BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It’s a big day for soccer fans across the world.<\/p>\n
All eyes were on the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The United States is one of the host nations for this year’s Cup.<\/p>\n
Back home, local fans packed the SteelStacks in Bethlehem for a watch party.<\/p>\n
Since 2014, non-profit organization ArtsQuest has hosted their World Cup draw watch party and this year did not disappoint.<\/p>\n
69 News Reporter Cierra Genelle met local soccer players, coaches and fans who can’t contain their excitement.<\/p>\n
“Go USA,” said Gary Hind, a soccer fan.<\/p>\n
In the Lehigh Valley, team spirit is strong on and off the field.<\/p>\n
“It’s just the beginning,” said Roberto Carrizo, a soccer fan.<\/p>\n
“We’re watching the draw, and we’re here. We’re excited,” said Hind.<\/p>\n
Hind is enjoying the watch party, with some of his closest friends. He’s rooting for the two teams that hold a special place in his heart.<\/p>\n
“We’re hoping that America gets a good a good bracket,” said Hind. “But I’m also supporting my country, England. I’m a dual citizen, but I do support England. I think England is going to go pretty far this year.”<\/p>\n
He’s joining his friend, Carrizo, a fellow former soccer player, who now coaches for Eastern Northampton County Soccer Club.<\/p>\n
After playing the field himself, “I’m basically paying it forward,” said Carrizo.<\/p>\n
Now he’s hoping to watch World Cup magic in his own backyard.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully they we have a game either New Jersey, Philadelphia, anywhere that’s closer we can actually, get out there and do what we have to do,” said Carrizo.<\/p>\n
Lehigh University soccer player Landon Bealer is also hoping to score tickets to a game.<\/p>\n
“I’m going to try, but whether I can go there, work there, I’ll try and figure out some way to get involved. If not, I’ll certainly be watching as many games as possible,” said Bealer.<\/p>\n
Drinks, snacks and fun soccer themed giveaways entertain the crowd while the draw echoed through Bethlehem SteelStacks.<\/p>\n
“The popcorn is really good,” said Daniella Oviedo, a soccer fan.<\/p>\n
It’s just the start of next summer’s line up of events and programs for ArtsQuest and the beginning of soccer history for diehard fans.<\/p>\n
“Let’s do this,” said Hind. “Very excited to see what happens next.”<\/p>\n
After the watch party, the Eastern PA Youth Soccer Association hosted a community soccer clinic for coaches and players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It’s a big day for soccer fans across the world. All eyes were on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,153,2013,29871,157,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-53400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-bethlehem","12":"tag-fifa-world-cup","13":"tag-kennedy-center","14":"tag-lehigh-valley","15":"tag-pennsylvania"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53400","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=53400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}