Last Friday night was an early indicator of how Seattle would respond to being part of the World Cup, the biggest event in global sports.

Down at packed Pier 62, a crowd watched the start of the USA vs. Paraguay match being played in Los Angeles. Bigger than the crowd on the pier, though, was the line of people waiting to get in. It stretched past the entrance to the aquarium.

Hundreds of other soccer fans gathered on the steps leading up to Pike Place Market, craning for a peek at the big screen on the pier. If the screen was hard to see, at least they had a fabulous view of Seattle at its best — ferries on Puget Sound and the silhouette of the Olympic Mountains across the water under a clear blue sky — and, behind them, the gleaming towers of a rejuvenated city.

The city’s tourist bureau could not have asked for a more picture-perfect day and the soccer enthusiasts could not have asked for a better game as the U.S. team triumphed, 4 goals to 1.

Then, on Monday’s sizzling June afternoon, almost every seat in Seattle Stadium (aka Lumen Field) was filled with an enthusiastic crowd watching the first live game of the six World Cup matches that will be played in the Emerald City, a 1/1 tie between Egypt and Belgium.

If anyone doubted that folks in Seattle would fail to be engaged with the World Cup, those doubts should be put to rest. This has long been one of America’s most enthusiastic soccer towns. So, we can put aside, for now, complaints about FIFA’s exorbitant ticket prices and President Donald Trump’s rude reception of fans traveling from countries on his disapproved list. This is sport at its best and Seattle is lucky to be right in the middle of the fun.

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