FIFA World Cup: Seattle fans keep stepping up, no matter the matchup

The opener two Mondays ago was almost certainly going to fill to the brim. It was the first FIFA Men’s World Cup game in Seattle history and featured a top-10 team in Belgium taking on Egypt. 

The second one was a guaranteed sellout. The United States — fresh off a 4-1 win against Paraguay — was meeting Australia on the pitch at Seattle Stadium. No way there’d be an empty seat. 

But this one on Wednesday? A B-side matchup featuring 61st-ranked Bosnia-Herzegovina against 62nd-ranked Qatar — both of which were winless through their opening two matches? Seemed like it had potential for a humdrum Hump Day.

Wrong. Another sellout. Which brings Seattle’s record as a host city in this tourney to a towering 3-0. 

There is no official ranking for World Cup atmosphere, but national chatter seems to have the Emerald City at or near the top. The hundreds of thousands who swarmed the streets and packed the stadium for Friday’s U.S. match didn’t just make noise — they put the rest of the global soccer community on notice.

You’ve probably read the stories about the seismic activity. It was clear that the 12s at Lumen Field aren’t limited to the Seahawks. And by game’s end, the U.S. men’s soccer team had made the official transformation from afterthought to obsession. 

How could Wednesday’s meeting between two teams that each had no wins, one loss and one draw possibly follow that? Here’s how: By attracting 66,925 raucous fans who knew it would be the loser’s final World Cup game. 

Credit to the Bosnia-Herzegovina supporters. As the kids say, they showed up and showed out for their country’s 3-1 win Wednesday. Tens of thousands of them jumped up and down before the match as if House of Pain was blaring in Madison at a University of Wisconsin football game. They sang in celebration once the match was over, too.

This didn’t look like a country with a population of 3.11 million people. Based on the way they swallowed up much of Seattle Stadium, it looked like that decimal point should be moved over one digit. 

“We are little, but there are a lot of us. That’s the saying. I believe our diaspora has more population than our country itself, especially in America,” Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez said through an interpreter. “A lot of people who really wanted to see us, and they’re nostalgic, and they wanted to have contact with their country and the sport, and I believe it’s very important that we are here, and it means a lot to them.” 

But it wasn’t just the Bosnian supporters, boisterous as they were. Nor was it just the Qatar supporters, whose presence was clear throughout the stadium. It seemed like there were a good number of neutral fans from right here in Seattle who took advantage of an opportunity to see the world’s most popular sport on its biggest stage. 

Much has been of the patriotism that’s been on display in this city — and every drop of ink praising such national pride has been justified. It’s been awesome. But just as notable is the soccer pride in this town, which, during the World Cup, will give Seattle Stadium an NFL playofflike feel no matter who is on the pitch. 

On Wednesday the players made the price of admission look like a bargain. First came a goal in the 29th minute from 18-year-old Kerim Alajbegović — who connected on a 20-plus-yard strike into the top right-hand corner of the net to put Bosnia up 1-0. Then came an own goal in the 34th minute that was heavily influenced by Bosnia’s attack to put the team up 2-0.

But just as it seemed Bosnia would be assured of its first outright win since November (it had drawn six matches and tied one since then but advanced to the World Cup on penalty shots), Qatar answered with a score from Hassan Al-Haydos on an assist from Edmilson Junior to make it 2-1. Later in the first half, Qatar missed with a strike off the post. A series of shots inside the box ensued to no avail. Then, in the 80th minute, Bosnia’s Ermin Mahmić fired a shot at close range that deflected off a Qatar defender’s leg and into the goal to put Bosnia up 3-1. 

The result will likely pit Bosnia, who’d never before reached the knockout stage, against the U.S. in the round of 32. It’s a major soccer storyline for a country playing in just its second World Cup. 

But the story around here is how Seattle keeps stepping up. The magnitude of the games keeps shifting. The size of the crowds does not.