Asians Shun Sleep for Portugal 2004
From communist Vietnam and military-ruled Myanmar to modern, squeaky clean Singapore, soccer-mad Asians are sacrificing sleep to watch the likes of David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane battle it out in Euro 2004.
Matches beamed live from Portugal may not start before midnight in most parts of Asia, and some end just before dawn.
But that has not dimmed ardour for the 'beautiful game' in a region where European stars are as big -- if not bigger -- than on their home turf.
While this has mostly translated into bleary eyes at the office and a thirst for coffee, in Malaysia the tournament sparked a marital tiff after a salesman's wife caught him watching Sunday night's England-France clash against her orders.
Awoken by her husband's cry of anguish at French skipper Zinedine Zidane's injury-time winner, the wife confiscated the TV remote control and satellite smart card and imposed a soccer ban.
"She refused to allow me to watch the game although I promised not to oversleep or shun my responsibility of sending the children to school," the 46-year-old told the Star newspaper. "My wife just doesn't understand my passion for football."
Wives are not the only worried ones.
Bosses in Singapore are alarmed at the prospect of fatigued fans after the obsessively efficient city state allowed more bars to stay open round the clock and screen matches broadcast between midnight and 5 a.m.
Some companies have even sent reminders to staff doctors to watch out for patients feigning sickness to skip work during the tournament, according to state broadcaster Channel News Asia.
Fans, though, don't seem to care -- football comes first.
"If I have to sleep late, very late, I don't mind. I'll sleep very late. Even if I'm working the next day, I'll still catch the matches," said one Singaporean. "It's only for a month."
Soccer truancy has even taken hold in straight-laced Vietnam, where the official Vietnam News daily said more than half the male staff at a number of offices in the capital, Hanoi, came in late to work on Monday.
In a bid to beat the blues, state television has resorted to rebroadcasting the worst-offending matches, which start at 1.45 in the morning, at 6 a.m. so fans can catch the action before going to work on time.
Thailand, which is meant to be buying a chunk of English Premiership club Liverpool, has gone into party mode, displaying almost as much fervour as those who have the advantage of actually being in Portugal -- and actually being European.
Huge TV screens have popped up in squares in Bangkok, where it is now difficult to enter a supermarket or massage parlour without being accosted by staff done up in football bras and skirts, or the strip of the various Euro 2004 teams.
This is not enough for many betting-mad Thais, who are reported to be flooding to neighbouring Cambodia, where gambling is legal, to have a flutter on their favourite sides in casinos just yards over the border.
Fans in China might be criticised for forgetting that soccer is still just a game.
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