Then you were lucky. The only soccer players I have had an honor to be in the presence of (and they really considered it an honor) were the most spoiled, self-serving liberals I've ever encountered. And they were all Southern liberals!........
Those are the kind I can't stand (see: Ted Turner, James Carville), probably because I'm from the South.
It's like, "dang, did you learn nothing while you were living here?"