Enthusiastic World Cup soccer fans greet Algeria’s national team in Lawrence
Approximately 2,000 soccer fans, some waving Algerian National flags, others singing songs, banging on drums and expressing themselves via their favorite spectator chants, applauded wildly as the Algeria National Team bus followed several police motorcycles into the parking lot of the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton at 12:20 a.m. Monday.
Onlookers — some told The Star they actually were from Algeria, others indicated they lived and worked in the Kansas City area — began arriving at 9:30 p.m. Sunday to await the arrival of their country’s top soccer players, who this month will train at Rock Chalk Park and play two World Cup group matches at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Many of the supporters of Team Algeria were soaked from steady rain that fell on Lawrence Sunday evening. Some held umbrellas over children who appeared to be between 1 and 3 years old as drizzle fell right before the arrival of the team bus.
One fan, Djahid Hocine, a ride-share driver in Overland Park — who also has a car remodeling business — said he moved to the U.S. from Algeria 10 years ago. Waiting for the team bus for up to three hours, he was eager to speak to The Star about this special occasion.
“American people should be proud because they are receiving a big team like Algeria in Lawrence,” Hocine said in an interview shortly before midnight.
Of the 2,000 or so fans on hand, Hocine said: “All these people are from Algeria, but there are a few Americans here that are excited because they’re following our team. There are some (from Algeria) who got married to American people, and they all are fans.”
He said he and his friends are looking forward to attending games at Arrowhead.
“This is the first time we’re playing here in America. We’re excited for our team to come here to America, and we are excited to see them here playing against big teams like Argentina, Jordan, all that,” Hocine said.
“So our team, they come in here, and we think we’re going to beat Argentina for the first time, really, and we’re going to make it to the second round, and hopefully our players are going to be in the finals,” he said.
The Algeria players and coaches, who had a 10 1/2 hour flight Sunday, actually were supposed to arrive in Lawrence at 9:30 p.m. but there reportedly were some delays with the stormy weather.
How did Hocine and his friends know to head to Lawrence at 9:30 p.m.?
“So we follow in the news, our government ... they are sending us updates all the time. This is how we saw we should come (to the hotel to greet players),” he said.
Algeria will play in Kansas City’s first match of the tournament on June 16 against defending World Cup champions Argentina. Algeria will then play Jordan in a match on June 22 in California, and then return to Kansas City to play Austria on June 27.
Algeria is coming off a big win. On Wednesday the “Desert Foxes” stopped the Netherlands 1-0 in a friendly in Rotterdam.
After defeating the Netherlands, Team Algeria returned home for a short break.
“This respite will be short-lived,” La Gazette du Fennec reported. “According to the schedule set by the coaching staff, all players are expected at the Sidi Moussa National Technical Centre by Saturday evening. A training session is planned for Sunday morning to get things up and running again. Immediately afterwards, the Algerian delegation will fly to Kansas City on a special flight that afternoon to continue World Cup preparations.”
