Patrice Evra is happy to be back in Africa - but he will never forget the abuse he received in his native Senegal.
The Manchester United defender sparked fury back home in 2002 when he opted to play for France's Under-21s rather than the country of his birth.
Evra is now poised to captain Les Bleus when they start their World Cup campaign against Uruguay in Cape Town on Friday.
The left-back, 29, explained: "I grew up amid a Senegalese culture at home.
"But we became Westernised very quickly and when I had to choose between playing for Senegal or France my father told me to follow my heart.
"I opted for France, as that was where I had grown up, but I then came in for lots of abuse in Senegal.
"I was called a monkey who grovels before the white man and labelled a money-obsessed traitor to the nation. But my parents helped me get through it.
"I had not been back to Senegal since the age of 10.
"I have still not returned. It is 19 years now and I need an incentive to make me go."
Evra is dreaming of going all the way to glory in Johannesburg on July 11.
He added: "I have two wishes. I want to win it for France and hope it is a huge party for football and all Africa with no security problems.
"This World Cup will be very important to my family as well as myself. I was born in Dakar to a Senegalese father and a mother from Cape Verde.
"But we moved to Brussels when I was just a year old, because of my father's job with the Senegalese Embassy.
"I just had time to mess a few nappies before I was on the plane.
"We stayed in Belgium for two years before moving to Les Ulis in the Paris suburbs.
"I often talk about the World Cup with my father. He is now 81 and badly asthmatic.
"He says seeing me lift the World Cup would be the greatest present he could have before he goes to heaven."
No comments:
Post a Comment