A special celebration-----and a sad defeat

Let me begin this post by painting a picture for you.
The time is about 10 pm, local time. The place--Durban, South Africa. The scene is set with 22 players.
Their battle has been long and grueling. The players are tired, but their fight is almost over. Both sides have been evenly matched the entire show.
A three-minute warning is shown. The players, all desiring a victory, push themselves harder.
Then, suddenly, a shrieking whistle pierces the air. The soccer stadium in Durban is a swarm of differing emotions.
On one side, 11 men show despair. Some of them throw their arms up in dismay. Others throw themselves to the ground, agony clear on their faces.
Their opponents show different emotions. Jumping up and down as a group, they relish in their victory. After a few jumps, two players separate themselves from the throng. They clasp hands, kneel, and bow their heads. A moment later, a few comrades join them. They all form a circle, drape their arms around each other's shoulders, and continue their prayer of thankfulness. The chaos surrounding them cannot penetrate their quiet circle of prayer.

This little scene is the ending of the World Cup game between South Korea and Nigeria yesterday.
In the picture above, you can see the emotion I described to you: the players huddled together, giving thanks to God for their victory. Even though it is just a soccer game, they are glorifying God by representing their country on the sport's biggest stage.

South Korea moves on to the round of 16, but Nigeria does not. Below, you can see Park Ji-Sung, the S.K. captain, overcome with emotions of victory.

The Nigerian players are also overcome with emotions, but ones of sadness.
Alas, every team has its good days and its bad days. This was South Korea's good day: They made their first second-round placement on foreign soil, ever! Good day for them!

Not so much for Nigeria. Another African team was ejected from the World Cup. It's always sad to see teams go home, but especially for Nigeria: The World Cup is taking place on their continent! Every African team was expecting to at least make it to the Second-Round. I suppose they will just have to cheer on their fellow continent-countryment (totally not a word!), Ghana, play against USA!
But that's another post for another time.

Ciao!