The Allen Community College men’s soccer team boasts players from all over the world so it’s only right the World Cup is being celebrated at the local school. The games are also providing quality time to bond as a team.
The Red Devils finished the season with a regional championship title, going 12-4-1.
The local team has players from 15 countries, including some of the most well-known for soccer — Brazil, Spain, France and Argentina.
The World Cup kicked off on Sunday, Nov. 20 and every day since then countries from all across the world have been competing to win their group stages to reach the round of 16, one step closer to a World Cup Championship title.
ACC’s Yuki Ikezaki, Japan, Pascal Brose, Germany, and Ricardo Phillips, England, were glued to the games Thursday afternoon. The matchups included Japan taking down Spain, 2-1, and Germany toppling Costa Rica, 4-2.
With the results, Germany was knocked out of the tournament while Japan and Spain advanced to the round of 16.
Ikezaki couldn’t be pulled off the couch when watching his home country line up against a tough Spain unit. The Kagoshima Josei, Japan native led the Red Devils offensively this season with nine goals.
“We have high expectations for Japan because of the high level of players,” said Ikezaki. “But I am nervous because the situation is tough. This World Cup is special to me because I have teammates from many countries that will participate in the event.”
“I hope they will defeat Spain and advance to the knockout rounds,” he said.
Brose wishes he could be home right now in Germany but has been talking with family and friends from afar about the World Cup. Soccer is by far the biggest sport in Germany as well as across all of Europe.
“It’s by far the biggest sport in Germany,” said Brose. “Everyone starts competing very young so it’s either you play soccer or you don’t play a sport at all and it pretty much defines sports in Germany. I would say it’s like basketball or football in the U.S.A. It’s the thing in Germany.”
Phillips’ home country of England faced off with the United States in the group stage. The game ended in a draw, 0-0. The English supposedly have one of the best all-around teams in this year’s World Cup alongside Spain, France and Brazil.
The England native enjoys how he’s able to share these moments with his teammates.
“It’s so cool because everyone knows a lot about the players so when we watch it’s not like someone is informing us, ‘this is this guy.’ Everyone has their own knowledge about the teams and the countries which is pretty cool,” said Phillips. “It’s so cool that we all can relate to the same sport and with soccer everyone is interested in it, not just America.”
Japan defeated Germany in their first match of the group stage before falling to Costa Rica, 1-0. Thursday afternoon was the deciding factor of whether Japan would advance to the round of 16 or be sent home disappointed in a group round loss.
Ikezaki was excited to see Japan advance with a 2-1 victory.
