Cerita Piala Dunia

Early last year, I started blogging again after years of hiatus. I continued writing after reading some blogs that in my opinion are really good in terms of their delivery and choice of words. Being an admirer of good writings, I was hooked on Lucius Maximus' Trankuiliti Tronoh. As I was thinking of a new name for my blog, I chose shrineofserenity (SS) as in resemblance of his tronohtranquility (TT) which I found was catchy enough for me. So when his writings about football and 2010 World Cup on Sokernet are being published, I did not hesitate in buying his book, Cerita Piala Dunia, just to dig into the book. For those who are used to reading his piece either on Trankuiliti Tronoh or Sokernet, they would realise that he would always stay true to his style, being cynical and at the same time preachy yet entertaining. Once I finished reading Cerita Piala Dunia, there are few things that I would like to point out:

1. This book is not exactly a review of the World Cup. If you want a book on statistics about how many goals were scored and whatnot, this is not it. This is a book for football fans who care much more than mere statistics. This is a book that relates football to politics, history and passion. For every game that he wrote about, he would only state the result in mere two or three lines. The rest would be on football and facts that we may never know. I personally like pieces on how he compared how Malaysian football can be improved by implementing steps that have been taken by other successful countries like the declaration done by Japan and the football academy initiated by Germany. Sure, you can say that we can easily google the facts. But for those who are really into writing would know that while looking for information would be easy, organizing them into a fine piece of work is not. And that is what Lucius Maximus has done with his writings.

2. Comparing his writings on Sokernet, the writings in the book are a bit mellowed. This is actually understandable as the book is actually intended for the masses. We do not want any officers confiscating the books right? I can actually see that the books will be snapped up and they will have to do a second printing, hopefully, even with the toned down style.

Reading this book, I can sense that we Malaysians are really passionate about football and would like to see improvements done for a better future. While we, the civillians, would like to see much change is done to our state of football, some people just would not want to let go of their power yet still thinking that change can be done. Well, keep on dreaming while the true, passionate football fans continue writing books like this and actually working on the revolutions of football.