There was a heartwarming subplot when Charlotte FC made its Major League Soccer home debut in front of a record-setting crowd at Bank of America Stadium against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night.
In 2010, Galaxy player Sacha Kljestan — then a member of the now-defunct Chivas USA — visited a cancer patient at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and gave that young soccer fan a jersey. Now, 12 years later, that young fan is 20 years old and is a professional soccer player himself. Chris Hegardt is a rookie midfielder for expansion Charlotte FC.
“I gave him a jersey once, hopefully he will give me his tomorrow!” Kljestan tweeted Friday.
Follow the Galaxy’s 1-0 win, the two met on the field and had their anticipated jersey exchange. While neither Kljestan nor Hegardt were in the starting lineups for their respective teams, both players entered as second-half subs and for a few minutes were simultaneously on the field.
In December 2009, the then-7-year-old Hegardt was hospitalized after being struck in the stomach with the ball while playing in a soccer tournament. The ball had ruptured a tumor on his liver, requiring emergency surgery. A biopsy later revealed that Hegardt had malignant cancer covering a third of his liver. He went through six rounds of chemotherapy and a liver transplant.
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Kljestan is in his third season with the…
