Netherlands’ thrilling whirlwind epitomizes Kansas City’s World Cup aspirations
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- Jon Stephens was in Amsterdam and The Hague and attended meetings there.
- Dutch hosts said the king and queen would be in Kansas City for a match.
- Stephens experienced heightened interest in Kansas City while visiting the Netherlands.
For previous international work presentations, Port KC president and CEO Jon Stephens typically put a map on a screen and said, “Here’s where Kansas City is.”
But not when he was enjoying the coincidence of being in Amsterdam and The Hague last week.
“I would walk into a meeting, and they would say, ‘We’ve been waiting for you, because we know you’re from Kansas City,’” he recalled. “‘Are you aware that the king and queen will be in your city for a match?’
“That’s something that you can’t really quantify in dollars and cents.”
Priceless in several ways for the smallest city and region among the 16 2026 FIFA World Cup hosts ... and the global unveiling the area is enjoying in the process.
Just like it was to turn on the television in his hotel rooms and see live telecasts with reports, interviews and images from around Kansas City.
“That is a different level,” Stephens said. “It’s something amazing.”
The dynamic was infused with something more on the opposite end of those cameras Thursday in Kansas City, where the Dutch and acolytes old and new swarmed downtown with the joyous spectacle of the “Oranje Fanwalk” before the Oranje swamped Tunisia 3-1 at “Kansas City Stadium” (Arrowhead).
Like so much else that’s happened here during the World Cup, another nation’s culture and tradition were overlaid and absorbed into our ways … and left each better off for it.
The increasingly reassuring sensation evoked the compelling recent thoughts of Alejandro Oxenford, Argentina’s ambassador to the United States.
Speaking at a U.S. Travel/Visit KC sports tourism panel discussion, he summoned the words of famed psychiatrist Carl Jung in the context of defending World Cup champion Argentina conducting its base camp here and playing its first game of this year’s tournament at Arrowhead.
“‘The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances,’” he said. “‘If there is any reaction, both are transformed.’”
The chemistry has been almost tangible for weeks: from Lawrence’s embrace of Algeria for its base camp to Argentina’s rally in Country Club Plaza; from Ecuador’s overwhelming presence over last weekend to the nearly 150,000 who had attended Fan Fest through Friday.
And then some, as with how the Dutch have been welcomed in Riverside.
And then some more.
And on into another dimension Thursday as a Dutch network with its producer clad in his recently procured Royals jersey broadcast much of the march live from atop Messenger Coffee.
Mirroring much of the route for Chiefs and Royals parades in recent years, obligingly orange Kansas City Public Works paved the way for the traditional March to the Match — as contoured to Kansas City:
From Power & Light to Pershing Road, an estimated 22,000 sang and danced and laughed and toasted strangers with a “Prost” and otherwise might as well have morphed into one living, breathing organism.
Likely they had this in mind from the start, but there still was something symbolically synergistic in the sight of hundreds of people who lined the nearly mile-long route simply attaching themselves to the passing crowd as it moved south.
One passerby said it made him want to move to the Netherlands … before it even began.
If you were an emotional sort witnessing this, maybe it made you feel chills or inexplicably mist up and consider the better angels of our natures. Even if you’re more stoic, it would have been hard not to be moved or in some way delighted by the scene.
“It doesn’t matter if you win or lose; we’re having a party, and all together …” said Roel van Hoogstraten, a teacher from Nuenen in the Netherlands. “We all have the same love. We’re all different, but we’re all the same. Write it down.”
Part of Van Hoogstraten’s conviction stems from traveling to what he said was more than 70 countries.
“Hopefully it’s going to be viral, this subject, because to me it’s so important,” he said, putting a hand to his chest for emphasis. “Because we are all equal. And it doesn’t matter where you’re from, if you’re tall, if you’re small, if you’re Black, white …”
As for the match itself with severe weather threatening, heavy rains beforehand perhaps doused it down from the incredible energy we’d seen in the previous two games — Argentina’s Lionel Messi racking up a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria, and ultimate underdog Curacao “beating” Ecuador 0-0 behind an out-of-body performance by goalkeeper Eloy Room.
Just the same, Thursday’s crowd made for a near sellout of more than 68,000 in a stadium retrofitted to a soccer capacity of 69,045 — marking the third time in as many outings that it’s been almost completely full.
Meanwhile, what’s also about as full as it can get is our unprecedented engagement with the world.
It’s not all been perfect, as some local restaurants and businesses are reporting, and that’s a true shame.
But it’s also true unforgettable memories are being made here, memories all the more uplifting at a precarious and turbulent time in the world.
The spirit of this summer’s experience is transcending all of that, reminding that any place — but certainly our place — is more about the people than anything else.
In this case, both the ones so eager to please our guests … and the visitors so curious and open to sharing with us as to leave significant and indelible impressions about the very world we live in.
Something that goes beyond merely knowing where a place is on a map ... something that gives it a context, soul and appeal that you can’t buy.