‘Every game, we win:’ Ivory Coast earns a World Cup win in Philly, but for fans of Curaçao, it was still a party
While many saw Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast as the least marquee matchup on Philly’s World Cup game slate, the game still brought an announced 68,324 people to Philadelphia Stadium in an array of colors
Two dense blocks, one of orange, and one of dark blue, broke up the kaleidoscope of color in the stands at Philadelphia Stadium on Thursday. Fans came bearing jerseys and flags from basically any national team you could think of — from France and England to Honduras and Anguilla.
And yes, even some Eagles jerseys.
Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast was the least marquee matchup on Philly’s World Cup game slate. The teams don’t have the star power of France’s Kylian Mbappé, Croatia’s Luka Modrić, or Brazil’s Vinicius Jr., nor the massive stateside fanbase of Ecuador.
» READ MORE: Supporters of Curaçao and Ivory Coast cheered on their teams at FIFA Fan Festival: ‘It’s a good vibe’
That made it the easiest ticket to acquire for local and passionate soccer fans, as well as diehard supporters of both nations.
In the end, it was the fans clad in orange who went home happy, watching a pair of goals from Ivory Coast forward Nicolas Pépé fuel a 2-0 defeat of Curaçao to advance to the knockout stage out of Group E.
Curaçao is the smallest nation in the World Cup, an island of just over 155,000 residents. Curaçao has fielded an independent team under its own flag since 2011, and had never qualified for the World Cup before this year.
Despite its small size, it’s a country with a strong sporting tradition. A team from Curaçao memorably won the Little League World Series in 2004, and MLB stars like Hall of Famer Andruw Jones and Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies hail from the island.
But in the World Baseball Classic, Albies competes for Team Netherlands, as Curaçao has never fielded an independent team. That’s why this team resonated so much with Isla, one of what she estimated was a group of 5,000 fans who traveled up from Curaçao for Thursday’s match.
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“What we are doing now, this is nation building,” said Isla, a Curaçao native who was there for the game. “It has to do with our identity, with our people, with our history of slavery. The island of Curaçao is now building on this. Since we can play under our flag, every match is a party for us. Every game, we win.”
‘It’s a dream’
Curaçao’s underdog story resonated beyond the island. Plenty of local fans came ready to rep Curaçao, including Anna Villarreal from Monterrey, Mexico, who wore a Mexico jersey and carried a “Mexico supports you Curaçao!” sign. Villarreal, 24, is spending the summer at the University of Maryland and snagged tickets to attend her first World Cup game in Philadelphia through the FIFA lottery after a lifetime of passionate soccer fandom.
“We grew up watching the World Cup, but it’s in Brazil, Russia, Qatar — expensive!” Villarreal said. “Watching it in high school, college, kindergarten, but now it’s in North America, I’m so excited to have the opportunity to go to a game. … I don’t really have words. We grew up watching it on TV. I never thought I would be here right now. It’s a dream.”
Devon and Jay Geyer, siblings from Philadelphia, attended the game as a birthday trip. Jay now lives abroad in the Netherlands, so they chose to attend Thursday’s game to support Curaçao, thanks to that connection.
“As a Philadelphian, it’s cool to see people come here and really enjoy it and appreciate it from an outside view,” Devon said.
» READ MORE: Can the USMNT beat Turkey to go unbeaten in World Cup group play for the first time? Here’s our predictions.
Plenty of Philadelphians jumped on the Ivory Coast bandwagon, given the team was headquartered in Chester at the Union’s training facility. Louie, a 23-year-old from central New Jersey, has Ivorian heritage and got all his friends on board, starting chants on the Broad Street Line on the way down to the stadium.
“We went to the Union, they had their open practice and their scrimmage against the Philadelphia Union II,” said Giovanni Morales, one of Louie’s friends. “It was really nice to see them play, good atmosphere, good fans, everything was good.”
Ken Palmer, 70, was cheering along with them on the train. His dream 70th birthday gift was a trip to Ivory Coast, where he spent 13 of the first 18 years of his life while his parents worked as missionaries, before moving back to the United States. A trip down to Philadelphia from his home in the Poconos to watch the national team play in the World Cup with his kids was close enough.
“I tend to be a quiet, calm watcher, but I’m already excited,” Palmer said. “It’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Another group of friends from Ontario got tickets through the FIFA lottery and decided to back Ivory Coast after finding jerseys in a Facebook group. They were hoping to get tickets in Toronto, but after striking out, decided Philadelphia was close enough for a road trip.
Compared to the games featuring some of the biggest national teams like France and Brazil, Thursday’s game was by far the least expensive. Tickets were as low as $300 on the secondary market in the lead-up to the game, and while they did rise closer to game day, many fans cited the cheaper tickets as their primary motive for picking this game.
Pat Diamond and Joe Staudenmayer, lifelong friends from South Jersey, picked this game because it was the easiest Philly game to get tickets for. Thomas Khatib drove up from Washington, D.C., and paid $350 to sit in the lower bowl, a price he felt was reasonable — although much more expensive than the free tickets he got to a Belgium-Saudi Arabia game at the 1994 World Cup. He attended with a fellow diehard soccer fan friend, both wearing Germany shirts. “Germany tickets got too expensive,” Khatib said.
Salome Munoz and her husband live in Lansdale, Pa., but trace their own heritage to Colombia. They’re rooting for the Colombian national team, but Colombia wasn’t headed to Philly. As huge soccer fans, they wanted to still make the trip to a local game. The cheapest was Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast, paying $550 per ticket in the lower bowl.
» READ MORE: These Philadelphians planned the perfect World Cup weekends for their families. Then their tickets never came.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Muñoz said. “I’m going for Curaçao, my husband’s going for Ivory Coast. I’m going for Curaçao because this is their first time, it’s a small country, anything that happens to them is brand new. I want to see a country vibe, just like Colombia has in so many other occasions when we’ve been to the World Cup.”
The mostly local crowd, as compared to some of the other nations, was more subdued than other World Cup atmospheres. The neutral fans didn’t know the songs or the chants, and so aside from the two passionate fan sections, it felt a bit more like a Thursday afternoon Phillies game than the intense atmosphere at some of the other matches. But almost everyone still walked out happy, no matter what jersey they wore.
In this World Cup, underdogs are stealing the spotlight, the U.S. men are on a roll, and Philadelphia has not only welcomed the world but has given visitors a crash course on just how real the curse of the Rocky Statue can be.
Join Jonathan Tannenwald, the Inquirer's soccer writer, and host Lisa Carlin, analyst for CBS Sports Golazo, as they dissect the matches, the moments, and more as Philly has its moment in soccer's brightest spotlight. Watch our latest episode right here.
Watch previous episodes:
Episode 1: The Wait is Over!
Episode 2: Groups, Goals, and Glory
Episode 3: Electric Action in Philly
