{"id":12614,"date":"2017-05-18T20:31:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T01:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=12614"},"modified":"2017-05-18T20:31:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T01:31:16","slug":"kosovo-fans-never-thought-they-would-see-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=12614","title":{"rendered":"Kosovo Fans Never Thought They Would See This"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"article-body\" class=\"article-body\">\n<p><strong>Beautiful things and priceless memories can come from paths you may not have initially chosen to follow. Kosovo\u2019s Atdhe Nuhiu has found that out first-hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12618\" src=\"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2884007_full-lnd-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"2884007_full-lnd\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2884007_full-lnd-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2884007_full-lnd.jpg 652w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Having moved to Austria aged six months, with his family fleeing the conflict in their homeland, the towering forward grew up among the central European mountains, before rising to become part of his adopted nation\u2019s youth system. No surprise that he wanted to wear that shirt as a full international, but that dream never materialised.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The likes of David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic were his team-mates in the U-21s but, having been on the fringes of the first team, it became clear the chance was not going to come. \u201cOne door closes, another opens,\u201d he told FIFA.com. Kosovo came calling and \u201cI didn\u2019t need to think twice.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>That gateway has led him to make history in land of his family, with Nuhiu heading Kosovo\u2019s first ever competitive goal on home soil \u2013 a cathartic moment of elation for the Shkoder crowd, despite the 2-1 defeat to Iceland in their 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia\u2122 qualifier. \u201cIt was very nice for them and the goal made my family particularly happy,\u201d he said of his debut strike, \u201cespecially my father as he\u2019s a very patriotic guy [laughs].\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>While the result was not what was hoped, the simple fact of seeing Kosovo compete on the world stage is still a reality that is awe-inspiring for their fans. \u201cThey cheered the goal in a way they are not used to, because this kind of [sporting] happiness is new to them,\u201d Nuhiu explained. \u201cTaking part in football, the Olympics, is a big thing and it\u2019s more than pride.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cThey suffered so much through the war and never believed they\u2019d ever see Kosovo compete against somebody else. When people see the national team on TV they cry tears of happiness because they didn\u2019t think they\u2019d see that happening in this generation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FFFKKosova%2Fphotos%2Fa.656217864506942.1073741828.305519599576772%2F1151593278302729%2F%3Ftype%3D3&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"513\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Once this honeymoon period has dissipated, Nuhiu is confident the country of almost two million people can flourish, simply by looking at the Kosovan talent already dappled around world football. \u201cThere is the national team of Albania \u2013 half of whom are from Kosovo, plus [there are many] of the Switzerland team who could play for Kosovo too,\u201d the Sheffield Wednesday striker said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWe have players taking part in three national teams. [This shows the] the talent of players they have there. If you think about it, it\u2019s a big thing! I think the future is there!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Iceland prove dreams can come true<br \/>\nOne such star is Switzerland\u2019s Xherdan Shaqiri. Nuhiu went to great lengths to show his support and understanding for Shaqiri representing the Alpine nation. The Stoke City player grew up there and, ultimately, the timelines between his rise and Kosovo\u2019s emergence on the international stage don\u2019t match up.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>It is a scenario Nuhiu understands pointedly, as it reflects his own upbringing in Austria and desires to represent them, but the Switzerland midfielder\u2019s visible pride in Kosovo resonates strongly with those back in the Balkan state. \u201cYou cannot blame him for playing for Switzerland, not at all,\u201d Nuhiu states emphatically. \u201cEverybody respects that as it\u2019s the country he grew up in.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWhen he won the Champions League [with Bayern Munich in 2013] his Switzerland flag was there alongside the Kosovan and Albanian flags. These kind of things show how together and how much it means for him to be part of Kosovo. A person who hasn\u2019t lived there or isn\u2019t from there can\u2019t put themselves in this kind of situation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>So, while he hopes the raw talent is in the pipeline, right now he sees the Russia 2018 qualifying campaign as one of growth and foundation-building. \u201cDon\u2019t forget that [Iceland was] the fifth game since Kosovo was accepted by FIFA and UEFA,\u201d Nuhiu said. \u201cWe have to keep following this path together.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>With Turkey up next,\u00a0previous opponents Iceland \u2013 following their run to the UEFA EURO 2016 quarter-finals \u2013 stand as a model for them to follow in Nuhiu\u2019s eyes, with regular points and potential qualification standing as goals for the future. \u201cWhy can\u2019t we do it? They\u2019re not a bigger country than us, population-wise, so they should be our example. But nothing goes from zero to 100 quickly.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear-grid article-comments\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beautiful things and priceless memories can come from paths you may not have initially chosen to follow. Kosovo\u2019s Atdhe Nuhiu has found that out first-hand. Having moved to Austria aged six months, with his family fleeing the conflict in their homeland, the towering forward grew up among the central European mountains, before rising to become [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,1006,1314,1456,1156,13,14,1,108,7,9,10],"tags":[1458,1779,1780,1778,1781],"class_list":["post-12614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-entertainment","category-futbol","category-global-business-entrepreneurs","category-global-news-updates-and-more","category-global-sports","category-health","category-most-commented","category-news","category-soccer-sports-news","category-sports","category-us","category-world","tag-2018-fifa-world-cup-russia","tag-atdhe-nuhiu","tag-david-alaba","tag-kosovo","tag-marko-arnautovic","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}