10 – 0

Indonesians love football. Hundreds of thousands watch matches played in Europe’s main competitions. So to them it was great news that  after reaching the finals of the Suzuki cup last year, Alfred Riedl who was Indonesia’s football team’s coach at the time, was confident that ‘our side can raise (it’s) game and achieve fairly good results’ .

It perhaps could have, but it didn’t.

After a tavern bawl style of infighting the bunch of incompetent administrators who were in charge were chased away by another set of incompetent administrators. With unprecedented talent for the wrong decisions the ‘winners’ sacked the successful coach immediately.

The organizational situation went from worst possible to farcical since. Still officially backed by FIFA,  PSSI is now busy fighting an uphill battle with a break-away organization  that exploits a Super League of it’s own. The rebels have ‘stolen” the best players. And in the meantime the national team squandered it’s flimsy chances to reach for the first time since 1938, the World Championship in Brazil 2014.

No doubt the CSIS study revealing Indonesia’s very young democracy has fallen seriously ill and might need admission at Intensive Care  is more important, but  the real Indonesian football fan got knocked of his or her feet by something else last Wednesday. After the series of previous defeats, Indonesia’s national football squad lost 10 – 0.  The worst result ever.

There is a difference between loosing and LOOSING. The giant lion Bahrain ate tender lamb Indonesia that night.

It’s an extraordinary result for sure. Amazing. Almost unbelievable. Eyebrows have been raised and the words “match fixing”  were in the air. Pundits said it was too much of a coincidence that the host team’s last straw’s chances to qualify required a goal difference of exactly ten. Fifa, itself riddled with scandals of corruption,  immediately announced an investigation >:\. Like  a capo dei capi ordering an investigation of suspicions of corruption in Napoli .:) .

I guess FIFA will conclude nothing was wrong.  And for once I think they probably are right. Because the final  score should not have come as a surprise. The Indonesian team appears to have been playing against the odds. Rookies had to replace the banned players from the Super League , the goalkeeper was sent off the pitch after two minutes reducing the squad from eleven to ten and Bahrain was offered four penalties by the referee.

It’s more likely the abominable structural and cultural context which impedes Indonesian football to flourish is to be blamed.

Alfred Riedl had a point. The national squad was on the right track  a year ago.The game was improving, their coach was competent. However   “product quality” and the organizational environment are interdependent. To continue the team’s progress, PSSI should have been put on the right track too.  But the opposite happened. And it’s reflected by the teams relative position in the world. Before the match in Bahrain Indonesia’s squad had dropped to place 146 on the FIFA list.  It will be lower now. It’s nearing the rank 153 which is the all time low.

PSSI failed football fans and supporters of the national team.

Where to find consolation?

Well, filthy rich, well organized Singapore was humiliated as well.  By the poor-as-a-church-mouse, semi-failed state’s national team of  Iraq: 7 – 1.