How football has helped immigrants make a home in the US

The Fifa World Cup's power to unite people has once again been illustrated at this year's finals, and one football pitch in New England is proving how the game can change lives far away from the spotlight.

For the immigrants and refugees who play pick-up matches at Kennedy Park in Portland, Maine, the sport is the common bond.

But the ties they have established have recently been tested by the political climate in the United States, as President Donald Trump's administration implements strict immigration policies during his second term in office.

Football's universal language

For teenager George Lusolo, football felt familiar in a country that was not.

Now 19, he arrived in the US from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018 seeking asylum alongside his mother.

"I really didn't know the language. I didn't know the people," he told BBC Sport Africa.

"I was still a kid so everything was really difficult for me and my mom."

After time in detention in Texas and then a shelter in New York, George eventually settled in Portland.

While his asylum claim was successfully processed, he saw posts about a game of football on social media.

"What was really exciting to me was there's people like me playing in this field," the teenager said.

"I came here, I played, it was really fun.

"Soccer is my therapy. I've always played since I was a kid in Kinshasa.

"When you're playing with people that are from the same place from you, from the same struggle, it really feels really nice."

What began as an informal gathering on the asphalt in Kennedy Park in 2021 has grown into a community where people from dozens of countries share a love of the beautiful game.

According to Deji Kuribanza, another Congolese immigrant who arrived in the US via Angola, they find their feet through the universal language of football.

"Everybody does not need to speak in one language," the 18-year-old said.

"Just point to your feet [or] some part in your body and ask for the ball. It's a really cool thing."