The World Cup is finally over. Germany came out victors against Argentina, and the Dutch beat the host, Brazil, for a third place finish. For hardcore football fans in Indonesia, this means they no longer have to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning (although I suppose there are other leagues to watch?). Admittedly, I do not watch much football, and even though I really wanted to, I didn’t even get to watch the World Cup finals (my television has no antenna).

I got my updates on the Germany-Argentina match via this New York Times Blog which provided very good descriptions of the game. Blog-reading isn’t quite as fun as watching the actual game (obviously!), and out of boredom I soon started browsing the New York Times coverage of the 2014 World Cup instead of staring at the blog intently.

As I looked through the New York Times, I stumbled upon this very awesome animated storybook by Christoph Niemann and Jon Huang. Through beautiful photography, illustrations, animation, music and sound effects, Niemann talks about his search for Brazil’s Football spirit, and how the Curse of Maracana has haunted the country’s psyche for decades. What exactly is the Curse of Maracana? Hardcore football enthusiast probably know, but for those who do not, take a look at the storybook and find out for yourselves (link below).

Click me to read “My Travels with the Curse of Maracana”