The dusty, rock-strewn field where Mike Potempa first spotted Philip Mayaka’s talent is a striking sight for audiences accustomed to the manicured pitches of MLS and other professional leagues.
Worn, hard-packed ground. Stones, the occasional shard of glass or metal debris. And not a blade of grass to speak of, for what Mayaka calls “slum soccer.” But it was just a part of his normal childhood routine in Nairobi and its outskirts – and a means to an end.
“People see them like dust fields, but to us, we see them like a bridge – a bridge to cross to another level,” the 21-year-old Kenyan told MLSsoccer.