{"id":353687,"date":"2026-06-09T21:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353687\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T21:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T21:48:10","slug":"team-paraguay-arrives-in-san-jose-ahead-of-world-cup-games-at-levis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353687\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Paraguay Arrives in San Jos\u00e9 Ahead of World Cup Games at Levi\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of the Bay Area\u2019s World Cup events will be anchored in the South Bay city.<\/p>\n

Jun 9, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 2:41 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Paraguay midfielder Braian \u00d3scar Ojeda Rodr\u00edguez strikes the ball during an open training session at CEFCU Stadium in San Jos\u00e9 on June 8, 2026.\u00a0(Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/p>\n

As the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off Thursday in Mexico City \u2014 the largest edition of the tournament in history, with 48 nations competing \u2014 San Jos\u00e9 has positioned itself as one of its central hubs. Paraguay\u2019s base camp is at SJSU.<\/p>\n

Both team hotels for the tournament are in San Jos\u00e9. The venue-specific training site is at PayPal Park. And starting June 11, downtown San Pedro Square Market will host watch parties for all 104 matches over 39 days, free to the public; the largest and longest viewing party series in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\"\"Paraguay forward Ram\u00f3n Sosa takes a selfie with a fan following an open training session at CEFCU Stadium in San Jos\u00e9 on June 8, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/p>\n

Paraguay, ranked 40th in the world and making their ninth World Cup appearance, will face the United States in Los Angeles on Friday, June 12, before returning to the Bay Area for matches against Australia and Turkey at Levi\u2019s Stadium \u2014 temporarily renamed the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium \u2014 in Santa Clara. The team\u2019s base camp remains at SJSU through the group stage.<\/p>\n

At Monday\u2019s open practice, fans from across the region watched as coaches barked instructions and players moved around the field practicing drills. Kar Burgess, who drove over from the East Bay with his father, Evan, said the experience had made him an instant convert.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part was seeing how the intensity is always high and never drops, even when they\u2019re just training,\u201d the young fan said. Walking out, he clutched a FIFA autograph book he had gotten signed.<\/p>\n

Konya said the moment carried particular meaning for the university, which last hosted a World Cup base camp during the 1994 tournament that was also held in the United States, with games played up the Peninsula at Stanford University.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were back in \u201994 and now again here in \u201926,\u201d he said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Cup\u2019s economic footprint is expected to be significant. At a press conference earlier Monday at San Pedro Square Market, Mayor Matt Mahan said the regional economic impact is projected to land somewhere between $480 and $630 million, with the bulk of it concentrated in the South Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single event that comes into the Bay, the first city that calls me is San Jos\u00e9,\u201d Bay Area Host Committee CEO Zaileen Janmohamed said. \u201cThey say: how do we get involved, how do we make it the biggest thing possible? You have leadership in this city that cares.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Jos\u00e9 Earthquakes team is organizing the Soccer Celebration watch parties at San Pedro Square, like the city previously did for Super Bowl fans<\/a>. San Jos\u00e9 Earthquakes President Jared Shawlee said the goal is to make the tournament feel accessible to everyone, including those who cannot afford match tickets, some of which are running thousands of dollars, at Levi\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 39 days, this will be the home of the World Cup in San Jos\u00e9,\u201d Shawlee said. \u201cFamilies, friends, soccer fans and visitors from around the world will have a place to come together and experience the biggest sporting event on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Paraguay goalkeeper Gast\u00f3n Olveira reacts to a shot during a training scrimmage at CEFCU Stadium in San Jos\u00e9 on June 8, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/p>\n

The watch parties will feature multiple large screens, the biggest nearly 500 square feet, along with food vendors offering World Cup-themed menus, youth zones and an outdoor entertainment zone where fans can purchase and carry to-go alcoholic beverages. Admission is free with an RSVP. The celebration runs through the tournament\u2019s final match on July 19.<\/p>\n

Mahan, a former youth soccer coach, said the city is also working to extend the World Cup energy beyond downtown \u2014 with programming planned at Mexican Heritage Plaza and commercial districts across all 10 council districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere better than San Jos\u00e9 to welcome the world,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cThe world already lives in San Jos\u00e9; over 40% of our residents were born in another country. So we are ready to host anyone and everyone from around the world and make them feel at home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of the Bay Area\u2019s World Cup events will be anchored in the South Bay city. Jun 9,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-353687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}