Monday 2 September 2013

Jinx? What Jinx?

Good morning, Mother Earth!

Still buzzing about last night winning against manyoo... woohoo~
I went to the Rolling Stone Cafe which some BIGREDS members believed that it's got some jinx because every time they held LFC live match, the result would be either lose or draw... pokoknya menurut para Sesepuh, aura tempat itu kurang bagus buat pertandingan LFC.

Anfield, September 1st, 2013.
Commemorating Bill Shankly's legacy and his 100th birthday, also, Daniel Sturridge's birthday. Anfield was beyond awesome. The supporters were making Bill's famous hand gestures mosaic. I got goosebumps when they did it during the YNWA song. Bill must be so happy up there. I know you were, Bill. :')


It was the Skipper's corner kick. Daniel Agger got up to head the corner kick toward goal and the other Daniel, Sturridge, reacted quickest to Agger's headed flick off a corner kick in the 4th minute (whaaa...t? yes, exactly. 4th minute!). Provided the final touch with a glancing header from inside... my heart skipped a beat for a few seconds. Selewat, gol semata wayang LFC itu seperti diciptakan oleh Agger, tapi setelah dilihat lagi melalui slowmo... it was Sturridge who sealed it ke gawang Sun Go Kong. Eat that donut, De Gea! I mean, ball.

Saya nggak akan menganalisa pertandingan sedetil seorang pandit sepakbola since I am not one. I would rather stick to my sotoy opinions and keep doing so :)
Daniel Sturridge is a natural goalscorer as Rodgers said after the match. He's got all the talent in the world and not to mention, he's still young. Di chelski, Daniel kurang banyak diturunkan dalam pertandingan. Di LFC, Rodgers memberikan kepercayaan penuh padanya (bukan selama absennya Suarez saja) to show what he's got on the pitch. Kepercayaan itu dibayar Sturridge dengan performa yang selama ini bisa kita lihat. Saya pikir dulu Sturridge itu tengilnya minta ampun, like "will he fit us here in LFC?" or "bisa cepet mingle sama team nggak nih bocah?" But then again, semua kekhawatiran saya ternyata terbukti salah pake banget. I don't know about you but I think it's the Liverpool Way kayaknya yang bikin Sturridge jadi versi baru begini. Selain itu, Daniel juga mengakui bahwa fans, pendukung, apalah sebutannya itu, adalah salah satu alasan 'payback' dia ke klub. Dia bermain bukan hanya untuk dirinya sendiri dan klub, akan tetapi untuk para pemain ke-12 yang tanpa lelah mengumandangkan chants, meneriakkan namanya di setiap pertandingan. Daniel Sturridge sadar Liverpool FC itu bukan sekedar klub. Liverpool FC itu keluarga. Keluarga yang besar, besaaar sekali. :')

Begitu tandukan Sturridge merangsek ke jaring Sun Go Kong, sontak Ia berlari dengan ekspresi muka khasnya yang supeeeeeeeer tengil! Di belakangnya ada Skrtel yang berusaha mengejar dan memeluk but Sturridge ran and raaan to the bench. He stopped for a while to give a little glance to the supporters then the whole lads (except Mignolet, of course) hugged him like mad!

 
Oh, those happy faces... I would love to repeat that moment over and over again. What made my eyes bergelas-gelas-kaca-katakan-padaku-siapa-diriku was the moment when Sturridge approached Rodgers and hugged him. Oh, Danny Boy... :')
Seriously though, siapa yang nggak moved lihat scene seperti ini? Setelah foto Daniel berpelukan sama Coutinho minggu lalu, sepertinya ini another best photo deh... chemistrynya kuat banget. Rodgers is a very influential man, indeed... :')
 

HACEP!
Rolling Stone Cafe pecah seketika kalo anak gaul sekarang bilang. Jama'ah Liverpooliyah yang nonton sambil duduk bersila langsung berdiri sorak-sorak bergembira. Screamed! Shouted! Screamed! Shouted! HUGS! Yeah, Man... we're THAT happy. Buat saya, kami pendukung LFC, match ini bukan sekedar match biasa. Ya entah ini sudah menjadi tradisi yang diturunkan oleh Tetua kami sebelumnya atau memang otomatis mendarah daging di hari pertama kami ditahbiskan menjadi Merah... this match was THAT significant.

Prestige, dignity, pride, reputation, honor, you name it... semuanya seolah dipertaruhkan di match ini. I myself couldn't stop crossing my fingers during the 90+ mins. That was intense. I really mean THAT intense since it's in Anfield, our shrine, our home. We lost both games against manyoo last season so this home winning was a good start. I do hope we could keep the positive trend til the end of this season. Nggak muluk-muluk sih harapannya, semoga winning formula semakin solid dan sedikit sentuhan keberuntungan menyertai LFC. Amen to that.

The whole team work was paid. Iya sih 'cuma' 1-0. Tapi 1-0 semalam merupakan kado terbaik yang bisa diberikan LFC kepada Bill Shankly, dan yang ngasih kado si Birthday Boy pula. What a pleasant feeling! I think the 2nd half itu babak yang menguras emosi, energi, dan kinerja jantung sekaligus. Lost count of how many times I shouted, "OH MY GOD!" or "NOOO!" and "MIGNOLET!!!" Yep, our Belgian Goalie. He was stunning. Sempat dibuat ketar ketir dengan aksi a la Pepe Reinanya, tapi Mignolet melakukan beberapa penyelamatan yang sekaligus menyelamatkan jantung saya... TIMING DIA SELALU TEPAT! OK, saya memang berniat beli jersey goalkeeper untuk yang pertama kalinya. Awalnya sih simpel aja karena warnanya ungu, warna favorit saya. Dan sekarang saya punya alasan lain untuk membelinya sekaligus menambahkan nameset Mignolet plus angka 22 di punggung. Hehehe.

At first, I believe most of us didn't trust Rodgers that much. You know... sukses di Swansea belum tentu sukses juga di LFC. But Rome wasn't built in a day. Last season we only finished at 7th and decided to choose fans over the Europa League (which made me love LFC even more). I was one of those. Bitching and nagging about Rodgers' tactical plans, yada yada blah blah blah. Emang orang kayak kita-kita ini bisanya apa lagi sih selain concern sama keadaan klub? Ya okay maybe we could do something more, much more than that, tapi dalam skala dan kapasitasnya, nggak semua dari kita capable untuk itu kan? So, the closest one was to worry about the club. Y'all should check what Rodgers said after the match. :)


Oh well, let's leave it all behind and support Rodgers instead. Away match di Old Trafford kalo mau nonton bareng lagi di Rolling Stone Cafe, I don't mind. Jinx? What jinx? :)

YNWA.