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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Growing up in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Raad Qumsieh probably never dreamed that his life would include a stop in Kansas. He has led a nomadic life not uncommon of Palestinians today. But Qumsieh is different than most Palestinians. A gifted soccer player from a young age, he has played for the under-17, under-20, and full national teams of Palestine. For the past three years, he has been in the United States playing college soccer. He hopes to make a career as a professional player and to represent the Palestinian national team.

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Note: This is the ninth and final part of my American Soccer Road Trip, which will involve me traveling across the country, finding stories that exemplify the diversity that exists in American soccer. Check back soon for further updates.

If I had to choose one word to describe Kosuke Kimura, it would have to be determined. The Colorado Rapids midfielder would not be where he is today were it not for his determination. From a young age, he knew he wanted to be a professional player, but at times it seemed such a goal would be impossible to attain. He has achieved his goal, although far from Japan, the country where he grew up. But determined as Kimura is, he is unwilling to rest on his laurels, and now has new goals for himself as a player.

Kosuke Kimura (photo: Colorado Rapids/MLS)

I knew of Kosuke Kimura because he is the only Japanese player in MLS. The league has said that it wants to attract Japanese players, but has yet to do so (my own hypothesis is that Japanese players aren’t that interested because the level of play is not much higher than the J-League and the pay is often lower). MLS didn’t attract Kimura to the league; he found it through his own roundabout career path. He sat down recently in Denver to talk about how he got to the US and differences he sees between American and Japanese soccer.

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Note: This is the second part of my American Soccer Road Trip, which will involve me traveling across the country, finding stories that exemplify the diversity that exists in American soccer. Check back soon for further updates.

One the most important factors shaping people’s lives in the 21st century is the ever-increasing pace of globalization. We are familiar with many of the changes globalization has brought: the multitude of products manufactured in China, information available on-demand on the Internet, and people increasingly moving to different countries in search of a better life. But sometimes, globalization brings about a change that is totally unexpected.

When DC United signed forward Nicolas Addlery at the beginning of the season, I read in the press release that the Jamaican had spent the previous year playing in Vietnam. How strange, I thought. How could a player from Jamaica end up playing in a country halfway across the world from his homeland? Well, the short answer is globalization, but the long answer is far more interesting.

Nicholas Addlery sat down with me recently and talked about how he ended up playing in Vietnam and what he took away from his time playing and living there. (more…)

In Trinidad and Tobago, Christopher Birchall is known by his nickname: “Me Mum.” The nickname was his two-word response to a reporter who asked him how he was eligible to play for the country’s national team, the Soca Warriors. It is rare that a player would be asked to explain their eligibility, but Christopher Birchall is himself a rarity: a white player on the Trindadian national team.

Can you find Christopher Birchall? Hint: he’s the one lacking pigment.

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In 2005, just before his country’s World Cup qualifier against Japan, Lee Han Jae said, “To beat Japan and win a World Cup berth has been my dream.” What might at first appear simply to be a typical pre-game quote becomes more interesting when you know that Ri was born in Japan. How is it that a Japanese-born player would dream of one day beating the country of his birth?

Lee Han Jae

Lee is not a typical Japanese player. The Sanfrecce Hiroshima player was born in the Japanese city of Kurashiki, but his family comes from North Korea (thus making him eligible for that country’s national team). Lee is a member of the large, but often ignored, ethnic Korean minority group in Japan.

The Korean community exists largely because of Japan’s colonial past. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, thus forcibly making its people Japanese subjects. For the next 35 years Japan occupied the Korean peninsula and brought many people to Japan as laborers. It was only in 1945 that Korea regained its independence, as Japan’s defeat in World War II led it to relinquish all overseas territories. But many of the ethnic Koreans living in Japan remained in that country and their descendants, like Lee Han Jae, make up the Korean community in Japan today.

Koreans in Japan have experienced widespread discrimination. Japanese identity has long been based on the idea of ethnic homogeneity, an idea challenged by minorities like the Koreans. For a long time, Korean immigrants’ children were denied citizenship, despite the fact that they were born in Japan.

The Korean community in Japan has itself experienced divisions. The war that split the peninsula into two countries soon after World War II also affected ethnic Koreans in Japan. While most came from South Korea, some hailed from the North. Those who supported North Korea formed the Chongryon organization to support the communist government’s ideals. This group continues to receive support from the North Korea government today. A large part of this money funds schools in Japan, which, not surprisingly, have a pro-North Korea bent.

Despite its mistrust of the North Korean regime, the Japanese government tolerates such schools because they are not officially accredited. As University of Iowa anthropologist Sonia Ryang writes in her article How to Do or Not Do Things with Words: The Case of Koreans in Japan, “In exchange for not being academic schools, Chongryun schools had carte blanche to teach about North Korea, Kim Il Sung and other political matters they themselves deemed to be important” (226).

Lee attended just such a school. And as he walked out onto the pitch in 2005 to play Japan, he was watched by 600 students and teachers from the Chrongryon-funded Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School. They were among the estimated 5,000 ethnic Koreans who turned out to see the game, which Japan won 2-1. Lee Han Jae is still waiting to fulfill his dream of beating the country of his birth.

A screenshot from Lee Han Jae’s official website shows him along with a Siberian Tiger, a symbol of Korea