On the evening of February 24, local time in Spain, in the city of Cordoba in southern Spain, a game of the 2023 Basketball World Cup qualifiers was played here, against the home team Spain men's basketball team, and as a visiting team... Ukrainian men's basketball team.
Less than 24 hours before the game began, a war in Ukraine had just begun.
On the morning of the game, the social account of the Spanish national men's basketball team released the preview of the game, probably looked at the comment area, no one was discussing the game, most people were sighing, actually ushered in such a special game opponent on such a day.
The scene of this game was also overshadowed by a sense that is not limited to sports competition, the 3500 spectators who watched the game and the home team generals together gave applause to the Ukrainian players and coaches who entered the game, and before the game, the two sides also held a one-minute silence ceremony for the first fallen soldiers in the war.
Some of the Ukrainian players shed tears at the pre-match ceremony, and their sadness and excitement overflowed, but when the game began, they still threw themselves into the game, and the final score was 88-74, and the more powerful home team Spain won, but at this time no one cared about the outcome of the game.
During the game, an assistant coach from Ukraine always shouted to the stands: "We don't want war." ”
"My mother, my brother, and other members of my family are trapped inside Ukraine, awakened by gunfire at five o'clock in the morning and now trapped in a shelter 50 kilometers from Russia." A Ukrainian international said in a post-match interview.
He also admitted that although he and his teammates have come to Spain, they have no heart to play this game, they have their family and friends in mind all the time, "We want to cancel the game, but if we have to play, then we will try to focus on the game itself, although it is difficult." ”
The Ukrainian international also said that although they know that their domestic league has stopped, they still have to go back to their country because they remember their families, "We don't know how to go back, but even if it is by bus and walk, we must go back." ”
"I can't believe this kind of thing happens in 2022." Another Ukrainian international, Pushovy, told the media that he now plays for Grand Canaria in La Liga. 'We've tried to do our best, but during the game, we were all thinking about our families. During the game, Pushovy had the words "No war" written on his cheek.
Marc Guar, a native Spanish player who came from the Espanyol Academy and later went to the Sevilla Academy, although he was also selected for the Spanish national youth team, he is a completely inconspicuous small role in Spanish football, and he has recently become the focus of Spanish media attention.
Before a lot of media attention to him, because he has been loaned by Sevilla to a number of La Liga teams, because he was a Spanish youth team international, he has been placed high hopes during every loan career, but almost every performance is not satisfactory, most of the time on the field, the performance is like his name, playing is a "melon".
But the dude recently came into the spotlight because he left his previous Alcokon in the winter window of 2022 to move to SK Dnipro in the Ukrainian Premier League. As a result, so far, he has not played a single official match, and the Ukrainian football league has been suspended because of the current situation.
After the outbreak of the war, the local Spanish television station contacted Mark Guar for the first time, "Two days ago I was still preparing with the team in Turkey for the pre-season, as soon as I came back, the war started, and now we are waiting to get out of here in a safe way." Guar on the other end of the phone was visibly panicked when he told this.
"I was woken up by the roar of the bomb, I looked out the window and saw the fire, so I contacted my manager, and a couple of teammates from Argentina, Brazil, Romania, Croatia, and ten minutes later we got in the car and went to the training ground, which is far from the city, but everything we saw and heard made us uneasy."
"I got in touch with my family in Spain to keep them calm because we were all fine and were trying to find a way to evacuate from here."
Luis Cortez, the former manager of barca women's football team, led barca women's football team to sweep Europe in the 20-21 season, won the treble, and also won the first Champions League trophy in the history of Barça women's football, which he achieved with Barca women's football team, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in the history of women's football in the world.
But he eventually got out of class, not because of his grades, but because he was too harsh on the players.
How harsh is it? His requirement is that if the team can win 6 opponents, only 5 is a failure, although this high-pressure coaching style eventually achieved the treble for Barca women's football, but the players often feel a lot of pressure in the game.
Last season, after the Barca women's football team scored in La Liga, the players had almost no smiles on their faces, because it did not satisfy Cortez on the sidelines, and throughout the season, only at the moment of winning the Champions League, the smiles on the faces of Barca women footballers could be seen.
Despite eventually winning the Treble, Cortez left the Barca women's football team, his next stop was the Ukrainian women's national team, and naturally, he also suffered from the war.
After a 500-kilometer drive with his colleague, physical trainer Escula, the two finally arrived in Lviv, Ukraine's border city with Poland, from Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.
"On the highway, a lot of cars are driving to the western border, and it can be seen that many people are fleeing the country, and my Ukrainian assistant coach is sleeping in the subway, waiting for his mother and two relatives to meet him from other cities, and then they will also go to Lviv together." Cortés said in a connection with his home television station.
'What's happening around some of my players is even more unbelievable, some of them are still playing in other countries and they can't reach their families, some of the players' families have to defend their country, to go to the front line, which is incomprehensible to us who have become accustomed to a different way of life, I just hope it all ends soon."
Cortés, the workaholic guy who has always been considered emotionless, also has emotional ups and downs at this moment.
In the world of sports, war is really not too far away.
For example, in the 1990s, when peace was enjoyed in many places, the Balkan Peninsula was still at war, and Modric also mentioned in his autobiography the Great Patriotic War in Croatia and talked about the scene when he watched his loved ones die.
In 2007, the scene of the Iraqi team that had just experienced war won the Asian Cup moved many people.
At this point in time when FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and other institutions have condemned Russia and announced that they will not hold tournaments in Russia, the World Cup in Russia a few years ago is still vivid.
At the opening match, fans from all over the world cheered for the host Russia, and when the Russian team reached the quarterfinals and achieved the best result in the World Cup in history, the Moscow Fan Center was full of messages written in the world's language.
At the closing ceremony before the World Cup final, tens of thousands of fans at the Luzhniki Stadium shouted the name "Russia" and thanked Russia for bringing this football feast to the world.
Compared with the current condemnation of Russia by all parties, this scene is so beautiful.
Although I have not visited Rostov on the Russian-Ukrainian border during the World Cup, my colleagues have said that half of the residents there are Ukrainians, and the local Russians and Ukrainians get along very well, and there are many people who start families.
Because of the World Cup, this humble city has entered the world's attention, and the quarter-final of the 3-2 victory of Belgium that shocked the world was held here.
And there are many more Russian cities that, like the city, were known during the World Cup.
No matter what the rhetoric and the so-called political game are, there are eggs under the nest, every side under the war is actually a loser, and the ultimate victim is still all sentient beings. In the words of The Ukrainian national player Pushovy, such a thing can still happen in 2022, and no one dares to believe it.
I only hope that the war will stop as soon as possible, and in every corner of the world, people can enjoy the joy brought by sports.