INDONESIAN football fans are in a daze following their national team’s shocking defeat by Malaysia in the first-leg final of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) championship.
Many had expected the more polished Indonesian side under coach Alfred Riedl to run riot over the young Malaysians in the same way for a 5-1 victory in a group match in Jakarta on Dec 1.
Indonesia had gone on a flawless run to reach the final. They also thrashed Laos 6-0 and eliminated fancied Thailand 2-1 in Group A. And in the semi-finals score 1-0 win over surprise package the Philippines in both legs.
But Malaysia brought them down to earth. The big defeat for Indonesia had somewhat taken away the excitement and thrill from the fans, who had placed high hopes on the team to claiming a first-ever AFF championship title .
There was not much fanfare around town in Jakarta yesterday. But there were the old faithful, the petty street traders, who put Indonesian jerseys on sale in the vicinity of the entrance to the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
The Indonesian fans are expected to be back in force at the stadium tomorrow to provide their team a final push as they bid to overturn a 0-3 deficit.
The AFF confirmed that a total of 70,000 tickets had been sold to the fans. The would also be three giants screens near the stadium to view the match for the Suzuki Cup.
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