The Just Goals tournament, run by the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, brought eight teams to the University of San Francisco on June 12 — raising over $16,000, with at least two registered players unable to attend because they were still in ICE detention.

On the soccer field at the University of San Francisco on June 12, the day the World Cup began its run in the Bay Area, eight teams kicked off in the fourth annual Just Goals tournament — and at least two of the registered players weren't there. They were in ICE detention.

That's the particular gravity of this particular tournament. Just Goals is run by the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, a nonprofit that provides legal representation for people in immigration detention. The teams this year were required to raise at least $1,000 each to register; collectively they pulled in over $16,000. The player mix was wide: former detainees, people currently fighting immigration cases, lawyers, volunteers from organizations including the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and Pangaea Legal Services. Miranda Ramos, who runs Nuestra Alianza de Willits — a resource center for asylum seekers and their families in Mendocino County — drove more than three and a half hours to get there. "I don't think I've ever seen a more diverse set of players fielded at one time," she said, according to Mission Local.

Serafin Andrade, 41, plays for Los Vuelgadores, one of the teams formed when Just Goals launched four years ago. He's close to graduating from UC Berkeley. He was in immigration detention over three years ago, where soccer was, as he told Mission Local's Hamza Fahmy, "the only real thing we could do physically, outside of the confines of the detention center." They had less than an hour a day. They held small tournaments to fill it.

"I'm excited to be here with a community of a lot of folks who have had similar experiences like me," Andrade said at USF. "Some of the folks I know personally from detention. That's what brought us together. It didn't matter what country you were from, we all played soccer."

He also noted some players from last year's tournament were absent. "Hopefully they make it one day," he said.

Edwin Carmona-Cruz, Just Goals' executive director, told Mission Local that at least half a dozen people the nonprofit has been in contact with chose self-deportation rather than continue through detention. Others, released but with ICE-monitored movements, couldn't make the tournament at all. Among the detained players registered this year: Guillermo Medina Reyes, a Bay Area activist.

Pedro Ayon, 39, a team captain with the Interfaith Movement who drove from Sacramento, has his own detention history. "I have gone through the detention system myself, fought my case, and I know that it takes a whole village to make things happen," he said.

The sideline talk ranged from visa problems to the ramp-up of ICE enforcement — the World Cup's visa denials ran in the background of the day. More than 15 Iranians, including Iran's Football Federation President, were denied or restricted. The Somali referee named referee of the year by the African Football Federation was denied entry entirely.

At USF, families lined the sidelines with picnic baskets. A chihuahua reportedly rooted from the sideline. The knockout rounds went on.