World Cup in Philly: Ecuador fans flock to Rocky; Ivory Coast calls the Delaware Valley home; start time, fan fest details, more

IRVINE, Calif. — Since the game ended at 2 in the morning Philadelphia time, you might have been asleep when Australia's win over Turkey ended.

Then again, if you're enough of a soccer diehard, you might well have stayed up to be sure you watched all four of Saturday's games live.

Regardless, the Socceroos' 2-0 upset in Vancouver blows the United States' group wide open. Now those two teams have three points each, with the U.S. in first place on goal difference by +3 to +2. (That's what made Gio Reyna's late strike in the 4-1 win over Paraguay actually important, not just a cherry on top.)

If you just saw Curaçao score a tying goal against Germany, you need to understand just how wild it was.

The island nation, a former Netherlands territory, is the smallest country ever to qualify for a World Cup by both population (just over 150,000 people) and land mass (171 square miles).

Germany, by contrast, is a four-time World Cup champion and three-time European champion.

A crowd packed with thousands of cheering fans, the 60-foot-wide screen playing the latest fiery matchup, and dozens upon dozens of food vendors await the FIFA Fan Festival, the cheapest and most immersive way to enjoy the 2026 World Cup in Philadelphia.

The Fan Festival is open daily to 15,000 fans, for free, to roam the million square feet of festival grounds that have transformed quaint Lemon Hill into an almost unrecognizable extravaganza of global soccer.

The main spectacle is the 60-foot screen that takes over the main stage in Lemon Hill, where the majority of fans will congregate to watch the match. But, throughout the festival are multiple smaller screens playing the game, so fans don’t miss a moment when they roam for food, fun, or the bathroom.

Halfway through the Union’s 17th season, midfielder Danley Jean Jacques became the first active player from the club to play in a World Cup.

Jean Jacques started for Haiti on Saturday night against Scotland in Foxborough, Mass., in what was also Haiti’s first men’s World Cup game since 1974 and Scotland’s first since 1998.

Haiti lost the game, 1-0, but played well, outshooting Scotland 15-9 and holding a majority of the possession. Jean Jacques was often at the center of the action, with four tackles, two clearances, one interception, eight duels won in 12 contested, and 44-of-53 passing.

The waterfronts of Chester and Wilmington are roughly 5,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest city. But, for at least three weeks during the FIFA World Cup, the Ivorian men’s national team will call the banks of the Delaware River home.

Les Éléphants hosted an open training session at Subaru Park on Friday evening, two days before they begins their World Cup campaign with a match against Ecuador at Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field) on Sunday (7 p.m., FS1).

Ivory Coast is the only nation scheduled to play at the Linc twice during the World Cup’s group stage, and it is the only team that will stay and train in the Delaware Valley during the tournament.

After decades living in New Jersey, Ecuadorian native Magaly Moreira, 60, said she had never seen such a display of her country’s people.

“It fills me with happiness, pride, and so much joy,” Moreira said, Ecuadorian flags painted on her face. “It’s our opportunity for us and the players to represent Ecuador.”

She was one of thousands of Ecuadorians attending “El banderazo Ecuatoriano” outside the Art Museum. An event organized by group +593 (the country’s international calling code) that made fans put aside the traditional “Ecuadorian hour” to show up more than on time to support their team.

The first of six World Cup matches will take place Sunday night in Philadelphia, with Ivory Coast taking on Ecuador (7 pm., FS1) in Group E action.

Group E also includes Germany, which most experts predict will make it out of the group stage. So tonight's match could be an early look at who finishes in second place (no offense to Curacao, the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup, edging out Iceland).

It seems like Ivory Coast will be the natural team for fans in the Delaware Valley to root for, outside the U.S. It's the only country scheduled to play two matches in Philadelphia (they'll take on Curacao on June 25), has made Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington it's home away from home, and is training at Subaru Park in Chester.