How Colombia fans celebrated team’s World Cup win at Pais MX watch/dance party
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- Nearly 200 Colombian fans packed Pais MX in Kansas City to watch Colombia vs Ghana.
- Fans danced, sang the national anthem in unison, and chanted for players during the match.
- Colombia won 1-0 and advanced to the World Cup round of 16 for a third straight time.
Close to two hundred Colombian men, women and children crossed the Heart of America bridge and braved the intense heat to pack into the Kansas City Colombian restaurant Pais MX on Friday night.
They came to watch the Colombia national soccer team take on Ghana in a 2026 FIFA World Cup Round of 32 match at nearby Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium.
The day prior, Colombian fans gathered at Mill Creek Park to light fireworks and sing songs to welcome their team to Kansas City. The energy carried into match day, as fans wrapped in yellow jerseys and scarves packed the KC restaurant an hour before kickoff.
“It is the most beautiful and amazing thing in the world,” said Sandra Gutierrez Kinsey, a Bogotá, Colombia-born, Kansas City-raised soccer fan. “(Kansas City) is an incredibly beautiful city that has welcomed everybody, and I’m just really excited for everybody in North America to understand what soccer is to the Latin community and to the world.”
The culture of Colombia was on vibrant display. Leading up to kickoff, the restaurant was filled with claps and trumpets as Colombian artist Carlos Vives’ “La Barra Incondicional,” Colombia’s World Cup anthem, and Alzete’s “I Want to See You as Champion” played over the loudspeaker.
Only when the Colombian national anthem played did fans switch from dancing to singing in unison.
And once the game was underway, those in the crowd urged their countryman to give them a reason to keep dancing.
The rose to their feet when the Colombian attack came, chanted “Lucho” every time winger Luis Diaz touched the ball — and used every injury timeout, throw-in or hydration break as a reason to keep the music and party going.
The Colombian team didn’t make its fans wait long to celebrate. Fourteen minutes into the game, midfielder Jhon Arias drove a cross from winger Luis Suarez into the right corner of the net to give Colombia a 1-0 lead and send Pais MX into a frenzy.
The energy of the opening goal carried the team and Pais MX crowd into halftime. With Colombia taking that 1-0 lead into halftime, men and women salsa-danced arm in arm throughout the restaurant.
“Colombia is a very happy country — no matter your status, whether you’re poor, medium or rich. Everybody gets along, and everybody dances,” Kinsey said. They don’t complain about everyday things. They just love music and dance.”
The second half brought a different tone to the joyful opening 45 minutes. As Ghana pushed for an equalizing goal, the cheers of the Colombia faithful reverted to a nervous murmur.
As the clock ticked down, fans began to jeer the referee after foul calls. They threw their hands in the air after Colombian attackers muffed several chances to score a decisive second goal.
The final hydration break served as a chance for the Colombian faithful in Pais MX to regain their voice. As Colombian music group Binomio de Oro’s “Las Creciente” played, the Pais MX fans roared, willing their team — playing 12 miles away — to the round of 16.
As Colombia regained possession in the final moments of the match, chants of “Ole” broke out at Pais MX. When the final whistle blew, signalling Colombia’s 1-0 victory, the place erupted into cheers. Colombia had advanced to the tournament’s Round of 16.
This is the third straight World Cup for which Colombia has qualified, and the third straight time it has reached the Round of 16. The team’s supporters departed Pais MX late Friday evening thinking of the magic of 2014, when Colombia played all the way to the quarterfinals in Brazil.
“I know that we can go far, and I’m just hoping that we will win the World Cup,” Kinsey said.
The Colombian national team has a chance to return to Kansas City for this year’s quarterfinals — KC’s final World Cup match is next Saturday, July 11. The team would need to beat Switzerland at Vancouver, Canada, first.
Do that, and Colombia would return to Kansas City Stadium to face the winner of a match between Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Egypt on July 11th.
This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 10:40 AM.