Rooney

I won't even try to hide my admiration of this guy. He's a genius, he's quick, he's strong, he's good with the ball, he can strike, he can hold, he can dribble, he's aggressive, he's only 20 year-old, but he's injured. Having lived in England for many years, I've been infected by the passion of football. Since China haven't qualified for this year's World Cup finals, so I am going to be an England supporter. But, this guy got injured last Saturday, which I think England will have very little change to win it now.

The reason I say that is not because England do not have good players. But I think these established players do not have the "fearless" that you find in Rooney. I said when England played Uruguay in the last friendly, I saw Joe Cole doing tricks to the Uruguayan. Apart from that, the others were only trying to pass it as safely as they can, no tricks, no aggressive passes. Even Joe Cole's tricks weren't that agressive. Is that a result of the massive pressure they get from English people? I don't think that's the whole reason.

But the fact is, Rooney is injured, and he's very likely to be ready for the finals. It's a blow to the team, to this country, and to him as well. Yes he's still young, but David Beckham, Lampard will be too old to play 4 years later, even Gerrard and Owen will be 30 year-old by then.

Let's face the reality and start planning the alternatives. Personally I don't like Peter Crouch at all. He'll be completely useless when playing against other national teams in the World Cup, people will break his leg in the first match. I think Defoe, James Beattie, or even Dean Ashton will be possible candidates. Darren Bent has only shone for one year and not enough experience on big occasions (well, same for Ashton actually). Vassell and Andy Johnson can be considered too. Or push Joe Cole forward, then bring in Aaron Lennon (even more inexperienced, but that's alright, he only needs to run).

Enough bullshit, let's see what Eriksson will say on 8th May.

4/5, 1:41am BST
Watched Matrix: Revolution tonight. Never watched it before, only heard the story line or the concept from someone else. But, oh my god, the computer graphics were so so good. The robots, flying ships, evil machines, agent Smith x 1000000, all look so real. Now I know why it's a great movie / series.

Also watched a short documentary called "Fans United". It was about how businesses have forced football fans to betray the clubs that they love with full hearts, and go away to set up their own clubs. Few years ago, the company that owned Wimbledon FC decided to re-locate the club to Milton Keynes, 70 miles, which they think they can generate more revenue. The local Wimbledon fans were gutted, and went on to set up the new AFC Wimbledon football club, run by fans. It's been proven a success as it kept being promoted and having a sizeable fan base week in and week out.

Another example is FC United of Manchester. It is set up by fans of Manchester United, which were taken-over by the American Glazer family last summer. The new owner had to borrowed most of the 700milliion pounds that it spent, and now transferring the cost by putting up the price of season tickets by more than 12%. Fans who felt hard done by set up this small club FC United, and now playing in a league which is 10 below the Premiership (it's called North West Counties League Second Division, see here).

What amazing is, Barcelona FC is another club that is owned by fans!!! Fans have the right to vote for club decisions, including which manager to hire. Hope the two clubs mentioned above can someday achieve what Barcelona FC has done, and beat their original clubs.