Thousands of U.S. soccer fans took part in a decidedly European tradition before the Friday afternoon game with Australia: a loud, traffic-disrupting march to the match.
Bipedal pregame rallies are common in many other parts of the world — as well as on some American college campuses when football season rolls around — but the size and location of many U.S. stadiums have kept the rallies from becoming common outside of a few cities.
One of those is Seattle, where Lumen Field sits just on the edge of the urban core and thousands gathered before Friday’s game for a morning of alcohol- and caffeine-fueled chants, drumming and celebration that culminated in a walk to the match.
“It’s a way to bring everyone together,” said Randy Smith, a soccer fan from San Antonio, who said he was attending his 10th World Cup. “You can’t march everywhere, but when you can, it sets the mood perfectly.”
In some soccer-obsessed communities, pregame festivities can be more of a spectacle than the actual match. On Friday, nonmarching fans lined Western Avenue, cheering. The marchers included a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln, complete with tailcoat, stovepipe hat and red, white and blue face paint, and an assortment of founding fathers — at least judging from their wigs — dressed in the jerseys of World Cups past. A contingent of Buffalo Soldiers on horseback led the parade to commemorate the Juneteenth holiday. The air smelled of beer, sunscreen and hope.
Australian fans in yellow jerseys made their own march to the match from a pub a few blocks from Lumen Field. They carried flags, fast-emptying beer cans and inflatable kangaroos, with chants designed to both inspire the Socceroos and put the host country in its place.
Among them: “We get to go home. You’re stuck here.”
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