The Boys from Little Mexico: A Season Chasing the American Dream

Woodburn High's Bulldogs, aka "Los Perros, "started their 2005 soccer season with eight undocumented students, a midfielder groomed to play for a pro Mexican team, a goalkeeper living in his third foster home, three boys who spoke almost no English, and an Irish-descended white coach desperate to lead all of them to success. Caught between a Mexico they barely remembered and an America they hardly knew, this band of brothers forged an unlikely family. More than just riveting sports writing, this story is about the fight for the future of the next generation-- and a hard, true look at boys dismissed as gangbangers, told to "go home." They played through the slurs of "pickers" from sideline crowds in lily-white Oregon. Off the field, they struggled to stay academically eligible, in a country where just over half of all Hispanic boys graduate. "The Boys from Little Mexico "follows one team's quest for its twentieth-straight state playoff appearance and first state championship. Their wins and losses along the way weave a beautiful and fast-paced narrative of how raw talent, discipline, and passion sometimes aren't enough to capture the American Dream