Jakarta Casual

If fans of Indonesian football have any awareness at all of Singapore football it is probably limited to Tampines Rovers. The team from the east coast of the city state have provided several internationals to clubs in Indonesia with varying degrees of success.

Khairul Amri is widely recognized as one of the most talented players of his generation and when he made the move to Persiba Balikpapan many hoped he would bring his prodigious talent to one Oil City. He is also one of the most injury prone and rarely had the chance to sign before being released.

Mustafic Fahruddin is one of several Singaporean internationals who qualified for the national team after having played in the SLeague for five years. He spent a season with Persija before being released when a new coach came in and wanted to surround himself with his own players. After last season with Persela he is now back with Tampines.

Noh Alam Shah and M Ridhuan made the move to Arema in 2009 and are currently looking at their third season with the Crazy Lions.

On Sunday evening Tampines hosted Balestier Khalsa at the Tampines Stadium knowing a victory would guarantee them their first SLeague triumph since 2005. Home United were the only team that could catch them but they were a point behind and despite playing Geylang United at the same time Tampines coach Steven Tan knew his team held their destiney in their hands.

After a nervy start Fahruddin opened the scoring from the penalty spot and the team nicknamed the Stags were on their way to the title.

Fahruddin scored a second around the half hour mark with a spectacular free kick from 25 yards before the 41 year Aleksander Duric netted a typical tap in before half time.

The second half was a non event. Balestier Khalsa were on the field but it was one way traffic as Tampines piled forward looking to increase the margin. Ahmad Latiff did just that and with some style. Receiving the ball some 25 yards out he looked up and seeing the keeper off his line deliciously curled the ball over his head.

Latiff, with his dyed hair and all action combative style is an unlikely Singaporean. Vocal and opiniated he has upset people in the island’s football community but there is now doubting his ability on the football field. He also had a short spell in Indonesia when he was younger, spending time with Persikabo in the early years of the 21^st century.

It was a fitting contribution from the 32 year old who has been in fine form the last couple of years but continues to be inexplicably overlooked by the national team selectors. It was also his final contribution as minutes he was substituted and received a warm ovation from his appreciative fans.

Substitute Ahmad Fahmie made it five and still Tampines pressed. The job was done. In the VIP area of the stand officials were handing out commemorative t shirts while on the field Fahruddin was being urged forward by the bench, hoping he could complete a rare hat trick. He couldn’t but when he was finally replaced his reception from the faithful was raw and appreciative.

Noh Alam Shah and M Ridhuan have experience of winning titles in Indonesia. They were part of the Arema team that became champions in 2009/2010. The title deciding game of that particular season saw Arema play Persija at Bung Karno in Jakarta.

Arema fans travelled in large numbers, in excess of 50,000, and camped overnight outside the stadium, determined to see their heroes make history. More than 85,000 excited fans shoehorned themselves into the historic stadium and witnessed the Malang team win 5-1 to set up a monster celebration.

Things were much humbler in staid old Singapore. For a start the crowd was a shade over 2,000 and there was no evidence of fans sleeping outside the ground the night before. And despite being known as a raucous crowd, by Singapore standards, there was no singing or dancing. Plenty of drumming but no singing.

When captain Duric was presented with the trophy the biggest cheer came from the Master of Ceremonies courtesy of his microphone and deafening speakers. The fans applauded politely, cheered when the MC asked them to but for a team winning the title it was all very subdued and understated.

The players of course made the most of it. Fans or no fans, atmosphere or no atmosphere they were in football to win trophies and so they did their jigging. But you can’t help but wonder whether Fahruddin and Latiff, with their Indonesian experiences, were looking at the crowd and hoping for an injection of Indonesian passion to crank up the volume.

# posted by Me @ 5:41 AM