Fans slam ‘half empty’ stadium as FIFA suffers fresh humiliation for USMNT opener

Fans took aim at FIFA as the United States’ World Cup opening ceremony appeared to take place in front of a ‘half empty’ stadium in Los Angeles.

The USMNT kick off their tournament on home soil against Paraguay on Friday, after concern over ticket sales and high costs that threatened to ‘price out’ many Americans.

Before Mauricio Pochettino’s team took to the field, an opening ceremony marked the first World Cup game in the United States for 32 years.

However, many fans had yet to take their seats inside SoFi Stadium, meaning the show took place in front of ‘half empty’ stands.

Fans fume over US opening ceremony in fresh blow to FIFA

Those watching from home quickly noticed the small audience, and took to social media to share their disappointment.

Some even compared the pregame festivities to those seen last night, when Mexico kicked off the World Cup with a dramatic win over South Africa in front of a boisterous crowd.

“The stadium is so empty for the USA opening ceremony,” one wrote on X.

“Difference between the opening ceremonies in Mexico and the USA: One had packed stands, noise, passion, and an atmosphere that felt like the World Cup. The other had noticeable empty seats… not a good look at all,” another said.

“Stadium half empty for opening ceremonies,” a third wrote, sharing a video from inside the facility.

“It’s so f***ing empty! Lame as f***!” a fourth concluded.

Who performed at the US opening ceremony in Los Angeles?

Despite plenty of empty seats, the ceremony went ahead as scheduled around 70 minutes ahead of kick-off, and featured some serious star power.

Future and Tyla performed their summer anthem, Game Time, before making way for Lisa, Rema and Anitta, who performed their song Goals.

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The concert was quite the spectacle, with a massive World Cup trophy standing on the stage at the center of the field.

Global pop superstar Katy Perry then took the spotlight, and performed closer to kick off, as the stadium finally started to fill up.

The two teams had time to cram in a warm-up between the festivities, and USMNT defender Tim Ream revealed he ‘expected to see a full stadium’ by kick off.

“We expect to see a full stadium, an incredible crowd, an incredible atmosphere and an opening ceremony for us that will be the culmination of a lot of hard work and decisions that we have made to get to this point,” he said.

The US kicked off their tournament amid criticism around the cost of match tickets, and FIFA’s decision to impliment dynamic pricing for the first time at a World Cup.

Hundreds of tickets were available for the team’s opener in Los Angeles in the days leading up.

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Larry Agran, Mayor of Irvine — where the USMNT have their World Cup base — told talkSPORT this week that he was fearful of Americans being priced out of attending games.

“I’m very concerned about that,” he told Ben Jacobs of FIFA’s dynamic ticket pricing.

“Thank goodness for TV. People of course can participate by watching television, but it concerns me that the pricing of these
things prices out 90 percent of Americans.

“It’s very troubling for me.

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“That’s a bigger problem than I’m able to tackle by myself here in the city of Irvine.”

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