“One man’s defection is another’s stepping stone to heroism,” Rob Hughes says, as he explores those who cross borders and play football on the other side. Could Maykel Galindo, the Cuban defector plying his trade with success in MLS, end up representing the U.S.? Will Fifa bar the Iraqi defectors to Australia from playing in their new country? And it can be even messier: Al Bangura, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone now on Watford’s books, might be forced back to his home country by Christmas.