As I write this, Malaysia just defeated Indonesia in a SEA Games football group match, which means they have booked a place in the semis. Just another step to defend their title I'd say. Another step to wait for it...... World Cup - most of Malaysian fans would reply.
Malaysia fans, being err.... Malaysians, are having a good time, taking a piss at our neighbors who prior to the match, weren't much of a sport anyway.
Come on. Calling us Malingsia? Not cool. Anyway, I'm here not to talk about Indonesians (who are actually totally sore losers). I only know a few personally and they are a nice lot (pretty girls too!). Probably because they don't give much shit into football.
I'm here to talk about Malaysian football team and its fans, and how, to a certain extent, we are not much different than the English when it comes to supporting our national team.
I read somewhere on Twitter where a friend compared the Malaysia-Indonesia rivalry to the English-German thing in Europe, with Malaysia being, due to high influence of the colonial times and exposure to the BPL, England. Correct comparison? Possibly yes. Then our rivalry with Singapore should be like between England-Scotland and the one with Thailand is akin to the one the English have against the French perhaps.
You know why we are like the English? It's because Malaysian fans walk on a very fine line when it comes to the support for national team. A fine line that divides them to die-hard (so called ultra) supporters one second then a very pessimistic observer the next (moi)
Every win is greeted with "This is the change of fortune we need. We can only go up from here. This is our year. Hello WORLD CUP! (In England's case, winning it. In our case, qualifying past the second round).
Surely nothing is wrong with being a little optimistic. Heck, us football fans are all like that. Hey, I know that. This is Liverpool's year, i tell you! But what shits me is how high expectations are set, even when the foundations are so bloody wobbly at best.
Instead of taking it one game at a time, they're already setting targets - next, Asia Cup, then Olympics, THEN, World Cup! Seriously? With the quality you saw on the field? We only got through because the Indonesians took a leaf from Luis Suarez' book on how to miss sitters.
I was at FAM a couple weeks ago and to quote a friend who share the same feeling about the place - it is a shithole. Dilapidated state. You know how bad? Remember that abandoned block in secondary school where the school stashed all the broken chairs, tables and where the smoking kids go to take a puff but during recess, you kinda missed the whole thing because you happen to look the other way? That's how it was.
The only 'high-tech' thing I could point at FAM was the artificial pitch. Apparently they've had it for a while now. Really cool. Balls travel much more evenly, you don't get weird bounces and hardly hurt yourself if you fall on it.
Hold on. Weren't we complaining about the artificial pitch in the Jalan Besar stadium when we lost to Singapore? Kenapa dah tau, tak pulak training awal-awal?? Ah. Malaysians and their excuses.
It doesn't matter. Old story. The team is playing 'well' now.
Confidence is so stupidly high, that the commentators were like "Why are they giving chance to Cambodia in the second half?" during the 3-1 win a few days back. Hello! All goals, except for the third one, which was a beauty but in stoppage, were flukes, aite. They were running around like headless chickens and wayward passes that makes me question - budak-budak ni ada training basics of passing and trapping the ball ke???!
The team was all over the place and whoever thinks Ong Kim Swee is doing a good job probably thinks Roy Hodgson ought to be allowed a full season at LFC. Fact is, the reason Malaysia is 'up there' at the moment because other teams are shit. Hey, so quick to forget we lost to Singapore who fielded washed-out imports kan? Only highlight naturalized players, yet forgetting, they were old and overweight.
Deep down, I do hope Harimau Malaya prove me wrong, and really, succeed in "membawa kembali kegemilangan bolasepak zaman lampau" soon, starting with successfully defending their Gold in Sea Games. The hardest game is always the next. So keep your head straight, and take one game at a time. Focus one tourney at a time la. And stop the 'Japan used to be lower than us,' shit. It's pathetic.
Would be cool to one day, be able to take my kid to a World Cup match and watch the boys in tiger stripes play but judging on how they are progressing at the moment..... we might have a better chance of spotting a Malaysian-born referee running around. Fingers crossed for a better future in Malaysian football.
And stop playing that Hitam Kuning song. It's stupid.
0 comments:
Post a Comment