Leg 12 / Etapa 12

12^th Leg: Baghdad – Belgrade

Baghdad was more like just a stop for recouping and to make plans for the next steps.

I remember Baghdad from that time more for a soccer match which played for “Baghdad United” (or something like that). How had that happened?

I reached Baghdad from Hillah. The temperatures were still pretty high. I was having a lemonade in a café next to a very busy round-about and was thinking how to find a cheap hotel. Then, some young men started gathering in the same café. As usual in Iraq, I attracted their attention and we started a conversation. When they realized where I was coming from, the first impression was “Tito” and “good, good”. Then, we couldn’t avoid a topic like soccer, especially it was the time of FIFA World cup in Germany. They asked if I would play soccer with them that afternoon. Naturally, I accepted even though I was tired and had already lost 6-7kg during the trip.

The only condition was if they can help me to find an accommodation. One of them lead me to the hotel just around the corner. I would say, it was KLEOPATRA. Some letters above the door were missing. It was reading K.EOPA..A”. It didn’t look quite good, but, on the good side it was (relatively) clean and it fitted in with my extremely limited budget, $2-3 per night.

Now, I was ready for soccer. The playground was nearby. Actually, it was a proper soccer ground and it was an official but friendly match as a preparation for the next season of the Iraqi championship. I would say there were already more than a thousand people. My new friends wanted me to play the first 45 minutes. I was not sure I would be able to play so much. I was aware that they didn’t invite me to play because of my soccer skills but because of my appearance (and they believed when I told them that I played In Belgrade for my faculty).

The first half of the match finished 0:0. We went for a rest and somebody brought a lot of yogurt as refreshment. It seems that I left a good impression since they wanted me to play the second half too. It was out of the question. I was already half dead due to tiredness and still high temperature.

They went to continue the match, me to take a shower. When I finished my shower, they were coming back. It appeared that it was not so “friendly” a match. The match was halted due to a fight between the two teams.

Later on, after the match, they all signed the map of Iraq I was using during the trip.

5 years later, June 1979, I went to Baghdad to work. I had a friend, an Iraqi architect, who was very interested in soccer. I showed the signatures and asked him about the players I was playing with. It appeared that 6 of them were playing for Iraqi national team at that moment.

I thought of getting in touch with them but, it never happened.

In Iraq, I still visited Samarra, Hatra and Mosul (ancient Nineveh). I had plans to see much more but finances and tiredness didn’t allow.

On the way back to Belgrade, I passed through Syria (it was not planned). The train from Iraq entered Turkey via Syria. Then I caught the bus to Istanbul and train to Belgrade.

Welcoming committee in Belgrade were Lata (Latinka Miladinovic), Seka i Vladan (Stojanovic), Boba i Bota (Maksimovic), Mika (Bucek), in the flat I was sharing with Lata.

12. etapa: Bagdad – Beograd

Bagdad mi je bio vise kao usputna stanica nego turisticka atrakcija.

Bagdad iz tog vremena pamtim po fudbalskoj utakmici koju sam odigrao za “Bagdad United” (ili tako nekako). Kako se to odigralo?

U Bagdad sam stigao iz Hile. Bilo je to pocetkom septembra I temperature su bile I dalje visoke. Seo sam u jednu bastu kafea na vrlo prometnoj raskrnici, pio limunadu I razmisljao kako da pronadjem prenociste. Onda su neki mladici poceli da se skupljaju. Normalno, svojim izgledom privukao sam njihovu paznju I poceli smo razgovor. Prvo, kada su culi odakle dolazim bilo je (kao I u vecini zemalja): “Tito” I “good”. A onda, tema je nezaobilazni fudbal pogotovu sto je u to vreme bilo svetsko prvenstvo u fudbalu. Pitali su me da li bih igrao fudbal sa njima tog dana. Normalno, pristao sam iako sam posle dugog puta bio umoran I izgubio oko 6-7kg.

Zamolio sam ih da mi, pre fudbala, pronadju prenociste. Onda me je jedan od njih odveo odmah iza coska u hotel, rekao bih da se zvao “KEOPATRA”. (Text iznad vrata je bio “K.EOPA..A””). Nije bas izgledao reprezantivno ali, ko te pita, bitno je da je (relativno) cist i da se uklapa u moj ekstremno limited budzet (mislim da je bio negde oko $2-3 za noc).

Sada sam bio spreman za fudbal. Rekose da je igraliste tu blizu. Ispostavilo se da u pitanju pravo igraliste, da je u pitanju zvanicna ali prijateljska utakmica sa drugim timom (priprema za prvenstvo Iraka) I da je vec bilo prisutno vise od hiljadu gledalaca. Hteli su da igram prvo poluvreme, 45 minuta. Nisam bio siguran da cu moci da izdrzim. Svestan sam da me nisu zvali zbog mojih kvaliteta vec zbog izgleda (a I verovali su na rec da sam vec igrao fudbal u Jugoslaviji).

Prvo poluvreme je zavrseno 0:0. Otisli smo na odmor I odnekud je stigao ladan jogurt u velikim kolicinama kao osvezenje. Izgleda da sam ostavio dobar utisak jer su hteli da nastavim da igram I u drugom poluvremenu. To nije dolazilo u obzir. Bio sam vec polumrtav od umora.

Oni su otisli na teren a ja na tusiranje. Kada sam zavrsio I krenuo na igraliste, oni su se vec vracali. Ispostavilo se da je utakmica prekinuta zbog tuce. Mislim se nesto : “bas prijateljska utakmica”.

Kasnije su mi se svi potpisali na karti Iraka.

Kada sam 5 godina kasnije, 1979, otisao da radim u Bagdad, razgovarao sam sa jednim kolegom, Iracaninom koji je pratio fudbal. Pokazao sam mu kartu sa potpisima I raspitao se o njima. Ispostavilo se da je 6 njih igralo u tom trenutku za reprezentaciju Iraka.

Mislio sam da ih pronadjem ali, vreme je proslo I ja nisam uspeo da stupim u kontak sa njima.

U povratku za Beograd sam prosao kroz Siriju (neplanirano). Voz iz iraka isao je za Tursku preko Sirije. Onda autobus do Istambula pa voz za Beograd.

U Beograd sam stigao polovinom septembra, posle 3 meseca provedenih na putu, sa $2 u dzepu. Zadnje pare sam dao na cigare na zeleznickoj stanici u istambulu.

Odbor za (nenadani) docek su bili Lata (Latinka Miladinovic), Seka i Vladan (Stojanovic), Boba i Bota (Maksimovic) i, Mika (Bucek) u stanu koji sam delio sa Mikom Dzisom” i Latom.