TRIBLOG

by Football Tribe Iran Football Tribe's journalists are "feeling" and "experiencing" the World Cup in Russia. We would like to share the atmosphere with everyone with the most effective tool: visuals. So here are some of photos of Iran's fans ahead of their World Cup matches. Photos are taken and shared  by Behnam Zafarzadeh, Chief Editor of Football Tribe Iran. Feel the Passion #JOINTHETRIBE

by Football Tribe Korea Korea made history by defeating Germany 2:0 - it was indeed the most beautiful failure to proceed to the round of 16. Football Tribe Korea's Jeong-ho Seo shares some photos from this miraculous moment. Feel the Passion #JOINTHETRIBE

by Football Tribe Korea Only few things are more fun than watching football with fellow football enthusiasts! Football Tribe Korea's Jeong-ho Seo enjoyed this experience, despite the fact that Korea lost 1:2. Photos are from the fanfest by Jeong-ho in Russia.     Feel the Passion #JOINTHETRIBE

by Football Tribe Vietnam We visited the fanfest near Luzhniki stadium right before the start of the Russia - Saudi Arabia game. The atmosphere was unreal! People were dancing, singing and waiting together for the kick-off of the most important tournament in the world. We, as reporters, had the time of our life and sunk ourselves into the happiness of football fans from all around the world. Here are some photos - all photo credit to Football Tribe Vietnam. Feel the Passion #JOINTHETRIBE

by Behnam Zafarzadeh, Chief Editor of Football Tribe Iran Russia 2018 World cup will start in 5 days and many star players will miss the tournament due to his managers’ decisions; players like Leroy Sane, Radja Naingolan, and Mauro Icardi. Of course, I'll never be a professional player and never have a chance to participate in a world cup but I understand their feelings very well because I have a similar experience when I was a schoolboy. I was 13 and one the best players in our school but skinny and fragile. However, I had missed the team of the school selection for two years, I was confident that I would be in the final selection that year. But the selection regulation was against me. We had to shoot the ball for a long distance and it was a huge obstacle for me. It’s obvious that I failed and had dropped again so I cried when I returned to the home. My mom went to the school next day and spoke to our PE teacher and he accepted to give me a chance. But I attende...

written by Isidorus Rio, Football Tribe Indonesia I’m not that patriotic person but in terms of football, as an Indonesian, our love with national team is beyond anything. It’s beyond any nationalism campaign, beyond any thrash-talk about love story, like Bill Shankly said,  maybe, it’s beyond the matter of life and death. Coming to the stadium, singing your beloved national anthem, screaming out loud for your local hero wearing red and white jersey with Garuda on their chest, that was massive feeling. One of the best feeling ever. Then come that day, second leg in AFF Final 2010, against our long rival yet also our closest neighbour, Malaysia. We were 3-0 down after first leg, with sorrow defeat in Bukit Jalil. It was hard to swallow. I came to Gelora Bung Karno, like the man repelled some spell to wishing some miracle like the Istanbul one, but it didn’t happen. Firman Utina missed a pen when it should make us ahead one goal. We did scored two goals but the vis...

by Mihyun Chung, Chief Editor of Football Tribe Korea In 2013, I was living in Madrid, Spain; not for a long time, just for a half a year as part of my university exchange programme. And yes, I chose Madrid because of my love for Real Madrid. My friend and I decided to go to Barcelona for El Clasico. We knew that it might not be possible to get tickets, but still wanted to feel the city during El Clasico. However, she isn't a football fan so doesn't know what it means to be wearing a Madrid jersey in Barcelona. El Clasico day. We decided to have some Gaudi tour, so visited el Sagrada Familia, in a Madrid jersey. Then we also visited the Guel Park, in a Madrid jersey. It wasn't the worst, I think people thought I was just a stupid female tourist who knew nothing about football. Some people kindly told me it is the wrong jersey in English. We decided to go to a local pub. Thankfully, a bar owner supported Madrid! Well, he was safe, so would I be t...

by Jedsada Chanapinijwong, the deputy editor of Football Tribe Thailand Hi, Tribe. It’s me, Jed from tribe Thai edition. Long time no see!  We are gonna talk about Thai league this season to update how everything is going after we go near the half-way of the competition.   This season Thai league implemented a quota for ASEAN players so we can see many super stars in ASEAN coming to Thai league - everyone in these countries know players such as Aung Thu,  Terens Puhiri, Kyaw Ko Ko or Mark Hartmann who have come to Thailand. But some teams in Thai league think this  quota is unnecessary for them. After Muangthong signed the contract with Baihakki Khaizan, they just sent him to Udon Thani in Thai league 3; Buriram terminated Hong Wu Samson's contract and sent him back to V league. It looks like only  Aung Thu is doing very well at Police Tero after netting 8 goals and make a lot of Myanmar fans come to the stadium to watch him play...

by Assi Alghazali ,  chief editor of Football Tribe Arabia Do you remember when your love for football started? How? Why? I do, playing in school and after school was not the reason, I think I did that because I was a very active child and wanted to move a lot! Haha It started with the world cup 2002, I’ve always remembered the date of that day, 30 th of June (no, I didn’t Google it haha!) Came back home from school, sat in the living room and the game started, Germany VS Brazil. Before that game, I watched the world cup games only because my elder brothers did, and I cheered for Germany and Argentina because my brothers did. But that game, started the love flame for football in me, I still smile when I see Oliver Kahn or Ballack or klose or Lahm or Schweinsteiger’s pictures, even though the last one’s name was very hard to say! Hehe As you could notice, yes I cheered for Germany at that game, and cried after it. I still feel sad when I see Ronaldo...

by Mihyun Chung, Chief Editor of Football Tribe Korea Last time I complained about how I am not treated as a serious football fan when I say I like football. Almost every single guy I've met made an assumption that I like football because of Cristiano Ronaldo, especially because I support Real Madrid. Nope, not true. It was NOT because of Cristiano Ronaldo, and just to clarify, my favourite player has been Alvaro Arbeloa since 2009. Having said that, however, I thought it would be still fun to tell you why I got to support Real Madrid, which I said in our webcomic: MAN UTD WON SO CAN I CLOCK OUT AT 5PM?  *Previously I shared about our webcomic on this blog . Feel the Passion #JOINTHETRIBE

by Dan Orlowitz, Head of Photography for Football Tribe  One of the most fascinating things about football to me is the visual culture - the scenes, colors, and iconography that make it one of the most vivid sports in the world. Whether it's a picturesque stadium view, an iconic uniform, or a well-planned fan choreography, what happens around the pitch is often as beautiful as what happens in those 90 minutes between the first and last whistles.  It was this color that first drew me to club football in 2007, when less than five months after moving to Japan I attended my first J.League match. It was something that I, an American used to baseball and American football, had never really experienced before.  But I was immediately hooked, even though the day ended in a loss against eventual champions (and future three-peaters) Kashima Antlers.  Eventually, after many seasons of shooting from the stands, I found my way onto the pitch shooting for sever...

by Behnam Zafarzadeh, Chief Editor of Football Tribe Iran Image credit: Ali Shirband- Mizanonline The world Cups are Lighthouses of my life and my mind divide the years between two World cup to remember the events. In the 1990 World cup, my very first World cup, I was just 7-year-old and I cried after Argentina defeat in final against Germany. I remember that my mom angered and asked me to stop it because she couldn’t understand it but for years later, when World Cup took place in USA and it was difficult to stay awake for matches that kick-off in 3 am (Iran time), she usually watched them and analyzed for us tomorrow morning. In the 2010 world cup, I was in military service and I couldn’t watch the match because we had to go to sleep in 9pm. I know the 2018 world cup will be memorable for me because it’s for the first time that I will be there and experience it closely. Honestly, I thought that Qatar 2022 will be my first World cup but luck came to me 4 years sooner. I s...

written by Mahir Pradana, Football Tribe Indonesia I have visited Camp Nou several times to watch the Barcelona home game from the stands. However, on Sunday, February 28th, 2018, I had a rare opportunity to directly cover the match as a journalist. FC Barcelona's Communication enthusiastically proposed an unexpected offer for me through Football Tribe Indonesia’s e-mail. Honestly speaking, their offer quite surprised me. "We want to record some footages of you working in our media tribune. we rarely receive direct visits journalists from Indonesia, that is why we are asking you,” said FC Barcelona's Communication Department. I could not say ‘no’, could I? Besides, I am curious to see how my face looks on television. I did not think twice. I said yes. “Perfect! The reporter and camera person from Barca TV will meet you in front of Camp Nou gate!” So, two hours before the game started, I was approached by a representative from the Communication Department and...

by Ippei Tsuchiya, deputy editor of Football Tribe Japan Next week is the international week. Japan travel to Europe and will face Mali and Ukraine to prepare the team to play against Senegal and Poland. Vahid Halilhodzic, current manager of Japanese national team, revealed roster for these two matches; Takashi Inui and Shinji Okazaki are not included. Halilhodzic likes the style of pressing hard from opponents’ side of the pitch, and therefore he prefers a player who has great stamina and is willing to play as a part of the team. Both of Inui and Okazaki can play for the team. Inui is, arguably, the best Japanese footballer right now, Okazaki has experiences of having played last 2 world cup and has spent one of the best seasons since he joined Leicester City. So we should see them as safe candidates. In my very personal opinion, Halilhodzic should believe in Gaku Shibasaki, he was called for these two matches. Former Kashima Antlers midfielder has adapted to La Liga, on...

by Jedsada Chanapinijwong, the deputy editor of Football Tribe Thailand First I have to say arigatou gozaimasu to you all. Why I have to say "Thank you" in Japanese? Because nowadays, Thai football fans give and attention to Japanese fiitball! Yes I mean J League, the strongest league in Asia. After Chanathip Songkrasin became the pioneer who landed in J League last season, this year Teerasil Dangda and Theerathon bunmathan also joined J League, which has made Thai fans more interesed in Japan football. Theerathon Bunmathan with his new nickname “Boonjung” played for Vissel Kobe against Sagan Tosu but he started only on the bench. Then Takayuki Yoshida gave him a sign to be ready to step on the pitch with 15 minutes left and he showed his dynamics and confidence. On Saturday, these Thai players faced each other as Sanferse Hiroshima of Teerasil Dangda play against Consadole sapporo of Chanathip Songkrasin. In Thailand, people in Bangkok wi...

by Keeshannan Sundaresan, Chief Editor of Football Tribe Malaysia Credit: AFC It was surreal. One day before a massive, massive decider against Saudi Arabia, Malaysian U-23 boss, Datuk Ong Kim Swee universally declared his intention to attack their opponents and go for a win. Best part? His statement was in response to Vietnam’s 1-0 win over Australia, which was yielded through a complete smash and grab performance. I clearly remember talking to a few friends and going: “Is he for real? Did he just say Vietnam’s win didn’t mean much because they were conservative on the pitch? Did he say that just one day before a cruncher against the mighty Saudis?” Malaysian football’s battle with inferiority complex has been ongoing for the last two decades or so, which if there are any individuals who have stood up against it, it’s Datuk Ong Kim Swee. From his mind-blowing team talk at the the 2011 SEA Games to all the young talents that have been moulded under him, Ong ha...