A Singaporean Road to World Cup Russia Part III

The atmosphere was deafening. The chatter of thousands could be heard resonating through the stadium ground and they were in all kinds of languages; Spanish, English, Russian and a plethora of unidentifiable languages. They were excited, jumpy and full of anticipation. Beers were passed, and hotdogs handed out. On the pitch, when the two large Panama and England flags unfurled and the players emerged from their dressing room, the roar raised a few decibels.
I too couldn't stay down in my seat. In my mind was, THIS IS THE WORLD CUP. I excitedly chatted up with the woman sitting next to me, a Russian as it turns out, from Nizhny Novgorod. Russians turned out in droves, partly due to the cheaper tickets but to also revel in the football atmosphere.

When the national anthems of the countries played the respective fans sang to their hearts. In particular, due to the numerical superiority of the Panama fans, I could feel the plastic seats resonate; a reflection of the pride of the people of Panama whose country have long been unrepresented in the World Cup. The end of the national anthem was accompanied with more clapping and cheering and the occasional sounds of plastic horns.

Kick Off
And before long, the players went to their respective positions in anticipation of kick off. The countdown commenced with the crowd shouting with the stadium announcer; 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... PEEEEP!
The cheer rang out and reactively I let out a primal shout and started clapping wildly. The emotions were running wild. Everyone was expressing their feelings on the match as blatantly as possible; when a foul was committed, the crowd whined, murmured and some booed. When a player was clearly adjudged to be feigning a foul, the crowd murmured. I too couldn't help but talked sometimes to myself, "That's not a foul. Come on!" The crowd, it turns out, are really impartial. Everyone was in the spirit of the game in essence. And the players duly delivered.
The score line is as it has been immortalised; 6 - 1 but it was no means a one-sided defeatist style of play from Panama. The Panama players attacked from the get-go. They had their chances with their quick lightning counter attacks but at the end of the day, England's quality and really good tactics gave them a deserving win. At half-time, it was 5 - 0. After each England goal, the iconic "Football's Coming Home" song by The Three Lions played. There was only two England fans near my seats, and they celebrated wildly after each goal. They pumped their beer in the air, spilling them and hugged each other, jumping wildly as they do so. Then they would let go and sing the iconic lyrics. In truth, England had a decent shot at World Cup glory in Russia, as they had a decent team and formation plus a lot of the major contenders were eliminated early on. But, as it turns out, they were outplayed in the Semi Finals.
Half time came and a large proportion of the stadium visitors went to get a refill of their beers or buy a hotdog snack. I went out to the toilet but I also got myself an ice lemon tea and a hotdog from the counter, setting myself back by 400 roubles. Buying myself a set enable me to take back home a limited edition drink cup. There were three different kinds though for different kinds of drinks; a non-alcoholic, a Budweiser and a Russian branded beer. After getting my due refreshments, a must after such an exhilarating match, I went back to my seat to enjoy the music and crowd in the stadium at halftime.
The Panama fans did not get disheartened by each goal though. They still cheered every counter attack and possession their team had with gusto. And their team's perseverance and attacking philosophy prevailed in the end with the team scoring a solitary goal towards the end. That resulted in the stadium erupting. Even the England fans were congratulating the Panama fans. It turned out that it was the first Panama goal in the World Cup!

End
At the end, the people left the stadium with almost the same enthusiasm as when they had arrived, having seen a breathtaking and memorable match. The same official entertainers entertained; the drummers, the cheerleaders and the volunteers. I strolled past them, took photos when I had the opportunity and just soaked into the atmosphere. As I walked with the crowd, a portion of them sang out in chants and cheers. A popular one was "Ros-si-a! Ros-si-a!" After meandering with the crowd, we made our way to where Ayub was waiting, the place where we had dropped off. He had watched the match on his phone (phone data being cheap here in Russia) and with large help from a translating app, we talked about it as we drove the long journey back to Moscow.

The Slightly Biased Chelsea Match Review I Chelsea vs Manchester City I FA Community Shield I 5/8/2018

Chelsea Match Review

Chelsea vs Manchester City I FA Community Shield I 05/8/2018

Picture from TalkSport

Match Overview
The Premier League opener was between two teams bookmakers had tipped highly to be contenders for the title this season. On one side is Pep Guardiola’s dominant team who had romped to victory with a 19 points difference to 2^nd place Manchester United, upgraded with the signing of Riyad Mahrez. On the other side of the pitch is the Blues, revamped under a new coach, Maurizio Sarri, with an attacking brand of football and showing off the signing they had swiped under Manchester City’s noses; Jorginho.

But it was in the end a one-sided game at the Wembley Stadium with the players in the lighter Blue shirts taking off where they ended the previous season. Guardiola’s team continued with their brand of smart movement and technically sharp players to keep and win possession as well as fast penetrative players in Aguero and Mahrez who played next to the last man.

Chelsea attempted to play their new style of play but City’s pressing and positioning of their players thwart whatever plans they may have to win last season’s champions. At the end of the day, a 2-0 scoreline is simply a good warm up for Chelsea and an ominous warning to every other teams in the Premier League on the coming of Manchester City.

The game seemingly ended with Aguero’s goal at the 13^th minute. A pass by Fernandinho allowed the young Fodin to run through Chelsea’s half. He laid off to Aguero who took a touch to open up space and unleashed a shot through Rudiger’s legs beyond Caballero’s open arms.

Aguero 13’          MC 1-0 CHE
The second half followed the same script for both teams albeit with several substitutions and different personals. On the 58^th minute, as if on a repeat of the previous goal, Aguero was easily fed the ball by Fodin and he took his shot early to easily increase Manchester City's lead.
Aguero 58'        MC 2-0 CHE

Match Highlight

Chelsea played with a 4-2-1-3. Dave retained his earlier RB position from 2 seasons ago. Rudiger fitted in at CB with David Luiz while Alonso retained his LB position from earlier preseason games. At midfield, Jorginho and Fabregas played from deep, aiming to dictate play with Ross Barkley slightly ahead. The electric Hudson-Odoi played on the LW while Pedro played at RW. Morata started the game as Chelsea’s striker again.

Generally the team was outplayed by Manchester City but it is not an indicator of the team’s weakness as our team do have the quality and flashes of brilliance. It is really just that Manchester City was too good.

Man Of The Match
Chelsea’s Man Of The Match

Willy Caballero deservingly should be Chelsea’s MOTM with a number of saves to keep the scoreline low.

Player Ratings

-          Goalkeeper

Willy Caballero                          8
The Argentinian could not do much with the goals but he did keep out a number of others including a 1v1 against Aguero. Comparatively to Bravo who was plain embarrassing in the first half (though he did keep a cleansheet), Caballero was good, but not great.

-          Defenders

Cesar Azpilicueta                              6.5

The defence was easily penetrated by long simple balls from deep from Manchester City where all of Chelsea’s defenders were defeated by pace. Need some tinkering here…

Antonio Rudiger                               7

Honestly, he was the most solid Chelsea defender in the game but he still was not quick nor defensively smart enough to keep out Manchester City’s attackers.

David Luiz                                            6

Did not impact much of the game. Beaten by pace again and again by Aguero. His strengths were not allowed to shine and his frailties are openly exposed.

Marcos Alonso                                  6

It is about time Chelsea deserves an upgrade on the LB. Alonso is neither good at defending nor attacking. His strengths lie in his passing and freekicks, both limited by Manchester City’s close pressing.

-          Midfielders

Jorginho                                               7

As the hype is, he did receive a lot of balls which he attempted to quickly move and pass around. The problem is, Manchester City pressed so much and so high through the middle, he really had his chances to shine severely limited. A good welcome for him and he should know by now what simple misplaced passes can do to your team’s fortune as he did misplace a few passes that almost led to goals.

Fabregas                                              7

He did alright, with some good passes and some defense work. But it was not enough as Chelsea could not dominate the midfield.

Ross Barkley                                       6

Maybe we do need a better CAM, one who is pacier and better able to retain the ball than Ross Barkley. Don’t get me wrong, Barkley is a technically good player and quite good at dribbling and passing but it really is not outstanding enough for Chelsea. Perhaps Hazard should fill his role…

-          Strikers

Alvaro Morata                                   6

It is a curiosity to see how fast his confidence vanished with a few misplaced touches and passes in the first half. He was a main culprit for Chelsea losing possession but in due fairness, the quality to service to him was not there. Chelsea were simply outplayed.

Pedro                                                    6.5

He did try to influence play with his jinking runs and pace but the problem is, Manchester City’s players are equally fast and up to the task to pocket him comfortably.

Callum Hudson-Odoi                      7

Much have been touted about this 17 year old wunderkid and it is no wonder. He was visibly Chelsea’s best forward in the first half. We all remember him outpacing Hector Bellerin, who had a 100 pace rating in FIFA TOTS, but Kyle Walker was up to the task of containing him with some better positioning.