There's something very unpalatable about the hype surrounding Indonesia football team's progress in the AFF Cup. Everything has been so blown out of proportion thanks to PSSI and its infinite wisdom, no to mention the media and its insightfulness.
One victory ignited everything. The national team won by four-goal margin against Malaysia. This is surprising, considering that Malaysia isn't that weak of a team compared to us to begin with.
The media wasted no time at all to make the most use of it. While the pre-match news was primarily about precautionary steps taken by the Local Organizing Committee to prevent potential clash between Indonesian and Malaysian supporters, post-match reports were full of praises for the national team. As the team smoothly went further in the tournament, the media became more and more enthusiastic in their reports. By the sheer magnitude of it, one would've thought that we'd won the World Cup!
In no time at all, our gullible public started to fancy the team and the players whom several days before they couldn't care less about. Gelora Bung Karno suddenly found itself teeming with people battling to get their hands on match tickets. "Battling” is certainly not an overstatement here. What's with all the pushing and shoving, topped with PSSI's superb ticket distribution system, the GBK ground very much resembled a battling ground, even a plaza in riot a couple of times.
PSSI is no less quick in taking advantage of the situation. The PSSI Chief promptly laid claim to the national team's success, when everyone who has the slightest knowledge about Indonesian football can clearly see that we owe that thanks to the Head Coach Alfred Riedl. And seeing the enthusiasm of the masses, they raised the ticket prices without hesitation. It's quite funny really, to see that the ticket price to GBK is more expensive than that of corresponding category to the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, when Bukit Jalil has better seats and facility for spectators.
You think it's all there is to it? Not even close. For some reason those friendly guys in PSSI allowed their good buddy Aburizal Bakrie to invite all of the team to his house for breakfast (or is it lunch?). You really have to wonder. Why did someone who never showed any inclination towards football--apart from a somewhat frail connection to the sport: his brother owns a football club--come up with this gesture all of a sudden? He happens to be one of the wealthiest men in the country and probably a strong candidate for the presidency in 2014 General Election (God save us all!), though, if those things count.
And just when I thought things couldn't get more absurd than that, the PSSI Chief dragged the players to a pesantren in Jakarta for this prayer ceremony thingy two nights ago. I don't know if he's real pious or just plain stupid. At such late hour players should've been taking a rest, not going around for a night stroll. What all due respect, can't they just pray together in the place where they're staying?
For the sake of the players and the coaching staff, I do hope that they win the cup. PSSI, politicians, the media, and those glory-seeker supporters would readily bask in their glory whenever an opportunity presented itself. As soon as the team fails to live up to expectations, though, these people are the ones who would throw them away most easily. Just like that.
