Wild Boars reap attention after rescue
The perilous plight of 12 Thai youth soccer players and their coach trapped in a flooded cave for more than two weeks concluded with smiles Tuesday when divers pulled the last of five remaining team members from the darkness.
The remarkable mission that claimed the life of one rescue diver but defied the odds otherwise found all 13 members of the Wild Boars soccer team pulled from Tham Luang Cave in relative good health.
With the World Cup reaching its climax, FIFA invited the Wild Boars to attend Sunday’s final in Moscow between France and Croatia.
Sadly, the boys and their coach had to decline under orders from their doctors to remain in the hospital for seven days for monitoring.
The soccer world, however, has reached out in other ways to the rescued boys.
French midfielder Paul Pogba dedicated his side’s semifinal win over Belgium on Tuesday to the rescued team.
England defender Kyle Walker sought out the boys’ contact information to send them jerseys.
Meanwhile, Manchester United invited the boys to a game at their home stadium Old Trafford next season, while Portugese team Benfica invited the Wild Boars to an expenses-paid week at its training academy.
“We believe this simple gesture can help these faces recover the joy and smiles that no child should ever lose,” club president Luis Filipe Vieira wrote to the Thai ambassador to Portugal.