The Boys from Little Mexico: A Season Chasing the American Dream [Paperback]

For nineteen straight years, the all-Hispanic boys’ soccer team from Oregon’s Woodburn High has made the playoffs. As they prepare to make it twenty, one thing will become clear: Los Perros play the beautiful game with heart, pride, and their lives on the line. Their spirited drive gives a rare sense of hope and unity to a blue-collar farming community that has been transformed by waves of immigrants over recent decades, a town locals call “Little Mexico.” Watched over by a south Texas transplant—a surrogate father to half the squad—this band of brothers must learn to come together on the field and look after each other off it.
 
More than just riveting sports writing, The Boys from Little Mexico is about the fight for the future of the next generation—and a hard, true look at boys dismissed as gang-bangers, told to “go home” by lily-white sideline crowds. The wins and losses they notch along the way spin a striking tale about what it takes to capture the American Dream.
 

Preface
 
Introduction
The Field of Play
 
Preseason
One: Steps to Success
 
Two: The Immigrants’ Game
 
Three: Octavio
 
Four: Water on Stone
 
Season
Five: A Lush and Level Field
 
Six: El Norte
 
Seven: Carlos
 
Eight: Adjustments
 
Nine: The Woodburn Curse
 
Ten: Reading and Writing
 
Eleven: Playing Rough
 
Postseason
Twelve: The Fourth Seed