Photographer Gets Dog-Piled at World Cup and Keeps on Shooting
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.
One day ill get a kiss from a World Cup player while covering a game 😔😂#Goals
— Wiso Vazquez (@WisoVazquez) July 11, 2018
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.
Other photographers in the area also captured the incident and Cortez at work as a true professional:
Never. Give. Up. pic.twitter.com/Hqs2iE67KY
— Michael Regan (@MichaelRegan) July 11, 2018
Cortez was rewarded for his efforts, as his resulting photos from under the pile have begun going viral online today:
Cortez posted this slideshow on Instagram sharing some of his other shots from under the pile:
“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.”
