The World Cup is about the fans

Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – Spontaneous revelry. Big crowds. Lots of fans. Traffic congestion. This is nothing new for Los Angeles. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is here. Its global muscles are being flexed with ambition as matches at SoFi Stadium take over the Southern California landscape. 

The FIFA Fan Festival  at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum only adds layers of the number of people expected to take part in the World Cup. The games are just one aspect of the World Cup experience. 

Fan participation takes the World Cup tournament to another level. Two years out from the 2028 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles is being re-introduced to the type of fan manifestation that has previously engulfed its international platform through sport. 

To some of those individuals attending the first day of the FIFA Fan Festival, that’s a good thing.    

Robert Garcia wanted his children to have the same experience he had as a kid. His father took him to his first World Cup. That was back in 1994 when the event first came to Southern California.  

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup returning to the Southland, Garcia thought that he’d pay it forward to his own children. With the actual World Cup games being played in nearby Inglewood, Garcia said giving his children a hint of what he took part of as a child himself was important.       

“My kids are here. I wanted to make sure that they enjoyed what I enjoyed when I was a kid,” Garcia said. 

Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0 on the first day of the 2026 FIFA World Cup during the Day 1 match. It was a good day for Team Mexico. They earned a World Cup win to advance in the tournament. The victory was no doubt spurred on by the strong support from the team’s fan base. 

The FIFA Fan Festival, which turned out a large, enthusiastic crowd, was an example  of this. They cheered their team’s every move. And booed whenever the opportunity arose whenever calls didn’t go the way for Mexico.  

The mostly pro-Mexico audience that braved the sun to catch the game on several giant Jumbrotron screens were in no mood to see their team lose. Not in the first round. The pulse of the crowd at the beginning of the match was one of caution. 

The silent electricity of tension seemed to ripple throughout the Coliseum field as anticipation became a dominating theme.   

Even after the famed Los Lobos band performed prior to the actual game being played, there seemed to be some kind of apprehension going on. Not until Mexico got onto the scoreboard in the first half did the roar of expectation turn to fruition.    

Brian Meza and his friend, Rosie Cervante, attended the FIFA Fan Festival because they wanted to be part of history. 

“This is our first World Cup here in the U.S. We don’t know when it’s going to happen again over here,” Meza said. “We’re like the last descendants of people that immigrated over here. We just want to encourage people with the same status as us…that come from immigrant parents.”

Futbol is a global sport. The FIFA World Cup is an international phenomenon. Yet, here in the United States, soccer has not quite risen to the status of popularity of football or basketball. For that matter, even baseball. 

Meza said that’s because there is a big difference in how futbol is celebrated in Mexico and in other parts of the world compared to the United States.  

“In the United States, I feel like they’re focused on different sports than soccer,” Meza remarked. “They get more revenue…more and more viewers for basketball, football. Soccer is still drawing here in the U.S. I think in a couple of years, it might be even more.”

Edgar Lopez was not able to get tickets so his family could attend the World Cup games themselves. So he did the next best thing. He decided to take his family to the fan festival. 

“Since this is my first time attending the World Cup. I wasn’t able to get tickets to a game. It was last-minute, so we decided to go the fanfest with my family,” Lopez said. “So this is my son’s first time, and he’s having a lot of fun. He’s seeing all the culture as well, the Mexican as well as South African as well. He’s having a lot of fun.”

Cover Art/Lead Image: Actor and comedian Will Ferrell (left) attends the blue carpet kickoff event for the FIFA Fan Festival. Photo credit: Dennis J. Freeman/News4usonline