Emmanuel

We met Emmanuel through "CouchSurfing.com". He was previously playing football (soccer) for the professional team in Lattakia but was currently living with his brother in Damascus. 24 years old, muscular and lightning quick he is from Sierra Leone and is waiting for his passport to hopefully play soccer in Europe. He was previously a player for their junior national team.

We met him at his apartment and there started a friendship between us and his group of African soccer player friends living in Damascus. When we were at his apartment we met his friend Emmanuel (same name) who is from Nigeria. We talked about their lives, Africa, being professional athletes in Syria and the difficulty they have being Christians in the Muslim world. Later Emmanuel from Nigeria invited us to watch his team, Al-Shorta from Damascus, practice the next day.

The Al-Shorta Team is owned and run by the Damascus Police Force. We went to the training ground, met the coaching staff and the players and watched the two Africans Emmanuel and KC play. After the two hour practice ended everyone packed up and we were invited to watch the team play that Saturday against the first place team from Aleppo (Al-Ittihad) at the National Stadium in Damascus. We had been planning on leaving town earlier but decided to change our plans to watch them play. That evening we met up with all of the guys for dinner and drinks.

That Saturday we went to the Stadium. Tickets for the game were $2 each. When we sat down amoung the beating drums and chanting fans we marveled at the teams loyal following. When the visiting team scored everyone around us stood cheered!

We were on the wrong side.

We got one of the solders sitting around to escort us to the section for the Al-Shorta Team. Lets just say that their following was more "sparse" and "subdued." The game ended 2 to 2 on a great goal from KC and the team was happy with the tie against the first place team. We saw the coaches and players afterward and chatted about the game. They werer very excited about the fact that we had decided to stay in town to attend the event.

That evening we met up with our friends for the last time. We gave them copies of the photos we took of the game and promised to stay in touch, which we have done ever since we left Damascus. They were really good people and really taught us about what their lives are like coming from a different background and their lives as athletes in the Arab world.

Steve