Who wants to be a champion?
The score was 2-2 in the final minutes of the Arkansas State Scholastic Cup’s finals. On an adjacent field, the final whistle blew and an ecstatic girls’ team was celebrating.
But at the edge of our opponents’ penalty area, Eric, a serious sixth grader who moves like a cat, settled a [...]

In the rural Ozark Mountains on the Arkansas-Missouri border, the little town of Green Forest has a population of 2,717 — including about 150 soccer players in kindergarten through high school who play soccer on hometown teams all named “the Tigers.” These are the adventures of a small-town, working-class club with big dreams.