Three-year-old Moktar woke up early in Quebec for the seven-hour car ride to Toronto. As far as his mum and dad were concerned, this was not to be missed as a life experience for the whole family, even if Moktar looked ready for a nap a couple of hours before the Senegal-Iraq game even kicked off.“It is unforgettable, astonishing,” his mum said. “To have the chance to be here with other Senegalese is once in a lifetime.”That sentiment has been a feature of this World Cup, as diasporas have come together to cherish the connection to their roots. They have created an emotional undercurrent that has been vital to what this tournament looks like.CTV crunched the numbers provided by the department for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and it turns out more than a third of people from countries that needed a visa to attend the World Cup were refused.The numbers were far more extreme for certain nations, and it is revealing how few people even tried from those places: 145 of the 170 Senegalese who applied were rejected, along with 65 out of 75 Iraqis. Meanwhile, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Croatia, France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Saudi Arabia were among the nationals with a 100 per cent success rate.Yet here we were in Toronto for Senegal against Iraq, and there were tens of thousands of their own in attendance, absolutely overjoyed to represent their countries and feel part of such a sizeable gathering.When the teams emerged, the roar from the Iraqis was measured in excess of 120 decibels. Baghdad is over 6,000 miles and an average 16-hour flight away (if you are lucky with connections). There is an estimated 63,000-strong Iraqi diaspora in Toronto. It felt like most of them were here, screaming their hearts out.This World Cup would have looked grimly different without the locally based communities who showed up to bring their love and cultural and civic pride to matchdays. Diaspora supporters have made this World Cup. Arguably, they have saved this World Cup. Across the host nations, masses have been in attendance from countries whose long-distance fanbases were either forbidden or discouraged by hurdles too complicated and too costly to overcome. It was poignant to see Senegalese fans video calling those back home from the stadium.Senegal fans in Toronto for the game against Iraq (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)Toronto is famously multi-cultural, and every game it has hosted has been wonderfully enhanced by diasporas, from Bosnia and Croatia to the Ivory Coast and Ghana.Stanley Park was the meeting spot for Ghanaian supporters in town for their group game against Panama. Word got around to gather there for a march towards the stadium on the edge of the lake. It started fashionably late. In the words of one, with a knowing smile, “Ghanaian time is a THING.” But then the throng and the buzz started to grow, and it was intoxicating. Everybody was resplendent in red, yellow and green, with the obligatory black star, dancing and singing. A guy arrived holding a long, thin, cylindrical bag and surveyed the scene before unzipping his trumpet as band leader to the joy of his compatriots.