Chapter 6 Summary

Throughout this chapter, the reader learns about a soccer player Edward Anyamkyegh, from Nigeria and his career playing all over the world. Edward first describes how his family was farmers and how he lost his dad when he was seven years old. He would’ve followed in his late father’s footsteps but at this time agents began looking for boys to buy for European soccer leagues; his older brother was bought by Queen’s Park Rangers of London. Edward had a natural talent for soccer, “he could outrun the older players and out-muscle the younger ones”, according to the author. He was sent to play for the Under-17 World Cup in Ecuador but his team lost to Ecuador in the final. After the loss, he went to France and went through various tryouts for two weeks but unfortunately could not play for the team. Edward was sold to Karpaty Lviv and later the team had received another Nigerian soccer player, Samson Godwin. Amongst the team there was racial tension as they sat apart from each other on the bus and field on breaks and also ate at different tables. Edward and Samson were looked at differently by the fans too as people would call them “monkey”. Even with high tensions, Edward was still being paid much more than his fellow teammates, the chapter states that, “Edward had been the most expensive acquisition in the history of the club”. Edward, although the most expensive player, was still treated differently as he barely played and would be the only player on the team weighed, then told to lose weight even though he weighed less than when he first arrived. It is clear that there were racial tensions between the team and even some from the fans as well.