Fans celebrate USMNT’s World Cup-opening win at Fair Park Fan Fest

Ice cold beers, rotisserie barbecue, and Fourth of July-like sparklers. Fans of the United States made the World Cup opening night their own at Fair Park.

The Crowd for the FIFA World Cup Dallas Fan Fest waited just seven minutes for the United States to score its first goal of the tournament in a 4-1 win over Paraguay. Jubilation and chants of “USA USA” echoed from the amphitheatre ceiling and spread throughout the park.

Los Angeles hosted the USA’s opening night match, but fans in Dallas created a stadium-like atmosphere in North Texas, with visitors from across the nation and the world all gathered to enjoy the spectacle. 

“You love your country, but at the same time you love the sport,” Chris Samano said. “That’s where the bonding comes from, meeting new people and some stuff like that. Meeting people from other countries, that’s the coolest thing, you don’t know who you’re going to run into.” 

Samono, born in the United States but a supporter of both his home country and Mexico, wandered around the spacious venue with friends, one of whom held a hot dog in one hand while the other cupped a small plate of brisket.

Texas cuisine enthusiasts have an array of options at Fan Fest. What caught the eye of anyone walking toward the north side of the park was a smoked pig, spinning at a snail’s pace, the aroma of burning charcoal and thick smoke, all aided by a sweet scent coming from Tim Love’s catering. 

Manager Alan Curtis, 31, has spent his entire life in Fort Worth, and his passion for Texas Barbecue makes it enjoyable for him to share it with fans of the world’s game. 

“It’s not just something you eat, it’s an experience,” Curtis said about Barbecue in Texas. “We wanted to bring that out here, too. And I’m excited to meet people from other places that don’t necessarily get to experience barbecue all the time.”

Plenty of native Texans filled up Fair Park on Friday night, including those who aren’t avid lovers of soccer. At first glance, John Threet and Landry Laird looked the part of die-hard USMNT fans, Threet sporting the latest iteration of the USA home kit that was worn against Paraguay. 

The pair of Dallas natives knew very little about the match or soccer before kickoff, but a close friend convinced them to go out to eat, drink, and watch the big game. 

“We like American football, [we’re] obviously Cowboys fans,” Threet laughed. “But we’re going to root for Team USA.

“We met people from England and people from Japan and welcomed them to the U.S. But we’re here to watch America win tonight.” 

From afar, Threet’s friend nearly predicted the final score on the nose, claiming a 3-1 win for the United States with two goals from striker Folarin Balogun and an assist from team captain Christian Pulisic. If it wasn’t for a last-minute goal from Gio Reyna, he would’ve been correct. 

While some soccer fans were learning about the game in real time, others came from places where the sport is ingrained in the culture. Brazilian Lazzaro Paes Leme moved to the U.S. for a software engineering job five years ago. 

Unable to lock down any tickets to the World Cup games, he became a Michelob Ultra volunteer at the company’s Fan Fest activation center to be around the festivities all month. A circumstance that feels more like home. 

“This party in Brazil [would have] a lot more people,” he said, alluding to the 2014 FIFA World Cup hosted by Brazil. “The World Cup spots the country, no work, no school, nothing.” 

The cost of obtaining World Cup tickets flooded discourse around the tournament for months leading up to Friday. For a Costa Rican family of four, however, waiting in online queues for a chance at tickets was a much more demanding task. 

Andres Palavicini and his family are using the World Cup as a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to the United States. Palavicini’s young son is a huge fan of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and after the family attends the Netherlands vs. Japan on Sunday, they travel to Houston to watch Portugal face off with DR Congo. 

“It’s a privilege, first to travel, to experience, to get to know more countries, more cities,” Palavicini said. “We’ve been in a couple of cities already, so it’s a privilege to travel and to come to the World Cup.”