AT THE WORLD CUP WITH NC NETWORK

We at NC Network have a team of Cypriots all over the world, bringing you content about Cypriot sports across our many platforms. I’m Andrew Mantzas, and I’m the only Cypriot-American we have. I attended the Group E match of the 2026 World Cup between Curacao and the Ivory Coast in Philadelphia. In this article, I will share my experience in attending the match and take you inside what it’s like to attend a World Cup.

PHILADELPHIA

First, a little bit about the venue and the host city. This match was one of a few to be held at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Like all of the American stadiums in this tournament, this is an NFL stadium, home to the Philadelphia Eagles since 2003. Philadelphia was passed over as a host city in 1994, the last time the US hosted the World Cup, because Philadelphia’s stadium at the time, Veterans Stadium was incapable of hosting football(at least this kind) due to too many reasons to list here, between its surface and other logistical reasons. When I was a kid in the 90s, football/soccer in Philadelphia was an indoor team called the Philadelphia Kixx. Similar to futsal, it was soccer with hockey boards, and even using the penalty box like in hockey and giving teams power plays. This is also why Philadelphia was fairly late to get an MLS(the USA’s top domestic league) team. When it did in 2010, the sports crazy Philadelphia area quickly embraced the Philadelphia Union. When Philadelphia was chosen as a host city for this tournament, there was a lot of excitement locally, and it’s shown in the ticket demand and attendance.

LOGISTICS AND THE FIFA FACTOR

I live in Southern New Jersey, less than a half hour from Lincoln Financial Field. Unlike at MetLife Stadium in Northern New Jersey outside of New York where the final will be, people are allowed to drive to the games in Philadelphia. I drove from my home in South Jersey into the city, stopping to have lunch at my favorite cheesesteak(Philly’s signature gift to the culinary world) place, Steve’s in a different part of the city. I then headed for the Sports Complex. In Philadelphia, this stadium, the city’s baseball team, the Phillies’ ballpark, and the arena that houses the NHL’s Flyers and NBA’s 76ers are all right across from each other. I expected a lot of traffic traversing through the city, or at least while parking, but shockingly, this was no problem. Because of the aforementioned setup, there was ample parking, the benefit of three venues so close together.

In many ways, the US is a perfect fit to host a World Cup. Make your jokes about Americans and their sports preferences, all these NFL stadiums mean there’s no need to build venues because the tournament’s coming as happens in other countries. Qatar even had to build the city where the 2022 final was held. Also, jokes aside, I’ve seen this sport grow exponentially in this country over the past 20-plus years. Unfortunately, FIFA has used all this as an opportunity to charge exorbitant amounts of money for tickets that they could probably only get away with charging here. I won’t say how much I paid for my ticket to this match, but even just to park my car was $125, and that was actually a good deal, as the regular price was $150. FIFA’s mandatory hydration breaks also feel like an American way to fit more commercial breaks in, generating hundreds of millions more in advertising revenue, not to mention unofficially splitting the game into quarters as is done in the NFL and NBA.

THE VIBES

Once inside, I saw a lot of Ivorians wearing orange, but surprisingly almost as many Curacao fans. A lot of times, we use Cyprus’s being a small country as an excuse for why Cyprus never comes close to qualifying for tournaments like this, but Curacao is even smaller. So I was surprised to see so many people in Curacao’s colors. There were more Ivorians overall, but I managed to be in a section with mostly Curacao fans(fans aren’t separated as it is in Europe). They were very warm people, and I learned a lot about their island. I’d like to believe this is how Cypriots would be if Cyprus ever qualified for a major tournament.

I interacted with some Ivorians walking out as well, and they were very jubilant. Both of their wins in the group stage came in Philadelphia, not to mention their team was staying in nearby Wilmington, the largest city in Delaware, and practicing at Subaru Park, the stadium of the aforementioned Union. FIFA really did an excellent job making even a match like this, feel like the biggest event in the world. PA Announcer Kevin Casey read both teams’ starting lineups just before the teams walked out and then he introduced the national anthems.

THE MATCH ITSELF

This is less about the match and mostly about my overall experience, but I do have to talk about the match at least a little bit. Curacao were coming off a surprise draw against Ecuador and were feeling confident, and it showed in their early play, forcing Yahia Fofana to an early save. Despite that, the Elephants struck first, in the seventh minute as Yan Diomande centered it in front for Nicolas Pepe who with a quick release beat Eloy Room. The rest of the first half was pretty benign and Ivory Coast led 1-0 at the half. Curacao probably carried the play in the early part of the second half, but instead Pepe added another in the 64^th minute, the Ivory Coast never looked back and won 2-0.

CONCLUSION

I spent a lot of money to go to this match, reasoning that collecting experiences is more valuable. I’ve always wanted to attend a World Cup match, and with it being so close, it was not an opportunity I wanted to pass up, even if I couldn’t find anyone to go with me. As excited as I already was, I was blown away by the experience. If I could offer any advice based on this experience, it is this. If you have a chance to attend a World Cup, and you can at all make it work, run, don’t walk to go do it! If you at all love this sport, this is a must. When a 70,000 seat stadium in Philadelphia is full to see the Ivory Coast and Curacao, countries that are far away and/or small and don’t have significant diasporas in this country, and not major powers, certainly not to the casual observer, it just magnifies the power and beauty of the World Cup. Ignore whatever ugliness FIFA(or national and local governments) create and see that this is bigger than all of that. I will never forget this for the rest of my life.

Curacao(Dick Advocaat): 1. Eloy Room(GK), 3. Jurien Garri(’77 19. Gervane Kastaneer), 18. Armando Obispo, 24. Deveron Fonville(’77 13. Tyrese Noslin), 20. Joshua Brenet(’90 2. Shurandy Sambo), 5. Sherel Floranus, 21. Tahith Chong, 8. Livano Comenencia(’61 11. Jeremy Antonisse), 10. Leandro Bacuna(Captain), 7. Juninho Bacuna, 9. Jurgen Locadia(’90 17. Bradley Kuwas)

Ivory Coast(Emerse Fae): 1. Yahia Fofana(GK), 17. Guela Doue, 7. Odilon Koussounou, 2. Ousmane Diomande, 13. Christopher Operi, 18. Ibrahim Sangare, 19. Nicolas Pepe(’67 12. Elye Wahi), 8. Franck Kessie(Captain)(’77 4. Jean Michael Seri), 15. Amad Diallo(’46 26. Christ Inao Oulai), 9. Ange-Yoan Bonny(’67 24. Bazoumana Toure), 11. Yan Diomande(’67 14. Oumar Diakite)