My World Cup Experience

On July 3rd, I attended the Australia vs. Egypt Round-of-32 game in Dallas. This was the first World Cup game I've ever attended in person, despite having watched it since 1998. I'm sure I was also watching it in 1994 as a 4-5 year old in Cambodia, but I was too young to remember any of it. Since this is the first World Cup that's hosted in North America in my adult life, there was no way I would miss the opportunity to catch a game in person.

FIFA made the ticket-buying experience as painful as possible. I suppose the organization was salivating at the prospect of selling tickets to a continent that has so many people with high disposable income. Because demand was astronomical for 6 million or so tickets, FIFA implemented several rounds of drawings, allowing some people to buy tickets in the second half of 2025. I entered them, but didn't get selected in any of the drawings — like the majority of people who entered. Finally, by April 2026, the Last Minute Sale phase started, which allowed anyone to buy tickets.

There were still plenty available, but FIFA implemented a dynamic pricing model to maximize the fun. On top of all that, in the Marketplace (their secondary marketplace), FIFA would get a cut from the buyer and the seller. You know, just FIFA things. I didn't even try to get tickets there. After three weeks of browsing the FIFA website every single day, I finally found reasonably priced tickets in a great section in a host city I wanted to visit. The wonderful thing about the dynamic pricing is that those same tickets were about 4-5x more expensive the week before I bought them. I suspect I got them around the time FIFA realized that they couldn't sell all their hospitality packages (great seats that came with lots of options) at those crazy prices and had to start releasing them as general tickets. Well, I scooped them up and I think they were worth it. The seats were pretty close to one of the goal areas.

I had no problem with not knowing who the teams would be — this was unavoidable since it was a knockout round game. There was a chance that the game could have been USA vs. Iran, but thankfully that didn't happen. I think of the possible matchups from the 2 groups that were slotted for this game, Australia vs Egypt was the best one as they're comparable teams. I didn't want to watch a blowout. It was a close game the whole time. Egypt scored first in the first half, and Australia equalized in the second half. Both teams were pretty much even throughout extra time. Egypt won in the penalty shootout. To make it even better, the goal area where the penalty shootout occurred was on our side, so we could see each penalty close up. Neither team is particularly great, but they were entertaining teams to watch. (Note to Australia in the future, don't let an 18-year-old take a penalty. It's too much pressure, and it rarely goes well. Your older players should have stepped up.) I think the slightly better team won at the end, as Egypt did more with their chances.

Highlights from the whole experience:

• The stadium atmosphere was fantastic. There were so many passionate fans, and everyone was enjoying themselves. Walking around the stadium was a blast. Lots of folks in kangaroo onesies, and there was an Egyptian fan in a huge, full-body gorilla costume taking pictures with everyone. I'm not sure how this person survived before going into the AC area.
• We sat next to a Mexican guy whose wife is Egyptian, and behind us was an Aussie family. The Mexican guy decided to troll his wife and would start chanting AUSTRALIA with the Aussie family. He would also randomly start a one-man MEXICO chant. The guy was such a hype man. The Aussie family were also professional hecklers and had amazing lines about every play. They would call anyone who fell (whether in a dive or a real foul) an Olympic diver regardless of what country they played for. I appreciated the consistency.
• The stadium-wide boos during the hydration (AKA ad) breaks were also wonderful to see. A game taking place in a stadium with a retractable roof and AC does not need hydration breaks. And thank god for the AC because it was 96°F outside in Arlington that day. These breaks are huge momentum killers in this tournament. I've watched most of the games, and the hydration breaks affected quite a few of them. Even in this game, the momentum noticeably shifted from Egypt to Australia after the first interruption.
• Logistically, going in and out of the stadium was very smooth. It's not surprising that the AT&T (aka the Dallas) Stadium can easily handle large games like this.
• We had great African food before going to our seats. They had an area with food trucks that were allowed in, and the eating was far better than typical stadium food.

Overall, I had a great time, despite the pains of trying to get tickets. This was a super entertaining World Cup, even for the casuals. I'm glad so many tourists enjoyed their time in the US, actually interacted with real Americans and ate real American food. It's more authentic than any media from any country.

P.S. I waited to post this after the final game was played instead of earlier this morning. Thank god the best team of the tournament won. That doesn't always happen. Spain fully deserved it as they've been the best team in the world for the last 2 years. I was getting so tired of Argentina's strategy of doing absolutely nothing but fouling until they're truly desperate for a goal.