor eating habits and obesity.

Likewise, a major study that looked at 41,133 women in Arkansas found that those who gained excessive weight during pregnancy also predisposed their babies to childhood obesity. The research was published in PLoS last October. – AFP/Relaxnews, May 9, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

Book Review – Asia’s cauldron: The South China Sea and the end of a stable Pacific

Posted: 08 May 2014 05:26 PM PDT

BY EMMANUEL SURENDRA
May 09, 2014

Robert D. Kaplan’s 'Asia’s cauldron: The South China Sea and the end of a stable Pacific' is available at all major bookstores. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 9, 2014. Robert D. Kaplan's 'Asia's cauldron: The South China Sea and the end of a stable Pacific' is available at all major bookstores. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 9, 2014.The South China Sea dispute is a reminder of how fragile our world is: at any given time a superpower can adopt a muscular response in its quest for resources at the expense of its weaker neighbours.

This Pacific seascape – approximately 3.5 million square km – is the centre of a row between China and Southeast Asia, based on the former's claim of what it calls the nine-dash line, or the "cow's tongue". It's a demarcation rooted in history and encompasses basically the entire South China Sea, covering areas contested by the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Robert D. Kaplan, in "Asia's cauldron: The South China Sea and the end of a stable Pacific", writes that the spat is "all about trade and business". The South China Sea's currencies are, after all, hydrocarbon and fishery. Take the latest World Bank's estimates, for example, which say that the sea holds at least seven billion barrels of petroleum and approximately 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The kicker here is that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) doesn't recognise China's nine-dash line. For Asean, their claims are based on the Exclusive Economic Zone found in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a document which China obviously doesn't agree with.

Yet Kaplan insists in his latest book, cruising in at 256 pages, that China is the main player with Asean and that even the United States is in the shadows. His first two and concluding chapters are dedicated exactly to the ideal that it is "first and foremost about the destiny of China, the geopolitical hinge on which war or peace in the region rests".

In between the China-centric apologia are chapters that deal with the contesters. Kaplan tempers journalistic flair with historical data and political insight as to how these smaller nations would affect the sea dispute.

Kaplan does well in assessing Vietnam and the Philippines through this device. He observes Vietnam's nationalism as one of the major factors to their claim of certain parts of the sea as well as the Philippines's alliance with the United States albeit being the weakest nation in the region and the ideal pushover for China.

However, he partially strays from the topic in his dealing with Taiwan. The best analysis for Taiwan is found in the second chapter, where Kaplan discusses the "Finlandization" of the island-state by China. And he goes totally off tangent with Malaysia and Singapore by only providing historical data and some unique perspectives of Mahathir and Lee Kuan Yew's leadership – their relationship to China and the US, if any, were mere notes complementing Kaplan's historical survey of both countries.

In fact this is the only critique one can observe about "Asia's cauldron", where the Asean subject is more towards the contesters rather than the contest. The all-time important topic of the coalition's role and its weaknesses are merely skimmed over as evident in the final chapter.

Also, Kaplan views the dispute as one who subscribes to realism, meaning a lot of emphasis on military expansion and an anarchic system where the world system is leaderless.

So he downplays the US's role as the pivot of the global economy and puts China as a leader in the dispute, but not in the sense where China is the ultimate leader as well, which of course makes this book an interesting read.

Prose in "Asia's cauldron" is highly readable. For novices of foreign policy, this book serves as a good platform. Politicos may want to supplement their reading with other more detailed work such as from David Rosenberg or Joshua Kurlantzick.

However, the one thing readers can take away from "Asia's cauldron" is that geopolitics is no longer confined to groupies of foreign policy; it's now every day speech.

Kaplan wraps up his research on the premise that no matter what, Beijing will never go to war with any of its Asean counterparts or even Washington over the South China Sea. True. But, one only has to remember that 40 years ago, 74 US-backed South Vietnamese forces died in a military clash due to China occupying the Paracel Islands; and both navies clashed again in 1988 over a dispute in the Spratly Islands, leaving 64 Vietnamese sailors dead.

Robert D. Kaplan's "Asia's cauldron: The South China Sea and the end of a stable Pacific" is published by Random House and priced at RM69.90. It is available at all major bookstores. – May 9, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

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The Malaysian Insider :: Bahasa

Adun DAP Pulau Pinang tarik balik usul tubuh jawatankuasa transgender

Posted: 09 May 2014 03:17 AM PDT

OLEH MOHD FARHAN DARWIS
May 09, 2014

Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng mengatakan tindakan tarik balik usual Adun DAP, Teh Yee Chee adalah berikutan tiada sokongan untuk usul tersebut. – Gambar The Malaysian Insider, 9 Mei, 2014. Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Tanjung Bungah dari DAP, Teh Yee Cheu menarik balik usul yang dibawanya ke Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) berkenaan penubuhan Jawatankuasa Transgender, kata Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng.

Lim dalam satu kenyataan yang diedarkan kepada media hari ini berkata, tindakan penarikan usul itu dibuat apabila Adun lain menyeru beliau melakukan tindakan sedemikian ekoran tiada penyokong usul berkenaan.

"Keputusan Teh dibuat atas permintaan Adun dan ahli Parlimen DAP Pulau Pinang dalam satu mesyuarat pada 2 petang di Komtar hari ini," katanya.

Teh sebelum ini mencadangkan usul penubuhan jawatankuasa tersebut bagi membantu golongan transgender dengan peruntukan sebanyak RM200,000.

"Teh juga sedar bahawa untuk usul ini dibahaskan, beliau perlukan seorang penyokong, tetapi tidak ada seorang pun Adun Pakataan Rakyat (PR) Pulau Pinang yang bersedia menyokong usul beliau.

"Isu ini hangat diperalatkan oleh media yang dikuasai Barisan Nasional (BN) untuk mengkritik pendirian parti DAP, walaupun ini bukan pendirian parti DAP, tetapi hanya pandangan peribadi seorang Adun DAP," kata Lim.

Lim juga secara peribadi berkata, beliau pernah menasihati Teh: "Saya menyatakan akan berusaha untuk meminta Teh 'kembali ke pangkal jalan' secara berpasukan DAP dengan menarik balik usul peribadi beliau."

Isu itu juga selesai, katanya, apabila usul berkenaan ditarik balik dan Teh katanya akur terhadap keputusan sebulat suara pimpinan dan wakil rakyat DAP Pulau Pinang.

Teh sebelum ini pernah membawa usul yang sama melalui exco kerajaan negeri pada Jun tahun lalu, namun usul berkenaan ditolak.

Beliau juga sebelum ini dilaporkan berkata matlamat utama cadangannya untuk menubuhkan sebuah institut transgender adalah bagi membolehkan penyelidikan yang sepatutnya mengenai komuniti mak nyah dijalankan dengan pemberian jumlah peruntukan tertentu demi kebaikan mereka.

"Saya menganggarkan peruntukan yang diperlukan tidak kurang daripada RM200,000 setahun dan saya sudah memperolehi sokongan daripada penyokong kerajaan negeri PR di DUN Pulau Pinang.

"Jadi apa saya minta hanyalah untuk usul itu dibentangkan dan dibahaskan di DUN," katanya sambil menambah permohonan untuk membahaskan usul itu diluluskan, tetapi belum menerima jawapan sama ada ia akan berlaku pada sidang 19 Mei ini.

Mengenai usaha mewujudkan jawatankuasa komuniti mak nyah, beliau tidak menafikan ia boleh dilakukan sendiri di bawah pusat khidmat wakil rakyatnya.

Namun, beliau percaya sebuah jawatankuasa rasmi di bawah naungan kerajaan negeri adalah pilihan yang lebih baik dalam menyelia perkara berkaitan masyarakat, termasuk mak nyah. – 9 Mei, 2014.

Tolong diam, kenyataan anda menyakiti negara, kata Dr Mahathir kepada Isma

Posted: 09 May 2014 03:01 AM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Beberapa hari selepas Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) terus-menerus menyerang bukan Melayu, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad mengatakan mereka patut berhenti membuat bising. Bekas perdana menteri itu berkata kenyataan daripada pemimpin Isma tidak konstruktif. Kenyataan Dr Mahathir itu sebagai tindak balas kepada Isma yang melabelkan kaum Cina sebagai...

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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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My team of the season

Posted: 08 May 2014 04:05 PM PDT

May 09, 2014

As a player, Shebby Singh won everything there was to win in Malaysia football, and represented the country on the international stage.

As this European football season comes to a close, and with the World Cup in Brazil looming, it is time to start handing out the gongs.

The criterion is simple and the following players are those whom I think have made the biggest impact in their respective positions.

The best 11 in European football this season are:

Centre-Forward: Luis Suarez (Liverpool/Uruguay) and Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid/Spain via Brazil)

These are two brilliant strikers, each integral in their respective team's chase for league success.

Diego Costa brings a physicality reminiscent of a "British old-fashioned centre-forward", and his bustling style has certainly left an impression on Jose Mourinho.

And what more can one say about Luis Suarez? A man who has single-handedly reignited and driven the ambitions of Liverpool to return to their "****ing perch" (thank you, Alex Ferguson).

His guile, cunning, whatever you want to call it, has left its mark on many a fan and Suarez has already written his name into Liverpool folklore.

Left-Midfield: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)

Right-Midfield: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales)

Supporting the best two strikers in the world, we have Cristiano Ronaldo on the left wing and Gareth Bale on the right.

While Ronaldo has been absolutely magnificent, and there are neither doubts nor arguments against him being named the best player in the world this season, his incredible work ethic is what sets him apart.

The Portugal captain has consistently set high standards for himself, and his drive to improve is unparalleled. His desire to surpass himself is something every budding athlete should take as inspiration.

There is a tendency in the media to only highlight Gareth Bale whenever he has hit the back of the net. But, to be honest, watching him week-in week-out, his contributions to the team and the set-up at Real Madrid has been immense.

Bale has not only adapted to Spanish football, but has also established himself as an integral part of Real Madrid. Born in Wales, brought up in England, but matured into a thoroughbred in Spain under the tutelage of an Italian. And, this is only his first season in Spain.

Centre-Midfield: Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast)

Now here is a man mountain. When you talk about complete midfielders, be it a number 6, 8 or 10, quite clearly Manchester City hit the jackpot by having the characteristics of all three positions blended into one footballer.

Anybody who leaves a club like Barcelona and goes on to greater things individually is rare, but Yaya Toure has taken to the blue side of Manchester with aplomb.

Centre-Midfield: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid/Spain)

People might find it strange that Xabi Alonso has made the team, especially after missing a huge chunk of the season through injury. However, it was upon his return that the "real" Real Madrid woke up, or at least it enabled the ideal Ancelotti way of how Los Blancos should play.

Despite being surrounded by world class footballers, it is clear to see that Alonso is the godfather of them all. An orchestrator of Real's rhythm and tempo, his ability to change defence to attack in an instant is crucial to Real's fast-paced attacking game.

Left-Back: Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid/Brazil)

He may be missing out on a World Cup spot quite possibly because he has played for unfashionable clubs. But the colour combination of red and white has now become fashionable in Madrid.

An integral part of Atletico Madrid's stunning season both domestically and at the European stage, we finally - and it has been a long search - have a Brazillian full-back who can both defend and attack with equal ability.

Right-Back: Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City/Argentina)

And then we have a fullback who defends like an Argentinian but goes forward like a Brazilian. Rarely hitting the headlines, Zabaleta is a manager's dream and a fellow footballer's perfect team-mate.

Centre-Back: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain)

Some may call him a rock, but Sergio Ramos is a fortress. Cutting world-class strikers down to size effortlessly (Mario Balotelli, Robert Lewandowski and Mario Mandzukic would attest to that), he still remains very much understated for his technical prowess.

A centre back who reads the game like a sweeper and gets stuck in like a stopper, he is Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro wrapped into one.

Centre-Back: Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid/Uruguay)

Helping Uruguay to the 2010 World Cup semi-finals, Diego Godin is miles better at centre-back than he was at left-back at South Africa. Quintessentially "Uruguayan", no man or ball goes past him without getting their passports stamped!

Goalkeeper: Thibault Courtois (Atletico Madrid/Belgium)

I have never seen such an unassuming goalkeeper. Big personalities and loud characters are a dime a dozen in a pair of gloves, but his unassuming temperament belies his ability to command his penalty box and pull off world class saves.

The football adage that you "need to be a little crazy to be a goalkeeper" certainly does not apply to the measured Courtois.

He also exudes an aura of invincibility not seen since a young Iker Casillas announced his arrival to the world with a match-winning cameo against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001-2002 Champions League final.

Honourable mentions

Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)

It is not often that you get a footballer scoring more than 40 goals a season and is considered to be "coasting" with his performances. Indeed, it is not often you see a footballer like Leo Messi.

In any other team or situation, he would be applauded for 40-plus goals. Unfortunately, Barcelona as a collective suffer Post-Guardiola Stress Disorder still, and their performances as a unit leave much to be desired. Messi has been willing, but the collective has been weak.

Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Spain)

Luka Modric has flourished and matured into a midfielder who can influence a team on his own, but to be playing with so much world-class talent around him, his role is reduced to that of supporting the collective.

David Silva (Manchester City/Spain)

Absolutely world-class in everything he has done, from inspiring team-mates to bamboozling opponents, David Silva is by far the most creative midfielder in the English Premier League. – May 9, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

My team of the season

Posted: 08 May 2014 04:05 PM PDT

May 09, 2014

As a player, Shebby Singh won everything there was to win in Malaysia football, and represented the country on the international stage.

As this European football season comes to a close, and with the World Cup in Brazil looming, it is time to start handing out the gongs.

The criterion is simple and the following players are those whom I think have made the biggest impact in their respective positions.

The best 11 in European football this season are:

Centre-Forward: Luis Suarez (Liverpool/Uruguay) and Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid/Spain via Brazil)

These are two brilliant strikers, each integral in their respective team's chase for league success.

Diego Costa brings a physicality reminiscent of a "British old-fashioned centre-forward", and his bustling style has certainly left an impression on Jose Mourinho.

And what more can one say about Luis Suarez? A man who has single-handedly reignited and driven the ambitions of Liverpool to return to their "****ing perch" (thank you, Alex Ferguson).

His guile, cunning, whatever you want to call it, has left its mark on many a fan and Suarez has already written his name into Liverpool folklore.

Left-Midfield: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)

Right-Midfield: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales)

Supporting the best two strikers in the world, we have Cristiano Ronaldo on the left wing and Gareth Bale on the right.

Centre-Midfield: Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast)

Anybody who leaves a club like Barcelona and goes on to greater things individually is rare, but Yaya Toure has taken to the blue side of Manchester with aplomb.

Centre-Midfield: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid/Spain)

Left-Back: Filipe Luis (Atletico Madrid/Brazil)

He may be missing out on a World Cup spot quite possibly because he has played for unfashionable clubs. But the colour combination of red and white has now become fashionable in Madrid.

Right-Back: Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City/Argentina)

And then we have a fullback who defends like an Argentinian but goes forward like a Brazilian. Rarely hitting the headlines, Zabaleta is a manager's dream and a fellow footballer's perfect team-mate.

Centre-Back: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain)

A centre back who reads the game like a sweeper and gets stuck in like a stopper, he is Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro wrapped into one.

Centre-Back: Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid/Uruguay)

Goalkeeper: Thibault Courtois (Atletico Madrid/Belgium)

The football adage that you "need to be a little crazy to be a goalkeeper" certainly does not apply to the measured Courtois.

Honourable mentions

Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina)

It is not often that you get a footballer scoring more than 40 goals a season and is considered to be "coasting" with his performances. Indeed, it is not often you see a footballer like Leo Messi.

Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Spain)

David Silva (Manchester City/Spain)

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Jumaat, 9 Mei 2014