Bob Mackin
The FIFA World Cup is over, but is FIFA’s 2026 remix of soccer over?
Four quarters, due to advertising, er, hydration breaks. A halftime show. Post-game violence that would make Dana White proud. The FIFA president eager to please the host nation president, with a made-up peace prize, trophy residency in the Oval Office, red card waiver, reception at a Manhattan tower that bears his name and a spot on the stage with the new champions.
While Gianni Infantino and his team of accountants in Zurich giddily count the profits for the rest of the year, expect a serious look at returning to North America in 2038, the next available slot for purchase. The Excited States, with a big assist from burdened taxpayers in Canada and Mexico, changed the business of the game forever.
FIFA sold the sizzle on a hot day in New Jersey, where Spain scored one inevitable goal in the 104th and final match of a supersized World Cup. Lionel Messi was no messiah, he was meek. The defending champion could not manage a shot on target over 120 minutes. Spain had a dozen, including the 106th minute winner.
At least a goal was scored, unlike 1994 in Pasadena, where penalty kicks were needed to crown Brazil the champ of the first men’s final on U.S. grass.
As entertaining and dramatic as the 2022 final was, 2026 was a generational disappointment.
A mammoth mismatch. Soccer didn’t win. FIFA did.
FIFA Fan Fest’s climax
The crowd at Vancouver’s $48 million FIFA Fan Festival, including the 10,000 who packed the new $183 million PNE Amphitheatre, did not really come alive until the 93rd minute red card for Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez.
Then came Ferran Torres’s 106th minute goal for Spain. The only other remarkable reaction was the lengthy booing when Infantino and Donald Trump stepped out onto the hybrid grass in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Two unpopular presidents to boo, for the price of one.
The mood switched to cheering for Spain when captain Rodri hoisted the trophy.
Rewind to 1978
It was not the first FIFA World Cup watch party at the PNE grounds.
In 1978, it was indoors at the Pacific Coliseum.
The only game in town, because New York-based Magnaverde Productions had the rights for World Cup broadcasting on either side of the 49th parallel since 1970 in Mexico. When no network would pay promoter Rene Anselmo’s price, his company rented theatres, arenas and stadiums for closed-circuit TV. Locally, the Pacific Coliseum charged $10 a head.
If you wanted soccer for free on that day, the North American Soccer League’s Seattle Sounders and Minnesota Kicks were on KCTS 9, the PBS station in Seattle.
One of those in the crowd at the rink on Renfrew on June 25, 1978 was a 12-year-old Paul Dolan, who would grow up and become goalkeeper for Canada at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
WATCH: sights and sounds of the last day of the FIFA Fan Festival in Vancouver.
History echoes
In 1978, Mario Kempes and Argentina handed Netherlands its second consecutive World Cup loss to the host nation.
The Dutch lost a third time in South Africa in 2010 when Spain needed a goal in extra time to overcome the 10-man opposition and win its first World Cup. History echoes.
In 2026, the entire PNE site came alive with big screens and big sound. Some days it was near-empty. Some days, like July 19, it was full.
B.C. Place Stadium hosted seven matches, but the province’s spiritual home of the game was an outlet for those who couldn’t afford to pay FIFA’s predatory prices.
Across from the Coliseum is Callister Park, where a small soccer stadium stood until 1971. It served as a bicycle valet compound for World Cup fans. East of the amphitheatre and amusement park, the twin artificial turf soccer pitches at Empire Fields. The Vancouver Whitecaps played in Empire Stadium from 1974 to 1983. For the home side, they saw England 1966 World Cup winners Alan Ball on the pitch and Nobby Stiles on the sidelines. But the biggest draw was visiting New York Cosmo Pelé, the superstar from Brazil’s 1958, 1962 and 1970 champions.
The soccer world rushed to declare Messi the greatest of all time for the 2022 classic in Qatar. The true greatest of all-time, Pelé, died before the end of that year.
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