A column turns into a plan to make children’s World Cup dreams come true

I have a new favorite World Cup team to support.

It’s the kids from Soccer in the Streets, the Atlanta nonprofit that last year provided free recreational soccer programs to more than 2,500 young people, most from underserved communities.

To explain, I need to go back a few steps.

This past Sunday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a column I wrote about how soccer fans in metro Atlanta and Georgia were disappointed and frustrated over being priced out by the cost of World Cup tickets for the eight matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, known as Atlanta Stadium for the event. To help paint the picture, I highlighted two soccer fans I’d gotten in contact with through X (formerly Twitter).

That night, I received a text message from Vince Thompson, a sports marketing executive in Atlanta who I knew a little bit through my work. He had read the column and was moved to do something.

As in, buy tickets to a game for both fans and their guests, a gesture that would cost several thousand dollars. A follow-up phone call convinced me that he was in possession of, at least, most of his marbles.

Thompson shared that he was merely obeying his late father, who impressed upon him that if he were ever to be in a position to help others, he had a responsibility to do so.

As the founder and CEO of the Atlanta sports marketing firm Melt, which has had a slew of clients and partners such as Coca-Cola, Aflac, NFL, NCAA, ESPN and the Olympics, Thompson is indeed in such a position.

“I try to honor him with that every day,” Thompson told me.

(A later conversation with a person he once aided in a particularly difficult hour, former Atlanta sports anchor Mark Harmon, convinced me further. “Vince has the biggest heart in the world,” Harmon told me.)

So Monday, we connected the two fans, Dave Marler of LaGrange and Edgar Castillo of Stockbridge, with Thompson and a few of his Melt employees. Let’s just say I’ve never been on a videoconference call quite like it.

One of Thompson’s employees wiped a tear from her eye listening to Marler share his gratitude. Castillo told Thompson he was going to give him the biggest hug when they meet in person.

“I’m speechless right now,” Castillo said. “The fact is that I’m picturing my son, how happy he’s going to be when he knows that he’s going to see a World Cup game.”

Stockbridge soccer fan Edgar Castillo with his wife, Yareli, and son Mateo at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. After Castillo was quoted in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution column expressing his disappointment that he was priced out of World Cup tickets, Atlanta sports marketing executive Vince Thompson read the column and offered to purchase tickets for Castillo and his family. (Courtesy of Edgar Castillo)

It did not end there, though. Thompson wanted to include more Atlantans who will never be closer to this global party but are still going to be left out.

We kicked around a few ideas (Thompson did most of the kicking). We landed on the aforementioned Soccer in the Streets. The Atlanta organization has been in existence for 37 years, teaching soccer and character development through recreational leagues and school programs, all free of charge.

It is full of ideal beneficiaries — young people who play soccer who most likely couldn’t afford tickets.

As it happened, Thompson had arranged a Powerade sponsorship for Soccer in the Streets years ago. It felt like a divine signal to him.

We arranged a virtual meeting with Soccer in the Streets for Wednesday. On the call, Thompson made his offer to buy tickets for a small number of youngsters from the program and chaperones.

As you might guess, no one was pushing back.

“We want to do it,” executive director Kaseem Ladipo said. “For sure.”

Scheduling for both sides made the June 24 game — Haiti vs. Morocco — the best option. As it turned out, Ladipo said that his organization has had conversations with a foundation regarding Haiti. Thompson added that, in 2017, he traveled to that impoverished Caribbean nation and helped fund a soccer organization.

That coincidence struck Thompson as another touch of the Almighty.

“I mean, it’s almost too perfect of a story,” Thompson said, and it is.

And it doesn’t end there, either. Thompson’s vision — one I certainly share — is for more Soccer in the Streets players to attend World Cup games. He vowed to lean on his many business partners to contribute tickets or money. (If a certain global soccer federation made this a lot easier by participating, I would be both delighted and stunned.)

By Wednesday afternoon, Thompson had already lined up a second donor. Topgolf Atlanta Midtown offered to host a viewing party for Soccer in the Streets youths for the Haiti-Morocco match.

If Thompson’s example resonates with you, you can email Soccer in the Streets at partnerships@soccerstreets.org. You can also make a donation via its website and earmark it for World Cup tickets.