Homeless Soccer Gives The Beautiful Game A Shower And A Hot Meal

Pretty much the only people who play soccer in America are Latin American immigrants and eight-year-old girls, but now someone has found a great wellspring of untapped athletic prowess—homeless guys.

Yes, someone finally looked around at all the suffering unemployable vagrants that have been reduced to panhandling and substance abuse by the steady disintegration of capitalism and thought, "Maybe these guys can dribble a soccer ball?" And thus "Street Soccer" was born. I'm not really sure how kicking a ball around for 90 minutes turns alcoholics into productive members of society, but apparently it actually does help. Ask Landon Donovan!

There are 16 homeless soccer clubs in the U.S., which means the league currently has a greater reach than MLS. If your mind hasn't been sufficiently blown, there's even a Homeless World Cup in September. Man, I bet that thing holds a lot of change.

Street Soccer USA [Streetsoccerusa.org] NYer Of The Week: [NY1]