Normalise the male tears

I am not sure where the tradition comes from, but tears after failure have been de rigueur and socially sanctioned in sport since at least the Iliad, when Greek warrior Diomedes unabashedly wept over losing a chariot race.

- ANUJA CHAUHAN

And thank God for that.

Because what would we do if our champions did not miss a few penalty kicks? What would we do if every once in a while, these undisputed, alpha superheroes did not stand there, heartbroken, weeping and publicly defeated, before a crowd of millions? What would we tell our children then?

How would we put across the message to boys that it is okay to cry if they had not seen Bukayo Saka, 19, sobbing and being comforted on the sweaty manly chests of his teammates, even as Gianluigi Donnarumma, 22, was raised aloft on the shoulders of his?

When footballers go out there to take (or face) penalty kicks under tremendous pressure, they are not just taking one for their country or their club— they are taking one for everybody in the whole world, and especially, they are taking one for all young boys and men.