For three days now, I have been consuming non-stop football content. It all started two weeks ago, when my husband told me we should watch Argentina’s game in the World Cup. Curious, I said “Of course.”
It was really interesting. I didn’t think I would find fun in watching grown men stealing balls using their feet for 90 minutes trying to kick it inside a net, but it was honestly, mesmerizing.
In the Philippines, basketball is the sport, thanks to the United States. My dad and I would fight about the TV all the time, he wanted to watch basketball, and I wanted to watch my cartoons. I’m guessing that’s where my non-feelings for sports started.
I was never a fan of sports – I was a fan of winning though.
At our school’s sportsfest, of course, basketball is also the main event. We studied basketball in PE, but I really couldn’t get myself to be into the sport. I get confused how the pointing system work and why the numbers get a huge gap between them even if they shoot the same number of times.
Now that I’m watching football, I appreciate how straightforward the pointing system was – if you kicked the ball properly inside the line, you get a point.
Surprisingly, I watched an entire match, focused, unbothered. I found myself screaming when someone hits the goal, groaning when someone misses it, and yelling when I see a potential foul.
The most iconic match for me out of all that I’ve watched is Brazil and Japan. As a Southeast Asian, my support was leaning towards the Japanese team (despite our dark dark history, it was in the past I guess.)
From what I’ve read and binge-watched in the past, Brazil has an outstanding 5 world cups already. The most a country ever has so far. It was definitely a tough match for Japan, but they played really well!
I was amazed with Suzuki, their goalkeeper. His moves were on point, he was able to block 4 attempts from Brazil! Despite that, Japan lost their spot in the next round by scoring 1 and the other team getting 2.
It was thrilling and heartbreaking. I finally understand what sports fans feel whenever their team loses a match.
Since then, I’ve been non-stop reading through Instagram and Threads about the match. Last week, before Argentina’s match with Cabo Verde (which was also an awesome match), I binged videos of the Argentine team from their last world cup.
I was too nervous for the Argentine team. Even though it’s Cabo Verde’s first time playing, getting into the knockouts, drawing with Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, and Spain.
This is their first world cup, and yet, they showed us this will not be their last.
I feel sad that we only get the World Cup every four years, but I understand the funding can be tricky with an event this massive! I’m looking forward to see if Argentina can defend their throne. I’m rooting for them!
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