Expand<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see the community engaging with the sport,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see them coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swiftie Kristen Gallagher arrived at the event early, settling in to a shady spot to listen to Taylor Swift music. Gallagher saw Swift twice during her Eras Tour and enjoyed listening to music from the tour, which opened the day.<\/p>\n
Sitting next to Gallagher was Jarrod Cipriano, her boyfriend and a huge soccer fan. The two met at Misericordia years ago, and Gallagher moved to the area to be near Cipriano.<\/p>\n
They have many things in common, but that doesn\u2019t include either a love for Taylor Swift or soccer. So, the event, complete with a variety of food and activities, provided them with the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n
Both cheered when tribute band Cruel Summer\u2019s lead singer yelled, \u201cWe\u2019re celebrating Swifties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCouldn\u2019t have asked for a better day,\u201d Cipriano said.<\/p>\n
Soccer fans attending the event said they were looking forward to seeing Canada compete against Morocco at 1 p.m. and Paraguay versus France at 5 p.m. on five large screens set up throughout the event, including the main supersized screen on North Washington Avenue.<\/p>\n
Fans believed the Canada vs. Morocco match was to be the more competitive of the two, with France expected to trounce Paraguay in the second match.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, anything can happen,\u201d said one fan.<\/p>\n
Vernon Poole was attending the event with his son Elan, who, at two years old, is already learning soccer skills.<\/p>\n
The two attended with friends, and were enjoying every aspect of the day, including not only soccer, but music and numerous family-friendly activities.<\/p>\n
A crowd gathered on the courthouse lawn in front of the main screen for the day\u2019s first match at 1 p.m. As of 1:30 p.m., no one had scored, but many were rooting for their favorite team.<\/p>\n
Chelsea McFarland of Pittston, an avid soccer fan, believed Canada was going to win.<\/p>\n
Jerry Perrins, of Duryea, was looking forward to the day\u2019s second game, during which he would root for France.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m half-French, so it\u2019ll be exciting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The United States team did not compete on Saturday, but will face Belgium on Monday at Seattle Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u2018An organic celebration\u2019<\/p>\n
For Kevin Vrabel, who was watching Saturday\u2019s matches from home, the competition had special meaning.<\/p>\n
Vrabel, a long-time Wilkes-Barre resident, returned Friday from a trip to Toronto, where he watched Portugal beat Croatia in Canada\u2019s final match of the World Cup series.<\/p>\n
For Vrabel, the trip was much more than simply a chance to watch a spirited competition in an exciting atmosphere in a setting that drew attendees from all over the world. Instead, it was a celebration of his 30 years of sobriety and a rekindling of his lifelong love for soccer.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the first time Vrabel attended a World Cup event; he was there in 1994 when the United States sponsored the games. During that competition, Brazil won the title, defeating Italy 3-2.<\/p>\n
But this time around, Vrabel made even deeper memories, he said.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere at the matches was one of inclusivity, but instead of forced inclusivity, it seemed natural.\u00a0 Young and old attended from a multitude of countries and were welcomed by others.<\/p>\n
Vrabel was grateful to be able to attend a match in person, but admitted that ticket prices were probably out of the reach of many, especially families.<\/p>\n
Fan zones provided a chance for many people, especially youngsters, to learn about the game and share in World Cup excitement in a community setting, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Electric City knows how to throw a Fourth of July party. World Cup supporters turned Scranton\u2019s Courthouse…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,11868,726,2237],"class_list":["post-235569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Levy](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FANZONE-0705-02.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Richard](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/STT-L-FANZONE-0705-01.jpg?w=620\")
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