How KC’s World Cup debut was both exhilaratingly Messi and exasperatingly messy
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lamar Hunt was vital to the rise of soccer and built Arrowhead.
- FIFA imagery and Argentina vs. Algeria transformed Arrowhead into a World Cup stage.
- Broadcasts made it hard to tell the match was in Kansas City.
Sixty years after Lamar Hunt turned on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” and became enchanted by the spectacle of England and West Germany playing in the FIFA World Cup final, the wide world of sports unfurled Tuesday on Kansas City in unprecedented form — with the realization of what became a quest for the visionary who was so vital to the rise of soccer in the USA.
Camouflaged as it was with FIFA imagery and the distinctly different chants, colors and culture of Argentina and Algeria vs. those of the Chiefs and their fans, there was no mistaking the still-iconic and sleek contours and acoustics of The House That Lamar Built.
Yes, it was a shame that FIFA couldn’t be bothered with the slightest of gestures merely to let Hunt’s name remain visible on the Ring of Honor around the stadium. The night also made for a poignant reminder that the Chiefs are going to abandon Arrowhead to move to Kansas for more money, and never mind that you could barely tell it was in KC from the broadcast.
Even entering its final years of such prominence and FIFA-fied as “Kansas City Stadium,” Arrowhead was amplified and sanctified by the moment and the enticing matchup:
Argentina and a transcendent performance by Lionel Messi vs. the upstart Algerian team that already had epitomized the best of what the World Cup might hope to offer through the endearing reception it has received for its base camp in Lawrence.
For all the glory days on these grounds, including the setting of a Guinness World Record for loudest outdoor crowd roar (142.2 decibels), hosting five straight AFC Championship Games and numerous high-profile concerts, this felt like a portal to another dimension.
It was almost a surreal juxtaposition of images familiar and exotic, especially when you consider not just the raucous crowd (that appeared to be about every bit the announced 69,045 soccer capacity), but also the reality of how many were watching around the globe.
If it’s anything like a typical early-round World Cup game, the television audience is expected to be around 175 million — about 50 million more than Super Bowl LIX between the Chiefs and Eagles (127.7 million). Compound that by the popularity of Argentina soccer, which is understood to be followed by hundreds of millions around the globe, and it’s likely the ratings could have exceeded that.
From the inside-out, anyway, it was an indelible memory and fine flex for Kansas City, the smallest of the 16 North American hosts for the extravaganza that only previously had been held in the USA in 1994 — when Hunt was crushed that Kansas City didn’t emerge as a host.
That became much of the impetus for the Chiefs and Sporting KC to make it a mission this time.
Catalyzed by the work of the Kansas City Sports Commission, fortified later by the arrival of the KC Current and, ultimately, the work of KC2026, the improbable came to pass.
Beyond anyone’s reasonable expectations, in fact, with six games scheduled here and four teams, including Argentina, setting up their base camps in the area.
The pandemonium within on Tuesday was the gratifying stuff that dreams are made of, really, with Algeria appearing to take an early lead only to have it ruled offside.
Then the canvas was left to the inimitable and inevitable Messi, who at age 38 scored three goals in stupefying fashion (and nearly a fourth that was offside) on the way to a 3-0 victory.
Asked about Messi afterward, Algeria coach Vladimir Petković through a translator said, “Class is permanent.”
If only the look from the outside-in had measured up the same way instead of descending into a fiasco as thousands faced infuriating delays getting to the stadium.
Instead, the takeaway was nearly as much messy as Messi.
“Welcome to Chaos City, Misery,” said one stadium worker who reported taking hours to get just the last few miles in the early afternoon.
For a variety of reasons that weren’t immediately entirely clear, there was a comprehensive and fundamental breakdown in access to the stadium that left many exasperated or furious.
Traffic was snarled on Interstate 70 and other key arteries because of some combination of vague signage on parking passes or apps, accidents earlier in the afternoon, the lack of dedicated lanes for the bus system — why oh why couldn’t that be achieved in the master plan? — and other variables that weren’t immediately discernible.
While a carful of Star writers arrived from downtown in about 75 minutes after getting gridlocked in various concentric circles seeking the best way in with I-70 jammed, other colleagues and people in the stadium said it took hours to get here.
Others said they left shuttles and rideshares well away from the stadium and walked, a trend that was evident as people on foot from several directions passed us in our car nearly a mile from the stadium entrance.
At least one common denominator was evident from our experience and that of others: Our parking pass didn’t specify that we could only go through one specific gate.
But that was only a fraction of a ridiculous issue that, If it wasn’t ruinous, still was something people will remember about what might otherwise have been a completely charmed night.
Now, mega-events have a way of conjuring these kinds of issues, especially in literally and figuratively uncharted territory like this.
And while it’s a gut-punch that it was so gunked up on so many levels after so much time to get ready, hey, they say the first pancake always has lumps.
Just the same, it’s something FIFA, Kansas City and organizers have to revisit and reboot pronto with five more games ahead — including a quarterfinal on July 11.
Kansas City and the area have done too much, too right for the World Cup over nearly a decade now to allow this key aspect of the experience to become a prevailing story.
At stake is a legacy that local leadership has touted could and should include rejuvenated future regional transportation ... but that now is going to hover over this as a present demerit if it’s not fixed.
As it was, the mayhem muted but didn’t douse a decades-in-the-making welcoming of the world on Tuesday, a night like none before in a stadium brimming with history — history that now includes a new full-circle connection between Hunt and the world’s game.