An emphatic 3-0 win.
Who’d have expected? I bet many Malaysians, myself included, had already written off our ‘Harimau Malaya’ the minute we knew we were going to face Indonesia in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup Finals. Most of us were leaving the results in God’s hands. Some may have prayed extra hard, asking Malaysia not to falter by a big goal margins. We all know Malaysian football all too well. Expect too much, and you end up disappointed.
The 3-0 win surely ignited some sort of confidence in Malaysians. 3-0 is a good lead. A very good one indeed, but lets not get carried away. Remember how Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005? They trailed 3-0, and had less than 90 minutes to win the cup, but did it anyway. In the 2nd leg of the AFF Suzuki Cup Finals to be played in Jakarta, Indonesia has a full 90 minutes, with a guaranteed capacity home crowd (minus the 500 ‘brave’ Malaysians supporters) at their disposal. Regardless, I’m sure the Malaysians are still exorbitantly pleased with a comfortable lead.
For our fellow friends in red and white, the headlines say it all. No, no… screw news headlines. Twitter trends say it all. You have #MalaysiaCheatLaser #hateMalaysia #curang making the top 10 trending topics on Twitter. Malaysia might also be number one on Indonesian’s least favorite countries.
The laser incident?
Unless those idiots using the laser beams were using military grade laser beams, I’m pretty sure the effect was minimal to the game, but for what’s it worth… shame on those choosing to spoil such a beautiful game by trying to cheat. I’d rather loose the match than win cheating. I’m damn sure the Malaysian football team would feel the same. Interestingly, the Jakarta Globe said that Malaysia deserved the win and that Malaysian coach, K. Rajagopal should be employed by Arsenal. In addition to that, have you seen the 3 goals? It’s practically impossible for the players to be blinded or distracted by lasers during those three goals. The goals are simply awesome! Check ’em out below.
The Second Leg In Jakarta.
I bet everyone in Malaysia is expecting Malaysia to be greeted with boos and jeers as emotions of our dear Indonesians run high during the finals. We are also anticipating probably huge laser beams directed straight to our goalkeepers face, as well as posters and banners condemning Malaysia BUT I bet Indonesians are better than that, and they would be no such incidents. In fact, I am sure the supporters will be well behaved, matured and geared up with a full level of sportsmanship.
As for our ‘unexpected’ Malaysian team
The words ‘Malaysia Can!’ is all you guys need. So get in there (Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta) and bring back the AFF Suzuki Cup back to Malaysia. Prove that MALAYSIA, BOLEH!!, and please… lets hope this time, it’s not another false alarm.