Philadelphians Took Over the World Cup for an Afternoon

PHILADELPHIA — Lincoln Financial Field has been blessed with major star power at this World Cup, from Vinícius Júnior to Kylian Mbappé. But this city doesn’t need a global celebrity to get behind. 

Philly showed Thursday that it’s more than happy to support its adopted team, Les Elephants.

Ivory Coast beat Curaçao 2–0 in a final group stage showdown on Thursday, with both goals coming from Villarreal forward Nicolas Pépé. The crowd was heavy on Philadelphians, who were excited to catch a World Cup match at a cheaper price point than other matches hosted by the city, and eager to embrace the teams, particularly Ivory Coast, which is back in the tournament for the first time since 2014.

Supporters from Ivory Coast, a country with about 34 million people, are under a travel ban from the Trump administration. Ivory Coast is one of four teams participating in the World Cup whose teams, staff, and families are given an exception for the World Cup, but whose fans are not. One member of the team’s supporters association called the ban “a form of segregation.”

On Thursday, the rows behind the goal, usually entirely full of a team’s supporters, were not packed shoulder-to-shoulder by Ivory Coast fans, as was the case for the Curaçao side. (Curaçao is by far the smallest nation at this and any World Cup, with just over 150,000 residents.)

However, there were still lots of orange shirts in the stands, a mix of members of the diaspora community and Philadelphians who embraced the team.

Dave, a local wearing an orange Ivory Coast t-shirt, told Front Office Sports he and his friend chose to support Ivory Coast because they liked Ivorian ex-players like Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré from their favorite Premier League clubs.

“It’s what the World Cup’s about,” Dave said. “You pick a team, support it, you come out, you have a good time, and this is what everyone comes in to see.”

Ivory Coast set up its base camp at MLS side Philadelphia Union’s stadium, Subaru Park, and played two of its group stage matches in the City of Brotherly Love. At the match on Thursday afternoon, entire families wore Ivory Coast kits and t-shirts. Young men wore elephant trunks over bucket hats and baseball caps.

Local soccer player Benjamin, 11, wore an Ivory Coast jersey and scarf, and told FOS that he received tickets for his birthday. He said he likes the Ivory Coast team because they’re the underdog.

That was true against Germany, but not on Thursday. Ivory Coast was fighting for the second spot in Group E after beating Ecuador and coming within a 94th-minute goal of drawing Germany.

Without any World Cup heavyweights, the matchup was the cheapest of the six in Philadelphia. Many matches across the 16 host cities have a get-in price of $1,000 or more per ticket on resale (or in some cases on FIFA’s website), but this match was remarkably cheap, staying under $300 on secondary markets for months through the start of the tournament, according to TicketData. Even when costs rose and hit about $670 in the hours before the match, that price point was still the cheapest get-in for any of Philadelphia’s past or upcoming matches by several hundred dollars.

Curaçao’s “Blue Wave” of supporters took over several swaths of sections throughout the stadium, but the fanbase of the small nation didn’t fill the NFL stadium. With only a few very pockets of empty seats, the official sellout of 68,324 fans was driven by neutral soccer fans and locals. 

FIFA broke its all-time World Cup attendance record during the match and the other simultaneous Group E match at MetLife Stadium.

The match had a distinctly Philadelphian feel. Despite FIFA’s wide security perimeters effectively eradicating tailgating at most World Cup stadiums, Philly found a way. Scattered cars in the parking lots of the city’s sports complex had chairs and grills set up, with fans kicking around a soccer ball and hacky sack, and inviting passersby to come join. The outdoor bar flanking the stadium, Stateside Live!, was lively in the hours before and after the match. The Eagles drumline performed during a hydration break and at halftime, and chants of “E-A-G-L-E-S!” rang out on the concourse. Fans wore Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, Flyers, and Union merchandise.

A few fans even wore kits for Italy, who didn’t make the World Cup for the third consecutive time.

Matt from Philadelphia and his friend Mike from Ohio, who are Italian-American, told FOS they bought their Italy jerseys the morning of the match after realizing the U.S. jerseys they had wanted were all sold out.

“It’s the cheapest game to come to in the city,” said Matt, who said their tickets cost $200 each. “It’s not going to get any closer or easier to go to a game than this.”

Curaçao Gets Bounced

Curaçao’s first appearance in the World Cup came to an end on Friday.

Tiny, 150,000-person Curaçao was one of the feel-good stories of FIFA’s expanded 48-team World Cup. With only one point, the team finished fourth in the group and will not advance to the knockout round.

The Caribbean island, an independent nation still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, did have one shining moment in the tournament. After a tough 7–1 loss to Germany to open the tournament, Curaçao picked up its first World Cup point with a scoreless draw against Ecuador on Saturday in which goalkeeper Eloy Room of the USL’s Miami FC had a historic 15 saves. It was the second-most saves ever in a World Cup game, behind only Tim Howard’s showing against Belgium in 2014.

Room allowed two goals on Thursday, but handled pressure a couple of other times after tight passes from his own teammates, and made an impressive diving save late in regulation. As the final whistle blew, Room and other players dropped to a seat on the pitch.

“A lot of emotions,” Room told FOS after the match when asked about that moment. “It’s done, but I was really proud of everyone and everybody involved. Of course disappointed after the game, but also really proud, because we came from far, and we showed the world what we can do.”

The loss also ended a historic World Cup for manager Dick Advocaat, who at 78 is the oldest to ever coach at the tournament.

With the win, Ivory Coast secured its spot as the runners-up in Group E, advancing out of the group stage for the first time in the World Cup. A hundred miles to the north, Ecuador beat Germany 2–1 to secure third place in the group and a spot in the knockout rounds.