ORD LOH (3)

"Ohhhhh!!!!!" Lots of exclamations filled the air as Brazil attempted to breech the Spanish defense. Welcome to the finals of the ORD LOH (3) Cup!!! As the clocked ticked towards the final whistle, Brazil (we) were getting desperate... A couple of good chances from Chin Leng in the first few minutes could have decided the game! Unfortunately, their goalkeeper was on form. They tried to counter attack but Helton was more than equal to the task. FYI, Helton was the Brazilian goalkeeper. So at half time the scores were level at nil-nil, despite the good play by CL. After a cagey start to the second half, I finally scored from the counter attack! Shouts of ORD LOH rang out! Unfortunately there was still 30 mins left. Would Spain get the equaliser to send this cup into extra time? A Spanish shot flashed past goal, with Helton diving as a precaution. Thankfully that was the closest Spain went to equalising. As the seconds ticked by, "The Brazil players seemed happier and happier, especially Ronaldino" while the red players are seemingly disappointed ", as quoted by CL!!! Finally, the final whistle blew and we were crowned champions of the ORD LOH (3) cup!!!

Now some people may think it's a waste of time spending away a thursday afternoon like that. And furthermore it doesn't mean we really ORD right? Wrong! It is an apt symbol, a metaphor to describe the current circumstances. During the course of the qualifying to the knockout stages all the way to the finals, the symbolism between our current circumstances and the ORD LOH (3) Cup became clear. Although we did not ORD when we won the cup, to us, winning the cup is akin to the actual thing itself, albeit a symbolic one. Let me elaborate.

Firstly, my "sifu", the great tenor Benjamin Lee once said that army is a game; u keep playing till u ORD. Likewise, for the ORD LOH (3) Cup (let's call it OL3C in short), we kept playing until we won or got knocked out. I'll go into the knocked out part later. So as u can clearly see, OL3C is closely related to our current situation; (going to) ORD LOH!!!

Secondly, if u observed the (3), it meant that it was our third time trying to win the ORD LOH Cup and true to the cliche "third time lucky", we finally won it. Our first time with Germany we were denied by N. Ireland in the final 16! Our second with Argentina; we didn't qualify. Only our third with Brazil yielded results. What's the link u ask? Like what CL said in the video, the 3 meant we tried 3 times to win the Cup. Likewise when ORDing, we sometimes try or wish many times to ORD but fail miserably. But if we keep trying and never give up, we'll finally ORD. Just like the OL3C. The determination we put in to winning the cup is equivalent to the determination to ORD.

Thirdly, let's talk about the players. The starting 11 reminded us of the different people we meet in NS. Take for example Helton the goalkeeper! Being "qie" to the reserves, we promoted him to the starting 11 and he delivered in EVERY SINGLE GAME. He never let us down, soaking the pressure and saving so many million shots! Despite being isolated from the team (i.e. having very little contact with the team) prior to the competition, he delieverd a fine solo performance despite being thrown into action. Or our free kick specialist, who actually more often then not, flopped and delivered free kicks to the opponent. Or our garang but inefficient forwards, who squandered chance after chance. Or our totally chao keng subs (i.e. Ronaldo!)... Whether u are the "always kena qie" soldier, the noob or blur soldier, the garang soldier or the chao keng soldier, you'll always ORD in the end if u just co-operate with your fellow soldiers during the important times in NS... Which is only probably about 10% or less... So you could actually support "everyman is an island" and "pretend" to co-operate at the important times and get away with it... If you can read between the lines, u'll get my picture. To conclude this point in a nutshell, you can be any kind of person, in fact you don't need to play at all and you'll still win the OL3C. How fair is thy face indeed...

Forthly, more on Helton. Special mention to him, the saviour of our campaign. The unsung hero of the game. Indeed Helton has shown that he was extremely determined to help his team win because that is the only way he could win the cup. You don't see the best 11 (from different teams) winning do you? You only see the winning 11!!! Likewise, Helton epitomises the never say die spirit that we have. Although as mentioned earlier that we don't need to work so hard to ORD, we believe that having that determination is a boon for us. Why? Because it will empower us to strive harder to achieve the ultimate promotion, especially with time running out. How to strive harder? Think outside the box!

Lastly, each of us control our destiny. There will be misses, near misses and penalties. But there will be equalisers, winners and goals. Who controls it? You! The player of this wonderful game called NS. Whether u let a certain organisat- I mean the com score (opps) or take the initiative and score first, the choice is yours. What's the worst that can happen? Get knocked out of the cup. The best? Win the ORD LOH Cup. Similarly, we have the power to change our destinies. And right now our destiny is just 6 letters. Now how to use that power? I wonder...

Right so I'll end here and continue another day on the events leading to the ultimate event of the year! As for the video, it's in my stickam player on the right. Just press the movie button and enjoy. For a bigger screen, click the bigger screen button. As simple as ORD. I apologize for the lag though.