30 Year Cycle and the Indonesian National Team Win the AFF Cup

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

There is a 30-year pattern that accompanies Indonesian football. The theory of cycles in sociology is a positive sign for Indonesian National team in the final AFF Cup 2020.

Indonesia, as a country, won the first international soccer championship in 1961. It was created at the Merdeka Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The title was won after beating Malaysia 2-1 on 13 August. The inaugural title for the Indonesian national team was created by Bertje Matulapelwa and his friends when it was designed by Antun ‘Toni’ Pogacnik.

In the same year, the Indonesian national team also won the 1961 Aga Khan Gold Cup. In the final, Garuda Merah Putih crushed Pakistan Railways FC with a score of 5-0 on 16 October.

Interestingly, this Aga Khan title was won with a combination squad. Of the 18 players that Pogacnik brought to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 10 of them were the winners of the Merdeka Games, the rest were U-19 players.

These eight U-19 players previously, namely in April 1961, appeared in the U-19 Asian Cup. Not only performing, Ipong Silalahi and his friends won the championship title together with Burma (now Myanmar).

After that, he won a number of titles, such as the 1962 and 1999 Merdeka Games, the 1968 King’s Cup, the 1972 Sports Cup Party, the 1972 Jakarta Anniversary Tournament, as well as the 1987, 2000, and 2008 Indonesia Independence Cups.

For the multi-branch event, the Indonesian national team has two gold medals. The first gold was won at the 1989 SEA Games and the second at the 1991 SEA Games in Manila, Philippines.

And the 1991 SEA Games football gold medal was the last title on the international scene. In other words, after the inaugural champion in 1961, 30 years later another prestigious title was achieved.

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Now 30 years have passed after the 1991 SEA Games, the Indonesian national team will appear in the 13th edition of the AFF Cup. In the previous 12 editions, the Indonesian national team failed to win the title and only finished runner-up five times.

Will the 30-year cycle of the Indonesian National Team: winning in 1961, followed by winning in 1991, bear fruit in 2021 in the AFF Cup?

Chances are very open, but Shin Tae Yong and his squad must fight extra hard and be careful against the Thai national team which is the most successful team in the history of the AFF Cup.

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