![\"Oakland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/qpjimuj9q3k95gga.jpg\")
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OAKLAND, Calif. – As soccer excitement builds across the Bay Area ahead of this summer\u2019s World Cup<\/a> matches, an Oakland<\/a> native hopes a new neighborhood soccer pitch will inspire the next generation of players.<\/p>\n Field of dreams <\/p>\n On Wednesday, Paulo Esperon watched a longtime dream become reality as Longfellow Fields officially opened in North Oakland.<\/p>\n “This is how soccer players are developed everywhere else,” said Esperon said, standing on the newly opened pitch.<\/p>\n Esperon, who grew up in Argentina, said the idea came after he and his wife moved to the neighborhood near Apgar Street and noticed an empty lot nearby.<\/p>\n “I grew up in a place where you have soccer fields all over to play, and this was an empty lot,” said Esperon. “My first thought went to those soccer fields that I was familiar with. That was the inspiration.”<\/p>\n Community investment <\/p>\n What began as an ambitious idea eventually became a community project backed by the Oakland Roots<\/a> and Oakland Soul soccer clubs, along with other sponsors.<\/p>\n The groups celebrated the grand opening of the pitch Wednesday at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 39th Street.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s really about creating inspiration,” said Edreece Arghandiwal, co-founder of Oakland Roots FC.<\/p>\n Arghandiwal said the project aims to help expand access to youth soccer in Oakland, where dedicated public fields are limited.<\/p>\n “To just be able to bring soccer and branch it out to our community, and have the impact that I have as someone born in Oakland and raised in the Bay Area my whole life, I didn\u2019t necessarily have access to these types of things,” said Arghandiwal. “I\u2019m grateful that we\u2019re now creating those opportunities for our youth.” \u00a0<\/p>\n The project was also made possible by Neil Cotter, who owns the lot that once sat in rough condition before being transformed into the new pitch.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s going to mean everything because it\u2019s going to improve the game here,” said Cotter. “Kids have to learn at a very young age. The way I learned was like street soccer.”<\/p>\n Soccer clinics are coming\u00a0 <\/p>\n The Roots and Soul organizations also plan to host soccer clinics and after-school programs at the site, creating a more structured environment for young players.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s the first of its kind that the club has developed, but this is what\u2019s possible,” said Arghandiwal. “We hope to do more of these in different neighborhoods.” \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The space will also host community club soccer run by Street Soccer USA, with games scheduled for Mondays from 4 to 7 p.m.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n News<\/a>Oakland<\/a>Oakland Roots<\/a>FIFA World Cup<\/a>Bay Area Soccer Stories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND, Calif. – As soccer excitement builds across the Bay Area ahead of this summer\u2019s World Cup matches,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,94894,1184,94893,100,143,145,144,8450,127,1181,5393],"class_list":{"0":"post-205236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-bay-area-soccer-stories","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-futbol-hq","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-oakland","14":"tag-oakland-headlines","15":"tag-oakland-news","16":"tag-oakland-roots","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-world-cup"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}