INGLEWOOD, California — It was a stadium like any other, packed with American sports fans wearing their favorite team’s jerseys and red-white-and-blue face paint, roaring as players took the field.
Only this time, the sport was soccer.
The US team’s home opener in the World Cup on Friday brought more than 70,000 passionate soccer enthusiasts to the massive stadium near Los Angeles, where they saw the US beat Paraguay 4-1.
They had, in many cases, paid thousands of dollars to see their team play on the biggest global stage for a sport that has long been eclipsed in the United States – a sport many say is finally having its moment.
Many fans said they grew up playing soccer in recreational leagues as young children, and well into high school and college. Nakisha Gutierrez, a 37-year-old therapist from Los Angeles, and her sister both played the sport. Their Argentine father raised them on soccer, and the next generation is now taking it up, too, she said.
“It’s in the family blood,” said Gutierrez, her cheeks painted with sparkling red-and-blue stars. “It is the American culture – it’s starting to be,” Gutierrez added according to AP.
The World Cup is played every four years, and fans around the world track their national teams, hoping they’ll have a strong enough showing to qualify for it. In many countries – like Friday’s opponent, Paraguay – just making it to the tournament can prompt street parties, fireworks and national holidays.
In the United States, though, the response is often a bit more muted. Soccer has long been overshadowed by football, basketball and “America’s pastime” of baseball.
But soccer’s popularity has risen in the United States since the country last hosted the World Cup in 1994. Major League Soccer was launched two years later, and soccer has become especially popular among young athletes.
There was palpable joy in the air for US fans watching the match as Folarin Balogun scored an electric two goals in the first half of the game, and star player Christian Pulisic made a shot that led to a Paraguay own goal. But the stadium was aroar when Gio Reyna sealed Paraguay´s fate with a late fourth goal during added time.
Samuel Esquivel, 9, said he was screaming when the match ended.
“That was probably, like, the second best goal,” he said of Reyna’s shot. He started playing soccer last year and said he already wants to win a World Cup.
His father Roman Esquivel said they came from a family that played football, basketball, and baseball. But Esquivel’s daughter and son both fell in love with soccer, and their enthusiasm for the game has spread to him as well.
“It’s the most beautiful sport in the world,” he said. “There’s a reason why the whole world plays soccer.”
Interest has also been buoyed by immigrants from countries where, as Gutierrez puts it, “soccer is life.”
Ava Cupit, 14, traveled with her family from Franklin, Tennessee, to cheer on the US team, dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. Her great-grandfather was from Spain and helped bring soccer to their small town, where he built fields and promoted the sport.
“He made us all fall in love with it, and our whole family loves soccer,” Ava´s mother Rachel Cupit said.
In the massive stadium in Inglewood, California, usually home to football games, seats were a sea of red and white. Fans wore glitter, Stars-and-Stripes high-tops, overalls, robes and the team’s hallmark jerseys.
They came to show their support for their team, and to show that Americans, like the rest of the world, can be passionate about soccer, too.
Many were trying to attend all of the US team’s group round matches. One spectator said he came from Texas after seeing the US team previously face off in international matches before large crowds backing their opponents.
