Manchester United Fan In Malaysia

For the first time ever, we will see South East Asia representative from Malaysia in this year Manchester United Premier Cup.

If you never heard about this tournament before, let me tell you a little bit about this great tournament…

Manchester United Premier Cup is where some of the finest U-15s football is played as talented youngsters come up against the best of the best from around the world.

MUPC started out as a regional tournament in 1993 and has grown into one of the largest and best known football events of its kind. Over one million players have taken part, with over 9,000 teams from more than 43 countries competing this year. That’s some serious football.

In August 2010 the World Finals of the Manchester United Premier Cup will be staged in Manchester where 20 of the best U-15s teams from around the world will compete.

Some of current football superstars that have been take part in this tournament when they still young include;

1999 – Andres Iniesta ( FC Barcelona ) – Now still at FC Barcelona
1999 – Fernando Torress ( Atletico Madrid ) – Now at Liverpool FC
1999 – Robinho ( Santos ) – Now at Man City
1999 – Carlos Teves (Boca Juniors) – Now at Man City
2002 – Cesc Fabregas ( FC Barcelona ) – Now at Arsenal
2002 – Lionel Messi ( FC Barcelona ) – Now still at FC Barcelona
2005 – Rafael & Fabio ( Fluminense ) – Now at Manutd

Others including Iker Casillas, Sanderos, Xavi, Pique, Mascherano, Quaresma, Walcott and a lot more….

MSS Kedah emerged as champions of South East Asian region after beating Akademi Sepak Bola Villa from Indonesia 5-4 in penalty shootout. Before that in semi-final, they beat  Sports School Singapore 3-1.

MSS Kedah players not only conquered the MUPC throne but also managed to get Top Scorer and also the Most Valuable Player Award.

The top scorer of the tournament is Muhammad Ariff Farhan with 3 goals and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) is Muhammad Syafiq from MSS Kedah as well.

The team has certainly become the pride of Malaysian youth football and will definitely go on to compete at a high level at the World Finals. MSS Kedah will have the nation’s support and best wishes in their quest to be named as the World Manchester United Premier Cup Champions against top club such as Manchester United, FC Barcelona, PSG, FC Porto etc. Whatever the result, these young kids will get the experience of lifetime by playing against the future football genius or maybe the next world player of the year!

Complete results of MUPC ASEAN Regional Finals;

Match 1:
MSS Kedah 1-0 Akademi Bolasepak Villa
Singapore Sport School 0-4 Bangkok Glass FC

Match 2:
MSS Kedah 1-0 Bangkok Glass FC
Akademi Bolasepak Villa 2-1 Singapore Sport School

Match 3:
Bangkok Glass FC 1-0 Akademi Bolasepak Villa
MSS Kedah 1-1 Singapore Sport School

Semi Final:
Bangkok Glass FC    Akademi Bolasepak Villa
MSS Kedah 3-1 Singapore Sport School

Final:
MSS Kedah 5-4 Akademi Bolasepak Villa ( Penalty )

The World Finals will kick off on 4th August 2010. Check out this website for fixtures & results.

A super strike from midfielder Safiq Rahim gave Malaysia a heartwarming 1-0 win over the South Korean Olympic team in a friendly match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The Selangor playmaker brought cheer to the 3,000 odd fans when he beat towering goalkeeper Lee Bum-soo from 25 metres out with a lethal shot in the 51st minute.

The Korean defence was caught by surprise when Safiq picked up a rebound from his own free kick before he breezed past two defenders and unleashed a low shot beyond the reach of Bum-soo.

It was an encouraging performance by K. Rajagopal’s boys, who are preparing for the Guangzhou Asian Games in November.

The Koreans are on a bigger mission to get into the 2012 London Olympics and they came here with mostly newcomers in their newly-formed Under-21 squad.

Malaysia put up a spirited display and Rajagopal hoped that the team would continue to show the same kind of commitment and consistency in international matches.

After SEA games gold medal performances, our U23 squad show that we are not too far behind. Hopefully this squad can maintain their good form in Asia Games. Although it is just against Korea newly formed squad that mostly U21, it is still a good result for us.

Let us hope that this squad won’t disappoint us in the next 3-4 years!

I still don’t understand why some fans got angry with what Perak & Johor’s mufti opinion. Manutd fan all over the country know about the red devil image in Manutd crest since forever. Nothing new about it!! Not like what Perak’s mufti said…

Harussani said many football fans were unaware of the image on the emblem!

Just take it as an advice from them in a different perspective. They just worry that we become devil worshiper. There are religious leaders..so.. what do you expect they would said?? They talked as religious leader and we talked as football fan. We looked at “Red Devil” as a football team… but they looked at “Red Devil” as the enemy of God. Same word but …different understanding.

Harussani Zakaria, a cleric from northern Perak state, said football kits with devils, crosses or skulls promoted the “wrong value” for Muslims but that doesn’t mean he wanted them banned.

Yesterday, BBC News contacts me from London and request for an interview regarding this issue for their special programme. I told them…. It won’t affect much. Manutd fan in Malaysia will still wear the jersey. It’s not a big issue here. Not many people will take it seriously. They know that it is just a football club and nothing related to devil worship at all.

However, deep inside my heart… I hope Manutd will consider changing the emblem in Manutd jersey because this issue gives a great opportunity to our rival to “bang” us as United fan but…. I still hope the “Red Devil” nickname remain!

Manchester United Fan Club Malaysia, which has about 7,000 members, declined to comment, but the fan club’s chief, Lawrence How, noted there was no official ban on the jerseys.

Luckily.. the clerics agreed there was no “fatwa”, or religious edict will be release regarding this issue!!