The morning sun creeps over half-finished high-rises, illuminating ten boys running in circles on an artificial turf field. Most of them wear jerseys with stripes—green, white, and red.

The S‑train’s F line roars past every ten minutes, with floodlights and a waist‑high fence along the tracks. Back home, where the boys usually train, there are guard towers and a concrete wall. When they play there, they can hear Israel on the other side—and they talk about the birds that glide over the wall without a care.