PHILADELPHIA — Lincoln Financial Field has been blessed with major star power at this World Cup, from Vinícius Júnior to Kylian Mbappé. But this city doesn’t need a global celebrity to get behind.
Philly showed Thursday that it’s more than happy to support its adopted team, Les Elephants.
Ivory Coast beat Curaçao 2–0 in a final group stage showdown on Thursday, with both goals coming from Villarreal forward Nicolas Pépé. The crowd was heavy on Philadelphians, who were excited to catch a World Cup match at a cheaper price point than other matches hosted by the city, and eager to embrace the teams, particularly Ivory Coast, which is back in the tournament for the first time since 2014.
Supporters from Ivory Coast, a country with about 34 million people, are under a travel ban from the Trump administration. Ivory Coast is one of four teams participating in the World Cup whose teams, staff, and families are given an exception for the World Cup, but whose fans are not. One member of the team’s supporters association called the ban “a form of segregation.”
On Thursday, the rows behind the goal, usually entirely full of a team’s supporters, were not packed shoulder-to-shoulder by Ivory Coast fans, as was the case for the Curaçao side. (Curaçao is by far the smallest nation at this and any World Cup, with just over 150,000 residents.)
