WCQ 2018: Iraq in Iran

The Socceroos play Iraq ..in Tehran... on Thursday 11pm AEDT.

Although Iraq are sitting in 5th place in a 6-horse race, this shouldn't fool anyone - they have traditionally been tricky opponents over the years, and I highly doubt they will be walkovers this time either.

This comes at a critical juncture in the Socceroos' World Cup Qualification campaign.

The last result, a draw against Thailand, while not a disaster, has very much made this an uphill battle for the remaining 5 games of qualification.

These are our remaining fixtures:

1. Iraq (Away) - 23.3.17
2. UAE (Home) - 28.3.17
3. Saudi Arabia (Home) - 8.6.17
4. Japan (Away) - 31.8.17
5. Thailand (Home) - 5.9.17

I personally think it will come down to us winning all 3 of our home matches against the UAE, the Saudis and Thailand. Those are must win games. I know a lot of you out there think so too. If we can do that, then the game against Japan is likely to be a 'bonus' match of sorts...but it all depends.


It is significantly better if we beat Iraq

A win is always ideal but the Socceroos, at the very least, must draw with Iraq.

A draw to Iraq is by no means safe (far from it!) because, amongst other things, it would arguably make us more dependent on Japan (or whoever is the dominant team in this group..if there is such a thing here) winning all their games.

For example, if the Saudis beat [the UAE, Iraq and Thailand] they would sit on 19 points and (assuming Japan also dominate the group) Japan may have to stop them.

In that case, assuming we won our home games, we would either need the draw against Japan too to pip the UAE to 20 points... or a better goal difference if we are stuck on 19.

That is too close for comfort. A win against Iraq is by far the safer bet.


A team in development - rebuilding

Much has been made of the Socceroos' lack of striking options. Most Australian fans would probably agree, as we tend to rely too much on Tim Cahill. Tomi Juric looks like he needs to step up; but really, we need everyone to chip in when it comes to goals. This takes a lot more experience, something the team will have to learn on the run. Although I haven't seen him play lately, I was glad to see Nathan Burns back in the squad as I seem to remember he played quite well in the Asian Cup.

It will also be interesting to see an in-form Mooy combine with a Robbie Kruse who has more match experience under his belt. Leckie has never been a finisher, but he is fast. I also wonder how Luongo and, later, Rogic (when he's back from injury) will fit into this equation. Regardless of who starts, hopefully all can supply Juric, and later, Cahill if he comes on as a late-ish sub (which seems very likely). A goal here and there from the midfield over these next 5 matches will, in all probability, be needed as well.

Importantly however, we need to learn how to...not..give the ball away sloppily. And how not to concede. We seem to be lacking the rigidity we used to have. This is what makes it all so interesting, because Postecoglou will be looking at injecting fresh and..inexperienced.. blood into this team (especially with the right-back position which seems to be a question mark at the moment).

But above all I do think qualification is the main priority here - there is no harm in playing younger players and/or a team with new faces at the World Cup, but we have to make it there first!

This group will be very tight.

We may need to go down third-place playoffs, but hopefully not.

Remember: Only top two automatically qualify. If we are not careful in these next two matches we may not qualify at all.

Andre Lim

Woke up

Sometimes it's pretty interesting how..something can change so quickly.

I had forgotten how much I missed playing badminton :)

Andre Lim

Foods I can't live without/ My favourite foods

This list is a work in progress.

In no particular order:

1. Jelly (not agar-agar texture, but not too soft either. Eg. Aeroplane jelly; Chinese jelly with coconut or Easyway topping style jellies; herbal jelly)
2. Soup - all sorts, Asian and Western
3. Coffee/Green Tea ice cream
4. (Lately) A really good mixed salad, especially if it has red onion and tomato LOL
5. A hearty/spicy lamb or mutton curry

Undecided (including things I don't necessarily choose to eat all the time):

1. Pizza
2. Lamb
3. General savoury snacks that are not packet chips
4. KFC (hot and spicy)
5. Red Rooster - Classic Roasts
6. Fish and chips
7. Sushi
8. Smoked salmon
9. Curry Twisties
10. Apple cinnamon strudel
11. Gravy/roast of the day
12. Mixed kebab (doner, chicken and lamb)

Previous junk food guilty pleasures which I have significantly cut down on:

1. Most fast food chain offerings (particularly McDonalds and Hungry Jacks - Quarter Pounders and Bacon Deluxes in particular)
2. Packet chips - especially CC's Tasy Cheese, Red Rock Deli Honey Soy Chicken and Chilli Kettle chips (I particularly miss their Herb and Spice offering)
3. Hot (deep-fried) chips
4. Burgers
5. Deep-fried things
6. Lollies/starburst/jelly beans

Andre Lim

USA '94

So I stumbled upon some old records from the 1994 World Cup - how crazy is this:

Wikipedia tells me: "Group E remains the only group in World Cup history in which all four teams finished with the same points."

And Groups D and F all had a "A beats B beats C beats A" scenario

So I'd say that 2002 and 1994 all had relatively interesting World Cups!

Andre Lim

PS. Where has this month gone? Hello March!

Practical Mandarin Guidebook (for non-native speakers)

It's been a while since I last reviewed something but this is a good one to do!

Trivia/Sidenote: I associate this book with Sunway Pyramid - my lovely friend was kind enough to show me around there during my last day in KL, Malaysia :) and it was at Popular bookstore that I bought Practical Mandarin Guidebook (for non-native speakers).

Don't you like how they purposely put 'for non-native speakers' at the end? Just in case it wasn't abundantly clear that that was you!! LOL

Price: 25 Ringgit ~ About AUD$7 or $8

Authors: Associate Professor Cheun Heng Huat; Low Hiang Loon and Kuek Chee Wee.


Edition: 2nd edition

Website: http://www.uph.com.my/products/%E5%AE%9E%E7%94%A8%E5%8D%8E%E8%AF%AD%E6%8C%87%E5%8D%97

I'm not sure if this can be ordered online as it is a Malaysian publication.

Publisher: United Publishing House.

It's part of the Learn Mandarin Series


Summary:

This is an incredibly useful and practical book suitable for advanced beginners such as myself (I wouldn't dare to upgrade myself to intermediate level just yet lol).

That means that, to get the most out of this book, you need to know pin yin, the four tones and (probably - although maybe not necessarily) some basic sentence structures.

The book itself is 90% vocabulary (sorted into 44 everyday and miscellaneous topics) and 10% sentence patterns - which is an interesting concept. Each of the 44 chapters has a vocab list and some sentence patterns loosely based on the topic covered by the chapter.

The topics range from Country names to Musical Instruments; Insects to Vegetables; Household items to Metals and Minerals etc. All sorts of topics.

Each topic has 4 columns: the English word, the Chinese characters, the pin yin...

And the 4th column is a 'bonus' column of Malay words if you are interested in learning Malay while you are at it.

A wise person once asked this question: "What is the hardest aspect of learning Mandarin? Is it writing? Reading? Speaking? I put it to you that listening to native speakers speak is actually the hardest aspect of learning Mandarin for a beginner."

I think there is some truth to this - after you have learned the basics, perhaps the next stumbling block is understanding a native speak. Boosting one's vocab would help you to recognise what is being said in everyday conversation and I think this book does just that.

Although limited dialogue and sentence patterns are offered, the examples given are quite powerful and practical in this book. Even though I've not finished this book, I can say with some confidence that the new sentence structures presented in each chapter are very relevant and can be used in normal conversation.

The book comes with a CD to aid you with learning how to pronounce the words in each dialogue.

The only main downside I can think of is that the book places a huge emphasis on vocabulary. I don't really see this as a problem as there are plenty of other books out there that help with conversation patterns.

Another downside is, perhaps, that there is no real instruction as to how to say some of the vocab in a sentence. For example, although 耳聋 is deaf, I am told you might actually say 他的耳朵是聋的 for 'He is deaf'.

There might also be a Malaysian style of Chinese going on here. When I asked Roy about one phrase in a vocab list, 溺死 (drowning), he told me that he's never come across that phrase before - he has only known it as 溺水. I don't know if some of the words here therefore are compiled based on a Malaysian understanding/slang of Chinese.

Nonetheless I don't think these are major problems..

Of course nothing beats living in a Chinese-speaking country but for those of us that don't, books like these are very helpful.

The patterns offered here are actually pretty good on their own, and more than enough to get any advanced beginner started. More is not necessarily better - less can sometimes be more!


Rating

I'd give this book a 9-9.5/10. It's great.

Andre Lim

No short cuts

So it occurred to me that, if I want to get good at something, there really are no short cuts - you sort of have to put in the hard yards.

For example, if I want to learn Mandarin better, I'm going to have to be disciplined and actually feed myself 1) new vocabulary and/or 2) new sentence patterns every night. At the very least new vocab, or practise existing vocab.

Being too tired after work is obviously a legitimate reason, but I guess I just have to ask myself: how much do I want this?

Similarly, if I really have intentions to maintain a healthier lifestyle, it means saying no to a lot of junk food, not going to the supermarket to buy sweets (or at least refraining from impulse buying when there), choosing better lunch options, doing more exercise etc - these require implementing small incremental decisions that add up along the way.

Small daily changes lead to big overall changes, in theory - but the key is to actually do it. Even a minuscule change adopted daily is powerful.

Finally, as an overarching general theme, I think if something is worth fighting for, you really do need to fight.

Whether it be in love, a relationship, family, a friendship, overcoming a bad habit, being more proactive, teaching yourself a new positive trait (the list goes on)...you cannot be lazy; you have to put in the effort to show you really do mean it!

Andre Lim

Egypt v Cameroon

This is belated but what a steal by Cameroon!

What a match and what a way to win it - take a bow Aboubakar.

It seems to me that his team mates knew that he specialises in using his chest to control long balls because he almost created another goal-scoring opportunity a few minutes prior using a similar technique.

Andre Lim