I plan to post this a few days before World Cup final, but unfortunately, time passed by so fast :))
Football and the World Cup have taken the Summer by storm. Unlike my husband (who predicts Croatia will get to the final before the World Cup even started), I’m not an avid football hooligan. The farthest thing I did for football is finishing the whole edition of Fantasista and watching PSS Sleman on their home last year. But, I still love all the celebration and the side stories.
I once gave a small workshop to my colleagues at the campus about writing (can you believe it?). I’m not a great writer, but I know a great piece of writing when I read one. So in the workshop, I gathered a few of my favorite articles and short stories. From a food article about Bakso dishes to a movie review about the cheesiest movie ever made. Turns out, the workshop went well and the audience broadens their horizon about taking angles and a new perspective when writing about a subject (well, I hope they did :P). So, here are some of my favorite things and articles about the World Cup. You can relax though, there’s not even one about the Pussy Riot or Russian’s politics :))
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Though the technology is already used at Serie A before, the usage of VAR (the abbreviation for Video Assistant Referee) in the world stage has given more controversies and conversations to the football fanatics. And have you ever wondered, how could the statistics on half-time also include the distance run by a player, an accurate ball routes, and ball possession percentage? And did you know that ADIDAS has planted NFC chip in the ball used on every match? Sure the World Cup is about the sport, but the event has brought us more innovations and technology that you can only imagine years ago. It is always a joy to read a thing or two about the latest tech.
The World Cup is like the day of the final exam every semester. You can get good scores all year long and still get really nervous on the day of the final exam. You can also fall into a slum before, but having a good energy to finish all the questions on the exam. Here is one article from Tirto discussing Messi’s performance in the World Cup, which I find really compelling. I always believe, every article can be really interesting to read if it is well written, whatever the topic of discussion is.
A short story about Mexico’s coach and one of the anomalies of Mojok.co’s usual over-the-top-comedy article. This one has a serious tone and really enjoyable to read.
People associated Croatia’s World Cup journey with the Cinderella story. A small country which only got their independent by 1991, having no loss record until the final match (we always fall in love with the underdog!). Winning the heart of the world, hidden the fact that Croatia’s corruption case list from football is still the worst to date. Aside from it all, The Player’s Tribune’s story titled A Croatian Guy Walks into a Bar (a straight rip-off from David Grossman’s novel) is still one of my favorite side story of it all. The article features Ivan Rakitić’s story, written by himself, on finding the true love of his life :3
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As the real 90’s generation, I remember 1998’s World Cup as the second World Cup I experienced. It’s funny to see after two decades, the history repeats itself. Aside from the unmemorable World Cup song, I do enjoy the celebration. Do you have any favorite moments from the World Cup this year?