BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

ONE HOUR was all it took yesterday morning for the Indonesian fans to snap up over 6,000 tickets to watch a repeat of the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy 2012 final tonight.

Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports senior official Pg Mohd Azlan Pg Hj Tengah Omar confirmed this in a telephonic interview with The Brunei Times.

“As early as 6am, Indonesia’s fans were already seen forming up a sizable queue at the National Hockey Field – almost three hours even before tickets were to be issued at 8.30am,” he said.

“By roughly 9.40am, the free tickets officially ran out.”

The tickets allocated for Indonesia’s supporters for Monday’s titanic clash with Brunei were even double than the tickets for the Cambodian fans for the opening match.

“But not to be outdone, 18,000 tickets for local supporters issued at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium ran out within just two hours,” Pg Mohd Azlan said.

Ticket counters for spectators of both teams had opened at 8.30am.

The senior official said that the organising committee managed to pull through the ticket distribution even with the overwhelming amount of ticket collectors.

He said that the ticket burn out was attributed to the scale of tonight’s game.

“For one, it’s a repeat of the two teams that met in the last HBT final in 2012 and Indonesia will of course want to do better than their counterparts this time.”

Muhammad Haziq Mat Usin, who watched Brunei’s opening match against Cambodia, believes Brunei’s second game will decide who gets the chance to go through the knockout stages.

“The Bruneian team are licking their wounds because 1-0 loss to Cambodia left Brunei pointless,” the Institut Teknologi Brunei student said.

“But Indonesia too only have a point; both teams badly need to win this second game!”

Another spectator of opening match, Hj Muhd Raihan Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Abdullah thinks Vietnam’s probable group win leaves only one qualifying spot.

“Cambodia got three points but more frightening was Vietnam’s 4-0 commanding statement against Singapore,” the 23-year-old said.

“That goal difference signals Vietnam’s intent to win this group and if they win again, that leaves the rest of the five teams to fight for second place.”

In a previous article, it was stated Indonesia, despite only sending their Under-19 team, were the victors of the 2013 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Under-19 Youth Championship.

Pg Mohd Azlan said he is anticipating a raucous Indonesia crowd tonight and thus hoped that Brunei’s supporters too will come and lit up the stadium in a sea of black and yellow.

The match between team Brunei Darussalam and team Indonesia is scheduled to kick-off tonight at 8.15pm at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Berakas.

The Brunei Times