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.

Boediono highly appreciated the spectacular struggle of Indonesian soccer team against Malaysia in the final match here Wednesday night but good luck did not belong to the Garuda squad.

After watching the second legs of the cup’s final match which was won by the Garuda (eagle) squad with 2-1, Boediono said the good luck did not belong to Indonesia in this Wednesday night’s match.

"The good luck has yet to be with us tonight despite a number of good chances that our players have made and their so high fighting spirit," he said.     

Vice President Boediono watched the final match on TV at his official residence here with his staff members, security guards, and a number of journalists. He said the "Red and White" players had done their best in the 90-minute match.

"I pray for our national team’s success in the future," he said.  The Indonesian soccer team won the second leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup’s final with 2-1 but the championship trophy was grabbed by Malaysia with an aggregate victory of 4-2.

Garuda team members performed well from the beginning with the enthusiastic support of over a hundred thousand fans, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono at the cup’s final match at Gelora Bung Karno stadium here Wednesday evening.

In the first leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup’s final in Kuala Lumpur on December 26, the Malaysian tiger crushed Garuda (eagle) 3-0. Actually Indonesia had beaten Malaysia in the cup’s preliminary competition  5-1 in Jakarta.

But the performance of the Malayan tiger squad successfully improved and beat Vietnam in the cup’s semifinal. Indonesia itself could get the final ticket after beating the Philippines in the first and second legs of the cup’s semifinal at Gelora Bung Karno stadium.

Indonesia’s victory against the Philippines team in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup’s semifinal last Sunday evening had revived  the nation’s pride but the "Red and White" squad was not successful in grabbing the AFF Suzuki Cup’s trophy. As Vice President Boediono had said, Indonesia was just not fortunate.