It was a sunny 15 July 2018 when the FIFA men’s final football match was scheduled to kick off. For some reason, everyone in my family was seated and awaiting the start of the match.
Nigeria had earlier lost to Argentina and had been kicked out of the FIFA Men’s race and for this lone reason, my family had decided to support a black team. The France National Men’s team made up of 32 participants, had several players with African antecedents, so it made some sense that we supported them. With the likes of Kylian Mbappe, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembele, and Samuel Umititi, it was easy to convince my mum into supporting the team.
Before FIFA 2018 finals, I had grown fond of football and was a supporter of Manchester United (GGMU). Having grown up amongst cousins, brothers, and a father who loved football, it became almost natural for me too. Everyone except my mum bought into the ‘football idea’ and hence the need to convince her into supporting a team she had no idea of.
With that done, we had our snacks and drinks ready to watch the finals. At 3:00 pm, the match started. With morales high and arms crossed, the France Nationals chanted their National anthem and several choruses to cheer the players.
‘The day of glory has arrived!‘. They chanted in French.
The celebration started when M. Mandžukić of Croatia scored an own goal, eighteen minutes into the match to gave France a lead in the game. This was however tied as Ivan Perišić of Croatia scored in the twenty-eight minute and again, arms were crossed.
My family rejoiced as well at every point when France scored an additional goal. At half-time, France were in the lead with two (2) goals and Croatia with one(1). The memory rings clear in my head, as I remember my family praying at half-time that France would win the World Cup.
The Second half started and was more intense with Croatia seeking to have higher possession of the ball and field. Paul Pogba scored the third goal for France and registered a significant lead over Croatia. While the France supporters rejoiced at their lead and emerging victory, Croatians on the other hand, had a dismal moment of silence amongst their supporters.
The match continued with both teams pressing in to gain the lead and score more goals. Through every goal and counter goal, my family rejoiced and/or bemoaned.
However, at about 4:30 pm when the referee blew the final whistle, the Luzhniki Stadium Moscow went wild with celebrations as France had won the FIFA 2018 World Cup with a lead of four to two (4-2) over Croatia.
Celebrations rocked the living room where my family was gathered and it was as though someone had just won the lottery. My mum rejoiced too anyway. She was happy to see France win, which in turn made us happy.
Football to us was like a family tradition – and with that win, we believed ‘We’ won.
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