If this FIFA World Cup has been “marred by astronomical ticket prices and an opaque system for selling them,” that “hasn’t put a damper on the tournament” in the Pacific Northwest, according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. Tens of thousands of people poured into Seattle on Friday morning for the USMNT’s group-stage game with Australia, “turning the Emerald City into a sea of red, white and blue.” Some had tickets, but “most did not.” More than 66,000 people filled Seattle Stadium for the game, but “thousands more simply stood in the streets surrounding the stadium to soak up the energy.” The midday celebration on Friday “engulfed -- and overwhelmed -- one of the country’s largest cities on what was supposed to be a workday.” A viewing party at Pioneer Square was “packed so tightly it was hard to move.” The first game in Seattle, also played on a weekday afternoon, drew a sellout crowd for Egypt-Belgium while in Vancouver, a “10-block stretch that knifes through the heart of the central business district has been turned over to a street party for the duration of the 39-day World Cup, snarling traffic and rerouting buses” (L.A. TIMES, 6/23).
TEXAS-SIZED MESSI MAGIC: In Dallas, Brad Townsend noted every Argentina F Lionel Messi moment, “magnified on Dallas Stadium’s ginormous videoboard, induced bursts of extra-loud cheers.” The moments of “Messi Magic” that most resonated, the “ones that will long reverberate in World Cup lore, were his history-making goals” that gave Argentina a 2-0 victory over Austria. When Messi netted his 17th career World Cup goal, making him the all-time scoring leader in the tournament, the noise level in Dallas Stadium “exploded to a level that surpassed the Netherlands-Japan and England-Croatia matches, not that either of those lacked in excitement or fan engagement.” The Argentina-Austria game drew a sellout crowd of 70,649. A day earlier, roughly 20,000 of those fans “congregated in Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park” and Monday’s match was a “continuation of that party.” Argentina’s “North Texas takeover” will continue Saturday, when it concludes Group J play against Jordan in Arlington. For North Texas, Monday and Saturday’s Argentina matches and “especially Messi’s presence” are a “cultural phenomenon, a historic moment for the region” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/22).
THE MISSING PIECE: In Newark, Steve Politi writes for the first week and a half of the World Cup, it “felt like everyone else on the continent was having more fun with the World Cup than New Jersey.” Politi: “We needed a little flavor of the World Cup. We needed a little bit of the fun. We needed Norway.” The country’s 3-2 win over Senegal on Monday means Norway will advance to the knockout round -- and, with a win over France in its next game, a return trip to East Rutherford. The Norway players “celebrated with their fans in the most perfect way, sitting on the turf in a neat formation as they grabbed their imaginary oars and went to work.” Politi: “For one night, no one was complaining about the train tickets, the traffic or the rain. The spirit of the World Cup finally had made its way from the rest of the continent across New Jersey borders, and let the record show, it arrived on an invisible viking ship” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 6/23).
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: In S.F., Noah Furtado wrote World Cup hype was “difficult to spot in the Bay Area before matches began,” but then “people showed up.” Monday’s Jordan-Algeria group match drew 68,371 in attendance. Qatar vs. Switzerland opened the S.F. Bay Area Stadium slate on June 13 in front of an announced crowd of 67,966, close to 99% capacity. Furtado: “The stadium was far from empty; it just wasn’t what you would see on a Sunday in September.” Since then, the lower, middle and upper bowls of the venue have been “largely shoulder to shoulder.” Paraguay vs. Turkey over the weekend was the first sellout. Thursday will “likely be more of the same.” Then there is the round of 32 match next Wednesday, headlined by a “streaking” USMNT (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/22).
