Sore Loser

Witnessed for myself last night how the Lions completed the task of winning the 2nd Leg of the Tiger Cup Finals with a professional performance against the speedier and more skilful Indonesians.

I'm glad that they didn't 'park the bus' in front of the goal-posts. Instead, they made full use of the flanks and the speed of Indra Sahdan and Itimi Dickson.

And sure enough, ever the player for the big occasion, Indra scored in as early as the sixth minute. The whole stadium erupted. Haven't felt this kind of atmosphere since the Malaysia Cup days.

Just now, one of my colleagues, who's from a friendly neighbouring country, said to me,

"So how come Singapore never declare one day public holiday?"

Of course, I can sense sarcasm when I hear it.

"What for? It's not the first time we've won it. Your country won something also, can declare half day."

"Cannot la, must get some foreign players first..."

There you go, I knew he was waiting for the moment to say this.

"Oh, you mean like France? That's good what, learn from the best!"

"......."

Yeah, silence. I thought so, sore loser.

Yet another bloke who can't accept the fact that a 'tiny red dot' has the resolve and will to out-perform a much more populous nation. (Indonesia has over 200 million, the 4th most populated country in the world, while Singapore has less than 4.5 million. Their coach, Peter Withe, even mentioned in the post-match conference that they'll have to start scouting for new blood amongst the 5000 or so footballers in their country. Scary!!!)

Luckily, not all of his fellow countrymen are like him.

At least the Indonesians are gracious in defeat. Bravo.