PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Thorns FC forward Nadia Nadim wants to tell you a story.
When the Afghan-born Danish international was around 18 years-old, she and her family moved to Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark. It was there that the precocious Nadim found new opportunities to practice and play the game that she loved so much.
But with that opportunity also came a cost.
Many of her mother's friends, fellow Afghan refugees who clung to many of the traditions that they themselves had grown up with, began asking questions about the boys that Nadim was playing soccer with.