Players who have seen their lives forever altered by drugs or disease now get a second chance at the Homeless World Cup, where they can go from begging in the streets to being heroes cheered on by thousands of fans.
In 2006, more than 1,000 families in extreme poverty, most of them Nicaraguan immigrants, were evicted from a shantytown called La Candela behind the Juan SantamarÃa International Airport, north of Costa Rica’s capital.
From bankbooks and free bocas to machete-cut grass and Lada Nivas, a longtime resident looks back at the Costa Rica he first encountered and how the country has changed.
