LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – It’s a remarkable story, really. Not so much that Racing Louisville FC’s team this season could have 6 players heading to play in the World Cup, but that they would come from 6 countries.The club has featured players from 6 continents this season. International and domestic players mix easily here. They help each other with language. Ary Borges, who will represent Brazil in the World Cup next month, talks on the phone in Portuguese to the father of U.S. Women’s National Team midfielder Savannah DeMelo.Four of Racing Louisville’s international players spoke to the media on Thursday, a couple through interpreters, a couple for the first time since coming to Louisville. A fifth, Alex Chidiac, has already departed for Australia looking to compete for her country’s national team in a World Cup for the first time.Their experiences are varied. Their feelings on playing a World Cup are consistent. A look at Racing Louisville’s five international World Cup hopefuls, before they head out to try to lock down spots on their national rosters.ARY BORGES, BRAZIL, FORWARDWhen she was only 10 years old, she moved to São Paulo, Brazil, and was one of only 3 girls playing alongside the boys on the Santos FC youth team. Her father had to sign a special insurance waiver releasing the club from responsibility in the event of an injury.Instead, she thrived, working her way up the ranks to the national team level. From a central midfield spot, she led Brazil to the 2022 Copa América title. She made her NWSL debut with Racing Louisville this season and has been a key connection for DeMelo and Racing captain Jaelin Howell in the team’s midfield.“It’s the realization of a dream, the dream of every player to get to that point to represent their country,” Borges said through an interpreter on Thursday. “The responsibility is big, but the more I wear the (Brazil) jersey the better it gets. It gives us confidence. I do what I love doing, so to get there and to play for that jersey — we try not to bring that thought of having the big responsibility to the field because we see that it gets in the way — but every time we play it’s butterflies in the stomach. But as we go forward and we play it becomes more comfortable.”ALEX CHIDIAC, AUSTRALIA, MIDFIELDERChidiac was twice named Australia’s Young Footballer of the Year (2016, 2017) and scored a goal for her national team in the 2023 Cup of Nations. She made her national team debut for Australia when she was only 16 and is hoping to make her World Cup debut. She already has played all over the world, from Spain to Japan to China. And she is active in social causes, pledging a portion of her salary in 2019 to a group that supports women’s soccer opportunities in Kenya.UCHENNA KANU, NIGERIA, FORWARDKanu was a goal-scoring machine in college, playing for Southeastern University, an NAIA program in Lakeland, Fla., where she broke the NAIA all-time scoring record with 157 career goals. She was honored by the Lakeland Mayor who made Nov. 18, 2019, Uchenna Kanu Day in the city of Lakeland.She continued her high-scoring ways playing professionally in Mexico, and in international competition with Nigeria, where she ended a streak of 880 shutout minutes by the U.S. National Team in a 2022 friendly.Kanu said there weren’t many opportunities for girls playing soccer while she was growing up, and that the inequity in training facilities continued even after she arrived in the U.S. But her hard work has landed her in her country’s uniform, where she enters the World Cup with 4 international goals to her credit. It will be her second shot in a World Cup, having already locked down a spot for Nigeria.“I’m still learning,” she said. “Especially when we have new faces on the team. I excited to get to know my new teammates and my new coach and have fun doing it. I’m super excited. Playing for my country is a great honor. I represent 200 million people back home. It’s the greatest stage of your career.”Is a privilege!🙏🏾🇳🇬 https://t.co/TAmhmdUcZF— UCHENNA KANU (@UcheOfficial_) June 16, 2023THEMBI KGATLANA, FORWARD, SOUTH AFRICAKgatlana grew up in a home where her father didn’t approve of a girl playing soccer. That didn’t stop her from sneaking out to play. When he would see her in dirty clothes from playing, she would be punished. But she was undeterred. And when he finally saw her play, her talent was evident.From those beginnings, Kgatlana rose to winning player of the year honors on the continent of Africa from the Confederation of African Football in 2018. In fact, her life story was made into a children’s book in Africa.She competed for South Africa in the 2019 World Cup in France, where she scored her nation’s first goal in World Cup competition. She has scored 22 goals in international competition overall.“It’s amazing to be playing for South Africa,” she said. “And it’s also amazing to see everything that we have been achieving. And I think speaking from a woman’s football perspective, it has taken us so long to get the Africa Cup of Nations, but I think after clinching it last year, it gave us so much hope. We have a lot of talks of, you know, getting the league to be professional, bringing in sponsors. We have more girls being identified to represent the national team. The coach called about 36 players, before she could cut the team, and this shows that now there’s a lot of options. It’s not just a certain group of players that used to play before, but now we have more players coming in. Women’s football is going in my country.”Breaking News 📰⚽️Ellis names FINAL Banyana Banyana squad for the 2023 @FIFAWWC 🏆💚💛🇿🇦#LiveTheImpossible pic.twitter.com/jXEzzdmwzP— Banyana_Banyana (@Banyana_Banyana) June 23, 2023WANG SHUANG, CHINA, MIDFIELDERShuang was identified as a soccer prodigy at a young age. And the game helped her through some hardship. She was sent to live with an aunt and uncle at the age of 5 after her parents divorced. She was sent to boarding school in Beijing to study and learn soccer.And she did learn it. She became one of the best-known women’s football players in China, and has 37 goals in international competition to her credit.Cutting short a planned 2-year stay with Paris St. Germain in 2019, she arrived back in her hometown of Wuhan in 2019. It was a fateful move. She would spend 77 days in isolation after a complete government lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic that is believed to have begun in that city. She trained in her living room, or on the rooftop of her building.Now in Louisville, she’s hoping to make her mark on the NWSL, and to represent her country well in the upcoming World Cup, her third.“I’ve always wanted to go to other countries to play soccer, to see the difference between China and other countries,” she said through an interpreter. “I always want to challenge myself and improve myself. . . . In my first time in the World Cup, I was young. I was really nervous. I was new. This time I’m more relaxed. I have a little experience. I really want to enjoy the stage. I really want to help my country to have more goals. It’s really different when you are wearing the national jersey. For me it’s pride and courage, it’s honor and responsibility.”Copyright 2023 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.