Maymi Asgari is 24 . She wears a headscarf . Every night, before and after the football World Cup matches, she is outside the stadium in Qatar , performing football tricks for passers by. She is a football freestyle who loves the game.
people ask her about her headscarf and the football tricks. she says, very objectively - I wear the hijab, I am a Muslim and I am a woman. But it doesn’t mean I can’t play football. I can do the exact same thing that anyone else can do.
And , I add , love the game that billions around the world do.
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Derouich Fakhreddine is from Morocco. His job is to ensure security at football stadiums in Qatar. He is supposed to always look at the spectators, with his back towards the football pitch. This way he ensures safety and security for everyone at the stadium.
He did all of his work, with full diligence and commitment in the entire match against Spain. For 120 minutes and for all the penalty kicks this far.
However , when Achrafi Hakim takes his run up to take up what could be the kick that can win it for Morocco, he turns his neck , peeps behind his back
At the end of it all, when Morocco win, he affords himself a peep into what’s happening behind his back. The penalty goes in , he shouts in joy, and celebrates with tears. In those fleeting seconds, Fakhruddin goes on to become just like any other football fan, celebrating his country's qualification in the quarter finals of the World Cup for the first time ever.
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Maisah is an Algerian woman. She has a son who is in his early 20s. The son is currently working as a security guard at Qatar for the World Cup.
His job is to manage the flow of spectators outside the stadium and guide them to their respective entry gates.
Maisah has not met her son for several months and decides to undertake the journey from Algiers to Doha, and sets out to find her son. When she is in the vicinity of the stadium, she is walking like a woman who knows exactly where she is going. Someone tells her all security guards have the same dress and look pretty much the same. But a mother sees with more than her eyes.
And in one dramatic moment , she is able to spot her son from a side angle. As she reaches to her son, the son is shocked for a while. They then hug. And cry. And hug again.
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Unlike Maisah, Fernanda from São Paulo is with her son Rafael in Qatar. They are a part of a Brazilian group of travelling soccer fans and are all set to add to the colour, music and experience of everyone around when Brazil takes on Croatia in the first quarter final. Rafael is 8 years old , and like thousands of others, he is in the yellow Brazilian jersey .
He has been pretty intent all through the Match, but when Neymar scores, Rafael starts jumping. As Croatia dig deep into their reserves of will power, they put it beyond Brazil in the penalty kicks. Little Rafael is crestfallen. His mother, no less disappointed herself, hugs her tearful son and tells her it is a game and winning and losing is a part of it.
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While one little boy’s team is on the losing side , Leo Peresic’s is not. His father, Ivan Peresic has been critical to Croatia’s chances all through the tournament and has been one of their standout performers . After Croatia team beats Brazil, Croatian players are allowed to bring their families on to the field. Young Leo Peresic , instead of heading towards the celebrating Croatian group where his father is, heads towards the Brazilian side , who are gutted after the heartbreaking defeat. The security stops Leo as he heads towards Neymar.
Neymar , broken and in tears after the defeat, notices this , intervenes, and allows Leo to come in. Young Leo shakes Neymar’s hand, hugs him , and consoles him. Victory and defeat converge into the moment .
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Just an hour after Brazil went out, it is their Latin American neighbours Argentina taking on the Netherlands in another Latin America vs Europe clash, to decide the second semi finalist .
The teams are getting ready to walk out of the tunnel onto the pitch. Amongst those who will walk in, is this little school girl . She is one of the children who will walk in with the Argentine team. She is standing next to Lionel Messi. She has heard all along that Messi is extraordinary . He is so good that he is not human , he is super human.
This is the closest she has got to anyone with this description , of being super human. She touches Messi’s arm, trying to figure out if he was for real and if he was human.
For The little girl it is perhaps the first time she is going to be walking through the football tunnel. But there is another person, not far from where she is , who is going to be walking the tunnel for the nth time. He is Louis van Gaal , 71, the coach of a Netherlands.
van Gaal was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in December 2020. He hid this fact from his players to maintain their focus before the World Cup.
He had 25 sessions of radiation therapy, all while overseeing the Netherlands' World Cup qualification campaign. He would enter the hospital through a back door , complete his treatment sessions , and go out via the back door , lest his cancer impact any of the players.
When the Netherlands defeated Norway 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Rotterdam in November 2021, Van Gaal was in a wheelchair. His visits to the hospital would be at night after the day job was done.
Often, he took charge of training with a colostomy bag and a catheter hidden under his tracksuit.
When he finally disclosed about his condition , it just spurred his players on to go the extra mile . The players also shared their experience of greater empathy and perspective from the coach .
From walking out of the chemotherapy sessions via the back door of a the hospital to walking in with the Dutch team in the quarter finals against Argentina , it was an intense journey, and win or lose, van Gaal remains a profoundly impacting human of the World Cup .
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Over the past three weeks, I have tried to capture the human stories of football. I have spoken about mothers , sons, daughters, fathers, brothers, referees, fans, support staff, school children, security guards.
I want to conclude today’s write up about my emotions as a father. My son is a big big Brazil fan. And so am I. As Indians, we look at Brazil as our home team. In our case, we also have fabulous memories of our time in Brazil. Like most Indians, our hearts are all for Latin American football. And our other favourite is Argentina. For many like me, Maradona introduced magic into football.
Even today, India is steadfast in its support of Brazil and Argentina.
So, when Brazil lost out in the quarter finals to Croatia, we were all disappointed . My son more so.
There wasn’t much time for disappointment , though, as Argentina came up against Netherlands in just over an hour.
Redemption time for Indian fans, so we thought. And that’s how it looked - for most part until the Netherlands magnificently fought back to take things to extra time and then to the drama of penalties.
My son can’t bear the tension any longer , he goes off to another room and tries to sleep.
I continue watching - I am constantly thinking - should I get my son back to watch - and perhaps see his favoured team win, or should I risk another disappointment in case Argentina lose.
I convince him to come and watch the nerve wracking penalty shoot out , telling him not to be too impacted by the outcome . Win or lose, it is a game, it is a part of life .
And at the end of it , the father son duo let out a huge roar and go into a jig. We hug each other.
Our moment of the World Cup.
