Monday 9 July 2007

Let The Asian Cup Begin! Err...What Asian Cup?

Welcome to the AFC Asian Cup tournament! The Pasukan Kebangsaan will 'turun padang' tonight playing in the first match of Group C playing against the runners-up of the previous Asian Cup, China.

For those of you who are not aware that there's a game tonite, let alone that we are already into the third day of the 2007 Asian Cup, I don't blame you. For the record, the local organisers (who I suspect must be FAM) have been simply, APPALLING! I wonder whether the organisers were given funds before hand and if they did, what have they been doing with it?

Promotion has been pityful, if we can even call them that. There's a small black & white corner print ad in some English dailies maybe a few weeks before the start of the tournament; buntings started to crop around city centres a week before; there are some RapidKL buses covered in the ad; there's a link on the website for the The Star; perhaps some mention in the sport section on TV news; apparently there were two events organised by Nike in Dataran Merdeka and Shah Alam which nobody knew (except people who knew Nike). It was so bad that according to news report, there weren't even anything to welcome the teams that were staying at the official hotel here.

Malu! And this is Visit Malaysia Year. The country's 50th years since independence. And the biggest FIFA-sanctioned tournament for the continent. Heck, even the Champions Youth Cup have more placements in the newspaper. Maybe it's because 99% of the farts at our national FA are Manchester United fans and are still upset the they are unable to watch the current EPL Champs gracing the hard turf of Bukit Jalil and forgot that the Asian Cup is going on.

I say that Nike Malaysia is guilty as well. Nike Indonesia are going around calling out "Ini Kandang Kita!" and a special publicity drive for the Timnas - with special billboards for Ponaryo Astaman, Bambang and Elie Aboy. But heard anything new from Nike Malaysia lately?

That aside. I hope that all these won't distract the focus of the team. After poor showings in friendly matches against UAE and Jamaica, the national team is struggling to give a good account for themselves - with many section of the fans have already written off their chances. While the country's expectations remained low, apathetic even, members of the Pasukan Kebangsaan themselves are eager to give a good showing in the tournament and prove doubters wrong. We hope that this is not merely lip service and that they really mean business, because in football anything can happen. Results from the other groups have given the team a slight boost, with Thailand getting a draw with Iraq, Vietnam beating UAE and unfancied Oman drawing with pre-tournament favourites Australia.

Tonight is when we shall see whether Malaysia Boleh or not.

2 comments:

kitsforsale said...

rasanya nak salahkan nike 100% pun bukan salah diaorg..rasanya fam tak betol-betol ambik serius pasal asian cup ni..

nak kata meriah tak pun...cuma nampak banner sikit2 je kat kl tu...kat stadium haram tak meriah langsung..

fam ni memang serius bodo...tiket pun ada masalah...apa lagi pasal nak iklan2 itu ini...

aku rasa fam ni saje nak sabotaj afc sebab isu man utd...tak ke bodo diaorg ngan kerajaan...heheh..ni bukan politik...dah 50 tahun merdeka,ada lagi nak panggil team man utd ke,mana2 lah...tak salah kalau kita jadikan asian cup ni sebagai 50 tahun merdeka..terus terang aku cakap,aku pun penyokong man utd...tapi sehebat mana man utd,kita tetap org malaysia...sekuat mana kita sokong man utd,org tetap akan tanya kita asal mana...

cuba kita fikir sendiri,apa jadah kalau kita ni support kelab2 org putih habis-habisan?nak nama?

aku rasa kita supporter malaysia patut berterima kasih kat nike..at least kita ada jc yg boleh kita banggakan...walaupun bukan harga nya..hahaha...kita ada jc yg aku rasa design dia cukup lawa....kalau harapkan adidas,apa desisgn jc kita?

aku bukan sokong nike gila2...tak ada guna nya...masalah dia mana tanggungjawab fam dalam promosi asian cup disini?

haram tak ada poster besar pun...mcm ko cakap kat indon kan,aku pun ada tertengok poster besar bambang,ponaryo...khas untuk asian cup...mana kita?malu sangat nak letak player kita?

kalau airasia duk sibuk tayang gambar2 man utd,mana pemain kita?malu ke?

aku bukan lah fanatik sangat team malaysia ni...tapi apa kita boleh buat,team kita jugak...aku anak malaysia...lahir di malaysia..

masalah tiket memang teruk betol...bukan aku saje yg terkena pasal tiket ni...kawan2 aku,siap aku jumpa penyokong2 iran,dia cakap bertapa teruknya nak dapat tiket...cuba kita bayangkan,kita cuma ada 2 jalan je untuk dapat tiket...satu terus p fam..kedua buat tempahan internet...cerita pasal internet ni,ari tu masa aku nak ambik tiket yg ditempah,terjumpa supporter iran...yg pelik nama dia tak ada dalam list...jawabnya,kene datang balik...apa nak jadi..

ticket axcess,penjual tiket untuk m league,hanya jual ticket untuk indonesia punya asian cup...bayangkan sendiri?

Hakim Amir said...

Nike Malaysia ada kempen "Jangan Togel".. good & interesting campaign tapi aku setuju gak dgn borakbola.blogspot & azhan2001, patutnyer Nike & FAM bekerjasama dan keluarkan kempen Asian Cup yang lebih gah.. Nike sure ader advertising agency yang boleh come up with brilliant ideas.. kalau takder gak, aku boleh tolong (muahahaha)... yup, aku pun jealous tengok Indonesia ada campaign gunakan tagline "Ini Kandang Kita" dan Ponaryo Astaman.. nampak gempak giler...

maybe boss Nike Msia, Glenn Heng will think of this for our next campaign...

semalam punya match??? sedih aku nak cerita kat sini...

see u in Uzbekistan & Iran matches