Harimaus Spirit

If you walk in the street or sitting at a mamak store, you will notice that our victory in SEA game football event has become the most talk-about thing. I met up with an elderly Malay gentleman at a luncheon yesterday who was suffering from toothache and having difficulty in eating, so I asked him what caused his toothache and he told me that he was too excited watching the SEA game match between Malaysia and Indonesia the night before and when our last penalty taker netted a goal in such a “dramatic” way, he was overjoyed and his teeth started to ache. I thought of laughing at him but when I thought it over again, hey, I was also having the moments of palpitation before our brave goal keeper saved the fifth penalty by the Indonesian and we netted our last one to bring us a gold medal with such a close of a margin, 4-3 on penalty kick-off.

It was such a heart-pumping game to watch, not so technically beautiful as both sides made countless errors but very spirited one indeed. Players from both camps were fighting hard; the young Indonesians were attacking since the very beginning and netted a goal so early at about 5 minutes from the start. I was thinking that it probably was the end for the Malaysian team but a few counter attacks by the highly spirited harimau muda yielded an equalizer not too long after that and the fist half ended on even hand at 1-1. Second half was also not less exciting as both camps exchanged attacks after attacks and missed ample of opportunities probably due to physical fatigue and the extra-time also ended without a goal.

It was the spirits and the never-say-die attitude of the young harimaus, in my opinion, that edging the Indonesians in the end. May be the hostility of the Indonesian fans also posed a mental-wearing effect on the players as the burdens on their shoulders were probably holding them back. 2 out of 5 Indonesian players missed the penalty while only one from our side missed it.


Well done Harimaus, even some may have regarded that you all are simply a big fish in a small pond but to me and probably millions and millions of fans country wide, you gave us a truly memorable night and your guts demonstrated to us that even in adverse circumstances, we can still continue to fight for a victory.

Go go Harimaus

If you ask me what is the most important thing about sports, I will say that it is none other than the opponent/s as if there is no opponent; you can’t even start up a game or whatsoever. Computer games may be, you can fight with the computer but in sporting events, you need opponent. So it is a pre-requisite of any game to shake hands with your opponents in showing of respect to each other. Your opponents may be weaker or stronger than you are but without him or her, there will be no competition.

I was a bit amused when our young harimaus were ferried in and out of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in armoured vehicles when they were playing Indonesians at the group state which they emerged with a slim 1-0 victory. And more likely than not, it will be the same thing happening tonight as for safety reasons, our players will probably have to squeeze themselves into the Barracudas again just like what they did at the group stage. There will be some 100,000 hostile Indonesian fans flocking into the stadium and even the Indonesian authority is worrying of the eruption of untoward incident during the final.

Some of our players were complaining of the bad experience of having a suffocating trip in the Barracudas during the group stage but if they look at the bright side, it was a good experience anyway, how many of us have the experience of cramping into the armoured vehicles? Barracudas are meant for war zone anyway, and because of the intensity of the game to the fans, their emotions could run rally high that some of them might do some really stupid things which could even lead to injuries or deaths. It happened before and too often in the past that some notorious football fans were barred from entering other countries because of their unacceptable behaviours and stupid conducts.

It is a long awaited match for the Malaysian football fans since we won the Suzuki Cup but if our young harimaus are capable of coping with the pressure and playing with character and grit, just like how they did in the group stage against the same opponents, they will emerge champions once again and that will send across a strong message to the unsporting fans of Indonesian that they should indeed give equal respects to their own players and the opponents. Without a well worthy opponent, there would not be an exciting match for us to watch.

Go go harimaus....................