Norwich City forward Dieumerci Mbokani almost died in the Brussels terrorist attacks last month. He and his wife were waiting outside the Brussels airport for his cousin's girlfriend when the bombs went off. If the pair hadn't stopped to wait, they would both probably be dead.
As you can imagine, Mbokani, who was traveling back home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for international duty, received a tremendous outpouring of support and sympathy from his home federation.
Just kidding, they threatened him with sanctions.
Reuters reported this phenomenal quote from DR Congo Football Federation President Constant Omari:
"We called Mbokani to offer him another possibility so that he might arrive in Kinshasa, but he made us go round in circles and in the end he didn't come.
"Should life stop because there were attacks in Brussels? We're examining the possibility of sanctioning him."
In response to the threat of sanctions, Mbokani announced he's retiring from the DR Congo National Team. Fair enough.
Omari is right. No, life shouldn't stop because there were attacks in Brussels. However, after an even like that life should absolutely take a minute to collect itself and make sure it still has all of its appendages.
If I were that close to a terrorist attack, I'd probably still be hiding under my bed, so, even if Mbokani rejected an alternate route to international duty (which he denies), it would be difficult to judge him harshly for that decision.
For most people, I would wager that almost dying is the second-scariest thing that can happen in a lifetime, next to actually dying. It's natural that narrowly escaping an event like the Brussels attacks would shake a person up. One might need to go home and decompress after such a thing. That would be a healthy and natural thing to do.
You now what wouldn't be a healthy thing to do? Nearly getting blown up and then reacting with "gosh, I almost got blown up! I better do everything in my power to go play for my country's soccer team!"
I can just picture the scene. Mbokani and his wife are standing on a path outside the Brussels airport. Suicide bombs go off in the building. Mbokani and his wife turn and flee. As they're sprinting away from the people who just blew themselves up in close proximity to where they were standing, he turns to his wife. "Honey," he says. "I need to find a different route to Kinshasa so i can play for the national team."
Give me a f***ing break.
There are people who cope with brushes with death by blocking the event from their minds by focusing on other things, like their jobs, but I certainly can't begrudge Mbokani if that's not how he's wired. Too bad for the DR Congo Football Federation. maybe someday Constant Omari will come to his senses.
(H/T ESPNFC)
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
