Some have called it ego, others have called it passion.
I’m was just surprised he cried considering he wasn’t phased during a military-level attack only hours prior.
What if I told you that I had first-hand experience of Cristiano’s UEFA European Football Championship emotional turmoil before it happened?
I have proof.
“Missing the penalty, he starts crying on the pitch, and he starts crying at half-time in extra time. And I’m thinking ‘it’s all about you’. There’s a squad of 26 players, there’s 20 staff, there’s 30 or 40,000 fans in there. It’s not about you. You try to be mutual, but I was cheering Slovenia on because I thought the reaction was embarrassing, I thought it was out of order. I’ve never seen anything like it, because once you show emotions, once you get emotional, it’s the end of it.”
-German Coach Dietmar Hamann.
Roberto Martínez softened the blows from critics with his kind words during Portugal’s post-match conference, saying,
“When you see the only player that has played six European Championships and he’s got that responsibility, that desire, that belief, as a young man, those emotions are incredible. For someone who has won everything and experienced everything he doesn’t have to care that much. That’s why I thank me for being the way he is, for caring for the group.”
So, how was a stoic Ronaldo reduced to shedding stardust on the pitch?
Sunday, 30th June 2024.
It’s been two weeks since he arrived in our neighbourhood for vacation. Him and his family have not left the single-room house.
There’s tension between him and his wife. I can hear the wife blowing a gasket in there. I knock on the door to ask if they are okay. He opens the door and tries to smile before closing it.
The family of five arrived late night on a Thursday. Ronaldo, his wife, a white baby, a brown baby and a brown teenage boy.
The kids are also confined to the house but they seem to be doing fine, happy even.
Even though it’s hard not to take a picture and show off to the world, I don’t do it.
If anything is going to blow up this little oasis of world star vacation, it is that white baby.
For some reason that baby seems to be kidnapped.
It’s not long before that suspicion is proved right. Me and two friends are given money to travel to the American Midwest to bring mercenaries to escort the family to the airport.
“How much did they give us and is it enough to transport all of us?” I ask Leon Thomas III on our way to the airport.
He shows me a bundle of cash. “It might not be enough.”
“OK, you two go. I’ll stay back and wait to direct the mercenaries once they arrive.”
I stay behind and watch them, with a bird’s eye view, drive through space to arrive in Missouri, USA.
I return home to wait when I see over 20 helicopters surround the area before disappearing. Soon after, armed men and a woman drop in parachutes and head for Ronaldo’s door.
A woman starts reading from a paper.
“Bring me my child. I don’t want any trouble.”
“Hey, you’re here to help not cause harm.” I tell her but she doesn’t acknowledge me. In fact, none of them acknowledge my presence.
“Is this even legal? Can you parachute down in another country armed and threatening??”
“Open the door!” She screams.
Inside the door, Ronaldo starts questioning his wife about the woman demanding for the baby. His wife is nonchalant about the whole thing.
Gunshots ring out nearby. The mercenaries move towards the commotion to investigate.
Turns out as they waited by the door, a local gang had kidnapped the family through the back door.
As they come around a corner, one of the criminals shoots the mercenary woman who wanted her baby. She drops with a busted face.
The 15-year-old screams yelling “Mama! Mama, no!”
Turns out she was the teen’s mother not the white baby’s.
He rolls around in the dirt in grief. He then grabs a gun from the shooter and shoots him dead.
The other mercenaries kick into action shooting at the gang while putting the family in the car.
After driving for a few minutes, the shooting stops. We all calm down and sit in silence.
Now, up to this moment, two things have been bothering me:
1. Ronaldo has not made a sound since he arrived for vacation. I see his mouth moving but I never hear what he says.
2. Why hasn’t anyone taken a picture or recorded a video of this commotion?
The answer to the second question comes as soon as I relax in the car and start looking around.
At first, I’m not sure if we’re in Uganda anymore. The buildings and roads look like something out of 1960s Nigeria.
After 5 minutes of that architecture, I see familiar buildings, but my eyes see like a video camera from the 1950s. The world around me is somewhere in the 1900s.
We reach my grandmother’s family home and stand in the compound in silence. The inconsolable 15-year-old is given hugs from everyone. A stealth helicopter arrives, and the family piles in. I wave goodbye and start for home.
Some time after they leave.
Ronaldo’s wife is on vacation in South America. She’s sipping on a fruity drink when a redhead waitress approaches her with more.
“It’s you.” Ronaldo’s wife whispers.
The redhead, which turns out to be a wig, smiles. “You didn’t think I would die that easy, did you?”
“Now, where’s my son?”
I wake up.
Immediately, I write the dream in my Notes App.
Monday, July 1, 2024
Ronaldo finally cries from the traumatic vacation he had in a third-world country.