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A gastroenterologist at University Health will be among the fans filling the stands at Kansas City Stadium for the FIFA World Cup — cheering for the country where he grew up.
Dr. Malek Mahmoudi grew up in Algeria, where soccer is deeply woven into the culture.
"I like soccer since the get-go, since the beginning. I played soccer for a long time," Mahmoudi said.
Though he loved the sport, he chose to focus on his studies and pursue a career in medicine — a path that eventually brought him to the United States.
"I'm happy with the choice I made. I'm really happy," Mahmoudi said.
But he never left his love for soccer — or Algeria — behind.
"Of course it's ingrained in our culture, it's part of being Algerian," Mahmoudi said. "And over the years Algeria tried to — we qualified for the World Cup in 1982, it was a lot of fun. We beat Germany, which was one of the countries that was supposed to win the World Cup."
While he remembers watching the World Cup as a child, he is now making new memories — watching his team play in the country he now calls home.
"It is very, very personal, very exciting to see your own team following you to wherever you moved, you know, long time ago, and even have Kansas City as their home base — very, very exciting," Mahmoudi said.
Mahmoudi attended Algeria's first match against Argentina at Kansas City Stadium. He will return to the stadium Saturday with his family to watch the next match.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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