The lost was not an easy one. The flair and the amount of support in the Shah Alam Stadium was just tremendous. In the beginning, we won on emotion. The feeling was great. It looked like a party has already started even before the game begun. However, soon, it seems, a big turnout does not correlate with the outcome of the results in favour of the homesters.
Winning requires a winning attitude. Winning attitude comes from the players themselves. Physically, the players had enough rest since the last game against Singapore. But mentally, who knows? The human mind is a very complex hardware. A misconnection anywhere leads to a change in behaviour - for the better or not. A tired footballers' mind leads to a tired and lackluster play.
They may have been overjoyed with the winning in Singapore. Or, they may be pressured to repeat the similar feat in their home ground. Worst, in front of the overzealous home supporters. Naturally, to the players, no mistake should be made. All these to please the home supporters.
These are all distractions. Thinking about it is tiring. It takes a toll on both the mind and body. The current situation may have been taxing on the mind and body of the players.
But, they are in a competition. When you are in a competition, more discipline routines need to be applied. Sleeping early, no junkies and no smoking. In the World Cup, some team managers even refrain footballers from sex. The pressure is heightened as you move up the ladder. The focus is to reach the top of the ladder, without having to worry about the tail winds and height.
Being focus also means that the players cannot distract themselves with the anger within. Reactive response to anger will trigger off unnecessary actions on the field. The team does not need a red or yellow card. It is not all about self. Being yellow carded shows how desperate a team is to win unfairly. A red card is like throwing in the towel in expectation to defeat. It is unfair not only to the other 10 left fighting on the field, but also to the paying fans and the sponsors of the event. And there is nothing cool about it being seen by children.
The defends is all in disarray. Too much rooms were given to VN strikers to manoeuvre in the Malaysian half. The recovery from attack to defense is slow. Most of the time, half the team were still wandering in VN's half when the counter attack is launched.
Then the fans. The local newspapers reported the clash between the Malaysian and VN supporters. In an online portal, a VN supporter were shown bleeding in the face, possibly due to some hard objects thrown to him. Wonder what impression will it create to the rest of the footballing world? Hostile Malaysian supporters?
We want to win. They too want to win. Nobody likes losing. The competition is intense. But supporters will need to know their scope - to support the team to go on. Not supporting violence. Responding to their provokes, if any reduces us to their level. Human being human, the tendency to revenge is always a possibility. Now, with the bloodied image of a VN supporter, wouldn't that be a cause for crusade from his countrymen to hit at ours?
Its important that Coach Dollah pick up the pieces, nurse any injury and rebound back in the returning match. As for supporters, let our chant of "ayuh Malaysia" be a spirit burner for the players.
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