When I moved to Canada with my mom at seven years old, it was for a better life. But let me tell you something \u2026 when you hear the phrase \u201ca better life,\u201d it\u2019s probably an adult who\u2019s saying it. As a kid, it\u2019s hard to know what that means. I didn\u2019t understand all the reasons why we\u2019d come to Montr\u00e9al, or why we had to leave our family in the Ivory Coast. Honestly, all I understood for sure was that it\u2019s cold in winter and it\u2019s different. So those first couple of years were hard for us. It was hard to feel like I\u2019m at home.<\/p>\n
The beautiful thing, though, is that it really just takes one moment right?? One moment to feel at home. And big surprise \u2026 mine came on a football pitch. I\u2019ve loved football all my life, of course. My dad played professionally in the Ivory Coast, he introduced me to the game, and it was easy to fall in love from there. Then in Montr\u00e9al, sometimes I would play with neighbours in those early years, but it\u2019s not all the time. But one day I\u2019m at the park, and some kids are talking about a football game that\u2019s going on \u201clike five minutes away.\u201d So I follow them over, and it\u2019s this youth community game, a police-supported team from our neighbourhood against another local team. And at first I just watch\u2026.. but then if you know me, you know if there\u2019s a ball around I\u2019m gonna want to play. So I walk up to the lady who looks like she\u2019s in charge, and ask her if I can join in. And she\u2019s like, \u201cAhhh, I\u2019m sorry, you can\u2019t. You need to be registered.\u201d And I think I looked so sad hearing that, it\u2019s like this lady could tell, you know, if this boy doesn\u2019t get to play football soon he might cry. So when this other kid had to come off, she found an extra jersey, and let me play the rest of the game. Then after the game, she told me how I could have my mom register me so I\u2019ll be in the league. And that was pretty much my start of playing organized football in Canada.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s such a small moment, but I also think it\u2019s a good example of what\u2019s special to me about this country, and about football in this country. Canada, it\u2019s so much about welcoming people in. It gave so much to me and my mom just by welcoming us. And I think it\u2019s the same with football in Canada. Football isn\u2019t the number one sport like hockey. It\u2019s not generations of fans like with basketball or baseball. But it\u2019s a lot about growing community, and building culture, by bringing people together from all these different backgrounds. And I feel like my story, where I could have gotten turned away, but instead this lady was like, just grab a jersey….. we\u2019ll figure out the rest later, it\u2019s a part of that.<\/p>\n
And now it\u2019s years later … we\u2019re co-hosting the World Cup … and I feel like our whole team\u2019s story is a part of that. Man!! We have guys coming from so many different backgrounds with this group. Alphonso from Ghana. Tani from Nigeria. Jonathan from Haiti. It keeps going. Even Jesse, coming to manage us from the States. And I love how people are getting to see this version of Canada represent on the world stage. Actually, I\u2019ll rephrase that. I love how people are getting to see this version of Canada win on the world stage. We\u2019re fast. We\u2019re aggressive. We\u2019re strong. We\u2019re disciplined. But most of all we\u2019re willing to do everything for this badge on our chest, I think because of the journey we each took to wear it \u2026 and because of what this country has given us in times when we\u2019ve needed it most. It\u2019s hard for me to put in words, but I hope you can tell. I\u2019m so proud.<\/p>\n
Dale MacMillan\/Soccrates via Getty Images<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ll be honest \u2026 it\u2019s one of the first things that went through my head when I was lying there on the field in Vancouver, my leg snapped and broken. I\u2019m just thinking\u2026.. Not NOW. You know what I\u2019m saying?? Like, I wasn\u2019t worried about myself. No one has to worry about me. I\u2019ll do my rehab, then I\u2019ll come back better than I ever was. That much I knew before they put me on the stretcher. But the thing I couldn\u2019t stop thinking about, it\u2019s how disappointed I was not to get to help our team on the field anymore, while we\u2019re on this mission together. Where Canada football has been coming and coming and coming and now it\u2019s here. That\u2019s when this happens?? Up 3\u20130, BC Place rocking, we\u2019re 40 minutes to our first ever World Cup win??? And now I\u2019m hearing the entire stadium go quiet, 50,000 fans\u2026\u2026..<\/p>\n
Man\u2026..<\/p>\n
I just felt like I was letting the whole country down.<\/p>\n
But then they were carrying me off \u2014 and it must have been magic. Because all the quiet in BC Place, suddenly it became warmth. And I swear it\u2019s like for two full weeks that warmth has been carrying me. I felt it when they were driving me to the hospital, and one of the physios is riding along giving me game updates. (Picture him shouting, \u201cNathan on a free kick!! 4\u20130!! Jonathan for his hat-trick!! 6\u20130!!\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cOh yeah, that\u2019s good to hear.\u201d But also I\u2019m heavily medicated.) I felt it when I\u2019m about to go into emergency surgery \u2026 and I\u2019m always such a football player, you know, I have to get the surgeons in a huddle and give them a dressing room speech. I\u2019m like, \u201cHey guys this is all I have. I\u2019ve worked my whole life to be a footballer, and I need to get back out there for this team. So let\u2019s have an amazing surgery. Operate like I\u2019m your brother or son.\u201d <\/p>\n
And then I felt it when I got out of surgery \u2026 and it was just this outpouring of support. From my family and friends, of course. From my teammates and coaches, of course. But the amount of messages I\u2019m receiving just from people all across Canada, who are behind this team so they\u2019re behind me, and wanting to make sure I\u2019m OK \u2026 or the things I\u2019m hearing now in person, when fans are seeing me on crutches at the games \u2026 obviously I knew there\u2019d be support, but the level has kind of shocked me a bit. It\u2019s moved me very deeply. And it\u2019s made me feel like I\u2019m a small part of something very special that\u2019s happening right now.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s why I wanted to write this letter. Not only to say thank you to everyone who\u2019s had these supportive words for me, or kind thoughts. But even more than that I wanted to say thank you to everyone who\u2019s believed in Canada football. Whether you\u2019ve believed since the first World Cup appearance 40 years ago \u2026 or since the women\u2019s team won Gold in 2021 \u2026 or maybe only since Stephen scored in stoppage time last weekend. It doesn\u2019t matter since when. If you believe NOW, then you\u2019re a part of this thing. And if you still don\u2019t believe yet?? OK, well, tune in on Saturday. Big game for us, and I know my brothers are ready. Everyone is welcome \u2014 just grab a jersey.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll figure out the rest later.<\/p>\n
\u2014Isma\u00ebl<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I moved to Canada with my mom at seven years old, it was for a better life.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-778043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}