The global game is ripe with global stories.
Take David Monsalve, a Toronto-raised goalkeeper for Canada's under-20 World Cup team. Wednesday night, he was in the goal for Toronto FC in a 4-2 exhibition loss to English Premier League club Aston Villa. This after bearing the ignomy of the Canadian team failed to score in the under-20 World Cup.
"That was very frustrating for the goalies and the defenders, not just losing but being unable to score a goal," he said.
Monsalve is an MLS pool goalie and the loss of incumbent Greg Sutton to what will likely be a season-ending concussion has kept Monsalve working out at BMO Field.
"I was a little nervous at first at first," Monsalve said. "Aston Villa has a lot of history. As the game went on, I kind of got comfortable with the environment. They scored two goals early so I didn't have to anything to worry about after that. They had already done the worst. Might as well go out there and have fun."
Monsalve sees in Toronto a good chance to gain invaluable exposure.
"I do see an opportunity here. Hopefully I can get the chance again, go out there and do well."
Here is where the global angle comes in. If you are not a native Canadian, you are the product of someone coming to a new place, likely with very little.
The person in David Monsalve's life who did that was named Luce Marina Sanchez.
She came from Medellin, Columbia, with six kids, one of them David's mother, who was just 14.
"She raised the kids at Jane and Finch, close to Bathurst and Harbord, a lot of places where people didn't have a lot of money," Monsalve said. "She did a lot of cleaning jobs for people to make ends meet."
His grandmother died when he was just 8 years old but Monsalve, a third-generation Canadian, has been told what he is of.
"It's a beautiful story," said the decorated young Canadian. "I'm here because of her. I'm thankful."
