United in Malaysia

No I am not going to talk about Malaysian politics but instead I'm going to talk about Manchester United's pre-season tour to Asia. I know you might complain that I am outdated and bla bla bla..but I've got nothing much to update besides this.


Well most of you know that on the build up to this tour, various competitions were held throughout Malaysia and the most attractive competition that got every Man Utd fan salivating is this


And all you have to do is fill up this form below and send it them


Just in case you don't know how the competition works, after you submit the form, if your slogan is catchy enough, the Hitz.fm DJs will give you a call and you are expected to answer most Manchester United related questions correct within 30seconds. When the competition ends and if you are among the top 3 with the most correct answers, you will be invited to the Hitz.fm studio with the morning crew to answer more Man Utd trivia questions and then commentate on the 'imaginary' Malaysia XI vs Man Utd match. The person with the most correct answers and best commentary gets to follow the Man Utd team wherever they go during their stay in Malaysia. How cool is that!!

Although the age was a major stumbling block for me to enter the competition, I just tried my luck. No harm in trying since I've always been quite lucky when it comes to joining Hitz.fm competitions.

And so I filled up the form and just in case you were wondering, I did not lie on my age nor my IC number. When it comes to slogan I suck big time. I always can't think of anything creative. Although there were 300 characters given to complete the slogan, I figured slogans are supposed to be short, creative and catchy. So I just simply typed what came to my mind and it was something like this

Nike and Manchester United form the ultimate partnership because both are best in the business.

Okay go on..laugh all you want..I know it sounds lame.

When I clicked the submit button, it said an error had occured and asked me to try again after a few minutes. I already had my doubts as I was thinking the form got rejected because I did not meet the age criteria. So I tried again and the same error message popped up.

Dejected, I gave up on the competition.

On 10th 0f July 2009, Friday night at about 11.20pm, when I was walking in my house in my boxers thinking what to eat, my phone rang. It was a Selangor number. I picked it up and it was Adam C from Hitz.fm on the line telling me I was chosen to compete for the Nike Reporter Competition and I was the last contestant chosen. Overjoyed and at the same time totally unprepared for the questions that they are going to ask me. Nevertheless, I managed to answer 5 out 6 questions correct but Adam told me I am unlikely to be in the top 3. I will get a Nike goodie bag instead for my participation (which have yet to arrive).

Can't really complain as I wasn't really expecting my form to be entertained in the first place since I did not fit into the age range and I wrote a lame slogan. It turned out my slogan was not so lame after all..

I went up to Sunway on the 16th and on the 17th Man Utd landed in Malaysia where they stayed in Mandarin Oriental Hotel. That very day, Indonesia was rocked by the bombings at Ritz-Charlton Hotel and JW Marriot Hotel, one of which Man Utd were scheduled to stay during their tour there. Immidietly, United's official website announced that they are cancelling their trip to Indonesia fearing for terrorist attacks.

Su Ann called me on that morning asking me if I wanted to join them to follow the United team around KL. I agreed and together with Wai Kit, Jon, Aaron Raj and Syaza, we headed to the KLCC park where Nike futsal competition was being held. There we saw

From left: Darren Fletcher, Darron Gibson, Nani and Rio Ferdinand

They were sitting merely a few meters away from us. They played an exhibition match with the winners of the tournament. Here are some more pics form that event

Adam C, host for the event

Me, Su Ann and Wai Kit before the event

Syaza said I looked like some football coach in this

Goofing around after the event. Jon in black polo T while Aaron is in England jersey.

Walking back to carpark. Syaza is the one beside Su Ann.

After a short rest, we headed to Bukit Jalil stadium to watch the team's training session. By the time we reach there, the session has already started.

On the 18th, Alex joined the group and we reached Bukit Jalil at 2pm. By then it was already packed with people. We had fun taking pictures and doing the mexican wave around the stadium and booing others who dare to turn up with rivals jersey such as Liverpool, Chelsea and even Barcelona. The Barcelona fan supposedly took off his jersey after being booed countless times.
There was also an Arsenal fan but fortunately for him he didn't turn up in the colors of the gunners.

Aaron acting as though he just attended an Arsenal match. Check out Su Ann's hand at the side

As I have yet to recieve any pics from my friend yet, I will upload the matchday pics later..

United won the match by 3-2 but Malaysia gave United a run for their money. I'd have to say for both of Malaysia's goal, luck played a huge part in it. Rooney and Nani scored in the first half while Owen scored the winning goal on his debut. Both Malaysia's goals came from Mohammed Amri Yahyah.

After the match, United's website announced that a second match with the Malaysian XI is scheduled on Monday to replace the cancelled Indonesian game. But since none of my friends wanted to go, I didn't attend the match.

Overall, it was a very memorable experience. I am glad I went for the KLCC Futsal Tournament as I managed to get a close up on some of the stars of Man Utd. This whole experience is like a warm up before I head to Old Trafford to watch United play again..one day..