Forever Black and Yellow…go Tiger!

It’s been almost 40 hours since the memorable game ended. It was the game with the Harimau Malaya securing a gold medal as a defending champion of the SEA Games 2011 football sport. Yet, people are still talking passionately about it at restaurants, Facebook, online forums, other media, and anywhere with a bunch of Malaysians around. The fire of the game is still very much alive…and roaring :)

The game really topped the finals of AFF Suzuki 2010 in terms of emotional display and Malaysian unity. It was no longer just for a gold medal, but a game to gain the national pride that was repeatedly tainted by flag burnings, bus-knocking, crowd-booing, desecration of national anthem, biased judging, and so on. With all the gold medals offered, that gold was the most important. It was coined the mother of all gold medals….and we’ve won it fair and square.

Truthfully, I’m not really a football fanatic (I belonged in a small percentage of weirdness in the Malaysian community where most people are either Liverpool or MU supporters). But I do have my moments of passion in football. I remember the Malaysia Cup finals back in 1991 when the Johor team fought against Selangor. The match was very dramatic, with Johor was down to 9 players due to injury and red card. It was Johor against all odds…and the team won 3 – 1 in the end. Boy I remember that clearly….plus my father’s memorable screams throughout the game.

Last Monday’s fight was a little bit similar to that….with lots of drama and gut-wrenching moments. The Harimau Malaya started slow and steady…and out of nowhere, a sudden goal was scored by Gunawan of Garuda at minute 5 of the first half of the game. That was a big downer, considering that the game was just starting and Malaysia faced tremendous pressure to get a tying goal to even things out. Mohd Asraruddin managed to do that with a very unique goal at minute 34. The second half of the game started with Harimau Malaya being more in the offensive mode compared to the first half. 

Two extra-time periods were given when both teams were unable to score a winning goal. Offside goals by both teams were a big teaser (I was very fortunate that my heart is in stable condition during that time).  Fakri was not a favourite among Malaysian fans that night due to his inconsistency in performance, with failed golden goal attempts and an easy third penalty kick. But all was temporarily forgiven through Khairul Fahmi’s amazing saves and Badrool’s goal that seal the deal to win the game for Malaysia. At that joyful moment, my wife and I gave our loudest roar of cheers….together with our condo neighbours.

The passion didn’t stop there. Rushed to my car at 6am yesterday to listen to the Hitz Morning Crew (they are very passionate in displaying their support for the Harimau Malaya…and they tend to inject a happy smile in your face). Was really keen to listen to their commentaries about the game. DJ JJ’s voice sounded hoarse due to lots of cheering. The DJs played Queen’s We are the Champions after that, and mentioned about their bet against Jak FM of Indonesia (resulted with the latter having to play Malaysian songs the whole day) The first song that Jak FM played for the day was Ultras Malaya-Selamanya…and that personally brings happy thoughts to me till today.

Harimau Malaya will be having the Olympic qualifying match against Syria tonight. Win or lose, you’re already a legend in the history of Asian football. All the best guys…..aummmm!

 The team celebrating their win :)