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Makoto’s WC Diary
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Soccer World Cup
Makoto Asahara
Published 13.18
TORONTO. Then you were there. Then you were ready.
The feeling so far is that my World Cup might start with a Bosnian takeover on Canadian soil.
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A warm welcome, one might say.
I’m not going to hide that the diary format in particular is something I haven’t done before. But sometime must be the first. A first WC on site is a better time than none, isn’t it?
So a welcome to “my” WC diary still feels appropriate. A forum where I hope, during the course of the tournament, to be able to share a lot of what you don’t see on the TV broadcasts. Both high and low from what is going on in the mixed zones, in the arenas, in the host cities I have time to visit (there will be some) and also in the three host countries. Of course, there will also be observations from what actually happens purely sportingly on the field. Maybe even a little culinary element here and there (after all, you should eat when you’re going to ride around for a month on North American soil). Guaranteed Japanese elements too.
Yes, if nothing else you will learn to notice what is on offer.
So far I have made a stroke of genius
In any case, the undersigned has now landed in Canada and Toronto to begin with. A place that, in the Swedish and Dallas-based media noise, it is easy to forget that the WC will also be played there. If nothing else considering that pretty much every non-blue-and-yellow World Cup headline of late has been about everything from US visas and entry permits to select, extra-thorough border inspections. Or for that matter the price tag for everything from match tickets and parking spaces to public transport and hotels.
But on Friday, this controversial World Cup will also kick off on Canadian soil. The question is, however, whether it is actually the host nation that will have the strongest support from the stands.
When I write these diary-opening lines, I haven’t had much more time than to get into the country (easier in a Canadian context than American, as I understand it), pick up my accreditation (extremely easy and quickly solved at a completely empty accreditation center near the match arena) and eat some dinner (a so-called baseball steak, can be recommended). So far, it feels like you have made a stroke of genius when you chose to start the WC journey here.
At the same time, one thing has already been noted ahead of Friday’s opening game.
Bosnians are in place. Bosnians are ready.
25 to 30,000 Bosnian fans
Bosnia and Herzegovina playing in just their second championship and World Cup ever, having last been in Brazil in 2014. And the feeling from what little I have seen of the city is that they will have support in the stands when they face Canada in the opening game. Because Bosnian jerseys have been seen both here and there already now.
And it is not just from Bosnia that they must have made the pilgrimage to Toronto.
The Bosnian diaspora extends all over the world. The troupe consists of Bosnians who were raised in all sorts of different nations (including three from Sweden). And even in North America there is Bosnian representation. According to Canadian CBC approximately 25,000 Bosnians (both including arrivals from Bosnia and from other countries) are expected to be present in Toronto for the opening match. If unconfirmed Bosnian reports are to be believed, 30,000 Bosnian fans are expected to attend Friday’s game.
This in an arena that officially holds 43,000 (the World Cup’s smallest spectator seats, by the way). In Canada. Against Canada.
Considering the ticket prices and the sales figures, I have a hard time seeing that those figures should actually be correct. Mainly because it would really be a direct mockery of Canadian football.
The Maple Leafs must be a hockey nation more than anything else. The world metropolis of Toronto is said to be the same after a football World Cup as it was before. But the interest in football in the host nation can’t be that weak, can it? Or?
Got support on the highway
Regardless of how many Bosnians there actually will be in the stands, they will both be seen and heard. Bosnian national team ultras group BHFanaticos have already announced that they will be present during the matches on North American soil. And when the Bosnian player bus arrived earlier this week so the support was already felt on the motorway journey in from the airport.
And then there is still 1.5 days until kick-off.
The feeling here and now is actually that Friday’s premiere could be a grandstand takeover of a host nation’s opening match that I dare say we haven’t seen in a World Cup context before. But still it’s just a feeling based on scant information and
Tomorrow (or later today for those of you reading) there will be press conferences and training.
There you learn, if nothing else, to get the feeling confirmed regarding the potential Bosnian support in Toronto.
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