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View all search resultsLose, laugh, move on: Turning World Cup defeat into a national habit
While losing gracefully shows strength of character, it must not become habit, lest we lose out on the lessons of defeat and let go of our ambitious dreams for chronic acceptance instead.
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Fans hold up a banner in support of the Indonesia soccer team at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on Oct. 8, 2025, ahead of the team’s match against Saudi Arabia during the fourth round of the men’s FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian qualifier. (Reuters/Stringer)
W
hen the final whistle blew on the evening of Oct. 11 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ending Indonesia’s World Cup dream with a narrow 1-0 loss to Iraq, heartbreak traveled faster than the ball itself.
Within minutes, memes flooded social media. Bittersweet jokes about waiting another five years emerged. Manager Patrick Kluivert was parodied as Patrick Star, a goofy character from the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon. Satirical videos of the Garuda team greeted by “neighboring squads” like Malaysia’s appeared, as if celebrating our losing beautifully. What could have been a night of despair turned almost instantly into a digital carnival of irony.
As if to cap the nationwide discontent, the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) fired Kluivert on Thursday, ending his tenure at the helm of the national team after just over nine months.
In Indonesia, soccer defeats rarely stay on the field. They spill over onto screens, via hashtags and into group chats, morphing into a national spectacle where disappointment, humor and hope collide. Losing has become a familiar script, and Indonesians know precisely how to perform, remix and laugh through.
Yet beneath the laughter lies something deeper: a collective yearning for recognition, to be seen as a nation capable of standing tall on the global stage.
Every soccer cycle offers the same rhythm: a surge of optimism then heartbreak, followed by a wave of cathartic humor. It mirrors Indonesia’s broader story of a nation that dreams big, stumbles, and then jokes its way through the pain.
Online, fans act not as mere spectators but as producers of affect, transforming defeat into a participatory ritual. In meme form, disappointment becomes digestible, even enjoyable.
