Jose Mourinho broke away from discussing the France-Belgium match as an expert for RT to express his appreciation of those who saved 12 Thai boys and their football coach after seventeen days in a cave.
“I am amazed about what has happened in Thailand. The heroes are there, and not at the World Cup. The kids and especially the divers and those involved in the rescue. For me the World Cup comes second,” the Portuguese coach said during a live broadcast in Manchester.
The predominantly teen football team led by their coach were blocked in a deep cave system in northern Thailand after a rapid Monsoon flood on June 23. They survived for ten days before they were found, and a complex rescue operation involving more than a thousand people was assembled to get them out. A trained diver died during the operation.