Image of the Week: Homeless World Cup

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-08-04 20:16:00 UTC
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Last weekend, Street Soccer USA descended upon Washington, D.C. for the national championship games. But rather than subject you to soccer/being homeless analogies, I'll just recap the event for you.

By the numbers: 160 soccer players, all formerly homeless. 16 teams from across the country. 115 volunteers and over 1,000 cheering fans.

Indeed, last weekend's Street Soccer USA Cup in Washington, D.C. was hardly a cut-throat competition. How can you root for just one team when the achievements all of the formerly homeless players are worth rooting for? Dave Tyahla, a volunteer referee for the games, explained to ESPN:

"It's a great program, very inspiring," he said. "The players are great -- life stories that you can't even imagine unless you've personally experienced it. And they're all different. There's no stereotype -- there is no stereotype for how you get to that point in your life. Everybody wants to stereotype how the homeless got where they are, but every one of these guys has a completely different story."

The team from San Francisco emerged victorious after last weekend's games. Eight players will be selected to represent the U.S. Team at the Street Soccer World Cup in Milan in early September.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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