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Full-time: Liverpool 2 - 0 Borussia Dortmund
2001-10-30 21:56:49
Liverpool showed courage aplenty as they became England's third club through to the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund.
The Group B winners will join Manchester United and Arsenal in Friday's second-phase draw - and after this victory over Dortmund they can boast they are still unbeaten in the competition.
Even so they had to fight for their lives against the 1997 European champions, who hurled everything in their armoury at the Reds in a match the Germans needed to win to progress.
Great memories of old were rekindled by this Liverpool side, who withstood the barrage to see young Stephen Wright head the clincher to add to Vladimir Smicer's first-half strike.
Wright had been sent off at Charlton on Saturday but he was overcome with joy after his first ever Liverpool goal - a strike which made sure of another £10million in prize money to add to the Anfield coffers.
In between those goals Dortmund dominated but could not break down a rearguard in which Stephane Henchoz and Jamie Carragher were magnificent.
Dortmund started with clear intent, but slowly Liverpool moved forward.
A Danny Murphy effort was saved by Jens Lehmann. Then the German goalkeeper made a first-class stop from a searing Dietmar Hamann strike after a Murphy corner.
The breakthrough Liverpool had been praying for came on 14 minutes.
Henchoz's angled ball in from the right was nodded back by Emile Heskey to the edge of the area, where Smicer struck an 18-yard drive low past Lehmann into the bottom corner.
Michael Owen, victim of a crude lunge by Christoph Metzelder which brought a justified booking, began to sparkle.
Surrounded yet again by three defenders, he produced a twist on the edge of the box which almost created the space for a shot. Then he launched himself at a Steven Gerrard cross only for Metzelder to just get his head in the way first.
Dortmund were not pushed back for long. They reacted to going behind with driving play down their left, Leonardo Dede firing in crosses.
The Germans continued to dominate. Jan Derek Sorensen struck a fierce drive which flashed just wide of a post - and Liverpool were living on their nerves, on and off the pitch.
Liverpool threw on Patrik Berger for the flagging Smicer, while Dortmund added another striker in Fredi Bobic to the fray.
But it was the introduction of Robbie Fowler for Owen on 76 minutes which raised the spirits on the Kop.
The tension was there to the end. Gerrard looked to have damaged his right ankle in a tackle but refused to even look at stand-in boss Phil Thompson, who was showing obvious concern on the line.
On 81 minutes Liverpool got their second - and it was all over.
Heskey was fouled by Stefan Reuter on the edge of the box, and when Berger curled the free-kick in from the right Wright hurled himself into the six-yard box to head home.
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Cultural Changes in Singapore due to Globalization
2001-10-29 11:30:46
Globalization has economic roots and political consequences, but it also has brought into focus the power of culture in this global environment - the power to bind and to divide in a time when the tensions between integration and separation tug at every issue that is relevant to international relations. The homogenizing influences of globalization are most often condemned by the new nationalists but accepted by cultural romanticists. Globalization promotes integration and the removal not only of cultural barriers but also of many of the negative dimensions of culture. .
Few places on Earth are untouched by outside cultural influences. Not surprisingly, one of the greatest changes to Singapore as a direct result of globalization is Culture. In the modern age, various cultures flowed into Singapore from different countries. Singapore adopted these cultures and integrated those cultures with its own. According to Plunkett and Attner (1995), culture is defined as: a dynamic system of shared values, beliefs, philosophies, experiences, habits, expectation, norms and behaviors that give an organization its distinctive characteristic. I shall now examine the impact of globalization on culture in Singapore in each of the following ways.
Lifestyle, behaviour and habits
There is no doubt that the effect of globalization has broken down the barriers of global cultures. With the cultures from many countries seeping in and integrating with our existing cultures, the lifestyles, behaviours and habits of Singaporeans have changed in many ways. I shall discuss a few examples.
Over the past two decades, Singapore has seen a dramatic drop in the number of young people who read books. According to a survey conducted by a local newspaper, the percentage of people who "did not read a single book last month" nearly tripled between the eighties and the nineties. It is very likely that this trend known is brought about by the development of television networks and satellites as well as the Internet. This has given digital and other visual media a tremendous edge over printed media. Kids today feel a much greater affinity for TV and video games than they do for the printed word. Even students and tutors alike are switching increasingly to the Internet as their data-gathering medium of choice.
Internet (LAN) games, video consoles and arcade machines have also replaced traditional games such as Monopoly, ‘zero-point’, ‘five-stones’, ‘marbles’ and ‘Hantam Bola’. The way our lifestyles have changed due to improvements in technology elsewhere is certainly a globalization effect.
Further examples of ‘imported’ culture can be seen from the sheer popularity of ‘Hello kitty, Pokemon, Japanese dramas as well as Japanese pop in Singapore all which come from Japan. McDonalds’ and Mambo from America are also examples of overseas culture forming an inseparable part of our lifestyles.
Values, beliefs and philosophy
A notable change in values in Singapore was due to the disintegration of 3-tier generation families. Today's younger generation does not have many exchanges with their old generation unlike in the ‘old days’ where parents or grandparents could have passed on many values to them. Traditional family values (good or bad) such as “Filial piety” and ” Passing on the surname” are slowly being lost. Instead parents of today are giving children more freedom to choose and hence develop an independent way of thinking.
Singaporeans have generally become more open minded since the globalization. Topics of abortion and pre-martial sex are no longer taboo subjects. Women have become bolder in the fashion sense (exposing the belly and the back were socially unacceptable just a decade ago) and the emergence of the X-generation in the 90’s is a direct result of western influence over globalization. Our youths find it normal for anyone to have tattoos and dyed hair these days whereas in the past, these were seen as symbols of hooliganism.
Globalization also brought down the "men lead, women follow" philosophy among Singaporean families. Nowadays, it was common to have men playing househusband roles while the wife earns the bread. The all-dominant image of the family man has all but vanished.
The bigger representation of women in the Singapore’s political and economic arena is also seen as a change in gender values affected by globalization. Women are now taking on more responsibilities not only in the working sector but the political and military stage as well. Singaporean women are now more independent than ever and not afraid to compete with men in all areas. Men are also welcoming such challenges from the other sex whereas in the past most men would have been visibly annoyed. Sons are also no longer wholly preferred over daughters in post-modern families.
A common cultural trait in Singaporean is the value of competitiveness and devotion to hard work. Students have been emphasized repeatedly from young the importance and value of a degree. The ‘paper chase’ and ‘social ladder’ are all terms reflecting the hardworking characteristics of a typical Singaporean. The Modernization theory best explains this. Singapore used to be a fishing village and all the villagers are concerned with, is the well-being and basic needs of their families. However, the colonization of Singapore by the British induced rapid urbanization. It is evident that we also picked up positive cultural traits like self-discipline, the willingness to learn as well as the drive to work hard from them. It is also the functional integration of these positive values that indirectly resulted in Singapore’s modernization.
Norms
The effect of globalization has introduced many norms in our lives that were non existence decades ago. For example, the influx of Japanese and European handphones into Singapore in the last 2 decades have created norms such as the proper etiquette of switching off handphones during a university lecture, a cinema show, a meeting or a concert.
Language
In terms of language, which is an integral part of culture, there’s no denying that English is becoming increasingly dominant in Singapore since globalization. The Dependency theory helps explain this. Information technology is the medium of globalization and, since the US is the leader of the IT industry, it’s reasonable that its products would be created and used in its native language. Furthermore, many institutions of higher learning around the world conduct scientific and technology related classes in English. Added to this is the fact that U.S. pop culture is the most dominant in the world; thus, it follows that English is by default the more dominant language in Singapore compared to the pre-modern days when there is no dominant language to speak of. Various dialects, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and other languages were spoken as much, if not more frequently as English.
Multilingual education has come about following globalization compared to a pre-globalization educational system in Singapore whereby monolingual education is pre-dominant. Compared to the days when Singaporeans were either only proficient in English or Mandarin, most of us are now effectively bilingual.
Religion
Singapore never had a common religion. Religions such as Christianity and Roman Catholicism from the west, Confucianism and Buddhism from China are introduced to Singapore from abroad as a result of globalization. What globalization has brought about is diversity in religion. This has not brought about conflict. Instead, Singaporeans who share a common religion (in particular Christians) are emotionally bounded together.
The way different cultures have seeped and integrated into our lives is clearly evident. However, despite the effect of globalization on our culture, we never totally lost what we had before And with these new foreign cultures, a new Singapore culture or identity was formed. In other words, we created a new culture by respecting, introducing, and accepting other cultures. These days we experience a great amount American influence in every day life. For example, America's fast food is now very popular in Singapore. They have been transformed into the Singapore culture, sometimes with some modification, and are accepted by many Singaporeans. We do not see this as any cause of worry because even with this cultural transformation, a Singapore culture itself is still identifiable.
For example, one of the most identifiable Singaporean cultures is development of a peculiar brand of English called "Singlish". This local concoction mixes English with common phrases in the Chinese dialects (mostly Hokkien) and some Malay. The use of Singlish continues to be a popular topic of public debate whether in public, the Internet or through handphone messages. Purists and Anglophiles bemoan the loss of Queen's English, as they know it but proponents of local culture say Singlish is one of the elements that give Singaporeans their distinctive and common identity. A lack of a distinct accent has also made us identifiable from other Asians.
In closing, I’d like to add that global culture does not equate to global monoculture. Even in this global age, we can celebrate cultural diversity while respecting our own native cultures as well as others.
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Charlton Athletic 0 - 2 Liverpool
2001-10-27 12:54:26
Liverpool striker Michael Owen delighted watching England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson with a return to goalscoring action as his side eased past Charlton 2-0 at The Valley.
Owen, five weeks after damaging a hamstring, bounced back with a lively hour and a typical goal before being taken off.
It sealed yet another win for Liverpool, who have not been beaten in the Premiership since September 8 and are now above Manchester United.
Liverpool skipper Jamie Redknapp scored his first Premiership goal of the season in the first quarter-hour and after Jonatan Johansson missed a gilt-edged opportunity to put Charlton back in the match, Owen showed yet again showed what the art of finishing is all about.
The scourge of Germany slipped through the centre and the rest was inevitable. It was his 10th for the Anfield club this season.
Yet Charlton would not lie down and surrender.
From the start of the second half, they picked up the strands of a revival that had started before Owen's goal and a wave of pressure procured openings for the luckless Jonatan Johansson, whose cross-shot grazed the bar with goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek well beaten, and John Robinson, whose swing at a Claus Jensen corner struck the outside of a post.
Charlton watched Owen closely from the start with either Steve Brown or Mark Fish quickly onto him whenever passes picked him out, although Fish had given him an unexpected sniff as early as the third minute when his back-pass to goalkeeper Dean Kiely was played perilously close to the striker.
Charlton were guilty of monitoring him too closely, though, to the benefit of Liverpool's other striker Jari Litmanen who twice found space to test Kiely.
And the home defenders were certainly not alert to the menace of Redknapp when the Liverpool captain fired his team ahead in the 14th minute.
A long throw by Stephen Wright bounced through the Charlton area and looked to be aided by a deflection before Redknapp, unmarked, put away with neat precision from about 12 yards.
Charlton kept going, though, and after Johansson forced a corner, Konchesky again picked out Jason Euell with the flag kick. This time the header flashed over Dudek's crossbar but exposed an aerial weakness in the Liverpool defence.
They were clearly struggling to cope without the dominating figure of Sami Hyypia, out with a hamstring strain.
Johansson let Liverpool off the hook five minutes from half-time, scuffing his shot wide from eight yards after being smartly set up by Mark Kinsella and it proved a fateful miss.
Within two minutes Hamann played a measured pass through the centre of Charlton's scattered defence and Owen needed no further invitation to coolly clip the ball over the advancing Kiely.
Liverpool, though, needed all their famed defensive resilience to check Charlton's committed charge in the second half.
Referee Peter Jones infuriated the home fans by not taking stronger action over some of Liverpool's fierce tackling but he did book Wright for a clumsy foul on Robinson and a later lunge at Kinsella.
The red card was too late though to give Charlton enough advantage and although Liverpool barely managed a worthwhile threat up front in the second half they rarely looked liked losing their hard-earned lead.
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Jokes2
2001-10-24 22:04:12
FEELING THE GOODS
Lil' Johnny attended a horse auction with his father. He watched as his father moved from horse to horse, running his hands up and down the horses' legs, rump, and chest.
After a few minutes, Johnny asked, "Pop, why are you doing that?"
"Because I'm thinking of buying these horses."
Johnny looked worried, "Then I think we'd better hurry home right away!"
"Why?" his father asked.
"Because the mailman stopped by yesterday, and I think he wants to buy Mom!"
THE IRISH ENGINEER
Young man Murphy applied for an engineering position at an Irish firm based in Dublin. An American applied for the same job and both applicants having the same qualifications were asked to take a test by the department manager.
Upon completion of the test, both men only missed one of the questions. The manager went to Murphy and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the American the job."
Murphy asked, "And why would you be doing that? We both got nine questions correct. This being Ireland, and me being Irish I should get the job!"
The manager said, "We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but rather on the question that you missed."
Murphy then asked, "And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?"
The manager replied, "Simple, the American put down on question #5, 'I don't know.' You put down, 'Neither do I'."
Dinner Party
A couple trying to break into society hosted a dinner party. As the guests were enjoying their dinner salad, the maid called the hostess from the table. The maid informed her that the cat had climbed on the kitchen table and eaten a large portion of the salmon's mid- section. The hostess decided to fill the eaten portion with some canned salmon and other camouflage. As the guests were enjoying the fish, the maid called the hostess into the kitchen and announced while wringing her hands, "Madam, the cat is dead."
The hostess and her husband informed the guests and suggested it might be best if everyone went to the hospital and had their stomachs pumped. Returning home, the couple asked the maid where she had put the cat.
"It is still out on the road where the car ran over it."
WHO'S THE BOSS?
All the organs of the body were having a meeting, trying to decide who was the one in charge.
"I should be in charge, "said the brain, "Because I run all the body's systems, so without me nothing would happen".
"I should be in charge" said the blood, "because I circulate oxygen all over, so without me you'd all waste away."
"I should be in charge," said the stomach," because I process food and give all of you energy."
"I should be in charge" said the legs, "because I carry the body wherever it needs to go."
"I should be in charge" said the eyes, "because I allow the body to see where it goes."
"I should be in charge, said the rectum, "Because I'm responsible for waste removal."
All the other body parts laughed at the rectum and insulted him, so in a huff, he shut down tight. Within a few days, the brain had a terrible headache, the stomach was bloated, the legs got wobbly, the eyes got watery and the blood was toxic. They all decided that the rectum should be the boss.
The Moral of the story? The asshole is usually in charge.
The Harem
Three guys were on a trip to Saudi Arabia. One day, they came upon this harem with over 100 beautiful women. They started getting friendly with all the women, when suddenly the Sheik came in. "I am the master of all these women. No one else can touch them except me. You three men must pay for what you have done today. You will each die and in a way corresponding to your profession."
The sheik turns to the first man and asks him what he does for a living. "I'm a cop," says the first man.
"All right, shoot his penis off!", said the sheik.
He then turned to the second man and asked him what he did for a living. "I'm a fireman," said the second man.
"All right, burn his penis off!" said the sheik.
Finally, he asked the last man, "And you, what do you do for a living?"
And the third man answered, with a big smile on his face, "I'm a lollipop salesman!"
Tennis Elbow
Bob complained to his friend "My elbow really hurts. I guess I should see a doctor." His friend offered, "Don't do that!!! There's a computer at the drug store that can diagnose anything, quicker and cheaper than a doctor. Simply put in a sample of your urine and the computer will diagnose your problem and tell you what you can do about it. It only costs $10.00."
Bob figured he had nothing to lose, so he filled a jar with a urine sample and went to the drug store. Finding the computer, he poured in the sample and deposited the $10.00. The computer started making some noises and the various lights started flashing. After a brief pause out popped a small slip of paper on which was printed:
You have tennis elbow
Soak your arm in warm water.
Avoid heavy labor
It will be better in two weeks.
Late that evening while thinking how amazing this new technology was and how it would change medical science forever, he began to wonder if this machine could be fooled. He decided to give it a try. He mixed together some tap water, a stool sample from his dog and urine samples from his wife and daughter. To top it off, he masturbated into the concoction. He went back to the drug store, located the machine, poured in the sample and deposited the $10.00. The machine again made the usual noise and printed out the following analysis:
Your tap water is too hard
Get a water softener.
Your dog has worms
Give him vitamins.
Your daughter's on drugs,
Put her in rehab.
Your wife's pregnant
It ain't yours---get a lawyer.
And if you don't stop jerking off, your tennis elbow will never get better.
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Leicester City 1 - 4 Liverpool
2001-10-20 12:30:05
Robbie Fowler repaid Liverpool caretaker boss Phil Thompson for restoring him to the starting line-up with a stunning hat-trick to plunge Leicester deeper into relegation trouble.
Fowler had been involved in a training ground bust-up with Thompson earlier in the season and was a non-playing substitute in the mid-week Champions League win away to Dinamo Kiev.
But he got the nod ahead of Jari Litmanen and Vladimir Smicer and responded with his first league goals of the campaign.
With Michael Owen almost back to fitness after his hamstring injury, it was perfect timing by Fowler who looked fit and sharp.
It was another tonic from the troops for Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier, who is recuperating in hospital after his cardiac operation a week ago.
The visitors took a grip in midfield from the first whistle via Jamie Redknapp, making his first Premiership appearance for 17 months after his long term knee problem, and Gary McAllister.
With Danny Murphy breaking forward to good effect down the left flank and Fowler so sharp in the middle, it was like men against boys in the opening 45 minutes.
But even the most partisan Liverpool fan would have to admit their side was given a helping hand by some appalling defending by the home side.
The Foxes' success of recent years has been built on their solid defending but now they are shipping goals with alarming ease and regularity.
Add this to the Foxes inability to find the net and it is clear that Bassett has massive problems to solve and precious little time to do it if his side are not to be cast adrift in the Premiership.
But at least Leicester seem to have recaptured their never-say-die spirit and the outcome might have been different but for some poor finishing by Ade Akinbiyi.
They also came up against a defender in prime form in Sami Hyypia.
Bassett had been given a tumultuous greeting by the City fans before the kick off - but within 10 minutes Liverpool had stormed into a 2-0 lead.
It was Fowler who broke the deadlock in the fourth minute following an inswinging corner from former Leicester midfielder McAllister.
Ian Walker did well to block a powerful close-range volley from John Arne Riise, who was completely unmarked at the far post, but the rebound fell straight to Fowler who tucked away his first Premiership goal of the season.
It was one-way traffic towards the home goal and Hyypia quickly doubled Liverpool's lead.
Again there was a question mark over the marking as McAllister swung in a free-kick to the near post and Hyypia got in front of Matt Elliott to send a glancing header past Walker.
Leicester rallied briefly and Akinbiyi was guilty of a glaring miss in the 17th minute.
He ran onto a pass from Lee Marshall but, with only Jerzy Dudek to beat, he curled his shot past the post.
Bassett had asked the fans to get behind the striker in the build-up to the game - but this miss was greeted with a crescendo of boos from the terraces.
Leicester tried to contain Liverpool by compressing play in their half and Matthew Jones started to make his presence felt in midfield.
But they failed to capitalise on a spell of pressure when Akinbiyi's touch again deserted him when he fired over from eight yards out after Elliott had headed a Callum Davidson centre back across goal.
Then two minutes before the interval Liverpool effectively killed off the game when Fowler grabbed his second goal.
The visitors were again given a helping hand when Lee Marshall made a mess of trying to clear on the right flank.
Danny Murphy seized on the loose ball and cut the ball back to the onrushing Fowler who made no mistake with a left-footed shot even though Walker got a hand to the ball.
It was a similar story in the early stages of the second half with Frank Sinclair having to make a crucial tackle to deny Fowler the chance of completing his hat-trick.
Leicester refused to throw in the towel and Lee Marshall volleyed over from close range after a Dennis Wise corner had only been half-cleared.
They finally ended a goal drought spanning 588 minutes when Wise sent a glancing header past Jerzy Dudek from a Callum Davidson cross.
But Akinbiyi's nightmare continued when he again volleyed over from close range after Trevor Benjamin had flicked on a Wise corner.
Then in the 89th minute Akinbiyi headed over from close range and covered his face with his shirt in anguish.
Fowler saved his best to last and in injury-time he volleyed past Walker in spectacular fashion following a cross from Smicer.
JOURNAL: poolfan (Shane H)
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