IRVINE, Calif. — The U.S. men’s soccer team’s big win over Paraguay electrified this World Cup, especially for American fans. But the players can’t spend too long reveling in the moment, because the next game is now on the horizon.
Monday was always going to be a natural moment to turn the page, since it marked the return to work after two days off. But there was also a wakeup call over the weekend, when Australia upset Turkey and blew Group D wide-open.
The players got the message.
“We saw a team that went out against Turkey and competed at a very, very high level,” stalwart U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams said of his team’s next opponent. “They’re combative, they’re smart, tactically they were unbelievably sound. So I think it’s going to be an extremely difficult game.”
Tyler Adams making a point to a teammate during a drill.Jonathan Tannenwald
As he got ready for Monday’s practice, Adams said it was “pretty easy” for the team to shift its focus ahead.
“I think that having a day off is obviously nice to just be able to disconnect,” he said. “I think having this amount of time in between games is really nice, just for the body, the mind, everything in between. It was a good start — it’s exactly what we wanted and we set out to do. That being said, the focus has to be on Australia now.”
Australia’s win raises the stakes even higher in what was already a much-anticipated game (3 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo). The scene will be just as much of the story as the action on the field, as soccer-mad Seattle finally hosts the U.S. after not being part of any previous World Cup in this country, from the 1994 men’s tournament to the 1999 and 2003 women’s ones.
The city looked terrific in its first time on the big stage, Egypt’s 1-1 tie with Belgium on Monday.
A view of the full house in Seattle as Belgium and Egypt’s players lined up for the national anthems.Maddy Grassy
When the U.S. and Australia met in a friendly last October, striker Haji Wright scored both American goals in the 2-1 win. He reflected Monday on watching tape of the Turkey game, and how these Socceroos compare to last fall.
“Saw a well-executed game plan from Australia,” he said. “They’re tough to break down, they’re dangerous on counterattacks, they have good players at the top of the pitch, and they were able to be effective and damage Turkey. I think Turkey kind of came into the game a bit overconfident, and I think we won’t make that same mistake.”
That was a reference to team captain Hakan Çalhanoglu claiming a few days earlier: “I think we will dominate the game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team.”
Some U.S. pundits have done some boasting of their own, and Adams was asked about that. He quickly brushed it off.
“I don’t think any commentary helps anybody,” he said. “And no, it’s not going to be a layup. If anything, it’s going to be one of the most difficult games that we play.”
Haji Wright (center) in a drill at Monday’s practice.Jonathan Tannenwald
The U.S. will be on alert not just for Australia forward Nestory Irankunda, already justifying the hype as a breakout star. Adams’ yellow card in the second half against Paraguay means that if he’s is booked again in this game, he’ll miss the group finale against Turkey on June 25. Card accumulation is then reset after the group stage ends, and after the quarterfinals.
“I live with yellow cards,” Adams said. “I think that for me, it’s something that you have to manage of course, but especially in the second game, you can’t take your foot off the gas.”
When kickoff arrives, it will have been a week since the Americans’ group opener. That’s a rare sight in a World Cup, created by FIFA’s expansion of the field to 48 teams. In the past, there were usually three or four days between games.
“I absolutely love it after playing a long season,” said Adams, who plays his club soccer for the English Premier League’s Bournemouth, noting too that the last World Cup in 2022 — his first — was the first moved from the summer to autumn because of Qatar’s heat.
Tyler Adams drew a big crowd for his session with the media, as he always does.Jonathan Tannenwald
“Your body feels it, obviously, a little bit more coming into the end of the season, into a World Cup where there’s so much emotion, so much adrenaline, all these things,” he said.
Pulisic trains separately
As he nurses the hamstring knock that sent him out of the Paraguay game at halftime, Christian Pulisic did not take the field with his teammates Monday morning. He emerged separately a few minutes later, and worked on his own with a trainer on the next field over.
A U.S. Soccer spokesperson said Pulisic was scheduled to do a “modified training session” with “gym and individual field work.”
Pochettino wasn’t scheduled to meet with the media on Monday, but he came over during practice to say hello and talk casually for a few minutes. When a reporter asked him how Pulisic is doing, Pochettino answered “Good.”
Christian Pulisic working with a trainer on a separate field Monday morning.Jonathan Tannenwald
Adams shared the sentiment, and a few more words.
“Come on — Christian will be ready, everyone. Let’s relax,” he said with his usual spirit. “I think that he picked up a knock a few days before the game, and I think he got kicked in the same spot again during the game, and when you go in at halftime, things obviously get tight within the 15-, 20-minute break. But he’ll be fine.”
U.S. Soccer also announced that 20-year-old goalkeeper prospect Julian Eyestone of English club Brentford has joined the camp as a training player. Diego Kochen of Spain’s Barcelona departed last week, while the Union’s Andrew Rick has stayed all along.
Though U.S. Soccer didn’t say why Kochen left, ESPN reported last week that the 20-year-old is on the verge of a season-long loan to Danish club Lyngby to get some regular playing time. Lyngby earned promotion to Denmark’s top flight last month, and its ownership includes the Union holding a partial stake.
Julian Eyestone (left) is another of the U.S. program’s leading young goalkeeper prospects.Jonathan Tannenwald
When Ecuadorian soccer content creator Leandro de Vera, aka DonFutbol, tied his country’s flag around the neck of the Rocky statue at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s steps, he was unaware of the butterfly effect he had set in motion.
De Vera inadvertently triggered the “Rocky statue curse” — a jinx that comes into effect when a team’s fans dress the boxer in an opposing team’s gear — at an Ecuadorian fan celebration at the Art Museum on Saturday.
Earlier that day, two Ecuadorian journalists from Guayaquil’s Radio Diblu had warned fans not to put flags or jerseys on the statue.
“The people of Philadelphia say doing that doesn’t bring good luck and can make a team lose,” reporter Carlos Morales said Saturday, standing by the Rocky statue at the base of the Art Museum.
“The recommendation is to take a picture, put your flag next to it, but don’t put anything on him,” reporter Nico Rivera added.
In the past, multiple NFL fan bases have dressed the statue in their team’s colors prior to a matchup with the Eagles. Most went on to see their team lose. Most notably, Vikings fans wrapped a purple towel around Rocky’s waist before being blown out 38-7 in the 2017 NFC Championship. The Patriots, 49ers, and Commanders have fallen to the same jinx.
Philadelphia sports magic strikes again 🥊
The moment Ecuador fans put their shirt on Rocky, the outcome was inevitable 🫣 pic.twitter.com/IeqYaICygy
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) June 15, 2026
Ecuador was no exception. On Sunday, to kick off World Cup play in Philadelphia, Ecuador was defeated by Ivory Coast, 1-0, at Lincoln Financial Field, renamed Philadelphia Stadium for the World Cup. Ivory Coast’s single goal came in the 90th minute. Meanwhile, Ecuador could not catch a break. The team hit the post three times — becoming just the fourth team in World Cup history to do so and go on to lose.
Perhaps it was the emotion, naivete, or the fact that de Vera was standing on the Rocky statue at the top of the steps, rather than the bottom. But his excitement was apparent when he climbed the statue, screaming: “Friends, we are here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rocky is from Ecuador — Rocky Zambrano,” he proclaimed in Spanish, baptizing the Philly icon with a common Ecuadorian last name.
Ecuadorian soccer fans attend a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ahead of their first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast, on Saturday, June 13, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Ecuadorian Instagram commenters reacted in horror, letting the content creator know of the bad omen he had cast upon their team.
“Friends, it’s amazing how much I’ve been insulted for putting the flag on Rocky,” said de Vera in Spanish in a video posted to social media. “I look at my direct messages, and they’re dragging my mamita [mother] through the mud.”
After Ecuador lost, the hate worsened. One fan even approached de Vera to take a photograph with him just to caption it: “with the most insulted person in Ecuador.”
“It’s been tough since the game ended,” de Vera told The Inquirer in Spanish.
De Vera’s own superstitiousness has made the entire situation harder to deal with. He commonly wears different-colored socks to send his team good luck, and it hurt him personally not to have known about the curse ahead of time. If he had, he would have never touched the statue.
“I was just excited, and there was so much going on I didn’t even realize people were screaming ‘no’ to me until much later,” he said.
De Vera meant no disrespect to his team or to Rocky, he said. He just wanted to bring both Philly and Ecuadorian cultures together, hence giving the fictional boxer a temporary Ecuadorian last name.
“I saw the first movie, but by the time he was done climbing the stairs, I was so out of breath I couldn’t watch the other movies,” de Vera said jokingly. “Let’s wait until the World Cup ends and I will watch the rest. I owe it to the city.”
A young Ecuadorian soccer fan sits under the Ecuadorian flag during a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ahead of Ecuador’s first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 13, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
‘I think I messed up’
De Vera wasn’t alone in taking the blame.
Colombian social media star Beta Mejía, who is dating Ecuadorian influencer Alejandra Jaramillo, was also in the hot seat after videos of him doing the same went viral. As he wrapped the flag around the statue’s shoulders, shouts of “No” from Ecuadorian fans familiar with the curse rained down the museum steps.
Beta Mejía 🇪🇨 protagonizó un curioso momento en Filadelfia 🥊 al intentar colocar una bandera ecuatoriana sobre la famosa estatua de Rocky, pero su acción fue detenida de inmediato con un contundente “¡No, no, no!” 😅. pic.twitter.com/EZax5oWb0p
— ÚLTIMA HORA ECUADOR (@UltimaHoraEC_) June 14, 2026
“Parse, I think I messed up,” Mejía said in Spanish on a video Sunday before the match. “God, it’s me again, your favorite soldier; I didn’t know, I really didn’t know.”
Mejía blamed his actions on an act of kindness, saying he was trying to help a fan who had passed him the flag. After the backlash, he looked to reverse the bad luck. On video, Mejía lit four candles, praying for God to bless the Ecuadorian players with his blood.
“Fear nothing,” Mejía said, ending his video quoting Ecuadorian player Niño Moi (Moisés Caicedo) and rooting for the team to win.
Ecuadorian soccer fan Freddy Baquelo cheers during a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ahead of their first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 13, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Along with de Vera and Mejía, another fan dressed Rocky, attaching a custom Rocky jersey to the statue. He explained his rationale on an Instagram post:
“This is my good luck charm,” Gigio Benavides Peralta wrote. “Traveling for more than 26 hours, more than 5000km from Loja Ecuador to fulfill my promise to put the T-shirt on Rocky. For if I did that, Ecuador would win the World Cup… Let’s go Ecuador.. thanks to @maconsport and my Aunt Odi who helped me make the shirt.”
Despite the supposed Rocky curse, many Ecuadorians on social media seemed to think the bad omen did not come from the shirt or flags, but rather from having the president at the match.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa left the small South American country on June 11 for a four-day U.S. diplomatic trip meant to build bilateral relationships with the United States. He was captured at the game by FIFA cameras, shocking many Ecuadorians.
In a post-match video posted by Ecuador TV, Noboa was recorded leaving the stadium with his cabinet and a band of security guards.
Ecuadorian fans are heard in the background booing him, surrounding his convoy, calling him “salado” (an Ecuadorian word for someone with or who brings bad luck), and shouting that he “came for a vacation.”
Philadelphians react — and also blame Hard Rock Cafe ‘takeover’
Meanwhile, Philadelphia fans are having a bit of fun with the whole ordeal.
“Attention all teams visiting Philly, if you put your jersey on the Rocky Statue the ghost of Adrian will direct all of your shots towards a goalpost,” one wrote on X. “She and Paulie haunt the Linc, it’s a thing.”
As one fan pointed out on social media, Ecuador may have been jinxed by its fans flocking to the Market Street Hard Rock Cafe — just as Commanders fans did before their team’s 55-23 loss to the Eagles in the 2025 NFC Championship.
"Philadelphia has a cursed Hard Rock Cafe" is honestly just fun world building. Love this development. https://t.co/u5GN2objpJ
— one dozen rats at a keyboard (@PanasonicDX4500) June 15, 2026
A Commanders fan known as Tailgate Ted proudly proclaimed that his fan base had taken over the chain outpost prior to the 2025 conference championship game. At the time, the video received mass ridicule from the Philadelphia faithful, including Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott, as the restaurant has little cultural significance to the city.
“Oh no the Philly Hard Rock has fallen. Maybe next they will take over Applebees,” one Eagles fan wrote at the time.
On Saturday, Ecuador will face Curaçao in Kansas City before playing Germany in New York on June 25. De Valera is hoping to enact the Rocky curse again — this time for his benefit.
“We are not out of the World Cup; Argentina once lost [their first match] and still won the World Cup,” de Valera said. “But now that I know, I am going to buy a Germany flag for Rocky ahead of the game.”
Ecuadorian soccer fans wave their flags ahead of their first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast during a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday, June 13, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
It took 96 years, but the most sacred version of the beautiful game came to Philadelphia.
Both the city and the match met the moment.
Extra public transportation, hydration stations, and modest traffic framed an evening of graceful and powerful football, the kind every other nation reveres except ours.
Amid the spectacle of team jerseys, flags, and team benches covered by vibrant roofs identifying the sides in national colors, the grass was the star. The stadium’s normal turf is a ragged Bermuda thatched with 5% plastic to withstand the cleated NFL rhinoceroses who usually play there. For the World Cup, it was transformed into a flawless pitch, golf-course quality ryegrass and bluegrass, the sort of surface you on which could imagine Jason Kelce lying on his back and making snow angels.
Ecuador goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez watches as the ball crosses the goal line on a shot by Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo late in the second half of Sunday’s game.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Viewed through an international lens, even a soccer game this insignificant still was the most significant sporting event in the history of the city. A town that has seen two World Series titles and a Stanley Cup won within its borders has never hosted anything that riveted folks on six of the continents.
What comes close? Maybe Rocky Marciano, when he knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952, and won the heavyweight championship. Maybe not.
More moments will come, since the group-stage match between Ivory Coast and Ecuador is just the first of five such games. On July 4, Philadelphia will host an elimination game in the Round of 16, and then that will become the most significant sporting event in the history of the city.
The difference was deserving of the night’s significance. At the top of the box, Amad Diallo, who plays for Manchester United, redirected a simple cross from Wilfried Singo with his left foot in the 90th and final minute of regular play. Given eight minutes of stoppage time, Ecuador could not break through.
Three crucial points to Les Elephants, following the 1-0 final.
After three days of pre-tournament watch parties and fan fests (the Cup began in Mexico City on Thursday), Philly’s hot, sticky, 90-degree moment finally arrived.
The city, four weeks removed from the PGA Championship at Aronimink and four weeks from hosting the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, finally seemed to grasp the magnitude of the world’s biggest single-sport sporting event landing at its doorstep.
The catalyst: How about the 4-1 thunderbolt win the United States laid on Paraguay in Los Angeles on Friday night.
Ecuador hit the crossbar twice in a first half and nearly scored on a blast from Flamengo’s Gonzalo Plata just before the water break in the second half. Ivory Coast hit the crossbar six minutes into the second half. All of those shots drew gasps, but gasps of different timbre; either delight denied or disaster averted, because the gasps were almost completely Ecuadorian.
Ecuador is nearly 3,000 miles from Philadelphia, but, for two hours, the stadium served as an Ecuadorian colony, its fans wearing yellow, accounting for 90% of the 68,247 fans in the seats. If they’d issued 60,000 pairs of goggles, they’d have had 60,000 Minions.
you can totally trust the little green guy leading you into a cave full of monsters 😉 Trey Parker is the voice of Goomi in Minions & Monsters. Only in theaters July 1. pic.twitter.com/je5rfPaxAQ
Little wonder. About half of the approximately 850,000 people in the United States who claim a connection with Ecuador live in either New York or New Jersey. Most estimates of Ivorians in the U.S. don’t even reach 10,000.
After the 5 p.m. SEPTA Broad Street Line express was taken out of service at Race-Vine because a door wouldn’t close, the 5:15 local train was inundated with Ecuador enthusiasts when it hit the City Hall stop.
The cars were full to bursting by the time they hit Walnut-Locust, yellow jerseys shoulder to shoulder and chest to chest, men and women alike. As the train pulled out a song arose, full throat and deafening in the hot, cramped subway car:
“¡Vamos, vamos ecuatorianos, esta noche tenemos que ganar!”
Or:
“Let’s go, let’s go, Ecuadorians, tonight we have to win!”
As the throng exited up the stairs of NRG Station, their hearts and voices swelled again. The song rang out again and again during the match.
Unfortunately, the Ecuadorians were not singing on the subway ride home.
Fans wait outside SEPTA’s NRG Station near the stadium following Ivory Coast’s victory over Ecuador Sunday night.Michelle Myers
Only the Olympics does a better job than FIFA capitalizing on nationalistic spectacle, and Sunday night was no exception. The stunning FIFA World Cup 2026 emblem tapestry laid on the ground covered the midfield circle. Replicas of the flags of Ecuador and the Ivory Coast took up most of the rest of the pitch in front of the goals, crescents cut in the extra fabric to frame the FIFA logo tapestry at midfield. The teams stood on their respective sides of the circle, facing the south stands, as the anthems played.
The match occurred where the Eagles play, at Lincoln Financial Field, which must be referred to as Philadelphia Stadium during World Cup games. FIFA has a strict policy that prohibits references to sponsors who don’t give FIFA money.
That said, Sunday’s affair was nothing like an Eagles game. It was far more elegant.
When Ivory Coast dawdled, La Tri — a nickname for Ecuador’s fans, who wear the tricolor yellow, blue, and red of the flag — booed and whistled. It was not unlike the response of Eagles fans whenever the Cowboys score.
Fans of the American version of football might balk at the contention that soccer is a bigger deal, and lovers of the Olympics might contend that the ever-shifting collection of summer and competitions matters more. They are wrong.
Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Singo, right, defends against Ecuador’s Jean Michaël Seri during the second half of a FIFA World Cup Group E match on Sunday.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The World Cup is a different animal than the Olympic Games, concentrated and egalitarian. You don’t have to own a horse or skis to prepare to compete in the World Cup, just a ball.
The only thing in America that reflects a World Cup is an NFL season. Consider the first 17 games, the regular season, the group stage. Consider the playoffs the knockout Round of 16.
The NFL season in its entirety and intensity is the one comparison that might allow most Americans to understand the depth of investment and emotion other nations harbor for soccer.
And, when you factor in the fact that virtually every man, woman, and child in many of these countries have played the sport, then you can better comprehend why soccer is, for so many people on earth, as much religion as it is diversion, and how sacred evenings like Sunday can be for anyone connected with the Ivory Coast or Ecuador.
The folks who organized it all understood the gravity of the moment.
Meg Kane, CEO of Philadelphia Soccer 2026, had measures of both delight and relief in her voice as she sat in the stadium parking lot Sunday night.
“It’s been an exciting four days,“ she began, noting that there were 36 more to go. “I think everything we hoped this would be has been borne out.”
The delight was easy to source: She had just seen a really good soccer game in a grand stadium with two excellent teams, snuck in just minutes before a thunderstorm, with little or no complication.
The relief was probably based on the reception most of the millions of residents had given these unusual visitors.
“People in Philadelphia are excited to be hosting something like this,” Kane said. “Philadelphians love when people choose to spend their time here.“
The best news: Philadelphia gets to do this five more times.
After years of anticipation, ticketing woes, and infrastructure blunders, the world’s most beautiful game has landed in the City of Brotherly Love.
And soccer fans are feeling it.
The 68,274 attendees erupted when the West African nation broke the deadlocked game in the last seconds of regulation, leaving Ecuadorians stunned and distraught. Some covered their faces in disbelief.
“They fought, but we won,” Ivory Coast supporter Glenn Feidanga said.
Feidanga was the only person dancing in his section after spending the two halves surrounded by Ecuadorian fans. The momentary rivalry eventually gave way to high-fives and kudos.
“Everything is good,” he said.
While the Ecuadorian and Ivorian communities in the Philly-area are small — less than 15,500 residents claim Ecuadorian ancestry, and the number of Ivorians is difficult to estimate because the Census Bureau doesn’t tabulate them — their fans had no dearth of fervor or conviction.
Anything for your team
In the days and hours leading up to kickoff, celebrations have spilled into streets and SEPTA stations across the city — and supporters have been undeterred by oppressive heat and threats of severe weather. On Saturday, a wave of yellow, red, and blue flooded the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as thousands of Ecuadorian fans rallied and basked in their pride.
The Broad Street Line Sunday afternoon was inundated with Ecuador fans. Teeming train cars were full of yellow jerseys standing shoulder to shoulder, men and women alike. As the train pulled in, a song arose; full throat and deafening in the hot, cramped subway car.
“Let’s go, let’s go Ecuadorians, tonight we have to win!“
As the throng made its way out of the NRG Station, the fans’ hearts and voices swelled again.
A young Ecuadorian soccer fan sits under the Ecuadorian flag during a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ahead of Ecuador’s first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 13, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Pacho Flores would go to any length for “La tri,” the nickname for the Ecuadorian national team. He had traveled from New York City and had paid $650 a ticket for his family of eight to see his team play in Philadelphia.
“It’s the most beautiful thing in the world,” Flores, a 62-year-old Ecuadorian native, said. “We have to follow the team to every game. It’s a blessing to have them play so close.”
Pacho Flores (left) and his son, Alex, dance wearing thickly knit Diablo Uma masks ahead of Ecuador’s World Cup match against Ivory Coast in Philadelphia Sunday, June 14, 2026.Michelle Myers /
Despite the 90-degree day, Flores and his son, Alex, wore thickly knit masks of Diablo Huma — an Indigenous protective sacred figure from the highlands of Ecuador — to represent his native town of Cañar.
“It’s not that hot inside the mask,” Alex said, wiping sweat from his brow, “and it’s worth it because we have to win.”
“Either way, we will still love the team,” his father added.
Ecuadorian soccer fan Demetrio Govrea watches fans during a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ahead of their first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 13, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The family won’t have too much time to idle: They head back to New York City on Monday morning to pack for La tri’s match in Kansas City on Saturday against Curaçao.
Ivory Coast fans Justin Bambara, Samska Lejah, and Couby Ouedraogo flew from Niger to New Jersey, then drove two hours to Philadelphia, and were confident in their team’s chances.
Members of the Ivory Coast national football team react while watching the Sixers Stixers drum line perform following their practice at Subaru Park in Chester on Friday, June 12, 2026 Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
“The yellows,” Bambara, 49, said, referring to the Ecuadorian fans’ jerseys, “need their support; we don’t need that, we are going to win.”
“We will invite them to beers once they lose,” Lejah, 55, said.
In the middle of it all, there seemed to be a marriage being put to test. Aurora Brown of Jacksonville, Fla., was attending FIFA Fan Festival with her family Saturday and said she is cheering for her home country, Ecuador. Her husband, Jamaal Brown, who had to stay back in Jacksonville, recently found out through a DNA test that he has Ivorian connections and is rooting for Ivory Coast.
Aurora Brown and the family pick out a soccer jersey for dad at FIFA Fan Fest in Philly. Dad Jamaal had to stay back home in Jacksonville, where he will be rooting for the Ivory Coast. But Aurora is sticking with Ecuador.Michelle Myers
“If they weren’t playing against Ecuador, the whole family would be Ivory Coast fans,” Aurora said.
“Ivory Coast is going to win and I will celebrate with some drinks,” Jamaal said over the phone.
“We are winners.”
Ticketing woes continue
This is the most expensive World Cup ever, and astronomical ticket costs and “dynamic pricing” have been a big gripe for many soccer fans.
Jayden Quezada, 17, and his parents spent $4,350 on Saturday to get three tickets to the next-day game through TickPick, a resale website. The trio traveled from Bensalem to Philadelphia hoping for an Ecuadorian victory. By the time they arrived at the stadium Sunday, the tickets were yet to be transferred to their FIFA app.
They were turned away at the door.
“They have been the biggest fans since before I was born and they don’t get to go back often because of work,” Quezada said of his parents who were trying to reach TickPick representatives on the phone. “We are probably going to try to get a refund but missing the game would be really sad because we were looking forward to feeling the Ecuadorian pride.”
Like the Quezadas, more than 50 people waited for help with their failed tickets, including Monica Rojas and Jose Avil who bought a pair of tickets and parking on StubHub for $2,000, only to learn their purchase had been refunded.
“I don’t know what we are going to do,” Avil said. “It feels defeating — now all we have is the tickets and the desire to watch them.”
Fans wait outside SEPTA’s NRG Station near the stadium following Ivory Coast’s victory over Ecuador Sunday night.Michelle Myers
Fan festivities
Meanwhile, watch parties were underway from Spring Garden to South Streets.
Ecuadorian singer Johann Vera commanded center stage at FIFA Fan Festival, roaring “¿Listos?”— “Ready?” — to a sea of yellow jerseys dotted by Ivory Coast orange.
“I thought there were more Ivorians in Philadelphia but I guess not,” said Swann Nemin, a Temple University student from Ivory Coast, visiting Fan Festival with her two Ivorian friends, Ornella Kouame and Naïke M. Their friend, Phoebe Mattes, who they joke is “Ivorian by preference,” joined too.
Ecuador takes the field for warm-ups before facing Ivory Coast in the World Cup Group E soccer match in Philadelphia on Sunday, June 14, 2026.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
The World Cup brought the friends together who were looking forward to dancing and celebrating with people from all over the world.
“I feel like it’s not only people from Ecuador but also people from South America that are cheering for Ecuador, in the same way that people from all over Africa are repping Côte d’Ivoire,” Nemin said.
Aleyda Alvarado, a Fishtown resident originally from Mexico, admitted that she isn’t the biggest soccer fan, but the World Cup always gets her and her friends to come out and celebrate.
“Everyone is here from different countries, but during the World Cup, we’re all just fans,” Alvarado said before kick-off. “That’s how soccer bring people together, and what makes me love it.”
At the dozens of tables across Brauhaus Schmitz, the German beer hall in South Philly, beer steins were dangerously close to empty. The Caddick family eagerly watched TV screens around the bar and rang cowbells as their team, Ecuador, closed in on the net.
Soccer fans watch Ecuador take on the Ivory Coast during a World Cup soccer watch party at Brauhaus Schmitz on Sunday, June 14, 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Karina Caddick, 56, of Horsham, was born in Ecuador, just outside Guayaquil, a port city and the country’s largest metropolis. She moved as a baby, but her family made sure to instill in her the importance of and love for soccer.
To watch her native country’s team compete on her home country’s soil is quite special, she said.
“It’s unbelievable that we’re able to watch [the game] here,” Caddick said. “To be in Philadelphia and see all the yellow shirts, it’s incredible.”
But not everyone gets the hype. Outside Brauhaus, a man was overheard asking, “Why does everyone like soccer so much?” For those with connections to one of the participating countries, the answer is obvious.
“Soccer is everything to Ecuador,” Caddick said. “It is the main sport. It’s their spirit. It’s what calls them.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe scored and Australia spoiled Turkey’s return to the World Cup for the first time in 24 years with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night.
Goalkeeper Patrick Beach made eight saves for the Socceroos in their group opener as FIFA President Gianni Infantino looked on. Australia was playing in its sixth straight World Cup and seventh overall.
Turkey reached the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup but then missed five straight tournaments before qualifying this year by beating Kosovo in a playoff.
Irankunda broke through for the Socceroos in the 27th minute with a low shot while pursued by three defenders. It came less than a minute after the first-half hydration break.
Irankunda celebrated by punching the corner flag in a tribute to Australian soccer legend Tim Cahill. The 20-year-old who plays for Watford is the Socceroo’s youngest-ever goal scorer at a World Cup.
Minutes later Beach stopped Abdulkerim Bardakcı’s blast from distance. Beach started in goal for the Socceroos rather than experienced counterpart Matthew Ryan in a surprise decision from coach Tony Popovic.
Irankunda said the Socceroos took issue with comments Turkey captain Hakan Calhanoglu made a day before the match, proclaiming that his side had “more qualities and a more talented team.”
“Yeah, it was extra motivation,” Irankunda said. “Obviously we don’t like people to talk bad about us because we’re a great team. People underestimate us.”
¡LOS 'SOCCEROOS' DEBUTAN EN PLAN DOMINANTE!
Australia superó de manera sorpresiva a Turquía, quien no pudo descifrar el cerrojo del seleccionado australiano.
— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) June 14, 2026
Kenan Yildiz, a 21-year-old who plays for Juventus, was not in the starting lineup but subbed in for Turkey at half-time.
Turkey had a dangerous free kick in the 57th minute, but Arda Güler’s attempt was saved by Beach. Güler, a talented 21-year-old attacking midfielder who plays for Real Madrid, was not yet born the last time Turkey played in the World Cup.
Connor Metcalfe capitalized on Ismail Yüksek’s turnover in the 75th minute to double the Socceroos’ lead. The Socceroos fell to France in the opener in Qatar but then beat Tunisia and Denmark in their group before getting knocked out by eventual champion Argentina in the round of 16.
Turkey maintained 72% of possession during the match and outshot the Socceroos 30-9, but couldn’t manage to score.
Australian fans celebrate their team’s opening goal during the World Cup Group D soccer match against Turkey, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, June 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Peterson)Emma Peterson
“I respect Australia very much. I was expecting that they would play in this way,” said Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella, who took the team to the quarterfinals of the European championships in 2024. “This is football. As for the critics, nobody has underestimated Australia, actually.”
It is the third World Cup appearance for the Turks, who reached the tournament for the first time in 1954.
The teams are in Group D with the United States and Paraguay. The Americans downed Paraguay 4-1 in their group opener on Friday in Los Angeles.
The U.S. is atop its group on goal difference over Australia, ahead of the teams’ matchup in Seattle (3 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62). The game was already widely-anticipated by U.S. fans, and now is even more so.
Lincoln Financial Field has been renamed “Philadelphia Stadium” for the duration of the event. In addition to five group stage games, the city will host a Round of 16 game on July 4.
On Friday night, the U.S. national team got its World Cup started with a bang: a 4-1 win over Paraguay on home soil.
// Timestamp 06/14/26 10:15pm
Philadelphia was the star in its World Cup debut
Ecuadorian fans react at a missed scoring chance against Ivory Coast during Sunday’s World Cup match. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
It took 96 years, but the most sacred version of the beautiful game came to Philadelphia.
Both the city and the match met the moment.
Extra public transportation, hydration stations, and modest traffic framed an evening of graceful and powerful football, the kind every other nation reveres except ours.
Amid the spectacle of team jerseys, flags, and team benches covered by vibrant roofs identifying the sides in national colors, the grass was the star. The stadium’s normal turf is a ragged Bermuda thatched with 5% plastic to withstand the cleated NFL rhinoceroses who usually play there.
For the World Cup, it was transformed into a flawless pitch, golf-course quality ryegrass and bluegrass, the sort of surface you could imagine Jason Kelce lying on his back and making snow angels.
Viewed through an international lens, even a soccer game this insignificant still was the most significant sporting event in the history of the city. A town that has seen two World Series titles and a Stanley Cup won within its borders has never hosted anything that riveted folks on six of the continents.
What comes close? Maybe Rocky Marciano, when he knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952, and won the heavyweight championship. Maybe not.
Long wait at NRG Station following Philly World Cup match
Soccer fans wait to enter NRG Station outside Lincoln Financial Field following Sunday night’s World Cup match.Michelle
Hundreds of soccer fans waited outside NRG station, a bottleneck at the turnstiles not appearing to break apart anytime soon. Fans chatted in Spanish, sat on plantersm and leaned against yellow gates waiting for entry into the train station.
A SEPTA worker who asked not to be identify said there were already almost 1,500 fans in the platform, so people had to weight until it clears out.
Meanwhile, Ubers to City Hall were ranging between $70 to $78 a ride. On a normal night, they’d run about $15.
Fans hurry to their cars, trains, and buses as storms move into Philly
Fans wait outside SEPTA’s NRG Station near the stadium following Ivory Coast’s victory over Ecuador Sunday night.Michelle Myers
Fans hustle to their cars in South Philly as lighting can be seen in the distance.
For subway riders trying to move closer to the station, the wait might be lengthy, as hundreds of of Ecuadorian fans await by the doors for their turn to get it.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Philadelphia and the surrounding counties Sunday evening that will remain in effect until 1 a.m. Monday morning.
Along with lightning and rain, forecasters say wind guts up to 60 miles per hour are possible, as is quarter-sized hail and potentially a tornado.
Over at FIFA’s Fan Festival at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park,, crowds walked along Girard Avenue and Kelly Drive up to Fairmount to access rideshare pickup zones and the Philly PHLASH.
Crowds are funneled to these roads to stay on main thoroughfares, where many impromptu street vendors awaited to sell water and snacks and merchandise. Ice cream trucks also took this as a hint to set up shop.
At Pennsylvania and Fairmount, SEPTA had additional 32 and 48 Busses waiting as additional transportation and were waiting to fill up in order to take the maximum amount of passengers. A total of 4 buses were at the intersection waiting to take passengers at one point.
Police were stationed at various exits and intersections near the festival.
Ivory Coast defeats Ecuador in first-ever Philly World Cup match
Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo is congratulated by teammates after scoring the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Ecuador Sunday in Philly.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Amad Diallo will go down in the annals of Philadelphia sports history as the first goalscorer in a World Cup hosted in the City of Brotherly Love. More importantly, his first-time shot in the 90th minute sealed three points in Ivory Coast’s Group E opener against Ecuador on a beautiful night for soccer inside Lincoln Financial Field.
He broke the hearts of a pro-Ecuadorian crowd of 68,274 who sang, cheered and for some even cried to take part in a game that is arguably the biggest sporting event the venue has ever held.
Next up for Ivory Coast, a trip to Toronto to face Germany on Saturday (4 p.m., Fox29), before making their return to Philadelphia to take on World Cup first-timers Curacao on June 25 (4 p.m., FS1).
Ecuador is also back in action this Saturday against Curacao in Kansas City (8 p.m., FS1)
Thousands of cheering fans bathed in stadium lights at Lincoln Financial Field could been seen through a gap between stadium walls from across the street at Stateside Live!
Inside the food court a sea of yellow shirts populated the tables and bars. As Ivory Coast scored, a small but rowdy crew cheered loudly, pumped fists in the air and slapped each other as Ecuador fans sighed.
“Ivory Coast! Ivory Coast! Ivory Coast!” the crew chanted inside, through the doors and out on the patio. They passed two people dressed in green and orange, the two groups screamed excitedly at each other, and the original chanters went on their way through the patio.
Fans also celebrated Ivory Coast’s 1-0 victory outside FIFA’s Fan Festival at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park.
With the final whistle, thousands of people – some cheering after an Ivory Coast win, others with their heads hung low after the Ecuadorian loss – walked in calm crowds to the exit.
Within half an hour, crowds walked back to their cars, rideshare pickup zones, and SEPTA and PHLASH bus stops with no issue.
As opposing teams fans walked by each other they shook hands, laughed, and went about their night. Just an hour before, Lemon Hill was shaking with horns blasting and fans screaming.
Now the neighborhood is returning to a calm quiet, before the party eventually picks up again during the next World Cup match.
A resounding “No” echoed through the stadium as Ecuadorian fans covered their faces in disbelieve as Ivory Coast took a 1-0 lead in their World Cup matchup in South Philly.
Ivory Coast fans, scattered across the stadium amid a sea of yellow, screamied with emotion after Amad Diallo’s strike.
Ecuador and Ivory Coast remain scoreless, but fans remain confident
Ahmadou Dia holds the Ivory Coast flag above him at FIFA Fan Festival on Sunday, June 14, 2026.Henry Savage
With the score still 0-0, Ecuador and Ivory Coast fans at FIFA Fan Festival were just as confident as they started the match.
“The first half was 50-50 in terms of possession. It was a great first half,” said Ivory Coast-born Philadelphian Ahmadou Dia. “But the second half, we will for sure beat them.”
At halftime, crowds at Fan Festival flocked to the bathrooms, food vendors, and interactive exhibits to pass the time as DJs on the main stage kept the remaining crowd jumping.
Martin Alfaro, who has Honduran heritage, said he’s cheering for Ecuador, as Honduras doesn’t usually qualify for the World Cup. While Ecuador didn’t seal the deal in the first half, he’s optimistic they’ll score in the second. But, if they do, he’s preparing for the entire Ecuadorian fan section to “lose their minds.”
“I love that it’s 0-0 still, and I think, we’re hoping for a goal, but I’m afraid that if Ecuador does score, everyone’s going to lose their minds celebrating,” Alfaro said.
Ecuador fans also flood famed German beer hall in Philly
Soccer fans watch Ecuador take on the Ivory Coast at Brauhaus Schmitz on South Street Sunday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
With the score still zero-zero the Caddick family eagerly watched the screen and rang red, black and yellow cowbells at Brauhaus Schmitz on South Street when Ecuador closed in on the net.
Karina Caddick, a 56-year-old Horsham resident, was born in Ecuador, just outside Guayaquil, a port city and the country’s largest metropolis. She moved when she was only one year old, but her family instilled in her the importance of soccer to the national culture.
To watch her native country’s team compete on her home country’s soil is quite special, she said.
“It’s unbelievable that we’re able to watch here,” Caddick said. “To be in Philadelphia and see all the yellow shirts, it’s incredible.”
Seeing all the Ecuador fans on the train into the city on Sunday and exploring the tourist attractions around Center City and Old City was especially inspiring, she said.
“It’s cool. It’s like what are the odds that Ecuador is playing in the city that we live,” said 23-year-old Kayla Caddick, a recent Temple graduate and Old City resident.
Not everyone gets the hype.
“Why does everyone like soccer so much,” one young man asked his friend as he walked down South Street outside Brauhaus.
For those with familial attachments to one of the participating countries outside the U.S., the answer is obvious.
“Soccer is everything to Ecuador. It is the main sport. It’s their spirit. It’s what calls them,” said Karina Caddick.
At the World Cup, picking $20 beer over $20 chicken tenders
The price of concessions at Lincoln Financial Field for Sunday’s World Cup match.Michelle My
With fries and beer in the $20 range, fans are having to pick between eating or drinking at the stadium.
For Ecuadorian resident Sebastian Muller, 49, the idea of spending $19.49 on chicken tenders feels ridiculous, and paying almost $7 for a water that will cost him less than a dollar back home, even more.
Beer on the other hand, he couldn’t do without.
He put aside his hunger and bought a $20.85 craft beer.
“Prices are really high, but I still had to buy the beer,” Muller said. “It’s tradition, you can’t watch a match without the beer.”
The sentiment resonated with Jared Chiliquinga, 31, and his brother Rommel, 41.
They came from New Jersey and are used to the MetLife Stadium food prices, they said.
“I usually pay $10 for a can,” Jared said. “But what we can’t watch the game without beer, even if we have to pay more than $50 for two cans,” Rommel added.
The siblings opted for no water or food so they don’t miss out on the beer.
Cynthia Argueta, 29, was not into following their steps, but also didn’t want to give up on the beer.
The New Jersey resident spent nearly $40 to buy herself a hot dog, a bottle of water, and a beer.
“The hot dog tastes very basic,” Argueta said. “but I am starving so I have to eat, and they don’t let you bring water so I have to buy it here.”
Philadelphia finally gets its big World Cup moment, and looks amazing
Soccer fans cheer at Lincoln Financial Field with the Philly skyline in the background. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
IRVINE, Calif. – As the minutes ticked down toward kickoff, I was sitting in my hotel room while on the road covering the U.S. team. Then a moment came that I’ve been waiting years to see.
Soccer fans cheer during the national anthems before the World Cup match between Ecuador and Ivory Coast.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
I still remember the day 15 years ago when FIFA punched the U.S. in the gut and gave the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Though it didn’t take long to learn how much alleged bribery and corruption there was, that specific moment is still vivid in my mind, especially for those of us who’d gathered at Tir na Nóg in Center City to watch the announcement.
It would be another eight years before the combined bid of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico finally prevailed to bring the 2026 tournament here, in 2018. And Philadelphia wasn’t picked as a host city until four years after that, in 2022.
Now, another four years later still, the culmination has finally arrived.
Ecuador takes the field ahead of their World Cup match against Ivory Coast in Philadelphia. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
I know not everything has gone perfectly, including the last few days for residents around the Fan Fest site. But I could tell in recent months that on the whole, the city was really embracing this moment on the global stage that’s unlike any there’s been before.
I could tell that despite all the challenges posed by brutal visa rules for visitors and exorbitant ticket prices for everyone, Philadelphians were ready to open their arms and welcome the world to town.
Now the world is finally here, and the party is only just beginning.
Referee Francois Letexier gives Ivory Coast’s Seko Fofana (6) a yellow card during Sunday’s game against Ecuador. Matt Rourke
The referee for this game, François Letexier of France, is one of the sport’s top officials. He has done lots of big games in his career, including in the French league, the Champions League, the Olympics, last year’s Club World Cup, and the 2024 European Champions League final.
But he wasn’t supposed to be doing this game.
It was originally signed to England’s Michael Oliver, who would also know plenty of Ecuador and Ivory Coast’s players from his years in the Premier League. But FIFA announced on Friday that Oliver is injured.
The announcement said it’s a minor injury, and Oliver won’t be sidelined for long. But it’s still a reminder that the referee has to run just as much in the heat and humidity as the players do.
Letexier has a notable side job away from soccer: he’s a court officer in the French city of Rennes, where he lives. (Maybe he’ll find South Philadelphia a little familiar in a certain way.)
FIFA selected 52 referees, 88 assistant referees, and 30 video officials from around the world for this World Cup. Eight are from the U.S., with Philadelphia’s Kathryn Nesbitt among the assistants.
And as you may have heard, Somalia’s Omar Artan had to withdraw from the tournament after the U.S. government barred him from entering the country. Though FIFA notably did not reassign him to games in Canada or Mexico, it announced Sunday that he’ll get his full tournament pay.
At the FIFA Fan Festival, an Ecuadorian singer and good vibes
Ecuadorian fans watch Sunday night’s World Cup match at the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill Park.Henry Savage / Staff
Ecuadorian singer Johann Vera commanded center stage at FIFA Fan Festival on Sunday, performing directly before the 7 p.m. kick off between Ecuador and Côte d’Ivoire at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia.
In Lemon Hill, Vera roared to the crowd, “¿Listos?” and received resounding cheers of joy in return from the crowd. Fans blared horns across the sea of thousands of yellow jerseys, showing an exceptional turnout for Ecuadorian fans. Small pockets of bright orange jerseys signaling Côte d’Ivoire fans made their presence known among the crowd.
“I thought there were more Ivorians in Philadelphia but I guess not,” said Swann Nemin, a Temple University student from Côte d’Ivoire, visiting Fan Festival with her two Ivorian friends Ornella Kouame and Naïke M. and their friend, Phoebe Mattes, who they joke isn’t from Côte d’Ivoire but is “Ivorian by preference.”
The World Cup brought the friend group together to dance and celebrate in a festival of people from all over the world. “I feel like it’s not only people from Ecuador but also people from South America that are cheering for Ecuador, in the same way that people from all over Africa are repping Côte d’Ivoire,” Nemin said.
“We’re just really happy to be out here celebrating,” Kouame said. “Even if we don’t win, honestly, we’re just here to dance.”
Aleyda Alvarado, a Fishtown resident originally from Mexico, said that while Mexico isn’t playing tonight and she admits she isn’t the biggest soccer fan, the World Cup gets her and her friends out to celebrate the heart of soccer.
“Everyone is here from different countries, but during the World Cup, we’re all just fans,” Alvarado said before kick-off. “That’s how soccer bring people together, and what makes me love it.”
After the 5 p.m. SEPTA Orange Line express was taken out of service at Race-Vine because a door wouldn’t close, the 5:15 local train was inundated with Ecuador enthusiasts when it hit the City Hall.
The cars were full to bursting by the time they hit Walnut-Locust, yellow jerseys shoulder to shoulder and chest to chest, men and women alike. As the train pulled out a song arose, full throat and deafening in the hot, cramped subway car:
“¡Vamos, vamos ecuatorianos, esta noche tenemos que ganar!”
Or:
“Let’s go, let’s go Ecuadorians, tonight we have to win!”
As the throng exited up the stairs of NRG Station, their hearts and voices swelled again.
Giant Lincoln Financial Field signs on stadium’s roof also covered
Normally there are two giant Lincoln Financial Field signs facing skyward on the roof of the Linc. As Fox's cameras show, they had to be covered for the World Cup, along with everything else. pic.twitter.com/eNCitublcd
At the Linc, issues with expensive tickets purchased on resale websites
Jayden Quezada, 17, and his parents came to Philadelphia from Bensalem hoping for an Ecuadorian victory. But they were turned away at the door.
“They said there were problems with our tickets because they weren’t on the FIFA app,” Quezada said. “We have been trying to fix it for the last four hours.”
Last night, the trio spend $4,350 to get three tickets through the TickPick app. But, by the time they arrived to the stadium at 1 p.m., the tickets were yet to be transferred to their FIFA app.
As his mom passed on the phone, trying to reach a TickPick representative, Quezada fears his parents won’t be able to see their national team.
“They have been the biggest fans since before I was born and they don’t get to go back often because of work,” Quezada said. “We are probably going to try to get a refund but missing the game would be really sad because we were looking forward to feeling the Ecuadorian pride.”
The Quezada’s weren’t the only ones struggling. In a line of over 50 people, fans waited for help with their failed tickets.
Spanish speakers Monica Rojas, 22, and her friend Jose Avil, were concussed on what to do after the ticket office explained the problem with their ticket in English.
The pair drove two hours from New York, after buying a pair of tickets on Stubhub for $2,000 including parking.
After a FIFA volunteer interpreter intervine, the pair found out their tickets had been refunded, despite having a fifa confirmation email.
“I don’t know what we are doing to do,” Avil said. “It feels defeating, now all we have is the tickets and the desire to watch them.”
‘I’m actually an Eagles fan’: World Cup fans hit the tailgating lots in Philly
Three months from now, the South Philadelphia Sports Complex will be covered in Eagles green as fans hit the tailgating lots to prepare for their home opener in September. But, for now, the lots surrounding the temporarily renamed Philadelphia Stadium were engulfed with fans from Ecuador getting ready for Philly’s first World Cup match.
Although the environment looked a little different from Philly’s typical football Sundays, the tailgating culture was still alive and well on a more international level.
“I’m actually an Eagles fan,” said 18-year-old Ecuador native Natalia Vegas. “I’ve been here a couple times to watch the football games. I’ve tailgated once. It’s also crazy. Everybody is so prideful to be Eagles fans. So it’s kind of the same thing, being prideful as an Ecuador fan.”
With Ecuador facing off against the Ivory Coast for the first of six matches in Philly, both international and local soccer fans came in hordes to witness the historic sporting event making its way to the city.
“It’s been amazing,” said Ivory Coast native Abdoul Ouattra. “Everybody has been really nice to me. I’ve seen a bunch of Ecuadorians. I thought I was going to be intimidated but they were quite welcoming and said whatever happens, we’re friends. So, I love that.”
There is no length Ecuadorian native Pacho Flores wouldn’t go for his national team.
Despite living in New York City, Flores, 62, and his family of eight paid $650 dollars each to watch “La tri” play in Philly.
“It’s the most beautiful thing in the world,” Flores said. “We have to follow the team to every game. It’s a blessing to have them play so close.”
Despite the 90 degree weather, Flores and his son, Alex, danced wearing a thickly knit Diablo Uma masks — an indigenous protective spiritual figure from the highlands of Ecuador— to represent his native town of Cañar.
“It’s not that hot inside the mask, and it’s worth it because we have to win, at least 3 to 0,” Alex said wiping sweat of his for head. “Either way, we will still live the team,” Flores added.
No matter the score, the family won’t have too much time to celebrate. They leave New York City tomorrow morning to pack for the next Ecuadorian game in Kansas City Saturday against Curaçao.
Out front of Stateside Live, a group of Ecuador fans dressed in regional traditional clothing held their own mini flash mob ahead of the first World Cup match in Philly.
Among the dancers was 22-year-old Juliana Padilla, who stepped in last minute to join the flash mob from New York. After days of practicing, Padilla was excited to finally show off Ecuador’s culture ahead of the team’s World Cup match.
“We wanted to represent Latin America,” Padilla said. “We’re wearing the regional, traditional gear. We wanted to bring it to the people here to feel connected with their roots.”
Four hours ahead of tonight’s Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador match at a rebranded Linc, Ecuadorian fans arrive at NRG station chanting: “Let’s go Ecuadorians for we must win tonight.”
Four hours ahead of the Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador match, Ecuadorian fans arrive at NRG station chanting: “Let's go Ecuadorians for we must win tonight.” Via @PhillyInquirerpic.twitter.com/ls3vuiKdKs
Thunderstorms in Philly could interrupt tonight’s World Cup match
Ecuadorian fans flood Lincoln Financial Field Sunday night for the city’s first-ever World Cup match. David Maialetti / Staff Photographer
Severe thunderstorms could make their way through the Philadelphia region later this evening, potentially catching the tail end of tonight’s World Cup match between Ivory Coast and Ecuador.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Philadelphia and the surrounding counties Sunday evening that will remain in effect until 1 a.m. Monday morning.
The most organized swath of thunderstorms are expected to move through the area between 9 p.m. and midnight, potentially bringing severe gusty winds and heavy rain, according to Jessica Storm, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Mt. Holly office.
A tornado is also possible, as it isolated hail up to the size of a quarter.
FIFA will pause play if there is a lightning strike within eight miles of the stadium. The match will remain paused for 30 minutes, with any subsequent lightning strikes resetting the clock.
The FIFA Fan Fest at Lemon Hill Park in Fairmount would also be forced to close if lightning is detected within an eight-mile radius. Fans would need to exit the grounds and move to a safe location, FIFA said in a statement, and could re-enter after 30 minutes if no additional lightning is detected.
IRVINE, Calif. — Since the game ended at 2 in the morning Philadelphia time, you might have been asleep when Australia’s win over Turkey ended.
Then again, if you’re enough of a soccer diehard, you might well have stayed up to be sure you watched all four of Saturday’s games live.
Regardless, the Socceroos’ 2-0 upset in Vancouver blows the United States’ group wide open. Now those two teams have three points each, with the U.S. in first place on goal difference by +3 to +2. (That’s what made Gio Reyna’s late strike in the 4-1 win over Paraguay actually important, not just a cherry on top.)
It also makes Friday’s U.S.-Australia game in Seattle an even bigger deal than it already was. American fans have been waiting ever since the draw to watch their team in one of the nation’s best soccer cities, and now the game has huge stakes.
The winner will be in the driver’s seat to take first place. And if the U.S. prevails, it will only need a draw against Turkey in the June 25 finale back in Los Angeles to win the group.
Curacao players celebrate after scoring during the World Cup Group E soccer match between Germany and Curacao in Houston, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay / AP
If you just saw Curaçao score a tying goal against Germany, you need to understand just how wild it was.
CURAÇAO SCORES ITS FIRST-EVER FIFA WORLD CUP GOAL 🇨🇼
The island nation, a former Netherlands territory, is the smallest country ever to qualify for a World Cup by both population (just over 150,000 people) and land mass (171 square miles).
Germany, by contrast, is a four-time World Cup champion and three-time European champion.
Curaçao’s squad is built mainly of players in global diasporas who have family roots on the island. None of the 26 men play in the world’s five best domestic leagues: the top divisions in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France. They pulled off an upset in qualifying too, with a scoreless tie at Jamaica (including Union goalkeeper Andre Blake) on the last day that clinched their World Cup ticket.
Germany, by contrast, has 25 of its 26 players in those circuits — and the other one plays for a bit team in Turkey after many years in the League and Bundesliga.
As I was writing this post, watching the game on TV while on the road covering the U.S. team, Germany just retook the lead. But I promise, those big sections of Blue Sharks fans at the stadium in Houston are having the time of their lives. And everyone around North and Central America who appreciates Curaçao’s underdog story is rooting for them.
What to know if you’re going to the FIFA Fan Festival
Soccer fans gather to watch Mexico play South Africa on a giant screen during the opening day of the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill on Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Philadelphia.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
A crowd packed with thousands of cheering fans, the 60-foot-wide screen playing the latest fiery matchup, and dozens upon dozens of food vendors await the FIFA Fan Festival, the cheapest and most immersive way to enjoy the 2026 World Cup in Philadelphia.
The Fan Festival is open daily to 15,000 fans, for free, to roam the million square feet of festival grounds that have transformed quaint Lemon Hill into an almost unrecognizable extravaganza of global soccer.
The main spectacle is the 60-foot screen that takes over the main stage in Lemon Hill, where the majority of fans will congregate to watch the match. But, throughout the festival are multiple smaller screens playing the game, so fans don’t miss a moment when they roam for food, fun, or the bathroom.
“Even if you’re not a soccer fan, you can still come out and have a great time,” said Michael DelBene, executive producer of FIFA Fan Festival for Philadelphia Soccer 2026. “You can come and listen to music or eat delicious food, or shop.”
The festival is intended for fans of all ages and promises to be kid and family friendly.
An active Union player finally played in a World Cup game
Scotland’s Lawrence Shankland (20), and Haiti’s Danley Jean Jacques (17) battle for the ball during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Haiti and Scotland in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Saturday, June 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)Martin Meissner
Halfway through the Union’s 17th season, midfielder Danley Jean Jacques became the first active player from the club to play in a World Cup.
Jean Jacques started for Haiti on Saturday night against Scotland in Foxborough, Mass., in what was also Haiti’s first men’s World Cup game since 1974 and Scotland’s first since 1998.
Haiti lost the game, 1-0, but played well, outshooting Scotland 15-9 and holding a majority of the possession. Jean Jacques was often at the center of the action, with four tackles, two clearances, one interception, eight duels won in 12 contested, and 44-of-53 passing.
The 26-year-old from the small coastal town of Petit-Goâve is in his third season with the Union. He has been a regular with Les Grenadiers since 2023, earning his 31st cap for the country in this game.
Jean Jacques is the third active Union player to be on a World Cup team. The first was right back Olivier Mbaizo, who made Cameroon’s squad four years ago but did not play.
Members of the Ivory Coast national football team react while watching the Sixers Stixers drum line perform following their practice at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa. on Friday, June 12, 2026Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
The waterfronts of Chester and Wilmington are roughly 5,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest city. But, for at least three weeks during the FIFA World Cup, the Ivorian men’s national team will call the banks of the Delaware River home.
Les Éléphants hosted an open training session at Subaru Park on Friday evening, two days before they begins their World Cup campaign with a match against Ecuador at Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field) on Sunday (7 p.m., FS1).
Ivory Coast is the only nation scheduled to play at the Linc twice during the World Cup’s group stage, and it is the only team that will stay and train in the Delaware Valley during the tournament.
The team has set up its base camp at Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington and will train at Subaru Park in Chester.
Ivory Coast’s open training session Friday evening was the second free event it has staged for the Philadelphia community. Les Éléphants beat Union II, 2-0, in a tuneup friendly on Monday that was open to the public.
Ecuador fans take over the Art Museum steps before World Cup kickoff
Ecuadorian soccer fans show support for their national team ahead of Sunday’s game against Ivory Coast.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
After decades living in New Jersey, Ecuadorian native Magaly Moreira, 60, said she had never seen such a display of her country’s people.
“It fills me with happiness, pride, and so much joy,” Moreira said, Ecuadorian flags painted on her face. “It’s our opportunity for us and the players to represent Ecuador.”
She was one of thousands of Ecuadorians attending “El banderazo Ecuatoriano” outside the Art Museum. An event organized by group +593 (the country’s international calling code) that made fans put aside the traditional “Ecuadorian hour” to show up more than on time to support their team.
“Ecuador, Ecuador, Ecuador, vamos Ecuador,” resounded through the Rocky steps as the fans chanted, many sporting the Ecuadorian soccer jersey.
Defeating the heat, a crowd of all ages — from newborns to seniors — cheered and danced to the traditional highland dance “Zapateando Juyayay,” showcasing pride for their country, waving flags, and hugging each other with hope.
With a broken leg and dragging a wheelchair, Darío Galarza and his friend Marco Gallardo flew in from Ecuador two days ago to support their home team. They did not expect to see such an outpouring for their national team.
“The U.S. is accessible for us because we share the same currency and it isn’t far, but we didn’t expect to see so many people,” Gallardo said.
For Galarza, skipping the World Cup wasn’t an option. After undergoing surgery for his leg last month, he made it a point to be as recovered as possible to fly to Philadelphia.
“I guess it’s true, you will always find an Ecuadorian in every corner of the world,” Galarza said. “At least I knew it was going to be me because I wasn’t missing this for the world.”
As a man inside a guinea pig costume began a conga line around the Rocky statue, 77-year-old Ecuadorian Francisco Castellanos couldn’t help but reflect on the wonder of seeing so many Ecuadorians together and the weight of representation.
“There are so many of us here that now we must win,” Castellanos said. “Whatever it takes,” he added, as the crowd erupted chanting the Ecuadorian national anthem.
Everything you need to know about the World Cup in Philly
The first World Cup game in Philadelphia is Sunday night.
Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches over the next two weeks, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Here’s what you need to know about those countries — and what those fans need to know about Philly …
Former Union announcer JP Dellacamera will call Philadelphia’s first World Cup game.Fox Sports
The first of six World Cup matches will take place Sunday night in Philadelphia, with Ivory Coast taking on Ecuador (7 pm., FS1) in Group E action.
Group E also includes Germany, which most experts predict will make it out of the group stage. So tonight’s match could be an early look at who finishes in second place (no offense to Curacao, the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup, edging out Iceland).
It seems like Ivory Coast will be the natural team for fans in the Delaware Valley to root for, outside the U.S. It’s the only country scheduled to play two matches in Philadelphia (they’ll take on Curacao on June 25), has made Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington it’s home away from home, and is training at Subaru Park in Chester.
Only a few days into the World Cup, residents of Brewerytown and Fairmount, trapped inside the blast zone of the fan festival in their backyards, are seeing their fears realized.
Drivers are clogging up roads, rerouting, and sometimes speeding through neighborhood side streets due to road closures. Uber and Lyft services are offline for residents directly next to the festival during operating hours. Many residents are forced to navigate parking nightmares, turning everyday life into an exhausting headache.
It’s all for the sake of the FIFA Fan Festival, a 39-day, million-square-foot party taking over Lemon Hill and inviting 15,000 daily visitors to its picturesque fields. While city officials and event organizers roll out the red carpet and spend millions on World Cup fans, residents who for years have been pleading for Lemon Hill improvements say the festival will use their neighborhood and park at their expense.
“The sentiment right now is just the complete disrespect for the residents and that this is all being done for tourists,” said Nissa Eisenberg, Fairmount resident and co-organizer of the Lemon Hill Neighbors Association, the organization disseminating festival information and communicating with the city. “Everybody’s feeling pretty resentful, maybe cautiously optimistic, but also just not feeling respected as residents.”
Soccer fans gather to watch Mexico play South Africa on a giant screen during the opening day of the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill on Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Philadelphia.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The FIFA Fan Festival opened its gates to thousands of fans Thursday as not only the cheapest way to experience the revelry of a World Cup game (admission is free, though it requires registration),but also the melting pot of Philly’s best food and shopping. It is also the only fan festival across the 11 U.S. host cities that is open daily for the entire 39-day tournament, culminating on July 19.
If these changes weren’t tough to navigate already, city officials gave residents a little more than three weeks to prepare.
Temporary Residential Permit Parking sign on pole along N. 30th Street and Oxford Street, Thursday, June 11, 2026. Philadelphia Parking Authority is in the area ticketing and enforcing during FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
“We’ve been talking with them for two years to engage neighbors with a plan, and they waited to communicate their plan until after people made their summer plans, after parents made driving schedules for their kids’ summer camps every week, and after people planned daily commutes,” Eisenberg said.
Charlotte Burns, a Fairmount resident and veterinarian, fears for other residents who work in hospitals and are often on call for medical emergencies. “For months we’ve known this was going to happen, but there has been nothing from the city,” Burns said, referring to the fact that door-knocking, flyers, and posters did not begin in earnest until weeks before the tournament.
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On May 18, the city unveiled its plan for how it would manage the festival for residents. Officials informed neighbors that thousands of them would need to swiftly apply for parking permits to allow them to park near their homes for two months, something many residents are still unclear on, said Shaun Cerborino of Lemon Hill Neighbors.
Additionally, no rideshare services like Lyft and Uber will work at Lemon Hill and around six blocks of the surrounding residential areas during festival operating hours, sometimes spanning all day, in a practice called geofencing.Those without cars will have to walk blocks from their home to hail a ride, or use SEPTA, which is still operating in the neighborhood.
City officials told residents last month that rideshare services will not be disabled for riders who require a wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV). However, after The Inquirer asked for clarification on how this exemption works in practice, the Philadelphia Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) found that a miscommunication between rideshare services occurred.
The city was supposed to designate where WAVs can operate within the geofence, while the city was under the impression that rideshare services handled it.
Philadelphia Parking Authority, Zone 17, a temporary no park zone except for residents with special permit during FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill, Thursday, June 11, 2026.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
“Now that we have that clarity, we’re going to evaluate some changes to the perimeter that is enclosed in the geofence area. We’ll try to act as quickly as we can to adjust the geofence,” said OTIS Deputy Managing Director Mike Carroll.
City officials said they could not specify what these geofence adjustments will look like until they have finished talks with Uber and Lyft. But what was initially promised, that WAVs will pick up and drop off disabled riders at their homes, might not be possible. Instead, there is a chance WAV-only drop-off zones will be created in that geofenced area.
“That challenge is too difficult for us to work through for any resident who needs it,” Carroll said. “It’s too bad that there’s not a more general way to have these vehicles come in, but we can’t really haggle with [rideshare services] at this point. We’ll just try to make it work as best we can.”
A makeshift sign created by local neighbors, pictured on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, advises drivers not to use side streets for through traffic on Ogden Street, a narrow residential side street one block from the festival, which drivers have been racing down to avoid road closures and traffic.Henry Savage / Staff
The work to calm neighborhood traffic
Dustin Dove, president of the Fairmount Civic Association, points to the 2900 block of Ogden Street, a mere block from the festival, as a microcosm of the neighborhood’s concerns.
Due to road closures on 30th and Poplar Streets, agitated drivers, stuck in traffic, are choosing to speed down narrow one-way Ogden Street to get around lines of cars, residents said. Neighbors have seen at least two incidents where a car rocketed down the street while young children were playing.
Dove said residents have called every relevant city department and elected official who represents the area, including Councilmember Jeffery Young, requesting additional signage and traffic-control measures at 29th Street to dissuade drivers from using side streets.
“We’re going to be welcoming a lot more people than usual, and we need Council members to come and look at this situation,” Dove said. “There are issues that need some sort of leadership at the top to get them fixed.”
Dustin Dove, a Fairmount resident and president of the Fairmount Civic Association, poses for a photo near one of the busiest intersections near the FIFA Fan Festival in Lemon Hill, at Girard Avenue and Poplar Drive, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. The FIFA Fan Festival is forcing the local neighborhood to navigate parking restrictions, road closures, and the sacrifice of their summer green space in exchange for the once-in-a-generation World Cup in their backyards.Henry Savage / Staff
Young said he and his office have heard from residents who are “understandably frustrated” by traffic being redirected onto neighborhood streets and confusing or insufficient signage.
“When these concerns were brought to our attention, we immediately notified the appropriate city departments and event organizers and have already seen some additional signage and traffic-control measures put in place. However, more work remains to be done,” Young said.
A city spokesperson said police officers will be stationed at 30th and Poplar Streets throughout the duration of the festival and will make adjustments as needed. The city also committed to installing additional signage where appropriate, the spokesperson said.
Still, as the first day of the World Cup rolled around, neighbors near Ogden Street reported heavy traffic on side streets, Fairmount resident Nicole Ross said, with many residents saying they received parking tickets despite having registered temporary permits. Ross said the Philadelphia Parking Authority later told residents who were ticketed that it was a system error and would be resolved.
Crew members make final preparations, including work on a 60-foot-wide screen, for a FIFA Fan Fest at Lemon Hill in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 10, 2026.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
The legacy of Lemon Hill Park
Besides the short-term, everyday nuisances of the FIFA Fan Festival, there are deeper-rooted issues about care and longevity of the park. Park stewards, like Cerborino and Eisenberg, are volunteer workers who care for and maintain much of Lemon Hill.
Across the city’s parks, stewards understand that Philadelphia Parks and Recreation is unable to perform some needed upgrades due to staffing and budgetary constraints. That’s where stewards spend their free time and money to try to keep the city’s nationally ranked parks in an idyllic state. But that often comes with yearslong discussions about proper park funding and upgrades, as recently reported by The Inquirer, where stewards are again pleading with City Council for more funding as they are tired of operating off “love and duct tape.”
When pitching the festival to the city and residents, Philadelphia Soccer 2026 said it would be leaving lasting legacy improvements to the park in exchange for residents giving up their summer green space.
“We will see this through during organizational wind-down following the tournament,” a festival spokesperson said.
Crew members make final preparations, including work on a 60-foot-wide screen, for a FIFA Fan Fest at Lemon Hill in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 10, 2026.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is committing $4 million to install a new ADA-accessible sidewalk path, a new playground, and new lighting, as well as to rebuild the picnic pavilion, organizers said. Residents have begged the city for some of these improvements for years, Cerborino and Eisenberg said.
“Residents deserve a clear understanding of what lasting benefits will remain after the crowds leave. I will continue advocating for transparency, accountability, and a concrete plan for legacy investments that benefit the Lemon Hill area and the city as a whole,” Young said.
The city said it will work alongside Philadelphia Soccer 2026 to see these legacy commitments come to fruition, as well as have Philadelphia Parks and Recreation staff monitor the grasslands and trees to address any issues that appear during the festival, a spokesperson said.
While stewards understand that park upkeep is not at the forefront of city budgetary concerns, it does hurt when it seems improvements to Lemon Hill Park will come only after an international or major sponsored event takes place there, Cerborino said.
“Especially when the parks are primarily supported by public dollars, it doesn’t feel right for FIFA or Live Nation, or whatever company, to come in, have their way with our parks, make all the money on it — and the taxpayers foot part of that bill and get very little out of it,” Cerborino said. “The tradeoff is FIFA makes a few billion dollars, and we got a sidewalk.”
Halfway through the Union’s 17th season, midfielder Danley Jean Jacques became the first active player from the club to play in a World Cup.
Jean Jacques started for Haiti on Saturday night against Scotland in Foxborough, Mass., in what was also Haiti’s first men’s World Cup game since 1974 and Scotland’s first since 1998.
Haiti lost the game, 1-0, but played well, outshooting Scotland 15-9 and holding a majority of the possession. Jean Jacques was often at the center of the action, with four tackles, two clearances, one interception, eight duels won in 12 contested, and 44-of-53 passing.
The 26-year-old from the small coastal town of Petit-Goâve is in his third season with the Union. He has been a regular with Les Grenadiers since 2023, earning his 31st cap for the country in this game.
Jean Jacques is the third active Union player to be on a World Cup team. The first was right back Olivier Mbaizo, who made Cameroon’s squad four years ago but did not play.
Haiti's national anthem is played at the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 🇭🇹 pic.twitter.com/NM6ZvwHh7p
In 2014, centerback Carlos Valdés played in the tournament while on a series of loans away from the Union. While he returned to Chester later, the loan meant he didn’t qualify for this piece of history.
This year, centerback Olwethu Makhanya made South Africa’s team. He could have beaten Jean Jacques to the history books since South Africa played co-host Mexico in the tournament’s opening game.
Alas, Makhanya was on the bench, though that wasn’t too surprising. He had never played for Bafana Bafana’s senior team before the tournament, and hadn’t come close until finally earning a training camp invitation from manager Hugo Broos this past March.
The odds of Makhanya playing in South Africa’s next game, Thursday in Atlanta vs. Czechia (noon, Fox29, Telemundo62), might have gone up when two of his teammates were sent off in the 2-0 loss at Mexico City’s fabled Estadio Azteca. Then again, neither of those players was a centerback.
Haiti fans in the stands at Saturday’s game.Charlie Krupa
Haiti’s next game will be a homecoming for Jean Jacques, as the team plays mighty Brazil in Philadelphia on Friday (8:30 p.m., Fox29, Telemundo 62). One of his teammates, Penn alum Duke Lacroix — a native of New Egypt, N.J., in Ocean County — will also return to town, and will get to train on his old college field on the eve of the game.
Lacroix was an unused substitute against Scotland.
Haiti’s group finale is June 24 against Morocco in Atlanta. Morocco and Brazil tied, 1-1, earlier Saturday in East Rutherford, N.J., with spectacular goals by Ismael Saibari and Vinícius Junior.
South Africa’s group finale is June 24 against South Korea in Monterrey, Mexico.
After 11 years of marriage, there are very few things Aurora and Jamaal Brown don’t see eye to eye on. Then FIFA announced its first scheduled World Cup match in Philadelphia: Ivory Coast vs. Ecuador.
“Ivory Coast is going to win and I will celebrate with some drinks,” Jamaal playfully teased his wife over the phone Saturday evening. “I am telling her, we are winners.”
The Jacksonville, Fla., resident grew up with friends from the Ivory Coast and recently found out through a DNA test that he has ancestry from the West African country, a genetic inheritance he takes seriously.
Aurora Brown and the family pick out a soccer jersey for dad at FIFA Fan Fest in Philly. Dad Jamaal had stay back home in Jacksonville, where he will be rooting for the Ivory Coast. But Aurora is sticking with Ecuador.Michelle Myers
As an Ecuadorian native, Aurora thinks Jamaal is wrong. But she is letting him “live in delusion” because she and their kids were able to travel to Philly to support the Ecuadorian team. Jamaal had to stay behind to take care of his grandma.
“If they weren’t playing against Ecuador, the whole family would be Ivory Coast fans,” Aurora said while attending FIFA Fan Festival at Fairmount Park’s Lemon Hill on Saturday with her family. “We are going to buy him an Ivory Coast jersey for Father’s Day so he feels the love.”
Walking into the Lemon Hill park area, the mother of two was stunned to see so many Ecuadorian soccer shirts and flags, but no Ivory Coast representation.
Soccer fan Plinio Rada waves the Ecuadorian flag at the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday ahead of Ecuador’s first round World Cup match against the Ivory Coast.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Waves of yellow, red, and blue paraded down Center City and into the arteries connecting with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. An unusual scene in a city with little Ecuadorian representation.
Both the Ecuadorian and Ivory Coast communities are considered small in the Philly metro area.
According to the Census Bureau, 15,415 Philly-area residents claim Ecuadorian ancestry. And numbers for Ivory Coast residents are hard to estimate because the bureau doesn’t tabulate them.
Maryland resident Michelle Diagne, 35, felt that absence.
The Ivory Coast native came to visit her Philly family from Rockville, Md. But realizing the tickets were too expensive, she and her two teenagers settled for attending fan fest and watching Sunday’s game at home.
While she had hoped to see more Ivory Coast fans in Philly, Diagne said just knowing the “Elephants” are playing in the U.S. fills her with pride.
“It makes me feel like we count,” Diagne said.
Ecuadorian native Magaly Moreira, 60, shares the sentiment. After decades living in New Jersey, she had never seen such a display of her country’s people.
“It fills me with happiness, pride, and so much joy,” Moreira said, Ecuadorian flags painted on her face. “It’s our opportunity for us and the players to represent Ecuador.”
She was one of thousands of Ecuadorians attending “El banderazo Ecuatoriano” outside the Art Museum. An event organized by group +593 (the country’s international calling code) that made fans put aside the traditional “Ecuadorian hour” to show up more than on time to support their team.
“Ecuador, Ecuador, Ecuador, vamos Ecuador,” resounded through the Rocky steps as the fans chanted, many sporting the Ecuadorian soccer jersey.
Defeating the heat, a crowd of all ages — from newborns to seniors — cheered and danced to the traditional highland dance “Zapateando Juyayay,” showcasing pride for their country, waving flags, and hugging each other with hope.
With a broken leg and dragging a wheelchair, Darío Galarza and his friend Marco Gallardo flew in from Ecuador two days ago to support their home team. They did not expect to see such an outpouring for their national team.
“The U.S. is accessible for us because we share the same currency and it isn’t far, but we didn’t expect to see so many people,” Gallardo said.
Ecuadorian soccer fan Demetrio Govrea watches fans during a flag waving event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
For Galarza, skipping the World Cup wasn’t an option. After undergoing surgery for his leg last month, he made it a point to be as recovered as possible to fly to Philadelphia.
“I guess it’s true, you will always find an Ecuadorian in every corner of the world,” Galarza said. “At least I knew it was going to be me because I wasn’t missing this for the world.”
As a man inside a guinea pig costume began a conga line around the Rocky statue, 77-year-old Ecuadorian Francisco Castellanos couldn’t help but reflect on the wonder of seeing so many Ecuadorians together and the weight of representation.
“There are so many of us here that now we must win,” Castellanos said. “Whatever it takes,” he added, as the crowd erupted chanting the Ecuadorian national anthem.
Yes, it was only one game, and these U.S. players know that better than anyone. But they also know how big this was.
It’s not an overstatement, especially for a fan base that has endured so much frustration over the last 12 years. It’s OK to savor a moment of real happiness, and the rest of the nation is welcome to join the party.
It’s especially worth saying that this team’s biggest players delivered on the biggest stage.
Christian Pulisic was dazzling, especially with his playmaking on the first two goals, before exiting at halftime as a precaution after a hit to his left calf.
Christian Pulisic celebrates after his playmaking helped force the Paraguay own goal that opened the scoring.Jayne Kamin-Oncea
Folarin Balogun again showed why he’s the striker the U.S. program craved, with clinical finishes on the second and third goals. Weston McKennie drove the play from the engine room, starting with a charge downfield to set up the first tally.
Tyler Adams was the midfield general, and Chris Richards was impeccable on the back line: 6 of 10 duels won, three clearances, and a perfect 84-of-84 passing. Gio Reyna, so long maligned, capped the night with a thunderbolt.
While the instinct at halftime was to compare this game to the Portugal one in 2002, the final whistle brought another comparison.
Just 15 months ago, many of these players left this Los Angeles-area stadium at a low point: humiliating losses to Panama and Canada in the Concacaf Nations League final four.
Chris Richards (left) celebrates after Gio Reyna’s late goal capped the U.S.’ win over Paraguay.Jayne Kamin-Oncea
Richards and Adams were asked if they thought about that time as they returned to the ultramodern venue typically known as SoFi Stadium, and both said they did not. But they had no doubt about how far their program has come.
“I think you’ve seen a complete culture shift,” Richards said. “There [were] a lot of question marks last March about if we have that fight, if we can do it, if we can go all the way, especially without having any real competitive games. But I think we proved it to everybody tonight.”
Adams spoke of the team’s growth “as players and individuals, but also just understanding what the manager wants, exactly how to instill that every single day, the culture of the team, bringing more players into the fold. We’ve come a very long way.”
It bears saying that Balogun missed those Nations League games because of injury. But the search for a marquee striker had gone on long before then. But it bears repeating: He has delivered.
¡TRIUNFAZO DE ESTADOS UNIDOS!
El equipo de las Barras y las Estrellas goleó a Paraguay en su debut en la Copa del Mundo.
— Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) June 13, 2026
“When I committed, and throughout the whole cycle and the whole journey to me being at this point, I’ve always said the fans gave me so much motivation, showed me so much support,” he said. “And for me, the most important thing has always been to be able to repay that. I feel like today’s a great opportunity, and I just want to continue to show the fans I made the right decision.”
He called it “a dreamy night,” and speaking soon after the final whistle meant he had only started to process it.
“I’ve not been able to take it all in,” he said. “When I get back to my hotel and I rest, I’m sure I’m going to really be able to be in the moment and experience how much of an amazing night this is.”
A true home advantage
Another contrast between last year and this one came from the stands. While the players were the best actors, the crowd of 70,492 played more than just a supporting role.
A view of the crowd from field level during the national anthems.Mark J. Terrill
The compounded fear of seeing laid-back LA pay FIFA’s exorbitant ticket prices vanished when the national anthem singers found themselves joined by a rising chorus. There were “USA!” chants all night, real and organic, from the moments before kickoff to a key stretch late in the game when the players needed a boost after Paraguay’s goal.
Player after player said they felt it on the field.
“Walking out to that makes it feel real,” Adams said. “Seeing that support, you don’t want to let the fans down and the country down.”
Pulisic said: “It meant everything for us. A half like that, for it to go as it did, and have the fans really excited about it our performance, it felt amazing.”
Some of the U.S. fans in the stands on Friday.Jayne Kamin-Oncea
Last summer, McKennie stood at the White House with his club team, Juventus, and watched President Donald Trump make that moment about something totally unrelated to his visit. This time, the Texas-born son of a retired Air Force staff sergeant could express his own form of patriotism.
“Hearing the national anthem and hearing the fans singing it, in that moment, it’s one of those things that just pushes the feeling even further,” McKennie said. “Where you’re like, ‘I’m proud to be American, this is my home, this is my country.’ And that’s something that is hard to describe — it’s something that as a player you just feel whenever you just see that.”
Medford’s Brenden Aaronson said the anthem gave him “goose bumps,” even though he was on the bench and didn’t play. Cristian Roldan, another unused substitute, called the atmosphere “beautiful.”
“I had gotten some texts from a few mentors that said, ‘Make sure you take a moment to take it in,’ because they know I otherwise I wouldn’t,” he said. “And so I did. I just looked up, and it was a breathtaking sight, I would say.”
Pochettino, an Argentine who has spent his coaching life in Europe, felt something, too.
“It was amazing for our fans to watch this type of game,” he said. “And today, I am so proud, and we are so proud, because I think we are winning a lot of fans, adding fans [of] that sport here in America.”
This was just one game, of course. But it was a big one, and not just because it was the highest-scoring U.S. men’s game in World Cup history. At the final whistle, it opened a path toward even bigger things to come.
