Delilah Dee grew up watching soccer with her grandfather, always in front of the television, whether the match was live or a replay he already knew by heart.
He was a man who rarely showed emotion, fully devoted to providing for his family after emigrating from Peru.
One day, everything changed. The Philadelphia Union gave Delilah tickets to a World Cup match in Philadelphia, just 24 hours before the game.
She cried when she received them, cried again the following morning, and kept the secret until she asked her grandfather to get ready to go out.
He had never been able to afford a World Cup ticket on his own. Seeing him there, in the stadium, understanding what was happening, was Delilah’s way of giving something back after a lifetime of sacrifices.
And although she fulfilled a decades-long dream, what mattered most to her grandfather was not the stadium: it was being there with his first granddaughter.
