AFP photographer Yuri Cortez was shooting the World Cup semifinal yesterday when he got much closer to the action than he expected. After Croatia scored its go-ahead goal in extra time, the celebrating players knocked Cortez over and piled on top of him. In the midst of the chaos, Cortez kept shooting.
#CRO piled on top of the photographers after scoring a huge extra time goal pic.twitter.com/FPaDQoEepn
— Marcus Gilmer (@marcusgilmer) July 11, 2018
The Croatian players politely apologized to Cortez after the dogpile, and one even gave him a kiss on his head.
Team Croatia apologizes to photographers after accidentally trampling them celebrating a goal in the #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/FMlkr0cIyE
— Brian Koerber (@bkurbs) July 11, 2018
Cortez was seen on TVs around the world snapping off close-up photos as his head peeked out from under the dogpile.
Still frame from FOX broadcast.
Other photographers in the area also captured the incident and Cortez at work as a true professional:
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Cortez was rewarded for his efforts, as his resulting photos from under the pile have begun going viral online today:
Croatia’s forward Mario Mandzukic (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s second goal during the Russia 2018 World Cup semi-final football match between Croatia and England at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on July 11, 2018. Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images.
Cortez posted this slideshow on Instagram sharing some of his other shots from under the pile:
Reactions from Croatian players after hit us during their celebration #WorldCup #FIFA18WorldCup #RussiaWorldCup #Russia2018WorldCup #nikon #Rusia2018 #LuzhnikiStadium #FIFAWorldCup2018 #Russia2018 #football #russia #instaworldcup #instarussia #instafootball #instagame #afpsport #CRO
A post shared by Yuri Cortez (@yuriyurisky) on Jul 11, 2018 at 4:19pm PDT
“I was just changing my lens as the players ran towards me,” the Mexico-based Cortez tells AFP. “They just kept coming towards me and they fell on me! It was a crazy moment, they were delighted. Then they suddenly realized that I was underneath them. Then they asked me if I was OK. Another one picked up my lens and another player (Domagoj Vida) gave me a kiss.”
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