Kim Fletcher and her 17-year-old son Kelan caught a 5 a.m. flight from Sacramento last week for the same reason.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a must-do right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t alone. Tens of thousands of people poured into Seattle on Friday morning for the U.S. team\u2019s group-stage game with Australia<\/a>, turning the Emerald City into a sea of red, white and blue. Some had tickets, most did not.<\/p>\n United States\u2019 Folarin Balogun celebrates the team\u2019s first goal with fans during the game against Australia in Seattle on June 19, 2026.<\/p>\n (Lindsey Wasson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n But who needed a ticket? More than 66,000 people filled Lumen Field in Seattle\u2019s SoDo district, but thousands more simply stood in the streets surrounding the stadium to soak up the energy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s electric,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like it,\u201d said one fan, whose been attending sporting events in the city for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t put a damper on the tournament in the Pacific Northwest. Los Angeles is far from the only city with World Cup fever.<\/p>\n The midday celebration on Friday engulfed \u2014 and overwhelmed \u2014 one of the country\u2019s largest cities on what was supposed to be a workday.<\/p>\n A viewing party in historic Pioneer Square was packed so tightly it was hard to move. Along the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were just people who wanted to be in the atmosphere. And that\u2019s Seattle,\u201d said Kasey Keller, a four-time World Cup goalkeeper for the U.S. from nearby Olympia, Wash.<\/p>\n \u201cThis,\u201d agreed MLS commissioner Don Garber \u201cis a soccer city.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n (Lindsey Wasson \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Not that many folks were complaining.<\/p>\n Fans marched to last Thursday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n![\"United](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782209890_48_.jpeg\")
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![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782209891_137_.jpeg\")
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