Wok of Life of a Wannabe Wanderer?

Well..well..well.. these two days newspapers’ headlines all revolve around Football in midst of AFC Asian Cup Fever, following our own national team heroic act in the group stage against Asian giants, several times world cup participants, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. This is our own turf! A slogan which surely lifts the spirit and motivation of players. It’s a pity though that Indonesia fail to go through to the next round. But nevertheless, we have to admit that they indeed had shown the best effort, didn’t let us down as the fans.

Weeks before, reached the consensus with fellow colleagues to watch the first match between Korea and Saudi, but it was cancelled at the eleventh hour. Phew, as usual, planned agenda in the office rarely realizes. No special reason not planning for Indonesia reason. The anxiety over the security overshadowed the passion to support the national team. Not surprising though, given the reputation of our fanatic supporters.

Thought that I would not watch any Asian Cup matches at all. But a phone call from Athai changed everything. Three of us went to watch the match. With Athai and Gun, we set-off at 5pm with necessary attributes of course. Trade mark "Red" national costume bought just outside the stadium (the imitated version =p). It was so crowded since everyone was eager to support the team after a shock 2-1 win over Bahrain. Managed to get inside the stadium in matter of time and took several photos including one with three Saudi fans.

It was a truly memorable experience to watch a live match with more than 80,000 spectators. In the built-up of the match, the fans were cheering with some waiving act and great chanting to send out the support to the players on field. The roar of the crowd and hearing of 80,000+ people singing national’s anthem before the match really sent shiver down my spine. Even after Saudi’s first goal, the sounds were still loud and the entire stadium was almost erupted with joy screaming after we equalised the score. Not a single second that the stadium was quiet, only a few moments when Saudi scored the second goal in the last dying minute. When will be experiencing such moment again ?

Football is really something special. It can unite people together. It can bridge differences between two sides. It even can bring two nations in war together. In our day lives, football can lead to a very lengthy conversation between people. Two completely strangers can chat like they have known each other for a long time when it comes to football, more over if they are supporting the same team. That’s the power of football, overcoming politics, religions, cultures, etc. Remind me of one motto I heard : We are all living in the same world, the world of football.

Hopefully can watch the live match once again. Preferably Australia! That would be one glorious chance to watch Harry Kewell plays, before next stop over.. Watching football match live @ Anfield! In two years time maybe ?

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 9:48 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.