What does reconciliation look like between countries? How do you initiate true peace and friendship?
Saturday, September 24th, everyone was invited to Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh to watch asignificant soccer match.
The opponents: Cambodia vs. Thailand
Country leaders and officials from both countries put aside their suits and geared up in soccer jersey’s and high socks. The captain of each team: the prime minister of Cambodia, and the former prime minister of Thailand. The crowd went wild as these men, men with authority, ran their opening lap around the field before the start of the game. The smiles were big! Many laughed as the men competed for goals, as it was clear soccer was not their profession, but the laughter was not aimed to mock, but rather unite.
Humility.
That is the word which came to my mind over and over as I watched the game. These country leaders entered the field and suddenly they were boys again. They were just having fun! I watched as one man went to kick the ball, but tripped and landed on his back. He simply laughed and got up quickly to return to the play.
We all laughed when we saw the people in the stadium begin to do the wave. Some things in sports don’t change no matter where you are around the world! It was the best wave I have ever been apart of, as the entire stadium all around was actively involved.
By the end of the first half, Cambodia had a significant lead of 6 to 1. During the second half of the game you could see some theatrics come out as Cambodia wanted to gracefully allow Thailand to get a few more scores. This was truly a friendly game. The final score was Cambodia 10 and Thailand 7.
Friendly sports- a great way to bond people together and reconcile countries 
Aaah… this made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It’s amazing how sports unite people.
Sports unite ppl. It’s prolly bc it’s universal and some ppl take it more seriously than life. Remember when we were in brazil and Don said that when brazil lost the world cup the whole country seemed depress. Think about what would of happened if they won.
I guess this common thing brings ppl together. Just think about homecoming for schools, a bunch of ppl don’t like football but they go to the game. The band is there the flag guard team. The. Boasters and families supporting the players. I could write more but I’ll leave that for another time. Good thought, Jennifer. Miss you
Thanks for your email. It is interesting how sports can unify countries. Glad you were able to attend.
SOCCER, or FUTBOL, unites everyone. I think it is officially the best sport EVER. ;P I’m not at all partial either.
Thanks for sharing this. It is cool to see your experiences that I was not present for! I had no idea big time leaders were involved. How cool! Yeah for humility and unity! ove you and your heart!
Pretty cool!