Meadowlands passes first World Cup test with Brazil-Morocco match
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Trepidation loomed over the first FIFA men’s World Cup match at the venue usually known as MetLife Stadium, owing to the complicated transportation logistics of no on-site parking, a limited number of affordable shuttle bus tickets and an expectation that attendees would predominantly opt for a train operating at a 750% markup.
But the ingress and egress were largely absent of major challenges for the sellout crowd of 80,663, mirroring the second half of the 1-1 draw between Brazil and Morocco in which both goals and all the serious scoring opportunities occurred before the halftime break.
Attention on and security for any New York City-area sporting event is always heightened, but this was an important first litmus test for the temporarily-rebranded “New York New Jersey Stadium” that will host eight matches in total, including the July 19 final.
There were some reports of fans who paid for the $98 roundtrip train tickets getting redirected onto buses from Secaucus Junction — instead of trains — with those coaches then getting mired in the predictably deadlocked traffic within a few miles of the stadium. The only available parking was a 1.3-mile walk, for $200-plus, at the American Dream Mall because FIFA’s sponsor activations, other hospitality and operations infrastructure overwhelmed the adjacent lots.
But for those who boarded actual New Jersey Transit trains, the experience was orderly and smooth, even postgame, unlike the Super Bowl XLVIII fiasco when some of those leaving MetLife Stadium were delayed hours. This Tuesday’s France-Senegal matinee kicks off at 3pm ET, posing a conflict with rush hour train traffic.
One of the train passengers was none other than the Garden State’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, who posted a video of her speaking to fellow passengers on social media; she notably raised the fares exponentially so as to shield taxpayers not attending matches from the burden of subsidizing the event. DoorDash later helped sponsor the trains to defray the costs, helping reduce the final price from the originally proposed $150. The usual cost is $12.90.
Her New York counterpart, Gov. Kathy Hochul, also attended the match and was spotted sitting next to New York City mayor — and noted soccer enthusiast — Zohran Mamdani, who petitioned FIFA to make an allotment of tickets available at an affordable price. (Almost anything would seem affordable compared to the secondary market resale prices for the match that soared past $1,000 for most tickets.)
Political powers weren’t the only bold-faced names in attendance. Brazil’s box of national team alumni was full of soccer luminaries — Kaká, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos — while Tom Brady, Travis Scott and Kenan Thompson were among the other celebrities spotted in the hospitality areas. Roughly 10,000 of those premium tickets were sold.
The vast majority of fans at the match, maybe 80%, were wearing Brazilian yellow and the rest Moroccan red. (The press box seemingly doubled as a Brazilian fan section, as there were audible cheers and groans coinciding with the play of the Seleção.)
Perhaps because the Moroccan team thinks of itself as “the Brazilians of Africa,” as its star right back Achraf Hakimi said Friday, the two fan bases got along harmoniously. As everyone spilled out into the south parking lot fan fest after the game, fans of both countries posed for photos and joined each other’s songs.
That accord reached a fever pitch on the train back into Penn Station, as both sides participated in a roaring chant of “Knicks in five! Knicks in five!”