Greece to Face Ecuador in Inaugural Soccer Match at Citi Field

The Epoch Times wrote about the June 7 Greece-Ecuador soccer match and the press conference announcing the match at Citi Field, which Senator Gianaris participated in.

Get out your vuvuzelas New York soccer fans, international soccer is right in your backyard! Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, will host its first-ever soccer match on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. The national teams of Ecuador and Greece will face off in what should be an electric atmosphere.

Both the Greek and Ecuadorian communities are well represented near Citi Field. Queens County houses a robust population of Ecuadorians, the largest of any county in the U.S. Astoria, Queens boasts the largest population of Greeks outside of Greece.

At a press conference leading up to the event, New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, a Greek-American, was named honorary captain for the Greek team. He discussed his excitement about the game, noting that, “We [Greeks] take our soccer very seriously.” He recalled how rowdy the streets of Astoria became during this year’s World Cup, and jokingly suggested a beefed up police presence to create a “demilitarized zone.”

Read the full article here.