A steward had brought a kid through the gate. 11, maybe 12, in a green shirt 3 sizes too big, his father behind him with both hands on his shoulders and a face like a man who has walked into the wrong room.
The kid still had the gloves on.
The ones Bounou threw him after the Russia game. Flapping off the ends of his fingers. He had stood in that corner for 2 hours in a pair of gloves he could not close.
And Yassine Bounou, man of the match, 2 saves, a post, the best night in the history of Moroccan football, got down on his knees in the mud in front of an 11-year-old so their eyes were level.
And he took the boy's hands in his own.
There were 400 cameras in that stadium and I do not think one of them was pointed at it.
Skhh.
A woman in a FIFA polo shirt with a lanyard and a clipboard walked out and put a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at her from his knees.
