'A great vibe.' Pacific Northwest joins Los Angeles in an embrace of World Cup fever

7 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here. SEATTLE — Jaysen Dickinson flew to Seattle from Vermont to cross an item off his lengthy bucket list. “To see the World Cup and the U.S. play in the World Cup,” he said. Kim Fletcher and her 17-year-old son Kelan caught a 5 a.m. flight from Sacramento last week for the same reason. They weren’t alone. Tens of thousands of people poured into Seattle on Friday morning for the U.S. team’s group-stage game with Australia, turning the Emerald City into a sea of red, white and blue. Some had tickets, most did not. United States’ Folarin Balogun celebrates the team’s first goal with fans during the game against Australia in Seattle on June 19, 2026. (Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press) But who needed a ticket? More than 66,000 people filled Lumen Field in Seattle’s SoDo district, but thousands more simply stood in the streets surrounding the stadium to soak up the energy. “It’s electric,” said Fletcher, whose son wore an American flag as a cape beneath a tri-cornered colonial hat. Another man was dressed in overalls in star-spangled colors while one couple wore large and seemingly uncomfortable bald eagle heads, topped by red, white and blue cloth stovepipe hats. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said one fan, whose been attending sporting events in the city for more than seven decades. If this World Cup has been marred by astronomical ticket prices and an opaque system for selling them, resulting in large swaths of vacant seats visible on telecasts from Guadalajara, Santa Clara and Miami Gardens, that hasn’t put a damper on the tournament in the Pacific Northwest. Los Angeles is far from the only city with World Cup fever. Even with star forward Christian Pulisic out because of injury, the U.S. men’s soccer team scores a historic 2-0 win over Australia at the FIFA World Cup. 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 in historic Pioneer Square was packed so tightly it was hard to move. Along the city’s waterfront, hundreds of people paid $52 to stand on a barge and watch the game on a scoreboard-sized TV. Thousands more had scaled the steep cascading steps across the street, where they strained to watch for free. “There were just people who wanted to be in the atmosphere. And that’s Seattle,” said Kasey Keller, a four-time World Cup goalkeeper for the U.S. from nearby Olympia, Wash. “This,” agreed MLS commissioner Don Garber “is a soccer city.” The first game in Seattle, also played on a weekday afternoon, drew a sellout crowd for Egypt-Belgium while in Vancouver, 35 miles north of the U.S. border, 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. Fans of Belgium wait for the beginning of the World Cup Group G soccer game between Belgium and Egypt in Seattle on June 15, 2026. (Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press) Not that many folks were complaining. Fans marched to last Thursday’s afternoon game with Qatar wearing Canadian flags draped over their shoulders and headdresses that sprouted small maple leafs. Thousands more watched on TV from bars and restaurants along Granville Street, where 15-foot-tall soccer players and giant soccer balls stand beneath miles of red and white streamers. Even a strip club in the center of the fan zone got in on the action, draping the flags of Canada and nine other World Cup teams above its heavy wooden doors. “It’s beautiful to see. The whole country showed up,” goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau said. “It’s beautiful. We were all one nation tonight.” Crepeau and his teammates said they fed off that atmosphere in their victory over Qatar, giving Canada its first-ever World Cup win. Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine-born U.S. coach, said the same thing about the Americans’ reception in Seattle. “Even if I am not American I was emotional because the atmosphere was amazing, the fans were amazing,” he said. “The way they supported us and the way they celebrated victory, it was an amazing and perfect connection from the stands and the team. “It makes us feel very proud because to connect with the people is what we wanted — here in Seattle, and the rest of the country.” U.S. and Australia fans bump fists on their way to the stadium before their game in Seattle on June 19, 2026. (Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press) Advertisement U.S. and Canadian soccer fans have come a long way since 1994, the last time North America played host to the World Cup. Keller remembers watching a group-stage game with a very confused man at a bar in Florida. “There was a guy sitting next

'A great vibe.' Pacific Northwest joins Los Angeles in an embrace of World Cup fever

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