No excuses

A dominant performance that could have been undone by the home fans. Never has Malaysia looked so impressive in the past 20 years but what was a fairy tale start to the 2 legged final with the 2^nd leg on Indonesian soil this Wednesday, could have turned into a nightmare had Indonesian goalkeeper, Marcus Horison, continued to argue is fragility as a human being. Some fans thought it would be a fantastic idea to shine lasers into his eyes. Some fans had red lights. Some had green lights. It was hard to tell who or where they were coming from but it can be ascertained that the ones with the green lights had bad aim: they had their lights on his jersey most the time.

Morning radio shows had caller-ins describe the laser beams antics as ‘very much of the game’ with one caller comparing it to the English Premier League where fans shout abuse to unsettle opposition players and that we simply have to accept it. The DJ then concurred stating that in basketball games, home fans would wave their finger foams during opposition free throws.

What is more embarrassing that those idiots who thought their actions were for the goodness of the team and part of FIFA’s fight for fair play are the bigger idiots that see nothing wrong with the actions of those fans. There can be no excuses for this sort of behaviour which is both unsportsmanlike and near uncivilized.  I was cringing the first time the referee took notice to this offence in the first half and 55 minutes into the game, the referee stopped the play and ordered both sets of players to the subs bench. He had every right to call an end to the game and probably handing Malaysia a 3-0 lose but thankfully, common sense took priority and he merely called a lengthy time-out. Malaysia did win 3-0 through a Safee Sali brace and that other guy whom I can’t remember the name because, I’d like to point out, Safee played for Sarawak before moving on to greener pastures.

I blame the idiotic fans who decided to play Luke Skywalker and use the force (lasers). But that is expected of them as the average Malaysian football fan who go to games are wankers with jelly for brain. Sarawak fans would gladly rip out plastic seats and throw them onto the track. They’d cheer if their projectiles hit a match official. They’d gladly walk home barefoot if their slippers are the only thing left to throw. This is the classic case of not knowing the consequences of their actions. Should the game be cancelled, they’d blame the players, officials but never the dickhead that looks back at them through the mirror.

I believe the police could have done a better job. There were already complaints from Vietnam when they played the semifinals against Malaysia. A person with brains would have thought about patting down fans at the turnstile. A moron would say that would take forever and the match would be long over by the time everyone gets in. It would take forever if the gates were open only 2 hours prior to kick-off. It’s a final. Open it 5 hours in advance. If fans want to miss the game, they can come late.

The point is, the police or those in charge of security should have thought about prevention in contrast to the obvious plan which was probably some muscle head saying “If we have a lot of men in groups, fans will be intimidated by our force..” That worked to a peach. And just to show how scared they were, someone lit flares and another lit firecrackers. Soooooo effective.

Don’t forget, return leg is on Wednesday 8pm if you’re in Malaysia, 7pm if you’re in Indonesia and if you are, say you’re from Singapore.