“…Father Emmanuel Acquaye, a chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, thinks soccer and Advent go together like candy canes and Christmas trees. ‘I love it,’’ said Father Acquaye, a native of Ghana who played as a goaltender through high school before coming to the U.S. in 2013. ‘I think Advent and the World Cup are a natural fit. Advent is all about the joy of waiting for the arrival of the Lord, and the World Cup is all about joy. When you enter that stadium or turn on that TV, you forget about religious ideologies and politics and it’s just the joy of the game. …It’s like walking into heaven. Soccer finds a way to cut through differences and bring people together…'”