Last Night Disappointment

Last night AFF Suzuki Cup final was held at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Malaysia. As a truly Indonesian, of course I give support to my national team. Together with millions of other Indonesians, I watched on tv last night match between Indonesia vs Malaysia. I put so much hope and wish that Indonesia will win this match. Unfortunately, we lost 0-3 to Malaysia. And it makes our players have to fight a lot harder in the next leg in Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium, Indonesia. We have to win with minimum score 4-0. Surely it will be not an easy match for us. Winning the match with big score like that takes a lot of work.

Yes, I was disappointed, still am. And I need someone or something to blame. In this post, I will not blame our players or Coach Alfred Riedl or team as a whole. Instead we have to give them credits. Winning or losing they have done their best, and that something. We must appreciate their effort in this Cup.

Also, I will not blame green laser just like Indonesian supporters out there had blamed. They said Malaysian supporters were cheating by pointing green laser to our players therefore distracting their concentration. Okay, I must admit I was upset seeing green light on my players' face. I thought it was provoking and it was distracting Markus and friends' concentration. Markus even twice denied to continue the game. One in first half and one in second half. The last one made a referee had to stop the game for a moment until there was no laser.

After approximately five minutes, game was continued. And this was a turning point for Indonesia, in a negative sense. I could see clearly that our players had lost their concentration and focus. It wasn't because of a laser or firecracker or whatever. It was themselves were the problem. After that break, our player couldn't bring themselves back to a level or state just like in they were in first half. They simply lost it. Plus, a quick goal from Malaysia striker, Safee Sali, made our defenders panicked. And that were ruining our rhythm of play.

Fans: So, who or what you're blaming for Indonesian's defeat, Kim?

First, I blame all the media that exaggerate and exploit our national team players. Just like I said on my previous post, over publicities were annoying. Please, Media, they are not a circus show. They are athletes whom are in the middle of competition and therefore need to focus. And, you, all of you, are disturbing them with your stupid stories. You force them to interview them while they're forbidden by Coach Riedl to talk to you. And you're exploiting their families and their life. If you need a story, go to Nurdin Halid. Expose his corruption in PSSI. Make that as your headlines. Blow up PSSI incompetencies for selling ticket that had caused riot yesterday in GBK. See? Those are stories that you can have. And if with your stories you could dethrone Nurdin Halid from his reign, I will be so much in debt to you.

Second, I blame Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia (Indonesian Football Association) Chief Nurdin Halid, and his staff, for agitating Coach Riedl and his players. For example, Nurdin Halid took the players to Bakrie's house to have lunch there. He gave speech that said without The Bakries' donation during these years, it was impossible for PSSI to administer national championship. Well, and another kind of crap. Last thing I heard, Nurdin Halid made the players to come to istighosah!

Please, Nurdin. You are overacting and overdramatize things. Indonesia won five times and played impressive was because of their own effort and hard work, not by your stupid politics and your bootlicking your powerful friends. What's the point having lunch at Bakrie's house? What's istighosah for? Are you doubting our players never pray to their God? If you are, please, that is none of your concern. Just let them pray the way they choose how to pray. No need istighosah. That (taking them to istighosah) is one of your stupid acts.

All I'm trying to say is our national team players are neither celebrities nor politicians. Have occured to your mind with all rubbish publicities from media might put a lot pressures on their shoulder? And they don't understand and don't care with politics. So, having a lunch with politicians or praying together to win the match meant nothing. I think instead of doing this and that which has been scheduled by PSSI, they'd prefer use their time to practice or to rest.

I know we're in euphoria. We're so happy seeing our players showed us good games. In group phase we beat Malaysia 5-1, Laos 6-0, Thailand 2-1, and in semifinal we defeated Phillipine 2-0 aggregate score. No wonder we have high expectation on our Garuda players. There is nothing wrong with that. But, we shall not forget that ball is round. Sometimes we play magnificent, sometimes we play thrash. You can win five times in a row, but there is also a possibility that you can lose five times in a row. This is football.

Now, let us pretend we're playing for national team. If we want to win, we've got to be focus on the game. We train hard, follow what our coach says, and screw with all publicities and politics. We're an athlete, not a celebrity or politician. If we lose a game, evaluate yourself and your friends. Listen feedback from our coach. Next, promise to ourselves that we will not make any stupid mistakes. Last, believe in ourselves that actually we can beat any opponents as long as we play discipline. Show to our supporters our invincible team work. Show them our good passings, nice dribblings, our good ball protection, sturdy defence, threat our opponents with our shots, and such. Tell them that we're dominating the game with our ball possession.

Somehow, I believe Malaysia had done this and they have proven to us that they, Malaysia, deserves to win last night match. No doubt about it.

6 comments

  1. the game last night gave us a lesson that overconfidence was not good..

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  2. yeah, maybe our player is'nt ready for this all. Yip, this is over-expectation. And Markus should be changed. He always make blunder

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  3. Aku rasa yang overconfidence itu si PSSI itu. Tapi entahlah...

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  4. dan sepertinya markus besok bakal diganti deh. Dia cidera kan.

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  5. The last match was indeed a shocking defeat for us... So sad...

    Some people should let the manager & officials take care of the players & the tactic, don't ruin their concentration.

    Celebrities, politicians, media, don't disturb them!

    PSSI, just be concentrated on how to manage the tournament well. The ticketing system's a big failure.

    Malaysians, keep your laser (pointers), you're not Darth Vader nor Luke Skywalker.

    Indonesian supporters, let's be sportive (don't copy the laser attack, don't throw 3kg LPG gas cylinders to the pitch) and pray all the best for our national team. 6 - 0 for Indonesia! Amiin...

    Btw, nice post :)

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  6. The fact is, those people will never leave Coach Riedl alone. They will always bug Coach Riedl and his teams. Of course that will annoy Coach Riedl. How will he handle his team if he always get intervensions from "those people"?

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