Zlatan Ibrahimović on Mohamed Salah breaking down in tears as Egypt won their first-ever FIFA World Cup knockout match:
🗣️ “People will see the tears, but they won't understand what they mean. Those aren't tears of weakness they're tears from a man who has carried the hopes of an entire nation on his shoulders for years.
Mohamed Salah has been questioned, criticised and doubted every time Egypt fell short. But tonight, he answered every single critic without saying a word. He stood up when the pressure was at its highest, scored his penalty and helped write the greatest chapter in Egyptian football history.
This is bigger than football. Millions of Egyptians will remember exactly where they were when the final penalty went in. Children will dream because of this night. Families will celebrate together because one man refused to let the weight of expectation break him.
When I saw Salah crying, I didn't see a superstar I saw a captain who had finally given his people a moment they've waited generations to experience. Those tears carried every sacrifice, every disappointment and every heartbreak that came before this victory.
The world always talks about trophies and statistics, but moments like this are why football is the greatest sport on earth. You don't cry because you won a match you cry because you've changed the history of your country forever. Tonight, Mohamed Salah didn't just win a game... he became immortal in the hearts of the Egyptian people.”
Let me explain why I think Freddy resonates.
Lots of Europeans visit the USA as tourists. They visit New York City, or Washington DC, or Hollywood, or Las Vegas, and if they visit natural beauty too, they go to really crowded places like the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone.
So while they see our cultural and natural icons, they are mostly in blue cities and they therefore also see the decline, the homeless, the drugs, the dirt and the rude, rude Americans.
But Freddy is not doing that. Freddy is driving, and he’s doing it through the heartland, where people are kind and polite, the skies are wide open, and the bounty of Buc-ees and Bass Pro Shops are overwhelming.
Freddy is not seeing fentanyl and decline.
He is seeing the real, hopeful, patriotic, kind America that European tourists rarely traverse.
And he loves it.
That’s why Freddy is a phenomenon.