L.A. defies skeptics for a World Cup marked by unity, fearless fun
The run-up to the World Cup in Los Angeles was marked by anxiety over how immigration enforcement, travel restrictions and anti-Trump backlash would affect the spirit and attendance of the games.
But on the streets of L.A. over the last week, something very different has happened.
Fans from a kaleidoscope of cultural backgrounds have come together to act out the kind of world — and city — they want to live in.
On the shuttle bus from downtown to Inglewood on Monday, there were scores of people with Farsi-emblazoned shirts and crowds of grinning Kiwis as one would expect for the Iran-versus-New Zealand showdown that evening. However, there were also clusters of striped blue Argentina T-shirts, plenty of Team USA jerseys, and a loud group of fans chanting “Viva Mexico” from the back of the bus.
The mood was joyful before Monday’s match among fans of Iran’s national team. The players, because of restrictions by the Trump administration, have had to commute to the games from Tijuana.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Similar scenes played out on the Metro K Line as World Cup-goers from all over traded stories of how they scored tickets, tips for navigating L.A.’s transit system, and wistful memories of tournaments past.
“This festival is about unity and bringing the whole world together; there are 48 nations and everybody is having a good time,” said Ardy Salem, an Iranian American dentist who traveled from the Bay Area to attend the game, as he surveyed the crowd outside SoFi Stadium on Monday with unabashed glee.
“Just for a moment,” he said, “we get to leave all the politics behind.”
David Leon, 32, of Watts was grinning from ear to ear as he stood outside the stadium entrance in his forest-green Mexico jersey, despite the fact that he initially didn’t support having the World Cup in Los Angeles.
“I thought it was going to be a big issue for a bunch of different people to come here,” Leon said.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Leon worried that people from other countries would be turned off by American politics and fearful about traveling to the U.S.
Instead, he’s been delightfully entertained by tourists documenting their wholesome reactions to American culture on social media — such as the German man experiencing Waffle House for the first time and the Swedish woman blown away by ranch dressing.
“It really does bring people together from all these different ethnicities,” Leon said, looking at the lines of people waiting to get into the stadium. “I’ve seen Colombians, I’ve seen Mexicans, people from New Zealand, people from Iran, Germans, Spaniards.”
And for his own community of Mexican Americans, he said the matches had brought a much-needed infusion of joy. This time last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were roiling Los Angeles, instilling fear throughout immigrant households.
Fans of Mexico are on hand at Monday’s match at SoFi Stadium. Before the World Cup, there were widespread fears of ICE presence at the games.
(Kelvin Kuo/Los Angeles Times)
Just last month, about 2,000 SoFi Stadium workers threatened to strike if they didn’t receive assurance that immigration agents would be kept out of the venue during the World Cup.
Leon said he was definitely worried that ICE would take advantage of crowds gathering for the matches to perform further immigration enforcement.
But, so far, that has not been the case. Instead, many people in his hometown of Watts have been consumed with “World Cup fever,” calling out of work to attend watch parties at local bars and walking down the streets with eyes glued to a livestream of a game on a phone, he said.
While joy was the overriding mood among soccer fans gathered in Inglewood on Monday, the day was not entirely free of tension or pangs of grief for the people who were missing out on the fun.
James Carling, 63, of Ventura said it pains him to know that many fans from countries such as Iran, Haiti and Senegal are unable to attend the matches because of the Trump administration’s travel restrictions.
“Let’s face it, our government hasn’t made it easy for people to visit us, which is a shame,” he said outside the stadium. “There were people from countries whose teams made it [to the World Cup] who were not allowed to come and, sorry, that’s wrong.”
The shadow of the U.S. war with Iran and the anger many Iranian Americans feel over Iran’s current government were also present in Inglewood on Monday. Outside the stadium, some Iranian soccer fans had heated encounters with protesters who felt that supporting the Iranian national team was synonymous with supporting an oppressive regime.
Yet the atmosphere among the Iranians attending Monday night’s game was one of cathartic celebration, where for a few hours they could set aside geopolitical tensions and unite over the simple love of soccer.
In the stadium parking lot, David Arias, a Mexican American resident of Inglewood, gave a fist bump to Kam Pirouz, an Iranian fan who had traveled from Washington, D.C., to see the game.
Mexico and Iran are “homies right now,” Arias said, referencing the fact that the Iranian players are commuting to the Los Angeles games from Tijuana because of restrictions placed on them by the Trump administration.
Fans watch the World Cup group stage match between Iran and New Zealand at SoFi Stadium on Monday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Although Arias did not have tickets to the match, he said he could not resist the chance to meet people from all over the world. So he decided to take his local barbershop to the parking lot outside the stadium and offer free haircuts to fans.
With an hour to go before Monday night’s game, all three seats at his pop-up shop were occupied; Pirouz, the Iranian fan, was getting a fresh fade while seated next to a Mormon missionary from Utah and an Egyptian fan.
“It’s the World Cup, man, the entire world comes together, and it’s beautiful,” Pirouz said mid-haircut. “Best sport in the world.”
Times staff writer Seamus Bozeman contributed to this report.
