Cape Coral police officers join pickup soccer game, video goes viral

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Cape Coral police were dispatched to the Publix near Cape Coral High School for a noise complaint and trespassing violators. When they showed up, they found a group of playing soccer and decided to join in.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Vega brothers get a group of friends together to play a late night game of street soccer, but finding the perfect spot isn’t as easy as it seems.

“A lot of people have been calling the cops on us for the loud noise,” Elijah Vega, 20, said.

“This was actually our first time playing behind there. We used to play behind Walgreens and then we moved to Kumo’s, but of course, noise complaints,” Gabe Vega, 14, said.

This time, though, when Cape Coral police officers showed up, they decided to show off.

“Most of them were actually kind of good but the question that always comes up with me is, I don’t know how they could play so good with heavy, bulky gear on them,” Gabe said.

The officers even called for reinforcements.

“They actually called up their group of friends to come out and join with us and it was really fun to have an experience to play with them,” Elijah said.

The video of the game went crazy on social media. The brothers say they’re glad they can help spread a positive message about the police.

“Like you get reviews that like cops are so bad but they’re actually really nice. I’ve never experienced a cop play with us citizens like that and it was really, really cool,” Gabe said.

The cops ended up losing the game 3-5.