CBS: Youth soccer a uniting force

Allen Pizzey reported on training for the Iraqi national youth soccer team, in a follow-up after its attendance last month at an international youth tournament in Dallas. Pizzey said the time team members spent with Dallas families during their US visit was “freedom they can only dream about at home, an education for them and for their hosts who could never imagine how much the trip meant to them.” Footage shows team members playing video games, riding bikes and hitting a ball with American children. The report profiled a star player who lives in Sadr City and his father said he “lives in fear every time his son comes and goes” Pizzey said. This team is the exact opposite of what is happening in Iraq, Pizzey said: an example of working together that politicians would do well to emulate. “We are all Iraqis,” said one team member. “We are football players.” (Video link: P:\Strat Eff\STRATCOM\NewsClips\Network News Clips\11 MAY 2006 CBS EN.mpg)