T

he upbeat mood immediately turned sour for Indonesia’s soccer fans, as their team failed to recover from conceding two quick goals against Malaysia in the last round of Group B matches, before bowing out of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup on Saturday night.

Many of the fans blamed Indonesia’s national soccer officials for the team’s early exit.

“The PSSI [Indonesian Soccer Association] is the real culprit,” said a resident who was attending an outdoor viewing of the match at his housing complex in Depok.

A comment posted on a smartphone messenger group, which had initially been full of hopeful message, sounded skeptical. “Indonesia to win? You must be dreaming,” it read.

Taking to the pitch in the knowledge that a draw would earn a semifinal berth, Indonesia ended up losing 2-0 to cap a tumultuous period for the country’s national soccer set up, which has been marked by infighting among soccer officials.

The team came nowhere near matching its run to the AFF final in 2010.

Fans had nurtured high hopes that the team would finally be able to win the cup after previously reaching the final on four separate occasion, only to come away empty handed each time.

After a lackluster 2-2 draw with Laos in the opening match, Indonesia eked out 1-0 win over 10-man Singapore to place itself in good position to advance.

However, against Malaysia — which beat Indonesia in the 2010 final — the players performed well only in the opening exchanges. Two goals scored in the space of four minutes in the first half knocked the Indonesian team off balance.

The failure to reduce the two goal deficit smacked of a team that did not seem to have the will or ideas to fight back.

In contrast, Malaysia’s win over Indonesia showed its determination to come back from a 3-0 trouncing by Singapore in the opening game.

In another Group B match, Singapore found itself two goals down against Laos but rallied to secure a semifinal spot with a 4-3 win.

In the semifinals, which are played over two legs both home and away, Malaysia and Singapore will take on Thailand and the Philippines respectively.

Indonesia, meanwhile, is left to sift through the wreckage of another failed tournament, while its domestic soccer rift, which has resulted in the establishment of rival league and breakaway soccer association, rumbles on.

The recruitment of several naturalized players does not seem to have helped. Irfan Bachdim, Raphael Maitimo, Tonnie Harry Cusell and Jhonny Rudolf van Beukering have yet to prove their worth.

The rift left coach Nil Maizal with limited options in selecting his squad, with the breakaway association refusing to release players for national duty.