Juan Cortes Skips Los Angeles Fixtures as World Cup Usa Arrives
World Cup usa has arrived in Los Angeles with eight FIFA World Cup matches, but the opener against Paraguay on Friday is also arriving with frustration over ticket prices and travel policies. Juan Cortes, a Los Angeles mechanic shop owner and soccer fan, said the game is already out of reach for him.
He hung the flags of the United States and Mexico outside his shop, but said he will not attend a single World Cup fixture in Los Angeles because of exorbitant ticket prices. “I wish they would help us out – so people like us, who are into the game and have the passion for their teams, were able to go see our idols play,” he said.
Juan Cortes and Los Angeles tickets
Tickets for the home team’s opening game were still available on resale platforms less than 12 hours from kickoff. That gap between demand and price is what has shut out some local supporters, even with the World Cup back in Southern California after 32 years.
Cortes said the tournament should make room for the fans who live with the sport year-round. “It’s not every day I get to see a World Cup in my country,” he said, adding, “Every four years, I get excited. I know my Mexico can make it further than the World Cup before, and if they don’t make it far, I know my US [is] right behind them,”
Venice Beach and Trump policies
The backlash around Los Angeles is not only about price. Travel and immigration policies implemented by US President Donald Trump’s administration have been controversial around the tournament, and that has sharpened the debate around who gets inside the stadiums.
At the same time, bars, skateboard shops and tattoo parlours in Los Angeles are flying flags of the teams, and cheering could be heard across Venice Beach late on Thursday as South Korea and the Czech Republic faced off. Mexico also beat South Africa in the tournament’s opening game in Mexico City earlier in the day, adding to the pace of a tournament that is already moving fast through the region.
Francisco Aguilar in Los Angeles
Francisco Aguilar, a football fan from Texas visiting Los Angeles, said he cannot get tickets for any games. “It’s just sad that you can’t go; it’s a class thing,” he said, arguing that the tournament’s organisers had prioritised profits instead of making the games accessible for the most passionate fans.
He wants to see Spain’s young superstar Lamine Yamal play his first World Cup, and he predicted a final between Argentina and France as a revenge match for Kylian Mbappe’s side. For fans like him, the city’s eight matches have become a test of access as much as a celebration of the event.
