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Thank you Voice of America, and thank you everyone on Youtube who took notice of the homeless!

Announcing the 2008 United States National Homeless World Cup Team!

Players Celebrate



The 8 person roster was chosen on the basis of soccer ability, personal achievements off the pitch, and positive spirit. In the end we wanted the best goodwill ambassadors for the tournament in Melbourne, Australia.


1 Tad Christie, Austin, TX


2.Tim Cummings Charlotte, North Carolina


3.Cornelius Cruz, Santa Rosa, California


4.Densi Diaz, Los Angeles California


5. Johnny Figueroa, Los Angeles, California


6. Loyal Hunter, Minneapolis, MN


7. Diego Vivieros, New York, New York


8. Jeremy Wisham, Atlanta, GA

HUGS

Just a sampling of the weekend's Hugs.

HUGS

Just a sampling of the weekend's hugs.

Tournament Moments in Pictures

Tournament Moments in Pictures

Okay, one more autograph!

Parade

Edwin of LifeWorks in Austin, TX

St. Louis Roadies

Top Attacker Alvin Soto and Top defender Johnny Figuerao on the Field at RFK
TEXAS!
Rob Cann gives a penalty demo

Coach Andrea of impressive LA schemes ahead of the next match
Jose of Minneapolis and the Conch

Kazam of DC
Marlin of Hot-Lanta
Live Action
Jovenes of LA
The Dragon Appeared
D-Bone in the Washington Post Column by Mark Wise.
North Cackalacki

Inside the Booth. All purpose announcing and volunteering crew . . . Patrick Wu, Lawrence Cann, Jeremy Goldberg, and Zach Leonsis
Chino is a local Street Sense vendor who filled in for San Fran. Nice Technique!
Inside the Washington DC Huddle
Host with DC FLAG

Kicking it off!

National Coalition for the Homeless ED, Michael Stoops, Ted Leonsis, Ed Foster-Simeone of the US Soccer Foundation, and Lawrence Cann and Rob Cann of Street Soccer USA symbolically kicked off the Homeless USA Cup 2008.

The ball used was the Kevin Carrol Red Ball which has come to symbolize the sports for social change movement and Kevin’s mantra, “a ball can change your life!”

Mark Ein, who hosted us in his World Team Tennis Stadium rolled out the first ball in the openning match.

We also want ot the thank NIKE whose representatives could not make it to help us kick off the tournament, but whose LET ME PLAY campaign outfitted all our players with top of the line gear for the tournament, including balls, shinguards, goalie gloves, you name it . . .

Opening Ceremonies: Big Names Show Big Support

Mayor Fenty gave a warm and inspiring welcome to the players. Mark Ein, owner of the Washington Kasltes world team tennis franchise presented him with as Street Soccer USA polo.

Ted Leonsis, Ed Foster-Simeone, president of the US Soccer Foundation, and Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, and Lawrence Cann also addressed the players and spectators.

Overall Standings: Third Place goes to Charlotte, NC

Charlotte outlasted Anne Arbor to take third place overall in the tournament

Here are the final standings. Call them the Street Soccer USA National Rankings:

1. Minneapolis, Minnesota (youthlink mn)
2. Los Angeles, CA (jovenes)
3. Charlotte, NC (Community Works 945 of the Urban Ministry Center)
4. Ann Arbor, MI, (Port)
5. Atlanta, GA (Homeless Task Force)
6. San Francisco (Spitfire Soccer Acadamy)
7. Washington, DC (Street Sense, National Coaliton for the Homeless)
8. Richmond, Virginia
9. New York, (HELP USA)
10. Austin, TX (lifeworks, the arch)
11. St. Louis, MO (peter and paul’s)

Becks VS DC United

Look how close we were to Becks. And check out the Becks' fan club--HILARIOUS.

DC United slammed the Galaxy 4-1 on Sunday. DC United gave Street Soccer USA’s Homeless USA Cup contingent 110 tickets and brought the captains of teams from 11 cities down on the field at halftime to be recognized. Meanwhile a trailer of the film Kicking It played on the jumbo tron above us. Star, Craig Holley, Producer Ted Leonsis, and director Susan Koch of Kicking It link were there will us.

Check us out on the field! Everyone was giddy with excitement and you had to think about our atheltes standing there in front of 45,000 fans---what an affirmation of the positive steps they are taking in their lives. Thank you DC United!