It’s quite great to know that The Manchester United Asia Tour 2009 cost TM about RM3.5million but was said to have helped the company generate more than RM20million in direct revenue from the sale of TM products and services.

Manchester United has signed Malaysia’s leading telecommunications provider, Telekom Malaysia, on a five-year deal to become its Official Integrated Telecommunications Partner in the country.

The partnership will bring online content to MU supporters and TM customers, as well as giving fans the chance to win trips to Old Trafford to watch the team play.

David Gill said: “Our commercial strategy continues to deliver exciting new opportunities. We know that this partnership will help the Club to speak to the millions of fans we have in Malaysia and we are delighted that Telekom Malaysia has developed from the sponsor of our tour match into a fully-fledged partner. We look forward to working with them.

“Anyone who went on our tour of the Far East last summer knows the strength of feeling that Malaysians have for the Club. Over 40,000 attended our training session and another 40,000 came to the second match in Kuala Lumpur, despite only having 48 hours’ notice of the fixture.”

Director of Commercial, Richard Arnold said: “The Club is at the forefront of building relationships with its fans through digital media and this partnership helps us to maintain that position. Telekom Malaysia know all about the power of the Club to energise people in Malaysia and they have some great ideas about how to bring this deal to life.”

Dato’ Zamzamzairani Mohd Isa, Group CEO of Telekom Malaysia said: “We are very happy seeing two champions in their respective fields coming together in a partnership such as this; TM, one of Malaysia’s most dynamic and innovative telecoms brand, and Manchester United one the world’s most recognised sports brands and successful football clubs.

“Just like Manchester United, winning and being the best at what we’re at is our business, and that is why we believe this partnership will benefit both entities. This agreement also goes to show that anything is possible when we connect, communicate, and collaborate.”

If you didn’t go to the stadium yesterday night …you can watch the match on ASTRO SUPERSPORTS ( Channel 811 ).

Broadcast details;

21/07-Match 2: Malaysia vs Man Utd at 7.30pm  -  Delayed

23/07-Match 2: Malaysia vs Man Utd at 7.30pm  – Repeat 1

Enjoy the match!!

Before that… if you would like to make money from your blog.. try this PayPerPost v4.0

Police have detained a Malaysian woman who allegedly stabbed her husband in the chest for coming home late after watching a soccer match between Manchester United and Malaysia.

The man had promised to come back immediately after the match in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening, but his wife was “very angry” when he returned after midnight, district police chief Abdul Jalil Hassan said yesterday.

The woman stabbed him twice in the chest with a kitchen knife and then took him to a hospital, where a doctor reported the incident to police, Abdul Jalil told The Associated Press.

“He was with friends after the match, so that’s why he came home late,” Abdul Jalil said.

The man was recovering in the hospital and police have not decided whether to charge the woman with any offence.

The English Premier League champions defeated Malaysia 3-2 on Saturday in their opening match on a preseason Asian tour.

I went to the stadium alone..and this time wearing Malaysia shirt!! I hope they can do something similar as the first match. Get a draw will be a great result!! But…

Michael Owen struck his second United goal in as many games as the Reds completed the double over the Malaysian XI with a comprehensive 2-0 victory.

Owen blasted home from close range on 13 minutes after capitalising on a loose ball inside the area having played his part in the build-up. Two minutes earlier Federico Macheda had opening the scoring with calm finish following Darren Fletcher’s set-up.

The line ups….

The mexican wave…

The Manutd players..

The minute’s silence before kick-off in tribute to those who lost their lives in Friday’s bombings in Indonesia

The goal scorer…

The Final Result…

It was a lively ending to an entertaining 90 minutes as United held firm for the victory and clean sheet.

More pictures to come….

Team Line-ups
United: Foster (Kuszczak 46); Neville (O’Shea 62), Brown, J.Evans (Ferdinand 62), Fabio (Evra 58); Fletcher (Anderson 69), Carrick (Gibson 70), Giggs (Scholes 69), Tosic (Nani 62); Owen (Berbatov 62), Macheda (Rooney 67).

Goals: Macheda 11, Owen 13

Malaysian XI: Marlias; Asraruddin, Zafuan, Zamani (Muslim Ahmad, 75), Mazlizan (Thirumurugan 15; Mat Abu 78); Kunanlan (Muhymeen 58), Rahim (Gurusamy 57), Umar (Rohidan 66); Yahyah (Bakhtiar 64), Indra Putra (Shakir 72); Zaquan (Talaha 46).

During his debut… he has been partnered with Macheda while Rooney with Berbatov. At the end… both players scored 1 goal each. Rooney scored the first..and Owen scored the last goal.

I am just hoping that Sir Alex Ferguson will test Owen-Rooney in Malaysia vs Manutd rematch tonight. It is will be a great experience for the fan in Malaysia to be the first watching Owen-Rooney play together in Manutd shirt!

“You train for weeks in preparation for that all-important first game and to score on your debut feels great,” said Owen,

“It’s always nice to get off the mark, not just when you join a new club but any time,” he told the club website.

“I was sat chatting to Wayne (Rooney) in the dressing room afterwards and he feels the same way after getting off the mark for the season.

“It’s obviously doubly good for me with it being my first goal for the club, and even though it won’t really count in the grand scheme of things, it does make you feel better. Hopefully I can score a lot more.”

Proevents expected another huge crowd for tonight, July 20 match at Bukit Jalil National Stadium after 15,000 tickets has been SOLD in 7 hours.

You can buy the ticket at ticketspro outlets or at Bukit Jalil National Stadium ticket counter near Green Gate.

And..do you read this latest news??? Hahahaha..

Rapid Vienna humiliate Liverpool

Rapid Vienna defeated English Premiership outfit Liverpool in a gala match on Sunday in the Austrian capital to celebrate the hosts’ 110th birthday.

Steffen Hofmann bagged the only goal of the game off a freekick before a 50,000 crowd at Ernst Happel stadium against a Liverpool.

The Reds will now head off on an Asian tour in Thailand and Singapore.

Some newspaper in UK said about no one would like to buy Owen’s shirt but…in Malaysia…Micheal Owen is one of the favorite.

The Result:
Team Line-ups
United: Van der Sar (Foster 46); O’Shea, Ferdinand (Brown 61), Evans, Evra (Fabio 61); Gibson, Scholes (Tosic 61), Anderson (Giggs 76), Nani; Rooney (Owen 61), Berbatov (Macheda 76).

Goals: Rooney 8, Nani 28, Owen 85

Malaysian XI: Marlias; Mazlizam, Zamani, Zafuan, Asraruddin; Rahim, Rohidan, Kunalan, Yahyah, Indra Putra; Zaquan.

Goals: Yahyah 45, 52

I will write the review about the match later…

Enjoy the pictures that I took during the match using normal point & shoot camera!

Sir Alex Ferguson comments after the match..

“Michael is different to the other strikers we have here. He’s always searching for that space in and around the box and he reacted really well to take his goal,” a delighted Sir Alex told MUTV afterwards.”The goalkeeper blocked the ball as Ryan [Giggs] ran through, but you knew Michael would be the first man to get onto it.

“The game was big test for us. As we expected, they were full of energy, enthusiasm and speed, and they caught us on the counter-attack a few times. It was a very open game and I think anyone watching would have been quite happy with the quality on show.

“We got off to a good start with the two goals, but the problem we had was they scored right on half-time and, with it only being our first game, our energy dropped a bit in the second half.

“It was great vision from the lad [Yahyah] to get them back into it. As soon as he got the ball he spotted Edwin was a bit off his line and hit a lovely little chip over him.

“Obviously the second goal came about after a mistake by Ben. He just took his eye of the ball and it bobbled up a little bit. It’s unfortunate because he’s only just come back from injury and he’ll want to get that out of his mind as soon as possible.

“You use the first two or three games of pre-season to get your rhythm, tempo and timing back,” added the boss, “and that will certainly come.”

The terrorist attack in Jakarta on Friday at Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels forced the Red Devils to postpone a planned trip to Indonesia and, although efforts were made to relocate that fixture, ultimately it has proved impossible because based on police report… their actual target is Manchester United squad!! Scary huh??

So, with Sir Alex Ferguson keen to play four fixtures on tour as originally planned and an offer to fly to Sydney rejected on geographical grounds, United have reorganised another game against opponents they defeated 3-2 at the Bukit Jalil Stadium on Saturday.

“They will once again play against the Malaysian Selection at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil at 8.45pm on Monday,” chief executive officer of ProEvents Julian Kam said at a press conference, here, Saturday night.

“Looking at the tremendous reception the team received in Malaysia and the capacity crowd tonight, we believe that many fans would be eager to watch the team play once again.

“A second match will be given to fans who missed out to watch the players in action today. It will also give the Malaysian players another chance to play against Manchester United,” Kam added.

And for all Manutd fan that already bought the tickets…they will get the refund or bring it to Malaysia and exchange it to Monday match.

If you are interested to watch the second match between Malaysia and Manutd, you can start buy the ticket at stadium counter starting Sunday afternoon and this time..no more RM98 and RM68 tickets!! Only RM58 for all seats except Grandstand tickets that remains at RM308.

He said there will only be two types of tickets sold for the match on Monday, comprising RM308 for grandstand and RM58 for free seating.

Tickets can be purchased from ticket counters from Sunday onwards, starting at 12 noon, he said.

Yeah.. I would love to watch this second match…but….thinking about how hard and tired for me to walk from parking to stadium….i have to rethink…

OK…you can get the REMATCH tickets at Bukit Jalil Stadium ticket counter or at Ticketpro outlet.

The newspaper said..the attendances were around 40,000~50,000!! Wow!

4 players that attend the press conference – Rio Ferdinand, Fletcher, Gibson & Nani

My wife asking a killer question about Rio’s Twitter against Rooney’s Twitter!!

Killer question needs funny answer…all players just can’t stop laughing with my wife question.

After the press conference, we go all the way to watch the Nike5 Challenge Final just outside the press conference tent.

Manutd players rising from the Nike ads

Close-up with Rio,Nani, Gibson & Fletcher

The entrance

Picture with Nike5 Finalist!! The winner will play against Manutd. 4 against 5.

Fletcher, Gibson, Nani & Ferdinand – View from back

The match…cisss….what lucky kids to get a chance playing with the best in the world!!

Adam C asking the question to Rio after the match

I had a great time there although it was very very hot during the match. The result between Manutd vs Nike5 Champion match is 1-1…but the actual the result is..Manutd lost 1-0 to the kids because in Nike5 match…who scored first – WIN !!…Hahahahahha..Could Malaysia team do the same this afternoon??