A Story from Indonesia: The Way We Treated Our Legends

"I learned all about life with a ball at my feet." - Ronaldinho

          
              

             Everyone deserves to make their dreams come true. And that is what we realized too. A lot of  us – Indonesian Milanisti have never made our first steps yet at San Siro. But apparently, there is something we could do to make it closer. We made our San Siro. Yes, here – in Indonesia. It was 9 February 2013, one of our very best memorable days ever. We watched our legends there, live with no satellite and television. We chanted for our legends there, with pride with no fear. We treated our legends there, with the timeless love and respect with no something made up.

                 

There were Massimo Taibi, Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Roque Junior, Alessandro Costacurta, Stevano Nava, Pietro Vierchowod, Roberto Mussi, Massimo Oddo, Stefano Eranio, Ibrahim Ba, Angelo Carbone, Sérgio Cláudio dos Santos, Maurizio Ganz, Andriy Shevchenko and Daniele Massaro that time. It was an honor to watch them fought for the Rossoneri pride. Maybe it was only kind of charity match, with no trophy and prize but no matter what it was – it became the most glittery match for us. The way they dribbled the ball, the way they tackled and marked the opponents, the way they showed their gestures, the way they scored and celebrated the goals – everything just felt more magical than any fairytale we had ever known. We realized that there is always the romance between us and those legends. So who said romance doesn’t exist in football? Those 90 minutes were for us, they were for us and we were for them. Ah, did we really deserve it?

That feeling when you just were at it.

We even felt its (San Siro) atmosphere before the match began. Chanted in language we even couldn’t understand to prove the world how proud we were to be a part of this. It was our way to tell Milan that our love is timeless. Nothing can change it. Even the most horrible seasons can’t do it. Some of us went back to our childhoods, the times when we took our first Rossoneri matches. We felt that first love again, both love at the first sight or not. Maybe it was just like a flashback for us. It reminded us when our dads told us some players names, when we bought some sport magazines just to know more about those players. We remembered our first Maldini’s tackles and Shevchenko’s goals. Ah, God just  blessed us by sent Milan in our lives. Sounds so cheesy? Who cares, for this is what it is.

And then, that was our turn to see them by our own eyes. The goosebumps came when those legends entered the pitch. We had gotten a feeling that it would be the incredible day for us since Taibi made some warming up on the pitch. And yes, it was true.  In the 16th minute we got our first breathless moment. It was Serginho who showed his class. He started it by his perfect solo run and something boom just happened after it. A powerful goal from the right side. We took the deep breaths. We stood up, clapped our hands. The drummers made some huger and faster beats, we chanted more and more. The flags were flying higher, the flares were getting wilder. Apparently this was what Curva Sud felt when the goal just happened. But later, Indonesia All Stars didn’t want to make it easy for Milan Glorie. Bambang Pamungkas, one of the great Indonesian footballers only took 19 minutes to shock Taibi. The first goal for Indonesia, the hotter match for us. 

        Some of us maybe just remembered what happened when Milan fought against Lecce on 29 August 1999. Andriy Shevchenko made his debut and first goal for Milan at the same time. We got this feeling again. He scored a goal for Milan, a right footed goal. “Il fenomeno lo lasciamo la’ qui c’e’ Sheva.. La la la la la la la la la Sheva Sheva!!” We sang this one with no commandments for the King, it just happened. We were suddenly be at San Siro, we were Curva Sud Milano! Bambang Pamungkas showed his class again. He equalized the match in the 63th minute, accepted a passing from Gusnaedi then a sharp header goal drove us into 2-2. Legends are legends, they proved us there. 2-2 didn’t make them down. They faced something too much worse than this one. Age really doesn’t any matter. Ganz really deserved to be called as a legend. He had to thank to Ba for his goal in around 70th. 2-3 for Milan Glorie. It didn’t stop yet. The atmosphere was getting hotter. The banners and flags were flying higher, we threw some smoke bombs and lighted some flares up. A sweet ending just came to us. Serginho made his second goal at this match. 2-4 for Milan Glorie until the final whistle.

       The match is over but the feeling has been exist till now, till we write this one. Maybe it sounds so silly for we - the Indonesian, didn’t cheered for Indonesia All Stars Team. Maybe it makes us so much far from the nationalism criteria. But people, this is football. Sometimes something out of logic happens in football. Football is more than any nationalism stuff. Football is about the love we choose and the choice we live up. And yes, we chose Milan. Apparently our love is that timeless. The fast regeneration doesn’t change our respect for them, the horrible seasons don’t make us cheat from our love. And yes, it is true that we weren’t on the pitch, we were just on the stadium stands. We indeed didn’t help Maldini to grab that ball from the opponents, we indeed didn’t give some passing for Shevchenko. But most of all, we came from East Java, Sumatra, Borneo and the whole Indonesia to Jakarta just to cheer for them on the stands. We were there for them and they were there for us. As simple as that, as wonderful as that. Ah, thank you for football. We mean - thank you for your legendary football, legends. We’ve adored, we’ve loved, we’ve supported you unconditionally. Hail the legends!

Photo credits to Billy Sebastian