At Soccer Spectrum in Richardson, a group of about 90 players is proving that age is no barrier to a love of the game.<\/p>\n
The Silver Soccer league, founded 11 years ago by John Fina, is open only to players who are at least 60 years old. Fina, who will turn 81 in September, said the league brings together players from around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got people from Iran, we have people from England, I\u2019m from Italy, South America,\u201d Fina said.<\/p>\n
Among the league\u2019s oldest players is Armin Gonzalez, who is nearing 90 years old.<\/p>\n
The roster also includes players with remarkable soccer histories, including Zequinha, who played in the 1970 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Fina reflected on Zequinha\u2019s connection to one of the sport\u2019s greatest legends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe actually played with Pel\u00e9 in Brazil. As a matter of fact, the last goal that Pel\u00e9 made, Zaqu\u00ednia gave him the pass,\u201d Fina said.<\/p>\n
David D’Errico, another Silver Soccer player, also has a notable soccer r\u00e9sum\u00e9. He played against Pel\u00e9 and served as captain of the U.S. Men’s National Team in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
D’Errico described those memories as unforgettable.<\/p>\n
\u201cA blessed, christed moment caught in time,\u201d D’Errico said.<\/p>\n
He also recalled another milestone in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the first-round draft pick for the Seattle Sounders in 1974\u2026\u201d D’Errico said.<\/p>\n
Today, D’Errico is sidelined while recovering from complications related to diabetes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of a lack of education, I lost four toes to gangrene,\u201d D’Errico said.<\/p>\n
Despite the setback, he remains determined to return to the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis thing is going to get healed, pray to God. And if it does, then I\u2019m going to get back playing,\u201d D’Errico said.<\/p>\n
For many players in the league, the challenges of aging bring new obstacles and injuries. But they also bring something else \u2014 a close-knit community of teammates who support one another on and off the field.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Soccer Spectrum in Richardson, a group of about 90 players is proving that age is no barrier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-726587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}