Here’s a piece from the New York Times with an El Paso dateline. It talks about the choice American futbol (soccer) players here on the border have to make about which country to play futbol in.
Daniel Pepi stood under a tree. Pepi was born in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, just minutes from here across the border. He moved to this side of the border with his family when he was a boy and now has a wife and children of his own. From under the tree, he watched his middle child, Diego, sprint through drills with purpose. Diego, 8, flicked the ball with his feet. He thwapped it with confidence.
“Will he end up in Dallas, too?” someone said. Pepi shrugged. “Maybe,” he said. He smiled. “I hope so.”
Dallas is where Pepi’s older son lives. Ricardo, 13, is a soccer star. Slick and fierce and merciless in front of the goal, Ricardo was picked out during an area scouting day this year and offered an opportunity: Leave home, move to Dallas, live with a family there and join the youth academy of F.C. Dallas, the city’s Major League Soccer team.
The Mexoplex getting some love from major media. Check it out.
P.S. Tonight the United States plays Mexico in the run up to Concacaf. Beat the westside parking lot in front of the teevee of your choice.