A Personal World Cup Story

by **Ali** » Jun 21, '14, 10:31 pm

I thought this needed to be shared. In 1994, the World Cup was held in the US, in venues all over the country. One of the cities they had games in was Dallas. The apartment complex where we used to live was basically back-to-back with a middle school, and this middle school had a track surrounding a soccer field. My dad used to jog around the track, and one day he sees these two white vans pull up to the field and a bunch of people come out and start practicing soccer. He notices at one point that the goalkeeper is taking a break and people are just kicking at an empty goal. My dad's first thought is, "These guys need a goalkeeper, I used to play goalkeeper when I was younger, I'm gonna step in."

So he goes in and they start kicking the ball at him, he manages to save a few, and he said they were the hardest shots he ever felt. Like, he ends up with big, soccer ball-sized bruises. And so after a while, he says, "I'm done," the regular goalkeeper gives him a pat on the back and takes over again. The whole team gives him a round of applause, and he asks where they're from. They don't speak English, one of their team assistant people says, "Oh, we're from Korea, and we're here to play the World Cup."

And that's how my dad ended up being a practice goalie for the South Korean National Squad.