Indonesia Loses AFF Suzuki Cup with High Pride

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Despite Indonesia’s failure to grab the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup’s trophy, tens of thousands of Indonesian soccer fans kept chanting for their loved team on Wednesday night. They even left the Gelora Bung Karno stadium at 09.10 PM Jakarta time with high pride.

The "Red and White" team won the second leg of the cup’s final match by scoring 2-1 but the Malaysian team grabbed the trophy due to their aggregate victory 4-2.

Wearing various Garuda (eagle) team’s logos and symbols, the Indonesian fans changed the stadium into the "sea of red". That color represented Indonesia during the AFF Suzuki Cup’s matches.     

A number of Indonesian spectators brought banners reading "We are indeed proud of our Garuda. Losing is better than winning the cup with deceit".     

The banners’ message might be related to the Malaysian fans’ unfair treatment by pointing their laser pointers at the Indonesian soccer players, especially the goal keeper, in the first leg of the cup’s final in Kuala Lumpur on December 26. 

As a result, the Indonesian goal keeper, Markus Horison, and other players protested the laser pointing incident, disrupting the two teams’ match for a short moment.

But after the protest, the Indonesian soccer players were beaten by the Malaysian team with 3-0.   Despite their everlasting support for the Garuda squad, the Indonesian fans demanded the resignation of the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) Chief Nurdin Halid.

Nurdin Halid was regarded by the Indonesian fans to have failed to provide the public with good ticketing services. Therefore crowds of final match ticket buyers got angry and broke one of the Gelora Bung Karno stadium’s gates on December 26.

More than a thousand ticket buyers entered the Gelora Bung Karno’s soccer field, causing some grass to get damaged.  "Nurdin Halid only takes care of the money but fails to serve the public with good ticketing. As a result, lots of people do not get the final match’s tickets," said Bachtiar, a local spectator.

In securing the second leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup’s final match, the Jakarta Metropolitan police deployed about 7,000 personnel.  Despite the Garuda squad’s failure to grab the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup’s championship title, the players’ spectacular struggle won public appreciation, including Vice President Boediono.