JAKARTA - The incident where Mohamed Salah pinched and pinched Sergio Ramos, in the 2017-18 UEFA Champions Cup final fight, May 26, between Real Madrid vs Liverpool, was actually just part of the football game.
The incident was nothing special, because anyone and everyone can experience it. If you don't want to be injured, just sit and watch the ball. But, if you want to watch the fight of the gladiators on the green field, you have to be ready to hang, or "sit down" anytime. That's football!
Football has a story about joy, about tragedy, about the world of witchcraft - hypnosis, about sadness, about war, about conspiracies and of course about luck.
Now, football, as a 'new religion', also talks about human feelings, which represent their country. In fact, when Italy and the Netherlands, who once found legendary tactics, Catenaccio and Total Football, had to be spectators, in the 2018 Russia World Cup. And, Italy actually won a hattrick of three consecutive failures, 2018, 2022 and the 2026 World Cup. That's the face of football!
Pele is not a good fortune-teller, but he never stopped doing it. After every World Cup group draw, "The King" quickly produces his horoscope. But is it, great on the field, not automatically making him a master forecaster?
The German legend, Frans Beckenbauer, can also have a genius, but the team in his pocket does not necessarily emerge as the winner. Or, at certain times, it needs to be polite, diplomatic, or whatever the model. Yes, because they are ambassadors of football.
I have a new hobby, predicting from the metaphysical science of "Primbon Jawa" is also inseparable from mistakes for mistakes, when guessing who wins and who is the champion. Prediction, prediction, or betting in a gambling house, is part of football, off the green field, which already has an ancient cultural instinct.
Not a GuaranteePredictions, forecasts, or whatever the name is, with mathematical analysis or even a physical and biorhythmic approach, no longer guarantee to produce a solid truth.
The readiness or misfortune of a team is determined by the ability to maintain "rhythm" before, during, and after the match. The factors are very complex, especially in the increasingly fierce level of competition such as the now - titled giant tournament, the FIFA World Cup.
Real Madrid, who are gasping for breath in the domestic arena in front of Barcelona this season, does not mean that they are ugly at the European level. Or Turkey and South Korea, which are clearly not in the top orbit, turned out to be able to be lifted into the 2002 World Cup semi-final. Or, Cameroon 1990, which is considered a "vegetable chicken", also entered the World Cup top eight, as the first country from the "Black Continent".
Surprises for fringe teams, "burial" for "burial" of established teams, however, are part of the romance of the tournament. The results later, the important thing is that the elements of the competition are fulfilled, the system is regulated and agreed upon, and whatever the output is, it can be challenged as a mistake.
The champion, like it or not, must be recognized as the "truth" of the results of a competition, although there are still those who often entertain themselves by introducing the term "champion without a crown" such as the Netherlands who became 3 times runner-up in the World Cup, 1974, 1978 and 2010.
The talk of "magic" is also that football is a storehouse of all forms of witchcraft or "voodoo" from its temples in the African continent. Still remember the event when Costa Rica, a "Sudra" class country, was able to defeat Scotland and Sweden, in the 1990 World Cup, from many sources of newspapers at that time, forcing Costa Rica to use "voodoo" science - witchcraft.
When Brazil won the 1970 world cup, coach Mario Zagallo, was visited by grandparents (he said he was a magician) to ask that the players who were sent off in the final against Italy were the players who used the number 10 jersey at his club.
Like Pele at Santos club number 10, Rivelino at Corienthians number 10, Tostao at Cruseiro number 10, and Gerson at Sao Paolo also number 10. Only one, who still uses number 7, is Jairzinho at Botofogo club and the Brazilian national team.
Little Dream of PharaohAt Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria - Egypt, October 8, 2017, Egyptian newspapers, wrote about the "Little Pharaoh's Dream" given to Mohamed Salah.
The match between Egypt vs Congo at that time, was a decisive match. Will Egypt qualify for the 2018 Russia World Cup or not? And, at the 5-minute extra time, referee Bakary Gassama from Gambia, awarded a penalty, when the score was still 1-1. Mohamed Salah was given the task of carrying out the "Little Dream of the Pharaoh", in the 90+4 minute. And, the result was that Egypt won 2-1, automatically advancing to the final round of the 2018 Russia World Cup.
Still the business of "klenik" and the world's shamans. Again, Brazil was the victim of his curse. Namely, during the 1998 French World Cup final. The atmosphere of the room where Brazil stayed, at The Chateau de Grande Romaine, a suburb of Paris, Ronaldo who was in the same room as Roberto Carlos, was screaming and screaming, because of the most expensive striker at that time, his stomach cramps.
From the stories and rumors that are circulating, The Chateau de Grande Romaine, has a story inhabited by 100 ghosts. Also, there is a story, that Ronaldo, who was then 21 years old, was used or cursed by a French shaman.
What's even crazier is that Ronaldo was under a lot of stress, due to Nike's request, not to be the main triker, when facing the final against the hosts France. However, hundreds of Brazilian media accused, with large letters, that "The Brazilian Team Sold the World Cup".
Stories of witchcraft, spells, shamans or "voodoo" in football, have always been very super interesting. In fact, at that time, almost 4 billion people in the world, on the big screen, who watched the final match between France and Brazil, did not believe - if Brazil could lose 0-3 to France, because all the players of the Brazilian squad under Mario Zagallo's guidance, were not focused because of Ronaldo's mysterious "seizures", which are still being investigated by FIFA, to this day.
I once watched a film called UNITED, which tells the real story of the "Manchester United Tragedy", on February 6, 1958, which killed almost most of the core players of the club's famous and richest squad in the world.
One, the player who lived through the accident, his name, Bobby Charlton and his "god" Man-U, Matt Busby. In the club format, the tragedy, in fact, the "toll road" of the English national team, won the 1966 world championship.
The reason is, after Bobby Charlton was mentally tough, he also presented Man-U as the Champions Cup 1968 champion, and two years earlier Bobby Charlton, became one of the determinants of England winning the Jules Ripet Trophy 1966 title, in front of his own public.
Andres Escobar and Diego MaradonaThe Man-U tragedy, just off the pitch. However, inside the football stadium. There were two very tragic and very phenomenal events.
First, when Diego Armando Maradona, using his hand, scored a goal, minute 51, during the Argentina vs England match, June 18 at the Azteca Stadium, Mexico - 1986 World Cup 8th place.
To this day, the name "referee" as the "god" of football for 90 minutes, lost to the "goal of God's hand" from Maradona's left hand. Fortunately, there is no VAR referee yet.
Second, at the Rose Bowl stadium, Pasadena, during the match between the host United States vs Colombia, June 22, 1994, there were no signs of this match, ending tragically or brutally. The party was just fun. Incidentally, I started a new hobby, got a job making highlights programs on RCTI, with the name "Focus America'94", following the 90-minute watch.
However, in the 35th minute, Andres Escobar's right foot accidentally swept the ball from the American midfielder's kick, John Harkes, instead swept towards his own goal which was guarded by Oscar Cordoba. The ball was not fast, but tricked Cordoba's position, and went into the Colombian path, which made Colombia finally lose 1-2, and go home earlier to his country, failing to qualify for the last 16.
In the middle of the night on July 1, at a nightclub bar El Indio, in the El Poblado area of Medellín, Pablo Escoba invited his friends to lie down while drinking. At around 3 am (July 2, 1994), Escoba went home to pick up a car in the parking lot, suddenly 3 people came, while arguing. Two of them took out a 38 caliber pistol, and shot six times into Escobar's body.
The three shouted the words "goal... goal... goal", as if imitating a Colombian radio commentator, while broadcasting the live broadcast of the United States vs. Colombia match, in the group stage of Group A, the final round of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
The tragedy of Andres Ecobar, was greeted very sadly, by 120 thousand who escorted Escobar to the grave. In fact, Ecsobar in Medellin and the Colombian national team were nicknamed The Gentleman. One of his killers, a member of the Medellin drug cartel, Colombia - Humberto Castro Muñoz, was sentenced to 11 years, because he lost a bet, and finally killed Escobar.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will take place from June 11 to July 19, is only 11 days away. For me, I can only review, dissect and inspire, that the formation of tactical strategy, luck, the world of voodoo, and tragedy are an important part of football, which is a joke, which is almost watched by 7 billion inhabitants of this earth.
Hopefully, the above story, will be the beginning of a writing that is just as fun, at the biggest branch sports party in the sky.
J. Erwiyantoro(Football Columnist)The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
