Soccer game

Soccer is wildly popular in Kenya, though the Kenyan teams themselves don’t have that strong of a fan base. Already several people have explained to me that Kenyan soccer teams aren’t that good compared to other African teams or teams from around the world. I’ve noticed that a lot of young people play soccer, either as recreationally to pass the time or with a formal club or team. This may be because at the most basic level, soccer is a sport that requires very little equipment. There are dozens of number of neighborhood pitches where local people meet up to play every afternoon.
A few of us from the MSID program decided playing soccer would be a fun way for us to spend our free time as well as giving us a chance to meet some local people our age. We started meeting at a small pitch near our houses and were soon joined by some boys from Kibera, a slum in Nairobi that's one of the largest and poorest in the world. We always break into two teams and play against each other for a few hours until the sun starts to set and it’s time to head home.
This week, thanks to Simon (one of our program directors), our small neighborhood league reached a new level of intensity. Simon arranged a match, our team against a team of high school aged girls form Kibera. We were pretty intimidated going into the game, having been told that these girls were pretty good. In Kibera, oportunities are limited, so soccer is life.
We arrived at the pitch, a mismatched group in t- shirts, jeans, and sandals or tennis shoes. Our opponents showed up in matching jerseys and real cleats. While they ran warm-up drills, we talked to the growing crowd that showed up to watch us and speculated about how much we’d lose by. The referee arrived shortly before the start of the game, something we weren’t expecting. We always moderate our own games. It was clear this match was to be taken seriously.
In the end, we won the game by a score of 8-3. The director of the Kibera girls’ school came over and congratulated us on our win. He said we were the first MSID group to beat their team, but assured us this was only because several of their best players had been absent.
The rematch is scheduled for next Wednesday.