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Philadelphia’s second game of the FIFA World Cup played out on Friday with the tournament’s most successful nation ever facing a team that had not been on this stage since 1974.
In a one-sided affair, Brazil defeated Haiti 3-0, making the Haitians the first teams to be mathematically eliminated from the field of 48.
Eight days into the tournament and Philly is filled with soccer fans from all over the world, wearing their team’s colors. Watch parties are being held all over the region.
The Brazil fans made their presence known in the city with a rally at the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Thursday night.
Ingrid Wynne, who lives in Broomall, Delco, but is originally from São Paulo, came to the gathering with her husband Michael.
“I barely have any Brazilian friends in my area, so this is insane to see,” she said.
The Wynnes went to São Paulo for the Eagles’ game against the Green Bay Packers
The crowd sang, lit smoke bombs and juggled balls around. One thing they were instructed not to do was mess with Rocky, after Ecuador fans found out about the curse that comes with putting a shirt on the statue of Philly’s most famous fictional son.
A security detail, part of a PR stunt by a Brazilian betting agency, stood guard around the base of the statue. They did let one guy who was wearing a shirt with the same gambling brand climb up on Rocky and try to put a Haiti team jersey on, but he was unsuccessful.
A Brazil fan did manage to slip an opposition jersey on Rocky later in the night, that of Argentina’s star Lionel Messi. So if the World Cup’s joint all-time top scorer fails to do more after his hat-trick in the opening game, we all know why.
Philly had already experienced Brazilian soccer fandom during last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup, where three Brazilian clubs played four games of the tournament in South Philly.
Fans of Rio de Janeiro club Flamengo took full advantage of the sports complex’s tailgate culture last year.
With the FIFA’s greater restrictions on tailgating this year, they opted for Lion Sports Bar in Chinatown as the place for the prematch celebrations.
“We have been crazy every single day,” said Lion Bar co-owner Mark Prinzinger. “It is basically like having the Super Bowl every single day, multiple times a day. That’s how busy we are.”
Flamengo superfan Marcelo Nuba has been in Philly for Brazilian soccer both this and last summer. He said he appreciated history and found Philadelphians friendlier compared to people in Boston and New York.
For the tournament, the bar put up a map of the world and invited visiting soccer fans to stick a pin on where they’re from. Prinzinger said that most countries have already been pinned.
Nicole Thompson from Lansdale in Montgomery County came to Lion Sport Bar to watch the U.S. team’s 2-0 win over Australia. She said it warmed her heart to see all the fans of the different World Cup nations.
“This is the stuff that we need to see right now,” she said “We really need to see everybody coming together, rather than everybody opposed, because we’re from different countries, we support different teams. It’s the best feeling in the world right now.
Brazil shine in Philly
Ecuador’s fans made up the majority of the 68,274 at the first game on Sunday, and it was the Brazil fans who filled most of the stadium on Friday. Like Brazil, Haiti’s diaspora had converged on Philly as well, and the local Haitian community welcomed them with open arms.
Brazil’s opening game was a hotly contested 1-1 draw against Morocco. Haiti is still searching for its first-ever win or draw in the tournament.
Three minutes into the contest, Union midfielder Danley Jean Jaques lets his opposition know he’s there with a crunching tackle on Brazil’s talismanic forward Vinicius.
The Brazilians thought they opened the scoring in the 12th minute after Raphinha latched on to a scooped pass by Bruno Guimarães, but it was quickly overruled because he was offside.
Brazil broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute when Haiti’s goalkeeper Johny Placide could only deflect Vinicius’ in front of the middle of the goal and Hannes Delcroix’s attempt to clear the ball deflected off Matheus Cunha and into the goal.
Cunha doubled the score in the 36th minute, this time assisted intentionally by Vinicius.
Vinicius made it 3-0 right before half time when he was able to run free of Haiti’s high defensive line and slot the ball under Placide.
Brazil’s night was slightly soured by Raphinha going off injured in the first half, with what appeared to be an injured hamstring.
Haiti came close to scoring its first goal of the tournament, and third ever at the World Cup, in the 63rd minute. Ricardo Adé’s header off of Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s corner kick was batted away by Brazil goalkeeper Alisson Becker, then cleared by Danilo.
With the win, Brazil goes to the top of Group C, tied with Morocco with four points, but ahead based on goal difference. Morocco defeated Scotland 1-0 earlier in the day.
Both teams will play their final game of the group stage on Wednesday, June 24 at 6 p.m. Brazil faces Scotland in Miami, while Haiti takes on Morocco at 6 p.m. in Atlanta.
Philly’s next game is on Monday and pits two-time champions France against Iraq. That match kicks off at 5 p.m.