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.