Tagged: Football (soccer)

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A Scottish sports reporter recorded a soccer team press conference using his phone. Great idea, but inevitably the reporter's phone rang. The soccer team manager picked it up.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hello?

INSKEEP: It was the reporter's wife, who hung up in confusion, but then called again. And the manager answered again.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

If there's one common language that some recent immigrants in Dayton, Ohio, seem to share, it's soccer.

The first Dayton World Soccer Games kicked off earlier this year, an initiative hosted by the city to welcome an influx of immigrants. On the field, a rainbow of brightly colored jerseys represented nearly 20 of the different immigrant communities in the city.

"I've been really surprised to see that there's a lot of soccer going on in Dayton," says Adolphe Bizwinayo, who left Rwanda as a refugee.

Stop anyone on the street in Europe, Latin America, Africa and even Asia, and chances are they'll know the name Lionel Messi — and they'll probably know what he did this week. The soccer phenom scored his 88th goal of the year, which is widely thought to be a world record.

And the year's not over yet.

On Sunday, Messi, 25, scored his 86th goal of the calendar year in a Spanish league game against Real Betis, in Seville. The goal, Messi's second of the game, gave Barcelona a 2-1 win over Betis, with the announcer booming, "A new goal king!"