Since the World Cup began, fans from all over the world have landed in the U.S. with a bang. Brazil fans flooded the streets of Times Square during their game against Morocco on Saturday; the Netherlands’ Oranje Legioen did the same in Dallas ahead of the country’s match against Japan on Sunday.
The tournament is already minting viral moments. One of the biggest of the past week occurred not at a thousands-strong watch party, but instead on a small street in Wakefield, Mass.
Mike Morrison was doing “suburban dad stuff” in the backyard of his Boston-area home on Thursday morning when he heard the unmistakable—and, for the setting, unusual—sound of bagpipes.
He walked around front to find that a group of six Scottish soccer supporters had arrived at the Airbnb across the street overnight, and were making themselves comfortable. Along with the mood music, the crew—some sporting kilts—had already covered the fence line and several windows in Scottish flags.
“It’s 2026,” Morrison tells Front Office Sports about the experience, “so of course I took a video of it and posted it to [X].” The clip quickly took off, racking up millions of views.
The next morning, he was returning from the gym when he spotted his new neighbors pulling back into their driveway after a bucket-list Dunkin’ run. “I looked at them from my car and kind of just pointed, and they pointed right back at me,” he says. “They motioned me over and it was just hugs and slaps on the back and ‘come in for a beer’ right away.”
Morrison had to work, but that evening, he and a few neighbors joined the Scots for drinks. By the end of the night, a WhatsApp group had been created, and plans were in place for a hangover-curing sausage breakfast at Morrison’s house the next morning—to which the World Cup tourists arrived bearing gifts for his wife and children, including hats, candy, and a Scottish flag that now hangs outside the family’s home.
Morrison’s Airbnb neighbors are among thousands of Scottish tourists who have descended upon the Boston area—the self-described “Tartan Army”—to watch Scotland make its first World Cup appearance since 1998. The Scots (controversially) took their first game against Haiti on Saturday, 1–0.
A spokesperson for Airbnb—an official 2026 FIFA World Cup sponsor—tells FOS the World Cup is on track to become the biggest hosting event in the company’s nearly 20-year history, with hundreds of thousands more guests expected to stay in Airbnb listings than during the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, previously its largest event. (The company has aggressively lobbied host cities to loosen strict short-term rental regulations.)
The tournament is poised to generate billions in economic impact for the U.S. alone—even if some host-city hospitality markets, including Boston, are underperforming expectations. But it’s also creating unquantifiable exchanges of goodwill between international fans and locals.
Since the viral moment, Morrison’s X following has grown from roughly 2,000 to more than 20,000. Among his new followers is a fellow visiting Scottish supporter named Helen, who reached out with an unexpected offer: a ticket to Scotland’s match this Friday against Morocco at Gillette Stadium, temporarily renamed Boston Stadium for the tournament.
With get-in prices currently hovering around $1,500 on the secondary market, it was a generous gesture. Morrison returned the favor, appealing to the Red Sox on X to make Helen’s first trip to Fenway Park Sunday night memorable. The team responded swiftly, greeting her just hours later with a message on the video board and a custom Scotland-themed Red Sox jersey.
Morrison is optimistic that the connections will remain after the World Cup leaves town. He’s already received dozens of invitations to visit Scotland and meet up with new-follower friends. “I’d be lying if I said I haven’t already thought seriously about it,” he tells FOS.
Meanwhile, the Scots across the street—who largely don’t have social media, according to an interview with Sky News—are simply soaking in the moment. “[Team Scotland] has been on the outside looking in of the World Cup for 28 years. We understand that feeling here in Boston because it took the Red Sox 86 years to win a championship,” Morrison said. “They’re just happy to be at the party.”
