Queens' 7 Train: A World Cup Journey Through Immigrant Enclaves

The World Cup kicks off this week with New York and New Jersey among the 11 U.S. host regions for the tournament's 39 day run. Some 1.2 million visitors are expected to flock to the area. But ask New Yorkers about soccer, and you'll likely be pointed in the direction of Queens, where soccer is more than a sport. It's a way of life.

Cutting through Queens is the 7 train, also known as "the International Express." Every stop passes through a different immigrant enclave, each with a unique relationship to the beautiful game. NPR spent a recent Sunday traveling along the 7 line, talking to local players and fans. We started at the Flushing Meadows stop, a sprawling green park filled with soccer fields.

QUEENS, New York - It is early morning and the heat is already oppressive. While watching his team play from the sidelines, Coach Guillermo Andrade explains how soccer saved his life.

Back in Peru, Andrade was a physical education teacher. He says the country was being rocked by corruption and violence, and he saw many of his students leave. He eventually did the same, picking up 25 years ago and coming to New York City.

"My first job was handing out flyers on the street in Manhattan. It was winter, it was cold, the kind that makes it so you can't even take your hand out of your gloves," he said. "I would ask myself: 'What am I even doing here?' "

On one of those winter days, his sister encouraged him to go check out the soccer games in Queens. He took the 7 line. When he got to the fields there, he heard, "Coach? Coach Guille? Is that you?"

Some of his former students from back in Peru were calling to him.

Andrade started coming to the fields in Queens every Saturday and Sunday.

"Five days a week, I felt dead," he said. "On weekends, out on these fields, I would come back to life."

These days, Andrade works full time as a coach. He's excited to see the World Cup matches, especially Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who may be playing his last cup. But he won't be going to the nearby stadium just 20 miles away; with the cheapest tickets at about $1,000 a piece, Andrade, like most people in this working class community, can't afford to go in person. Like others, he'll be watching on TV.

Andrade also predicts many soccer lovers in the area will stay home out of caution. Queens has been a target of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown; some of his own players have been swept up in raids.

In places like Corona Station, a Mexican enclave further down the 7 line, there is a lot of trepidation and anger about the U.S. government's tactics against immigrants, many of whom are devoted to the tournament.

"I think it's hypocritical," said a street vendor named Elodia, who asked that her last name be withheld out of fear of being targeted by ICE agents.

These days she's selling Mexican soccer jerseys. She excited to see Mexico play in the World Cup, but says it's bittersweet amid the Trump administration's treatment of people from other nations living in the U.S.

"The U.S. is going to make a lot of money off this," Elodia says. "And meanwhile, we're being treated like animals."

ICE officials say they aren't planning enforcement activity at World Cup matches. But Elodia said many immigrants will be too scared to come out and watch.

Despite the anxiety, there is a great deal of soccer joy here.

Further down the 7 line are South American neighborhoods. Near the 90th street-Elmhurst station, dozens stand in the shade trading Panini stickers of World Cup players to paste in collectable booklets.

Among them is 13-year-old Juan David Iza, a die hard Ecuador fan.

He's just bought a plate of salchipapas (pan fried hot dogs with french fries), and two Panini sticker packets. He opens them, and to his disappointment, none of them are the ones he needs. But then his luck turns: The second packet has a sticker of South Korean captain, Son Heung-min!

A couple of blocks down, away from the ruckus of the Panini collectors, is Little Argentina.

Sitting under a giant mural of reigning champion Lionel Messi, wearing his Argentina soccer jersey, Angel Ojeda says he thinks Argentina has a chance to win the World Cup a second time in a row.

Only two teams have ever won back to back World Cups: Italy in the 1930's and Brazil in the 60s. Betting sites tend to put this year's odds in favor of France and Spain. Ojeda scoffs.

"We're gonna be double champions," Ojeda says. "I have no doubts. I could be wrong. But no, I don't think I am."

A few more stops along on the 7 train, in Little Bangladesh, there is one man who might agree with him.

Shipud Costa works in customer service at La Guardia airport in Queens. Bangladesh did not qualify for the Cup, but Costa has one dream: that Argentina front man Messi flies into La Guardia one day.

When that happens, Costa knows exactly what he's going to do.

"First I'll run and hug him. I have to. I'll break all the security," he jokes.

But if Messi does fly into La Guardia, he has some advice.

"You wanna take the Q70 bus, it's free for you, Messi. Transfer to the 7 line. Welcome to Queens."