Man, what do you know! I just found out a story that left me with my mouth wide open. A referee from Somalia, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, was welcomed like a hero in Mogadishu, after the Americans slammed the door in his face for the 2026 World Cup! He lands at the airport, and people are waiting for him with flowers and banners, like a champion. You don't know what it's like to be rejected by the USA and become a hero back home, bro! Mioara was saying that she was also rejected by some guy at customs in Turkey, but nobody cried for her.
Listen up, because it's hilarious. Artan was the first Somali in history to referee at a World Cup. That big one, played between June 11 and July 19, in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. The man arrives in the States, gets ready to make history, and bam: 'Sorry, boss, you're not coming in. We have issues with the background check.' A spokesperson from Customs and Border Protection said it was because of 'association with suspects of belonging to terrorist organizations.' I mean, bro, these guys saw he's from Somalia and got scared. Like back home, when you see a guy with a BMW and a gold chain, you think he's a gangster, but maybe he's an IT guy.
But Artan, instead of getting upset, said: 'I'm not angry, I will continue to work hard. At the next World Cup, I will go further and make history.' What a man, man! Me, if those guys turned me away, I'd make a scandal heard all the way to Bistrița-Năsăud, where foreigners buy our mountains and we fight over a loaf of bread. But him, head held high, because he was named Referee of the Year 2025 by the African Football Confederation. Good for him, bro!
And now, the even more interesting part: they say that at the 2026 World Cup there will also be radical changes in the rules, but no one knows exactly what. Maybe they'll introduce VAR even for those who don't pay bribes. Whatever, I'm going to tell Mioara to put a chicken in the oven, because as of today I'm a Somalia football fan!
