Neighbors Indonesia And Malaysia Really, Really Don’t Like Each Other

The long, grueling road of Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup began back in June with the first round and continued today with the start of the second round of proceedings. A massive fixture went down this morning in Central Jakarta, pitting fierce rivals Indonesia against neighbors Malaysia.

Indonesia is currently ranked 160th in the world and Malaysia sits at 159, and the two nations have combined for only one World Cup appearance (Indonesia qualified for the 1938 tournament), but a meeting between neighboring nations in Southeast Asia that share so much (religion, language, cultural heritage) and yet are so frequently involved in diplomatic spats was always going to amount to a showpiece event at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Indonesia. 

Neither team made it past this stage of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup — Malaysia only collected six points from eight games while Indonesia was disqualified due to governmental interference — so starting off on the right foot in a group that also contains Vietnam, Thailand and the UAE was paramount for both teams.

Indonesia had only lost four times to Malaysia at home since their first-ever meeting back in 1962. According to the New Straits Times, “it would be a national disaster for Indonesia if Malaysia returns to Kuala Lumpur with all three points.”

“History may favor Indonesia at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, but we cannot keep looking back at past records,” said Malaysia manager Tan Cheng Hoe. “We have to start a new chapter for our football. We know that the stadium will be packed to the brim with Indonesian fans, and things could become difficult for us.”

And things did get pretty difficult for Malaysia. They entered the stadium to a giant tifo with some choice language directed at them…

Penampakan koreo Ultras Garuda di tribune selatan SUGBK#TimnasDay #BanggaSepakBolaKita pic.twitter.com/axNMasI5Lm

— BolaSport.com (@BolaSportcom) September 5, 2019

And then they found themselves trailing 2-1 in the 39th minute after two goals from Beto Gonçalves. However, in the 66th minute, Syafiq Ahmad equalized for Malaysia. This led to Indonesia fans storming towards the Malaysian fans’ section, which would lead to a lengthy stoppage of play.

View this post on Instagram

Indonesian fans tried to attack from supporters of Malaysia while the match was still running ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Follow new account : @asean_secondstore @asean_football_crazy #ultrasasean #ultrasgarudaindonesia #lagrandeindonesia #curvasudgaruda #ultrasmalaya #ekorharimaumalaya #um07 #singabrigade #ultrasthailand #cheerthaipower #hardcore #ultrascambodia #bcs #bos #thejakmania #thejak #bobotoh #bonek #aremania #elephantarmy #ultrastamingsari #ultrastranung #upcs #surakarta #brajamusti #ultrasnogori9 #curvaboys #nsb #pusamania

A post shared by ULTRAS ASEAN (@ultras_asean) on Sep 5, 2019 at 7:49am PDT

A whole lot of madness was going down…

Perlawanan dihentikan seketika tadi selepas beberapa penyokong #IDN cuba memasuki kawasan penyokong #MAS . Suasana menjadi sedikit tegang. #HarimauMalaya #WCQ #AsianQualifiers #KamiTeamMalaysia pic.twitter.com/MijXzZ5IFZ

— Team Malaysia (@TeamMsia) September 5, 2019

FANS INDONESIA MENGANAS WOI!!!! GAME TERHENTI!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/UUBo9cBdyI

— Pasad (@MOFASAD) September 5, 2019

Which would set the stage for an incredible winner from the visitors.

Due to the time added for fan unrest, Malaysia's Mohamadou Sumareh scored in the seventh minute of second half stoppage time to record an unlikely triumph of Indonesian soil.

Here’s the scene after the match.

View this post on Instagram

After the match Indonesia vs Malaysia

A post shared by ULTRAS ASEAN (@ultras_asean) on Sep 5, 2019 at 8:38am PDT

The two nations play their other group opponents before meeting again in Malaysia on Nov. 19.