Raheem Sterling, the English winger, was born to Jamaican parents in Kingston. His family lived in the most notorious neighborhoods of the city. When he was 2, his father was shot dead on the streets. Raheem's mother moved to London to secure a better living for the family, he was brought up by his "gran". The family were so poor that young Raheem's first football kicks in life were on an empty juice carton.
Kylian Mbappe, one of the young stars of this world cup, was born to a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother in Bondy, a Parisian suburb known more for riots and crimes. Mbappe, only 19, doesn't take his match wages for France. He donates it after every game to Preiers de Cordees association, a charity which helps organize sports activities for children with disabilities. He has pledged a potential cup winning bonus of £265,000 to charity. Because he doesn't feel he should be paid for playing for his country.
A week ago today, Belgium were staring at a shock and humiliating defeat to Japan. The two men who combined to give them a last second winner - one was a second generation Congolese (Lukaku) and the other a second generation Moroccan (Chadli). The man who had brought Belgium level earlier was also born to Moroccan immigrants. 4 nights later, he would play a stellar role in nullifying the threat of the world's most expensive player as the Belgians sent seismic shock waves through the footballing world.
Croatia has a current population less than what my city had back in 2011. The country was born out of the Balkan wars. Close to 15000 died in the independence war, many of them slaughtered by the Serbian army. More than 5 lacs were rendered homeless in one of the most brutal wars seen by humanity. When Croatia reached the last 4 in their first appearance in '98, the success worked as a healing balm for a nation still recovering from ravages of war. Luka Modric who has been a real star in this campaign had seen his grandfather Luka executed when he was 6 years old. The house he lived in was burnt to the ground. His family lived as a refugee for 7 years. Amidst incessant dropping of bombs, football was a way to escape reality.
This is the most emotionally gratifying world event in 28 years of watching world cups. Because finally, the battle for glory has gone beyond the chosen few. Finally, the children of immigrants, childhoods lost in war brutalities, the homeless and the luckless,, everyone had an equal chance.
That's the magic of football. That's why no game comes close to it. 🙏
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"Croatia came to this World Cup with only two natural strikers. Mario Mandzukic, the guy who scored the winner goal in the match against England.
The other was Nikola Kalinic. He was on the bench for Croatia's first game against Nigeria. With five minutes to end that game, the coach instructed him to dress up and replace another player.
Kalinic angrily refused to play, in protest of being left on the bench.
He saw himself a top player, and wouldn't come on for just five minutes. The coach turned to another player Pjaca for the substitution.
After the match, Kalinic refused to apologize, despite appeals from other coaching staff.
The coach then sacked him from the team, and sent him home from Russia. Kalinic flew for holidays, and even posted pictures of himself enjoying elsewhere.
After all, he seemed to imagine, Croatia won't go anywhere in the tournament. But without him, the team managed to win their matches.
Croatia has achieved their greatest football achievement in history, reaching the World Cup final.
The remaining 22 players are national heroes. Their names would forever be inscribed in the hearts of generations.
Kalinic should have been part of this glory but is now a butt of ridicule all because of minutes of anger, minutes of pride and bloated ego.
He may have regretted now. He may have realized his tomfoolery. But it is too late. These stories about life are quite familiar to us, but do we really learn lessons from them? Are they profoundly applied to all spheres of life?
Learn to CUT PRIDE. Learn to control anger and DEFLATE EGO and ultimately, learn to say SORRY.
Years of SWEAT and DEDICATION can all be shattered by moments of ANGER and PRIDE.
DON'T BE A KALINIC"For me -
This is the picture of this world cup
President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović consoling captain of Croatia Luka Modrić
Both were crying but she was still crying to cheer him up
#KolindaGK attended every Croatia match at the World Cup, travelled in economy class and sat with the fans in the stadium. She refused to take any pay for her days not at work, put on a Croatian jersey despite of the dress code in the VIP area and was soaking in rain during the closing ceremony without even asking for an umbrella.
Now that’s leadership.
She went and congratulated France in the dressing room. Beautiful
That is class
With such inspirational leadership no doubt a war torn country like Croatia with just 4 million people (it is less than half of Hyderabad population) made such a huge splash in the World Cup the biggest stage of the most popular game on earth
The Croatian president Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has created a storm by her beauty and selfless support of her national team. But do we know what lies beneath her beauty? Born on 29 April 1968, she is a graduate in English and Spanish literature. She has done post-graduation in international relations. She is a Fulbright scholar, who studied at George Washington university, Harvard and John Hopkins university. At the age of 46, in the year 2015, she became president and started pursuing her doctorate in international relations. Don't get waylaid by her beauty because she is an ex army commando and an ace marksman too. From 2007 to 2011 she was the ambassador of Croatia to US. Then she became the first woman to be the NATO assistant secretary general for public diplomacy. In that capacity she visited Afghanistan number of times to raise the morale of NATO troops deployed there. In the NATO circle she is known as SWAMBO. That is she who must be obeyed. Known as a no nonsense woman, she instilled discipline and dedication, leading by her own example. She has been voluminously praised by both George Bush Jr and Barack Obama. She bought her own economy class ticket and came to Russia to see Croatia playing. She put on Croatian Jersey and sat at the VIP box breaking all norms. She mingled with spectators and hugged the players, who were sweating and in briefs in the dressing room. She fluently speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Danish language. Moreover, she is fairly adept in speaking in German, French, Russian and Italian. She was seen speaking to both Putin and Macron fluently in Russian and French respectively. Therefore, she is epitome what a nation's leader should be, brilliant, savvy and inspiring.
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