Fans waited for hours outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston on Thursday morning, hoping to catch a glimpse of Zaire Emery and the French national team before the game against Morocco in Foxborough. About 100 people packed the hotel entrance by the time security began clearing space for the players, turning a routine departure into a long, patient watch.
Anton Honikman at 9:15 a.m.
Anton Honikman arrived at 9:15 a.m. with his 14-year-old son, Sammy, and said, “It would be a thrill to catch a glimpse of some of these superstars.” He had a simple read on the wait: even before the team appeared, the draw was the chance to see France up close, not just the result in Foxborough.
Sean Paul Cormier came at 9:30 a.m. wearing a white France jersey and said, “I’ve been here long enough” and “I’m gonna enjoy the moment.” The owner of French Bouquet of Boston also said, “I believe most people should do a deep dive into their culture” and “I thought this was the perfect opportunity,” putting the morning in personal terms rather than treating it like a casual stop outside a hotel.
About 100 at the entrance
Hotel security told the growing crowd of about 100 people that the team would be leaving for Boston Stadium at 1:15 p.m. FIFA security and Boston police then moved the crowd to both sides of the hotel entrance so the players could clear the area and head out. That sequence turned the sidewalk into a controlled departure zone, with the crowd waiting for movement instead of guessing when it might happen.
Shawn Kweon said he saw Jules Koundé wave to the crowd, and Leila Santos, a student in Boston originally from France, said, “We will win.” The fans outside included French supporters, Moroccan supporters, and curious locals, but the scene stayed centered on the same thing: who would emerge from the hotel first, and whether the players would acknowledge the people who had been there since the morning.
The bus, the earbuds, the glance
Most of the players walked straight to the bus with earbuds in and eyes straight ahead, even as fans chanted for them. That made the brief wave matter more than the silence around it, because it was the only real exchange in a departure built around distance and timing.
For readers tracking Zaire Emery and the rest of France, the useful detail is not the chant or the crowd size alone. It is the timing: hours outside the hotel, a 1:15 p.m. departure window, and a team that still left with only a few visible nods to the people waiting for them. That is the kind of morning that makes a hotel entrance feel like the front line of a match day.
