Related Pursuits : Father and Son Forgione Seek Soccer Success at Rival High Schools

Matias Forgione worked his way through the postgame handshake line with the rest of the Kennedy High soccer team, then dallied for a few minutes, talking with friends and teammates in the center of the field.

Breaking free, Forgione, 16, broke into a loud laugh as he glanced toward one of the goals and spied the opposing team being put through a series of postgame wind sprints.

“Hey, look at those guys run,” Forgione said to no one in particular. “I love my dad.”

Forgione, was referring to the man directing the runners: his father, Rafael, the first-year boys’ soccer coach at Granada Hills High.

That father and son would find themselves on the same soccer field in the United States, let alone associated with rival teams in the North Valley League, would have seemed improbable several years ago.

When Rafael emigrated from Argentina to the United States in 1982, he left his wife and three children behind, hoping they could eventually follow. When that plan failed, Forgione’s marriage dissolved and ended in divorce. He saw his children only on short visits to Argentina every few years.

Meanwhile, he was preoccupied with survival and building a new life. Ten years later, with Rafael established as a successful businessman in the San Fernando Valley, Matias came to live with him at his Granada Hills home.

“We are still adjusting to each other,” Rafael said shortly after Matias’ Kennedy team beat Granada Hills, 2-1, last week. “He gives me a hard time like every 16-year-old kid does to their dad. I don’t think he takes life too seriously; he doesn’t realize this is the land of opportunities.”

Rafael is certainly aware that opportunities abound in the United States. He speaks so glowingly he could be a publicist for The American Dream.

“You have to realize how nice this country is when you come from different places and see how many nice things there are here,” Rafael said. “Always, since I was a little child, I was impressed with the United States.”

Rafael is a native of Buenos Aires where he grew up playing soccer, first in the streets and later in high school. After studying architecture at Buenos Aires University for two years, Forgione came to Los Angeles at 26, leaving his old life behind.

“I knew only the friend of a friend of a friend when I got here,” Rafael said. Rafael, who is currently a resident alien but expects to become a U.S. citizen next June. “But she was kind enough to put me up in a hotel and arrange to get me a Social Security number and driver’s license, all the things you need to work.”

After working at a series of odd jobs, including dishwasher, gas station attendant and courier, Rafael acquired a real estate license and became a broker with a West Los Angeles firm. However, he grew frustrated by the demands of his job and in 1989 opened his own real estate business in Granada Hills. He also remarried.

In 1990, Matias and his younger brother, Nicolas, spent two months in the United States visiting their father. Matias liked it so much he came back for good in December of 1992, although he had many adjustments to make.

“There were gang members you had to watch out for, and the Hispanics and some of the white boys make fun of Argentinians for their accents,” Matias said. “I had to get used to a whole new neighborhood.”

In Argentina, Matias had been accustomed to taking school lightly and living it up at night. Rafael put a screeching halt to that, though he still struggles to impart the importance of academics to his son.

“My dad was always trying to step on my back,” Matias said. “In Argentina the kids go out at night and party more and I liked that way to live. But my dad talked to me about it and if I do it (again) he will yell at me.”

For a while, father and son worked together on Matias’ soccer skills, going through speed, agility and ball-handling drills.

“At the beginning we worked a lot, but now he gets too cocky on me,” Rafael said with a smile. “He’s got good skills but he has to put a little more heart in his game.”

Like his father, Matias learned the game in the streets of Buenos Aires, often playing with rolled-up socks instead of a ball. Less than a month after arriving in California, he joined a club soccer team that includes many Latino players.

“It was easier for me after (joining the team),” said Matias, who found another Argentinian on the roster. “I made a lot of friends--like half the team.”

This is Matias’ second year on the Kennedy varsity, and Coach Fred Singer has started him at midfielder for the first six games.

“He’s a great kid and his strength should be in ball distribution, but he’s still very young,” Singer said. “He can be a dominant player when he wants to be, but he’s got to get to the point where he can do it every time.”

While Matias was breaking in with the Golden Cougars last year, Rafael was busy coaching the girls’ soccer team at L.A. Baptist to a 5-3 record. He also tutored his son’s club team briefly earlier this year before quitting to spend more time with his family. Ironically, though, it was his wife who steered him in the direction of the Granada Hills coaching job.

“I quit club (coaching) for her but she noticed how I was missing soccer so much and she got me an interview at Granada,” said Rafael, who was hired in the middle of October.

Forgione inherited a team in disarray, but has the Highlanders 3-3 and said he is making strides toward respectability. Nearly 60 boys tried out for soccer this season, and Rafael kept 32, though the roster numbered only 23 at the time of the Kennedy game.

“We have lost a lot of players,” said Forgione, whose team includes 13 underclassmen. “I get carried away and yell too much, but I want to put respect on the field. We’ll give some schools a hard time this year but it’s gonna take me a while. That’s why I recruited so many freshman and sophomores. I can work with them.”

Granada Hills played well against Kennedy, and if not for shaky goal-tending might have won. Matias played about half the match. He said that he was able to put aside the thoughts of the family showdown once taking the field.

“I was kind of laughing . . . it was the first time we were going against each other,” Matias said. “All my teammates and our neighbors were talking about it, but I didn’t even think about it when I was on the field.”

Competing against a family member wasn’t as easy for Rafael. After rooting passionately for Matias and his Kennedy teammates last season, he found coaching against them an emotional experience.

“I followed all of their games all season long and watched them play a lot,” Rafael said. “It was hard to be on this side of the field, but I’ve got a great bunch of kids to work with on my team.”

TEAMS TO WATCH: C10