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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Two encounters with foreign fans inspired Los Angeles-based filmmaker Pablo Miralles’s current project, the documentary film about the US-Mexico soccer rivalry called Gringos at the Gate. The first came at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where he was on assignment for Los Angeles television stations. An English fan he was interviewing said to him, “You know what I’m most scared of? I’m scared that Americans will actually start caring about this sport.” The thought of this clearly spooked the (slightly inebriated) English fan, who proceeded to start crying. Which led Pablo Miralles to wonder: What was it that would lead a fan halfway across the world to shed tears over the possibility that the US would become a soccer power?

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When England recently announced the potential host cities that will host games if that country is awarded the 2018 World Cup, one stood out: Milton Keynes. The MK Stadium that would host games is home to MK Dons, among the most controversial teams in England. MK Dons are controversial, of course, because they are the first “franchise” club in that country. As Tom Dunmore has chronicled extensively at Pitch Invasion, the club formerly known as Wimbledon FC was taken over, moved from London to Milton Keynes, and attempted to claim the club’s long history (ultimately unsuccessfully). What makes MK Dons – and thus the potential staging of World Cup games at its stadium – so controversial is the novelty of its history. It is the only team to have broken the longstanding connection between clubs and the community in which they grew up. Indeed, this connection is part of what gives many clubs in Europe their unique character (think, for instance, of Barcelona’s Catalan identity). So strong is the connection that Premier League trial balloons about the possibility of staging 39^th games around the globe were shot down by outraged fans, incensed that clubs were putting profit over everything else.

The Football Supporters’ Federation protest sign against the 39th game (photo: Football Supporters’ Federation)

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When I travel abroad, people often tell me that the United States is good at soccer only because they import foreigners to play for the national team. While this strategy was key in our development as a soccer nation, it is far, far less common today. The 1990s saw the US scour European leagues for players with American connections, coming up with gems such as Ernie Stewart and Thomas Dooley (both of whom had American servicemen fathers) and duds such as David Wagner and David Regis (the latter was a Frenchman whose late call-up into the 1998 World Cup squad led to great friction within the team and was a large part of the team’s horrible showing in that tournament). But since the turn of the century, the US has invested a tremendous amount of money into youth development, and nearly all of its players have been born in this country. Despite this, the image of the US as a sub-par team that must import foreigners to achieve success has lingered. Yet ironically, in recent years the US has helped to develop several players who have gone on to play for other countries internationally.

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The only thing more incredible than the fact that brother and sister Alexis and Amber Hernandez both play for youth national teams is the fact that both represent Mexico. The Hernandez siblings have lived their entire lives in California, but in the past year both have worn Mexico’s famous tricolor. Children of a Mexican-born mother and second-generation Mexican-American father, Alexis and Amber are among the latest in the growing number of American-born players returning to their ancestral homeland to play their soccer.

Alexis and Amber Hernandez with Mexican youth national team coaches (photo courtesy of Hernandez family)

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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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