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....................