Ever since I moved to San Diego in 2007, I have heard rumors of the existence of an African Soccer League. My attempts to find it had proven unsuccessful until recently when I found a “Somali mall,” chatted up the guys who run a barbershop there, and had them put me in touch with their friend who runs one of the teams. He gave me the information I was looking for, and this past weekend, I finally got to go see the league in action. The existence of leagues like this one — completely under nearly everyone’s radar — that convince me that, contrary to popular perception, soccer is in fact quite popular in the United States, if you only know where to look to find it.

Below are some photos that I took of two games between African League teams. I was told that the games were friendlies and that the league itself will start next weekend. I will be returning to the league to do features on several of the teams. Check back soon for that!

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It is an understatement to say that the path from Uganda to South Carolina is not well trodden. But in the past few years an increasing number of young men from Uganda have been making the unlikely journey to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina to study and play for school’s soccer team. Winthrop’s connection with Uganda began several years ago, and since that time several players from the East African nation have played for the Eagles. Daniel Ridenhour, an assistant coach at Winthrop, recently traveled to Uganda on a recruiting trip. He spoke with me shortly after returning to South Carolina about his time in the country.

Daniel Ridenhour (L) talking with locals in Uganda (photo: Daniel Ridenhour)

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The case of Chivas’ Jesus Padilla is not the only example of a soccer team in Mexico struggling to define who is, in fact, Mexican. The national team has been embroiled in controversy for much the same reason. The previous national team boss, Argentine Ricardo Lavolpe, angered some in Mexico by using naturalized players for El Tricolor. In particular, former Mexican international and then-Pumas boss Hugo Sanchez harangued Lavolpe for using foreigners such as Brazilian-born Antonio Naelson and Argentine-born Guillermo Franco. Sanchez claimed that if he were in charge of the national team, he would never commit such a sin.

After the 2006 World Cup, Sanchez got his wish and was named national team boss. He stuck with his promise not to select naturalized players until earlier this year when he called up one of Lavolpe’s favorites, Antonio Naelson. Sanchez retreated from his previous statements and relied on the same constitutional rationale that Chivas officials recently employed to justify Jesus Padilla’s spot on their team. “The doors are open for all Mexicans, and the constitution says that they are Mexican,” said Sanchez.

Hugo Sanchez has not been as revolutionary as he promised to be (Photo: FMSite.net)

Hugo Sanchez has a completely different set of problems today. As boss of the Olympic team, he recently failed to get out of a qualifying group that also included world heavyweights such as Canada, Guatemala, and Haiti. The cases of Chivas and the Mexican national team indicate that Mexico is a country currently working to define what it means to be Mexican.

Halfway across the globe, Qatar’s oil wealth has, for years, allowed its clubs to bring in talented foreign players (admittedly, slightly past the peaks of their careers). Gabriel Batistuta, Frank Leboeuf, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Romario have all spent at least some time in the Q-League. Despite these big names playing in the domestic league, the Qatari national team has achieved very little.

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In the past few years, the number of American players plying their trade abroad has increased exponentially. It wasn’t that long ago that knowledgeable American fans could easily count all of the “Yanks Abroad” (personally, I remember scouring for newspapers that would have a one-sentence blurb on the exploits of Tab Ramos at Real Betis). Today, knowledgeable American fans know all about the high profile players in Europe, such as the Fulham Five.

Hilarious parody from Oz City Soccer

While Fulham’s expats are relatively high profile, there are many Americans playing abroad who are anything but. It’s a truly dedicated fan who knows Eric Lichaj of Aston Villa, Michael Enfield of Sydney FC in Australia or Tighe Dombrowski of IK Sirius in Sweden.

But while teams abroad are snapping up American players (among other reasons, the falling value of the dollar makes them a good bargain), they appear reluctant to look at American coaches. Only one native-born American coach has held a major job abroad (Steve Sampson, who was in charge of Costa Rica’s national team from 2002 – 2004). Scouring the depths of my brain and the Internet for examples of American coaches who have worked abroad was only able to come up with three, all of whom are naturalized Americans born in other countries.

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One of the joys of watching the World Cup is seeing teams from different parts of the globe play each other. The styles they employ are often a study in contrasts. Any time England plays Argentina, it is a battle of grit and determination versus technique and guile (there’s also the wee matter of the Falklands / Malvinas that provides the political backstory to such matches). But how did teams come to play they way they do? The answers offered to this question are as varied as the styles themselves.
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Steve Menary’s book Outcasts!: The Lands That FIFA Forgot is a fascinating read. In the book, Menary reports on the far flung “countries” that FIFA doesn’t recognize. Steve Menary sat down to speak with me recently about writing Outcasts and the issues his book raises. Menary told me that he got his start writing for several magazines, including World Soccer, When Saturday Comes, and Sport Business before he wrote Outcasts, his first book.

Steve Menary (photo: Play the Game)

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