Young athletes from all over compete in the USA Cup in Blaine

As the world's best soccer-playing adults battle it out in New York for the World Cup. Their juniors are slugging it out in Minnesota for the USA Cup.

Attendees all have their loyalties. The 11U team chanted, "Costa Rica! Costa Rica, Costa Rica." 

Players are also loyal to their geography, as one young player said, "Minnesota is good, but I prefer Costa Rica."

The teams came from 20 countries, including Norway, Mongolia, and Brazil. 

The referees traveled too. Travis Betterson is from Suriname, South America.

"It's my first time ever flying here, so I was a bit nervous, but everything went alright," said Betterson.

He says the surprises came once he landed, "I didn't expect the weather to be this hot but the people are nice."

The hometown teams were happy to host. 

"Each team brings their own pin and then they meet and they get to exchange pins and learn about each other's teams," said Katie Thorsness, whose son Jasper is playing. 

"So our son has all these pins from all over the world that he gets to show everybody and meet teams from all over. Not only like what they're learning on the field, but making those connections with others and learning about different soccer teams, how they play, different styles."

Thorsness' husband, Jared Thorsness, agrees. 

"It's going to be sad to see it end though," said Jared.

"What we hope is that the boys can learn how to play as a team, be confident, learn a lot of lessons on the field and also sportsmanship, right?" said Thorsness. 

Even though everyone can't leave with a win, they are all leaving with a gain.

The players say they really learned how people from all of the world play the game of soccer differently.

This was the first time in the history of the Target USA Cup where they cancelled play for a full day due to weather.