- The Guardian Saturday 3 August 2019
(^20) National
‘I’m so proud’ How the Homeless World
Cup is giving troubled lives new goals
Steven Morris
L
auren Blud feels as if she
is having a panic attack
whenever she steps on to
the football pitch before
a game. But as soon as
the referee’s whistle
sounds, she thinks about nothing
else but helping Wales win. “It
means the world to me to be playing
for my country,” said Blud. “I’m so
proud. Everything else that is going
on in my life goes out of my mind.”
Blud is one of 500 players from
across the globe playing in the
Homeless World Cup , which has
been running for a week in Cardiff
and comes to a climax today.
The striker for Wales women
said the team and the competition
were giving her a sense of meaning
that she lacked when she lived in
insecure accommodation and, for a
while, on the street. “I didn’t think I
was worth anything,” she said.holder of the world cup and won
their fi rst eight games in the Welsh
capital. “It makes me proud to be
here,” he said.
Countries select in diff erent ways.
Some pick the best players; others
choose those they feel are most
deserving and would benefi t most.
For Dennis Koopmans, the Dutch
team’s defender and goalkeeper,
the event is as much about learning
as playing football. “I stand a little
bit with one leg out of society and I
want to stand in society with both
legs again,” he said.
Mel Young, the co-founder of the
Homeless World Cup Foundation ,
said for him the tournament was
all about change. “Since 2003, we
have witnessed transformations in
the lives of thousands of players .”
But it was also about changing the
perceptions of those who came to
watch. “These are not homeless
people when they play – they
are footballers. As soon as the
games kick off , you forget they’re
homeless.”Her future is looking much
brighter. Last week she heard she
was going to move into a fl at of her
own and she is now planning to do
her football coaching badges. “Life
is looking good,” she said before
jogging off to play Belgium – and
banging in fi ve goals.
Players taking part in the
competition include people who
have been homeless within the past
year, asylum seekers, sellers of street
papers, and men or women in drug
or alcohol rehabilitation.
Cardiff 2019 is the 17th time the
competition has been held and it
has given thousands of players the
chance to travel, meet new friends
and perhaps glimpse a better future.
The games are fast and furious.
The teams play four-aside on a
small pitch with each half lasting
just seven energetic minutes. The
players love it, but it is also a great
spectacle. The temporary stands in
Bute Park, where many of Cardiff ’s
rough sleepers pitch tents all year
round , have been packed.The competitors have amazing
stories to tell. Juan Jesus Rios, for
example, was living on the streets
of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico when he
was 14. He used – and dealt – drugs
and suff ered terrible burns when he
carried out an arson attack. He got
his life back on track after fi nding
the organisation Street Soccer
Mexico, which selects and trains his
country’s team. “I feel an enormous
passion and happiness every time I
kick a ball. It’s one of the things I love
most in the world,” he said.
The Mexico men’s team are the▲ The actor Michael Sheen stepped in
to save the Cardiff 2019 tournamentРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS