“I’m on red-carpet duty for the opener,” said the photographer I chatted with in the World Cup media credential pickup line. “I don’t even go inside the stadium.”
Such was the dose of Tinseltown at the Los Angeles Stadium, which lies 10 miles south of Hollywood, that they set up an Academy Award-like entrance.
The slew of celebrities — including Tom Cruise, Halle Berry, Sofia Vergara and George Lucas — featured frequently on the stadium’s giant video board.
But they weren’t what made the crowd remarkable for Friday’s USA-Paraguay game. It was the fervid support of those among the 70,492 who entered the stadium the normal way.
“Having this crowd around us, seeing the red, white and blue in the crowd, it’s awesome,” said Christian Pulisic after the USA’s 4-1 victory. “Hearing the USA chants, it really pushed us forward. So we just hope it continues like that, and I’m sure it will. We’re just thankful for it.”
There had been concerns that USMNT wouldn’t enjoy a powerful home-field advantage. It frequently plays on American soil before modest crowds, or large crowds composed mostly of the opposition’s supporters.
The American Outlaws, the heart of USMNT in-stadium support, weren’t guaranteed their usual section behind the goal, or even to be grouped in the same section. And on Friday, the American Outlaws’ drummers sat high up on the third level with members spread throughout nearby sections.
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