Story Archives of 'Soccer'

19 year old Sudanese refugee Barnaba Madol arrived in this country five years ago.

He had a 4th grade education and spoke no English.

Last fall on this program we caught up with him as he tried to make his way in a nearly all-white high school in New Hampshire.

TAPE: I can't speak English or anything. I use my weapon which is soccer. And soccer, soccer does the talking for you.

Barnaba spent the past year at an elite prep school in New Hampshire trying to get into college on a soccer scholarship.

But New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports this past school year Barnaba's come to realize-maybe- soccer isn't enough.

On the off-chance that you've been swept up in World Cup Soccer Fever, you can watch professional soccer here in the Granite State.

The New Hampshire Phantoms has been competing for a dozen years.

Trouble is, it seems very few people are even paying attention.

NHPR's Sports Correspondent Jim Jeannotte has the story.

In 1950, the US soccer team overcame incredible odds to beat England in the race for the World Cup. The American's were a rag-tag team of mostly first generation immigrants, and they shocked the world with their nearly-impossible victory. Tonight on the Front Porch, we'll talk with the man who wrote their story. Geoffrey Douglas' book "The Game of Their Lives" later became a movie of the same name.

We'll also learn about modern day immigrants who are willing to face deportation just to play soccer. Producer Adam Allington tells us this story of migrant farm workers in Michigan who maintain a sense of community through the sport. This story comes to us by way of the Public Radio Exchange.

Last week on the Front Porch, we explored the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which would require passports from everyone entering the states from Canada. A listener wrote to us after the show, asking why passports are so expensive to begin with. Tonight, we'll call Frank Moss, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services at the U.S. State Department, to find out.

Geoffrey Douglas is the author of "The Game of their Lives." It is the account of how a rag tag team comprised of first generation Americans represented the US at the 1950 World Cup. The American team defeated the English- the greatest team at the time- against 500 to 1 odds. The film version of The Game of their Lives is in theaters now.

The U.S. men?s team shocked the world Monday by defeating Mexico. Friday they face-off against favored Germany. We?ll talk about that, and whether the global soccer craze will now catch on here, too. Laura talks with Shamus Malin, soccer commentator for ABC Sports & ESPN http://espn.go.com/abcsports, and Dave Brett Wasser, soccer historian.