Matías Córdoba and his passage through Southeast Asia.
- 16 jul 2020
- 3 Min. de lectura
Actualizado: 24 jul 2020
We talked to Matías Córdoba, an Argentine player who is in his country directing and who is also a journalist. As a player he has had steps in Southeast Asia, in 2016 he was at Penang FA in Malaysia and in 2017 and 2018 he went through Indonesia playing at Barito Putera, being a figure in both clubs.
- How were your arrivals in Malaysia and Indonesia, your first impressions of the countries?
- I was without a club, I hadn't accepted some offers from El Salvador, which I considered not to be good for my career and I was thinking about retirement. An Indonesian representative who had seen me in my passage through Australia in 2013 told me about the possibility of going to Penang FC, which had risen to the first division of Malaysian football, the coach was interested in hiring me, a Brazilian, Jackson F. Tiago, was in that way, then this coach went to Indonesia the next year and took me with him, there I was two years in the Barito Putera, which were the last of my career.
My first impression was difficult at the beginning in Malaysia, the city took me 2-3 weeks to internalize a little bit, but from then on it seemed to me a fantastic city very cosmopolitan, there were different races of people living, Chinese, Indians, Muslims; some Catholics, there was a Catholic church; it was a barbaric experience, the city was in a place where it was close to other beautiful cities of Thailand and Singapore that I never thought I would meet and I thought they were wonderful.
In Indonesia it was different, the city was 95% Muslim; the customs, the people, the way of living was very difficult for me, until I got used to it. My family also took some time to adapt, we stayed 2 years in that city (Banjarmasin) which was totally different from what one is used to in every way. We managed to form a very good group of foreign colleagues and we all stayed together during the two years we were there. I stayed with two of them during the two years and the other foreigner was changing and I met very good people.
- What attracted you most to countries? The climate, the food, the people's relationship...
- The climate was good, it was always hot, the truth is that in both countries you didn't feel the cold.
The very spicy food in Indonesia, in Malaysia there was more variety. In Indonesia the local food is very spicy, I ate somewhere else, in a trusted restaurant, because there are restaurants that are very local and there are only local dishes (some, Nasi Goreng of rice, depends on the name in each city; Soto Banjar in my city was like a soup); and if I did not cook at home last year, the first year I was in Indonesia I was with my family as in Malaysia, but last year I was alone and I tried to cook myself.
- How do they live football, is it passionate and how were your football experiences?
- Football is much more passionate in Indonesia than in Malaysia. In Malaysia it is much better organised in every way; all the matches, at least in the first division, were at 9pm.
But in Indonesia people go to the field much more, they fill the stadiums, they are very fanatical, they go to the training sessions, very similar to what is experienced in South America, the teams put matches at different times according to convenience.
Thank God I did well in both places, they were my last three years of my career and I have a very good memory, because from the football side especially, I was captain in both teams and it was a very very good memory.
In Malaysia I was a goal scorer, had the most assists and played the most minutes of the team and second in the league.
These are experiences in countries that one would not have imagined, until today they continue sending me messages, memories in the social networks, it is something that I did not plan to live until it happened and it is something very important for me, for the rest of my life.
- Did you have any habits from Argentina or did you miss them?
- I didn't miss much, what I missed was sharing moments with the people I loved; I have a good capacity to adapt, I missed only family or sharing moments with them.
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