Death brought El-Hadj Cisse to America, a fact he lives with every day. Life to him is soccer, the game he is relying on to provide a brighter future.
"I want to prove that I can be a first-round pick," said Cisse on Saturday, the first day of adidas MLS Player Combine at Lockhart Stadium. "I want to show the coaches that I am fast, I have a good attitude, and I can play any position."
Born in the Ivory Coast, Cisse grew up fast when he saw his best friend shot to death. The senseless murder was a result of the violence that plagued the west African nation after coups in 1999 and 2001 and a civil war that started in 2002.
"I was just 14," Cisse said of the incident that happened on July 3, 2000. "Mamadou (Sylia) and I were walking home from school, and we ran into a (gunfight) between the government and the rebels."
When Cisse heard the shots, he dove to the ground instinctively. When he sensed that it was over, he looked for Sylia.
"I said, 'Come on, it's time to go,'" Cisse said. "That's when I realized he was dead."
Cisse cried that day. And the next. In fact, the tears have yet to fully dry.
"I try to forget it, but I can't," Cisse said. "Every year, on the anniverary of his death, I call his parents and talk to them."
After Sylia's death, Cisse's parents, Vakaba and Fanta Cisse, decided to send their son to New York City. Cisse lived there with his uncle and attended Martin Luther King Junior High.
Cisse and his uncle, however, had different ideas regarding the arrangement.
"He wanted me to work and pay the bills," said Cisse, who speaks English, French and three African dialects. "And I wanted to go to school and play soccer."
Cisse was soon befriended by Bakairi Sadiet, a Nigerian who would become his foster mother, and Shawn Lewis, an advisor who helped him transfer to LaSalle Academy for high school and also get his green card.
"I couldn't believe that people who didn't know me would do all that for me," Cisse said. "It was amazing to me."
With their support, Cisse became a star playing club soccer. His New York Freedoms team won a national title in 2002 and a regional championship in 2003. He also made the U.S. under-17 national team.
Cisse, the most valuable player for the Freedoms during their national championship season, used that experience to earn a scholarship to North Carolina State. Playing as a defensive midfielder, he made the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-freshman team in 2004.
Cisse concluded his four-year college career with 17 goals, earning second team all-ACC as a senior. Off the field, he majored in science technology and minored in mathematics and French. He needs just five more classes to graduate and promises to reach that goal.
Clearly, Cisse has come a long way from the terrified boy who came to America in 2000. That fact became obvious when he returned home for the first time, flying from Raleigh to New York to Paris and finally landing in the Ivory Coast in December of 2006.
"The whole flight -- 13 hours -- I was nervous to see people I had left behind more than seven years ago," Cisse said.
Cisse is from a very large family - he has seven brothers and seven sisters. In fact, there have been three siblings born since he first left home.
"I told my father, 'when you come to the airport, make sure to bring only people that I know,'" Cisse said.
Cisse spent a month during the visit, impressing everyone he met.
"They all said I had become very mature," Cisse said. "They said I left a boy and came back a man."
