JAKARTA - Thousands of Assyidiqiyah Islamic Boarding School students in Kedoya, West Jakarta, prayed for the national football team that will compete in the final round of the ASEAN Football Federation Cup on December 26 and 29.
The national team came to the boarding school on Thursday to meet an invitation from the school’s head, noted cleric Nur Iskandar SQ. Nurdin Halid, the chief of the All Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) who led the delegation said he received the invitation on Wednesday evening.
"God willing, the prayers of the cleric and his students as well as the prayers of all the Indonesian people will be granted so that our team will be able to present the AFF Cup to the nation," he said. The national team was at the school for around one hour. Coach Alfred Riedl did not come but stayed at his apartment.
"Alfred Riedl often does not come to functions like this except the one held at the house of Aburizal Bakrie," assistant coach Widodo C Putra said.
Nur Iskandar led the prayers for the success of the team that has never been able to win the champion’s title in Southeast Asia in the past 19 years. Hundreds of students became histerical upon seeing the team arriving at the school and the female students got even more histerical when they saw Irfan Bachdim and tens of them were trying to approach him.
When the team was about to leave, many students srambled to have their pictures taken with their idols such as Irfan, Christian Gonzales, Bambang Pamungkas, Firman Utina and others. The team would play against Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur in the first leg of the final round on December 26 and in the second leg in Jakarta.
