The handsome 22-year-old, born to an Indonesian father and Dutch mother, delighted 30,000 diehard fans at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta and millions of others huddled around televisions throughout the country with his gutsy performance and the side’s final goal of the match.
By midday, Irfan had attracted more than 30,000 followers on Twitter, up from around 7,000 the previous day. His name is being mentioned on the micro-blogging site about 1,000 times per hour.
And among Irfan’s most vocal supporters is his girlfriend, Jennifer Kurniawan, who models lingerie in Germany under the name Jennifer Jasmin.
“I’m soo proud of my man ... !!! And I love him soo much,” wrote Jennifer, who has reportedly been dating Irfan for just three months but has already adopted his last name on her Twitter account, @JenniferBachdim.
Like her boyfriend, Jennifer said she was of mixed parentage, born to a German mother and an Indonesian father.
“Mummy is German, Daddy is Indonesian. I live in Germany and yes, I am Bachdim’s girlfriend,” she wrote in response to queries as to why she had taken the player’s last name.
Irfan did not appear concerned by the development, unashamedly tweeting: “You’re my heart and soul, my everything!! I love you!!” But he also took time to bask in the glory of the Malaysia annihilation and expressed his gratitude to Indonesia.
“Cannot stop thinking about yesterday! So amazing 5-1. I wanna thank the whole of Indonesia! Indonesia makes us proud, we will fight for this country,” he wrote.
Manchester United star and England captain Rio Ferdinand took time to watch Indonesia play from the comfort of his living room, relaying progress of the match on his Twitter account.
“Just saw that Indonesia beat Malaysia 2-1, my Indonesian twitfam [Twitter family] must be very happy right now!,” he wrote on his official Twitter account @rioferdy5. “Wow its now 3-1 to Indonesia! That was a beating!!” Ferdinand wrote.
When Bachdim scored the final goal, Ferdinand shared the excitement. “The end score is 5-1 to Indonesia :).”
@FPIYeah, a Twitter account established to mock Indonesia’s militant Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), also got in on the act.
“We don’t like @IrfanBachdim10. He only kicks a ball and already becomes a trending topic [on Twitter]. We kicked people but we’ve never become a trending topic.”
The Jakarta Globe
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