ENGLAND stars Kieran Trippier and Raheem Sterling are being praised for a heartfelt gesture to a World Cup journalist.
Sports presenter Carrie Brown had been in Qatar covering the world cup, but her parents were unaware due to their dementia.
Carrie’s parents both live full-time in a care home, and “didn’t believe” Carrie was in Qatar – but Kieran and Raheem helped Carrie surprise the couple.
Carrie said there’s only one hour of the day where she can speak with her parents on Zoom due to her busy schedule.
She said: “For the first seven days of rushing around I hadn’t managed it.
“I made a mental note that after the Iran game that might be quite a good time after the flash zone was done, and I saw one of the coaching staff, John McDermott, doing the same thing with his family and everything had been done and all the players had gone.”
During the lull of events in Qatar, she called her parents, but even after seeing the pitch and England dugout, her mum wasn’t convinced.
Carrie then showed her parents the interview area, and saw some of the England players in the tunnel.
She said: “It was really dark and I was like, “You can probably see there’s some players.”
Raheem heard the conversation, and walked over to wave to the journalist’s parents on Zoom.
Carrie recalled: “When he realised it was my mum and dad in a care home, he got Kieran Trippier over and they waved and they engaged.
“My dad didn’t have words and my mum didn’t know what to think!”
Carrie said it meant the world to her mum and dad, and the doctors and nurses at the care home.
The selfless act will never be forgotten by Carrie: “The nurses and the doctors that have got so many people through Covid, they’ll never forget the day that Raheem and Kieran spent some time with their care home.
“And that will stay with me longer than any goal from this tournament.”
Carrie recounted the event during a live broadcast this past week, and a video of the interview has touched hearts on Twitter.
One user replied: “Tears here. Thank you for for sharing that Carrie. I’m in a similar position with my dad so this is so heart warming.”
Another praised the players: “Wow this now amazing Carrie – such a lovely hear warming story and well done to the England boys for doing this.”
It comes after England crashed out of the tournament with a 2-1 loss against France in the quarter final clash on Saturday.
