The Best Waste

Hi.

It's been a while since--duh, sorry I, I think it's gonna be a very touchy post so I'm using Indonesian now. You know, sometimes, well, most of the times I use English for just coolness sake. But if it's a real deal, Indonesian it is. Yea well I'm that kind of guy who--hey, kapan mulainya Vick? :)

Oke.

Ramadhan.

Sumpah beberapa bulan lalu, gue tau dan yakin banget kalo taun ini bakalan jadi Ramadhan paling seru yang bakal pernah gue jalanin seumur hidup. Karena sumpah, occasion yang benturan sama Ramadhan taun ini super duper banyak.

Pertama dan yang paling utama, ya, you know, World Cup 2014. Yang secara sukses bikin dua minggu awal puasa gue lewat gitu aja gak berasa. Jam tidur terbalik, malem dipake buat nonton bola, siang dipake buat tidur, sore dipake buat bikin postingan analisis pertandingan sepakbola mahadahsyat ala Rifky Ramadhan Amin. Sahur dan Subuh pun jadi lebih berwarna karena bola nya sendiri baru selesai at least jam 5 -kadang molor ampe jam 6 gegara extra time plus adu penalty. Thanks, but no thanks.

Kedua, you also know, Pilpres 2014. Minor sih, karena gue gak tertarik tertarik amet. Tapi mayan lah bikin puasa ini jadi lebih menggelitik. Membuat gue lebih kritis dan gak pasif meskipun lagi berkutat menahan lapar -sumpah ya, makin kesini puasa itu lebih berat nahan laper. Inget banget dulu pas kecil sok sok deklarasi bahwa puasa itu lebih susah nahan aus. Saking kritisnya, kadang pikiran suka negatif dan jadi mencak sana sini. Thanks, but no thanks.

Seru sih, emang, karena bikin segalanya jadi gak kerasa.

Hampir sama sekali gak kerasa malah. Apalagi ditambah ujan.

Mungkin kalian inget postingan gue taun lalu, menyatakan bahwa puasa taun lalu berasa jauh lebih cepet daripada puasa 2012 yang gue pikir udah kerasa cepet banget. Ya, puasa taun ini, yang bahkan gue di rumah aja gak kayak puasa dua taun sebelumnya dimana gue magang, menurut gue adalah yang paling cepet.

Dan paling sia sia.

Meskipun gue gak kerja, gue terlalu banyak ngadain buka bersama. Tarawih pun cuma ada di dua minggu awal aja. Itupun banyak bolongnya. Semalem, yang harusnya jadi tarawih terakhir, malah gue pake buat reunian sama temen temen SMA. Seneng sih kumpul sama mereka, cuman kalo dipikir pikir lagi... Gila kali ya, bayangin aja dari tanggal 15 Ramadhan sampe abis gue gak tarawih sama sekali...

Gausah deh yang berhubungan sama ibadah. Yang berhubungan sama kepentingan sendiri aja gue lupa. Inget taun lalu gue seneng dan berbunga bunga banget nungguin ulangtaun Hijriyah gue? Taun ini, gue bahkan baru inget kalo gue punya ulangtaun hijriyah, tepat satu hari setelahnya. Ya, yang berhubungan sama kepentingan sendiri aja gue lupa.

Sejujurnya gue udah sadar masalah ini sekitar 10 hari terakhir Ramadhan. Gue udah super niat ngajakin keluarga gue tarawih bareng lagi, tapi selalu diurungkan karena pasti anggotanya gak lengkap. Padahal gak ngaruh. Solat bertiga sama bokap nyokap aja pun sebenernya gapapa kan. Pun sekalinya lengkap, buka puasanya di luar. Sampe rumah jam 10, udah deh molos. Ya emang intinya keinginan gue buat ibadah itu minim.

Sampe akhirnya Jum'at kemarin, dua hari yang lalu, gue pergi solat Jum'at diiringi ujan. Dateng telat, seperti biasa, jadilah gue duduk di teras luar berbatasan dengan tampias air.

Sumpah ya, tanpa bermaksud lebay seperti yang biasa gue sampaikan dalam blog yang penuh becandaan ini, itu perasaan gue pas solat Jum'at, sejuk banget. Literally, metaphorically. Dari luar ditiup angin, dari dalem didengerin bacaan ayat suci. Udah gitu gue duduk di sebelah kakek kakek yang udah gabisa solat gerakan full, jadi harus sambil duduk di kursi lipet. Tekanan mental banget, karena gue jadi malu sendiri.

Plus, yang paling bikin gue remuk, adalah kenyataan bahwa Jum'at itu Jum'at terakhir Ramadhan taun ini. Bukti paling konkret yang nunjukkin bahwa yak, Rifky, secara resmi Ramadhan kamu tahun ini sia sia, semoga tahun depan lebih baik ya. Amin.

Percaya gak kalo gue bilang gue nangis pas solat?

Karena ya, kapan lagi bisa begini?

Belum tentu taun depan gue masih tinggal di Indonesia -Amin banget sih ini!

Belum tentu taun depan puasanya selalu diguyur ujan kayak sekarang.

Belum tentu taun depan... Gue ketemu lagi sama Ramadhan.

Kebanyakan belum tentu, tapi gue kayak yakin yakin aja buat nyia-nyiain Ramadhan taun ini. Sumpah ya, gapernah gue senyesel ini ninggalin Ramadhan. Gak perlu deh gue jadi super religius tarawih full, selalu di mesjid atau apalah. At least kayak standarnya gue aja lah... Itu udah cukup. Banget.

"Paling nggak kerasa."

Gak kerasa tiba tiba udah buka.

Gak kerasa tiba tiba udah mau Lebaran.

Gak kerasa suasana puasa dan ibadahnya...

Lord.

I swear this was the best Ramadan so far.

That I waste and never had

Obrigado, Brazil

I promise, this is my last post about World Cup 2014.

Somehow I gotta stop and move on with my life.

But I'm sure it's gonna be hard.

Maybe I told you, World Cup has always been a special occasion to me. I was crazy upset after Italy finished celebrating in Germany 2006, or after Spain called it a day in South Africa 2010. And without a doubt, I am still so down at the time I'm typing this.

Moreover, this World Cup has been pretty distinct to me.

In terms of enjoying the real game of football.

I remember the last World Cup in South Africa, I owned this blog already and I did just the same: kept posting this and that about what happened along the cup. But then as I re-read it this year, I could just smile and pity my old self. It was exciting, and rich. But on some level, boring. Because I was watching the cup emotionally.

I stuck myself to one team I supported from day one. Riding the same roller coaster with the same 23 men from match to match, stage to stage, I barely watched other games. I did followed up the other matches, but only with big teams in it. Until finally my team went home as the champion, I felt satisfied because they won. Not because I enjoyed the whole cup.

But this year,

This year's World Cup was not even as rousing as the one in South Africa. I didn't even feel the euphoria until the opening ceremony really started. And people seemed to be more moved hearing "Waka Waka" than "We Are One" -as Pitbull's fan, this sucks. But despite the world's poor excitement towards this cup, I, on the other hand, eventually thought that this was the best World Cup I ever watched in my life. Because I was watching the cup logically.

Observing each game's true essence, players and techniques, gave me a whole new perception in enjoying football. And the fact that the most entertaining fights didn't only come from big teams, damn, it was just the right timing for me. I swear I never screamed that loud, by only watching teams like USA and Belgium. Get it? USA? Belgium? In 2010, I'd leave them to bed and just wait for the result the next morning.

Anyhow.

No matter how logical I'm trying to be, once the cup finished, I'll be ended up heart broken, and be upset anyway. Well I still get to see cool football matches tho, hello, Liverpool will be on Champions League this season! But then, it'll only be my personal consumption.

No more tweeting with each nations hashtags so it'll appear in the worldwide timeline and random people from random countries will retweet or even favorite my thoughts, or, posting stuff in this blog, publish it on Google Plus and suddenly dozens of people +1'd my writing, making it accessible to the whole globe and international flags will appear in my blog traffic instead of just Indonesian flag, or, texting my Israeli friend who lives in the US, telling him "I can't believe you didn't even trust your own squad while I'm like, here, adoring your keeper!?" or constantly texting my German friend with the same damn messages like "oh wow, congrats, your team made it to the next round..." literally ALL CUP LONG, wow! It's just, after this... No more worldwide shared consumption.

Oh well.

This World Cup itself, has been a worldwide experience for me personally. Worldwide celebration of my own. I don't really have to be there in Brazil to feel this, or be with someone with the nationality of one of this cup's contestants. I don't even need my national football team to enter the cup so I can join the euphoria!

Everybody can put whoever's flag in the sky,
Wave them side to side, show where they're from,
Or at least, show where they send their supports to.

This just shows how diverse we are, but despite that,

At the end of the day we sit the same way, watch the same thing.

Don't know the source, but it's not mine

That's just the beauty of World Cup.

And how I always liked the impact.

Thank you, FIFA.

I'll see you again when I'm 26

Highlight of the Cup

Entering the last two posts of World Cup 2014,

Lol I just can't stop doing this, it's just so on and on.

Well, no wonder because I guess this has been the most entertaining World Cup I ever watched so far. Losing the team I supported from the very beginning of the cup and forced me to having no preference, made me be oh-so neutral and totally objective to all the games. That's what mentally happened.

Technically, most teams served a hell of a performance! Great sets of mixture, big and small ones, all played damn great. Even to me personally, the best shows came from moderate to relatively infamous players! So fvckin mindblowing!

Now in this pre-closing post of World Cup 2014, I'd like to highlight some of the best dramas that became my personal favorites. You might think this is a shallow selection but, well, I'm just trying to be fair.

Best Goal: Tim Cahill | AUS v NED
Runner Up: James Rodriguez | COL v URU

While most people would say that James' goal against Uruguay was the best in the entire cup, I'd think that Tim Cahill's to Netherlands on the group stage was the true finest goal. The long haul pass -not even an assist- from I don't know who, arrived smoothly around his left foot and then BOOM! There went the ball to the left corner of Jasper Cillessen's goal. That was so delicate and freakin beautiful...

Now James' goal, well, I think y'all knew. Oh ya I'm talking about the first goal tho, since he scored both goals on the match. The one outside the penalty box, with the ball landed on his chest, then got executed with his left foot, ya, you eat that Suarez! Oh sorry, he wasn't even be played on the game. Sent home already so still, eat that!

Best Save: Guillermo Ochoa | Tim Howard
Runner Up: Tim Krul | NED v CRC

Okay as much as I want it to be objective, I can't really tell who wins the category. I can't even decide which save was the best because everything with either Ochoa and Howard in it, was sick! But let me try. The one I really couldn't forget from Ochoa was against Brazil. When Thiago Silva received a ball and headed it to the goal in just a very close distance, Ochoa could unbelievably blocked it. From point blank, for God's sake, he's a god!

While Tim, oh Tim... His 16 saves from Belgian assaults were all crazy incredible. He used all parts of his body to defend his goal. But the ones that blew my mind were when he used his legs. I mean, legs! He was falling down already, any player could easily score an easy goal but then who would've thought that Howard would stretch his legs and block the ball?! He's seriously my idol.

Tim Krul's saves that I mentioned, was the ones with the penalty shootout against Costa Rica. Well he didn't save all balls but, did you notice what he did before each Costa Rican players shot the balls? He walked to the right and left side of his goals like distractions, then talked to the shooters like a form of intimidation. It was a trick, he played with Costa Rican minds! This was what made me interested in his performance.

Best Game: BRA v CHI
Runner Up: GER v GHA

Actually, all matches consisting of fantastic goalkeepers with their fantastic goalkeeping performances were the best games to my preference -especially Belgium versus USA oh Lord that's one breathtaking performance I like! But then remembering the first match of the second round, Brazil against Chile, I think it was the complete set of game, with everything in it! Scores on the original 90 mins, yes. Attacks and counterattacks from both teams, yes. Entering extra time, yes. Penalty shootout, yes! Everything!!

Not to mention the drama. It was like a match of both rationality and emotion: Chilean actual better performance versus Brazilian loud crowd. Yes, I'm saying that this match showed to us that Brazilian current squad was nothing without their supporters, and Neymar's popularity-esteem. Those were the only explanations they could eventually win the penalty shootout. The match also showed us that underdog teams, represented by Chile, took a major role in this World Cup they could even tied the host team. Salute!

Now the runner up of the best game. Well, I must say that this was the most intense game in the group stage. Both physically, and mentally. The European emperor and African warrior kept tumbling each other down all game long, scoring both two goals, featuring sibling fight between Jerome and Kevin Prince Boateng, ended up with Thomas Muller's bloodbath. Remember Captain Tsubasa? This match was adapting the anime.

Best Twist: USA v POR
Runner Up: NED v MEX

I'm sorry but USA really stole my heart. And this game, was crazy. USA's boosted performances gave pains in the asses of this European big team. But Nani's early goal really trembled USA down, they couldn't even score until the half time. But then something shoved Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey they played fvckin well and each scored one goal on the second half. Entering the stoppage time, no one in this whole globe would think that USA would leave this match losing. Well, they didn't. But they didn't win either.

Substitute Silvestre Varela suddenly scored a goal in THE VERY LAST MINUTE of the match, making it ended up draw. It was really mind blowing. I can't imagine how was it like to be Americans. All cameras were shooting the benched Clint Dempsey on the last moments, the man himself couldn't even conceal his excitement of ending the game and going back to the hotel, winning. But Varela's goal, wow, it ruined everything.

Another twist was made by the Dutch, when they were facing Mexico in the round of 16. It was a tie game of 1 - 1, and they were really on the verge of entering the extra time when Rafael Marquez fouled Arjen Robben and Netherlands got a penalty gift, on the stoppage time of the second round. Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who was substituting Robin van Persie, scored the penalty and there they went. Really unfortunate for Mexico, damn, I mean, the penalty kick was so unnecessary and the fact that it was given on the very last minute of the match... It sucked big time.

Wow.

I could talk about this long enough I'd even forget the time.

This just shows how excited I always am, when it comes to World Cup.

Can't wait to start watching Liverpool soon, to fill my longing towards the cup.

Or worse yet,

Can't wait for World Cup 2018

Beyond Saving Goals

As a part of World Cup 2014 closing posts,

And as I much promised I'd talk a lot about,

I think it's just the time to have a tribute

To the best goalkeepers.

Let's save time about how astonishing goalkeepers are in this World Cup, by quoting one of the best living football players -whose tweets and stuff were really becoming my enlightenment along the cup- that I looked after

"The quality of goalkeeping at this World Cup has been extraordinarily high." -- Gary Lineker

See huh? All these times, I didn't say it just by basing on my naked thoughts about football--even a pro agreed to what I thought! Man, I really have to actually go to Mr Lineker and show all my analysis towards the World Cup, who knows he'll make me his apprentice.

So!

From Beto to Fernando Muslera, Claudio Bravo to Diego Benaglio, lots of crazy goalkeepers appearing in this World Cup are... Crazy. Like seriously, they played well! Lots of matches ended up with no score, or tied, but then those kind of matches were a hell lot more entertaining because the keepers are... Crazy!!

Out of those many good keepers, of course, I have a set of GKs I favorited.

Ecuadorian Alexander Dominguez and Nigerian Vincent Enyeama are two that I like from the underdog teams. I saw Dominguez's great game against France, and Enyeama's best game was against, oh what are the odds, France as well! One more from the underdogs, that now has become the whole world's dear, is Keylor Navas. He's just plain good.

Pic's from here, here and here

From moderate team, I vote for, who else, but Guillermo Ochoa. His game against Brazil, was like the one giving me the 'slap in the face' made me realize that this World Cup's goalkeepers are crazy asses. While out of keepers from top teams, duh I don't wanna be seemed too shallow and mainstream but, my fave one is like everybody else's fave one. Manuel Neuer. Oh but in my defense, I adored him since 2010, especially after I explored that he was born on March 27th. Yes, we shared the same birth date and that's the reason why I like him.

Ochoa's pic's from here, Neuer's from here

But then, it's not called 'favorite' if I have many that I like. So I made a decision that I do have one goalkeeper that I like the most. The one that truly won my heart by giving such crazy, constant game from the very beginning to the day he lost. Lost with dignity, because he also stole everybody else's heart. Yes, I made tons of posts about him so you might've known, it's

Tim Howard

Tim's pic, from here

Sick. Really.

I think I said this before, but who cares I'm gonna say it again:

Your performances, my idols, really altered my perceptions about goalkeepers.

Before this, goalkeepers are something I -and probably most watchers in the entire globe- took for granted. You don't do much. The best you can do is just preventing your team from losing, not to drive your squad to winning. But now, I see it differently.

Your roles remain the same: conducting saves, not attacks. But the saves you made, could actually boost your team mates to produce. Keepers don't literally score goals, but your passion move everybody else to want to score goals.

I realized that in the match of USA vs Belgium, where Tim Howard's saves could actually gave spirit to Julian Green's closing goal. Then I was so sure about everything after Brazil vs Germany, where Julio Cesar's devastation led to more conceded goals from Germany and lacking of goals to Germany.

Well.

Thanks guys for making this cup so different.

Thank you all for bringing it to a whole new level.

You didn't just save your goal, your match, your team,

You also saved my excitement

Something Better Than Just Revenge

So Germany won the 20th World Cup.

Pretty obvious since they have the best team.

Team.

Unlike Portugal who depended on Cristiano Ronaldo, nor Brazil who worshiped too much on Neymar, nor even Argentina who put everything in the shoulder of Lionel Messi. No matter how best-player-in-the-whole-globe he could be, playing single-handed against 11 players, he's just a flea everybody refers him as.

But after all, hats off to Argentina tho. They gave a heck of a game last night for Germany. It wasn't easy at all so Mario Goetze could score such beautiful goal. Damn right it was that beautiful to me. Stopped by chest, flew down to the kicking area then the shoot rocketed straight to the leftternmost side of the net. Crazy sweet.

But you know what is sweeter?

Revenge.

Years ago, back to 1986, when Germany was still called "West Germany", they met Argentina on the final match in Mexico. Diego Maradona was captaining the team when he brought his nation out as the winner. What does it have to do with this World Cup's winner, it's so fvckin long time ago!? Hold on, gangster!? That's not the frikkin reason of the revenge, West Germany won the cup against Argentina anyway, 4 years later, so that revenge had been paid in the lapse of just one cup.

It's Diego Maradona I'm talking about, that should feel the pain of revenge. Four years ago, when he coached Argentina, he arrogantly misplaced Thomas Mueller with a ball boy. Come to think of it, this is so ridiculous. Aside the fact that Argentina this time lost to Germany with Mueller in it, the 24 years old German himself now has scored more World Cup goals than Maradona. And giving at his age, he can even surpass his senior Miroslav Klose and be the all-time FIFA World Cup Top Scorers on the upcoming cup.

Shame on you, Mr Legend.

I can't find any other pic of them, but this one's strong enough eh?

Oh, where are you going? I'm not finished.

That's not the only revenge Germany completed last night.

Do you remember about the final match of World Cup 2002? It was the last time Germany could go to the final round. It was also the first World Cup Miroslav Klose played for Germany. And they were tragically beaten by Brazil. It sucked for both Germany and of course, Klose.

But he made it this year.
Revenge is sweet.

It's not a big deal and a significant revenge actually, but could beat Brazil in this World Cup semifinal in front of their public, and on the same time broke the top scorer record which was held by Brazilian player Ronaldo, then on top of all, be the champion of the cup hosted in Brazil... Those were tremendously more than enough. 

Moreover, this could be his last World Cup because he's now 36, and lol do you think he'll want to be the oldest player in Russia? Could fulfill his personal revenge, be the all-time top scorer and had his nation be the world champion for his last cup, the closure is just too sugary for Klose.

I'm so glad I witnessed everything he did.

He's a living legend and will always be talked about.

The pic's from here

What an ending.

It's beyond just a revenge.

It's double revenge