{"id":337126,"date":"2026-07-11T18:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/337126\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T18:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:47:10","slug":"miami-students-to-escort-norway-and-england-at-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/337126\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami students to escort Norway and England at World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

A crowd of elementary school students flipped through Adidas shoe boxes, hunting down their sizes, then picked out jerseys and shorts \u2014 gearing up to hold hands with some of the world\u2019s brightest soccer stars.<\/p>\n

At Earlington Heights Elementary, the 22 students selected to walk hand in hand with Norway and England players at the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match at the Hard Rock Stadium (rebranded as Miami Stadium for the World Cup) met up hours ahead of Saturday\u2019s match. With one hour to collect their gear and pack the school bus taking them to Miami Gardens, the kids hustled to get ready to make their World Cup debut.<\/p>\n

The group of students was picked through Miami SCORES, a branch of America SCORES, a soccer literacy program serving Title I public schools across the city. The original organization was created after the 1994 Men\u2019s World Cup to allow kids to play in soccer teams for free while also developing literacy skills by writing poetry.<\/p>\n

\"Students Students from different Miami-Dade public schools lined up to receive their sports gear as they were selected to serve as player escorts during the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-final game between England and Norway on Saturday, July 11. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

\u201cKids come together on the soccer fields as a team, and then they\u2019re in the classroom finding their voice through poetry,\u201d said executive director of Miami SCORES Rob Uvanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

Through the program, Uvanovi\u0107 and his team have taken groups of 22 kids from different schools to four of the World Cup games in Miami this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s two years of work come to fruition,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited about this for the community and this group of parents and these schools. They work incredibly hard and don\u2019t often get a chance to shine and get this really special event.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process of picking kids began in January, when FIFA player escort program sponsor Quaker \u2014 as in the oats \u2014 worked with a nationwide soccer organization named Common Goal. The opportunity eventually trickled down to include Miami SCORES, which selected six of the schools that host its free after-school program. From there, each school selected 15 students, which were then picked lottery-style by Miami SCORES.<\/p>\n

This time around, 15 kids were picked from Jesse J. McCrary Elementary, and seven were selected from Charles R. Drew K-8 Center.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an emotional moment, Uvanovi\u0107 says, and it\u2019s hit the same way with each group of kids he gets to watch walk across the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, in our country, it\u2019s a very expensive sport,\u201d he said. \u201cThis moment helps embody the fact that this sport is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the humid heat, the students ran circles around each other. Some had already thrown on their blue jerseys, while others were placing their bets on which team would win. Most have their money on Norway. But no matter who claims the victory, the kids get to keep their World Cup gear, and a one-in-a-million opportunity to watch the match after their parade out with the players.<\/p>\n

Alex Groth, a fourth-grade teacher from Jesse J. McCrary, will chaperone the kids to the stadium, where they have to arrive six hours before the match starts. She\u2019s worked with Miami SCORES since the branch was created and coaches boys\u2019 soccer.<\/p>\n

\"Volunteer Miami SCORES Director Nicholas Uvanovi\u0107 checks out shoe boxes with Za’ryan Robinson (center) and Juelz Quinn, before they are handed out to students from different Miami-Dade public schools selected to serve as player escorts during the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-final game. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited for the kids, but some of the kids, they can\u2019t even grasp the enormity of going to a game like this,\u201d Groth said.<\/p>\n

While they wait at the stadium before the match the kids have to rehearse their procession before the stadium is crammed with screaming fans. They get to snack and eat lunch, play games and because Miami SCORES has a passion for poetry, get to put pen to paper to process what exactly it is they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the students I coach have never been to a professional soccer game,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been teaching them the rules and how to play over the past couple years, so it\u2019s going to be really cool for them to actually get to see the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thearris Hawkins, 11, who was already wearing his FIFA-issued backpack, said he was most excited to meet Erling Haaland, Norway\u2019s superstar player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to tell him that he\u2019s my favorite person in Norway,\u201d Hawkins said.<\/p>\n

\"Rose Miami SCORES volunteer Rose Tirado hands out backpacks and gear to students from different Miami-Dade public schools selected to serve as player escorts during the 2026 FIFA World Cup quarter-final game between England and Norway. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

And while he wants the Norwegian player to win, he will wish the English team a good game.<\/p>\n

Blade Lambert, 31, was thrilled when he heard his daughters were selected to walk out with the players. Growing up as a soccer player in Jamaica, he was glad his passion for the sport didn\u2019t skip a generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited,\u201d Lambert said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be near the TV watching before she gets on.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he wished he could be beside his kids for such a huge moment, he\u2019s glad they get to experience something as grand as the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely going to go celebrate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re cheering for them. What FIFA is doing for the kids and coming to the schools, it\u2019s a great thing. People can see what it\u2019s really about.\u201d<\/p>\n

His nine-year-old daughter, Nevaeh Lambert, was happy to learn she was selected to go walk alongside the World Cup players. With her gear at the ready, she\u2019s looking forward to trying on the shoes.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t know what team she wants to claim the final victory, but she\u2019s rooting for Norway for today\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

Lauren Amaya\u2019s 11-year-old son, Juelz, has played soccer with Miami SCORES for two years. Amaya, 30, has been a soccer fan for as long as she can remember, something she can now share with her two sons who play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been counting down to this day, actually,\u201d Amaya said. \u201cI just want them to enjoy it overall and have a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not every day a parent can send their child to the field of a World Cup game. She spent the weeks leading up to the match reminding her son of his shoe and shirt size so he can keep wearing his jersey after he walks alongside the star players. She calls it a blessing, and a full circle moment.<\/p>\n

In preparation for the game, she\u2019s hosting a watch party at home where her entire family can see her son on the big screen. But she hopes for a closer look after telling her son to take as many photos as he can.<\/p>\n

Around 11 a.m., the students step up onto the bus one by one, some already sporting their jersey, others in a blue-branded Quaker T-shirt. Uvanovi\u0107 high-fived each one as they climbed inside, a chorus of cheers escaping from the school bus as the doors closed.<\/p>\n

Their parents wave from outside, watching as the school bus took off, their kids in tow with a golden ticket to the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re too young to understand what type of experience it is,\u201d Amaya said. \u201cBut to me, it meant the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 11, 2026 at 2:24 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A crowd of elementary school students flipped through Adidas shoe boxes, hunting down their sizes, then picked out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-337126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}