Hawaii youth soccer players look to World Cup for inspiration

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The World Cup has officially kicked off and youth soccer players in Hawaii are more excited than ever.

Read more Neighbors remember 70-year-old killed in Liliha as ‘genuinely good guy’

“I want to play in the World Cup someday,” said Talon James.

The keiki kickers for the Honolulu Bulls soccer club take the sport — and its stars — very seriously.

“I like to watch (Lionel) Messi play. I want Argentina to win,” said Hayley Smith.

Jaxson Gray said, “I love (Cristiano) Ronaldo 100% better than Messi.”

They may each have a favorite player, but they still have something in common. They’ll be watching the World Cup and learning from it.

“I’m a defender, so I can watch other defenders do their job so it can help me in my game,” said James.

Honolulu Bulls girls program director Sage Aoki said, “A lot of times at practice, players will be calling out players names or their favorite players when they’re dribbling or when they score a goal and that’s the type of stuff that we like to see.”

The Bulls are the oldest active soccer club in Hawaii, training some of Oahu’s best strikers, fullbacks, and goalies since 1975.

For some players, soccer is more than just a sport that they love, it can be the reason they keep fighting even during the toughest of times.

“I love soccer like more than anything. I never wanted to quit, even if I had heart surgery,” said Ellie Matsuda.

Read more Trump restores commercial fishing access in Pacific marine monuments

Matsuda is a fighter who didn’t let a heart defect stop her.

“It’s tetralogy of Fallot because I was missing a pulmonary valve,” said Matsuda.

That meant blood did not efficiently flow to her lungs.

Matsuda had her first heart surgery at 10 weeks old, and then again at the age of 7.

“I was super scared for my heart surgery before and I’m happy that I got over it,” said Matsuda.

Just two months later, she was back to being a force on the field, and she hasn’t looked back since.

So far, she’s scored over 100 goals with the Bulls, and has even gotten invitations to play in Barcelona.

Next week, Matsuda and the rest of her team will be competing in the SurfCup Northwest Tournament in Seattle, one of the host cities for the World Cup.

“For a lot of the kids this is their first World Cup that they’re going to truly get to experience and now with the added part of some of it being in the U.S., fortunately some of our kids will be traveling to tournaments in and around cities where they will get to experience that passion and environment,” said Aoki.

Telemundo Hawaii is your home for World Cup action.

You can watch games in Spanish starting Friday all the way to the final matches in July.

Read more Hanalei murder victim identified; suspect charged

Tune in on Spectrum 1022 or Hawaiian Telcom 1013.