L.A. defies skeptics for a World Cup marked by

The run-up to the World Cup in Los Angeles was marked by anxiety over how immigration enforcement, journey restrictions and anti-Trump backlash would have an effect on the spirit and attendance of the video games.

But on the streets of L.A. over the last week, one thing very different has occurred.

Fans from a kaleidoscope of cultural backgrounds have come together to act out the sort of world — and metropolis — they need to live in.

On the shuttle bus from downtown to Inglewood on Monday, there have been scores of people with Farsi-emblazoned shirts and crowds of grinning Kiwis as one would count on for the Iran-versus-New Zealand showdown that night. However, there have been also clusters of striped blue Argentina T-shirts, a lot of Team USA jerseys, and a loud group of followers chanting “Viva Mexico” from the back of the bus.

Similar scenes performed out on the Metro Ok Line as World Cup-goers from all over traded tales of how they scored tickets, ideas for navigating L.A.’s transit system, and wistful recollections of tournaments past.

“This festival is about unity and bringing the whole world together; there are 48 nations and everybody is having a good time,” said Ardy Salem, an Iranian American dentist who traveled from the Bay Area to attend the sport, as he surveyed the gang exterior SoFi Stadium on Monday with unabashed glee.

“Just for a moment,” he said, “we get to leave all the politics behind.”

David Leon, 32, of Watts was grinning from ear to ear as he stood exterior the stadium entrance in his forest-green Mexico jersey, despite the fact that he initially didn’t help having the World Cup in Los Angeles.

“I thought it was going to be a big issue for a bunch of different people to come here,” Leon said.

Fans of New Zealand show their help as they carry out the haka, a conventional Maori dance and chant, at Monday’s match.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Leon anxious that people from other nations can be turned off by American politics and fearful about touring to the U.S.

Instead, he’s been delightfully entertained by vacationers documenting their healthful reactions to American tradition on social media — such as the German man experiencing Waffle House for the first time and the Swedish lady blown away by ranch dressing.

“It really does bring people together from all these different ethnicities,” Leon said, wanting at the traces of people ready to get into the stadium. “I’ve seen Colombians, I’ve seen Mexicans, people from New Zealand, people from Iran, Germans, Spaniards.”

And for his own group of Mexican Americans, he said the matches had introduced a much-needed infusion of pleasure. This time last 12 months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have been roiling Los Angeles, instilling concern throughout immigrant households.

Fans of Mexico are on hand at Monday’s match at SoFi Stadium. Before the World Cup, there have been widespread fears of ICE presence at the video games.

(Kelvin Kuo/Los Angeles Times)

Just last month, about 2,000 SoFi Stadium employees threatened to strike if they didn’t obtain assurance that immigration brokers can be saved out of the venue during the World Cup.

Leon said he was positively anxious that ICE would take benefit of crowds gathering for the matches to carry out additional immigration enforcement.

But, so far, that has not been the case. Instead, many people in his hometown of Watts have been consumed with “World Cup fever,” calling out of work to attend watch events at local bars and strolling down the streets with eyes glued to a livestream of a sport on a telephone, he said.

While pleasure was the overriding temper among soccer followers gathered in Inglewood on Monday, the day was not completely free of rigidity or pangs of grief for the people who have been lacking out on the enjoyable.

James Carling, 63, of Ventura said it pains him to know that many followers from nations such as Iran, Haiti and Senegal are unable to attend the matches because of the Trump administration’s journey restrictions.

“Let’s face it, our government hasn’t made it easy for people to visit us, which is a shame,” he said exterior the stadium. “There were people from countries whose teams made it [to the World Cup] who were not allowed to come and, sorry, that’s wrong.”

The shadow of the U.S. battle with Iran and the anger many Iranian Americans really feel over Iran’s current authorities have been also current in Inglewood on Monday. Outside the stadium, some Iranian soccer followers had heated encounters with protesters who felt that supporting the Iranian national crew was synonymous with supporting an oppressive regime.

Yet the environment among the Iranians attending Monday night time’s sport was one of cathartic celebration, where for a few hours they may set apart geopolitical tensions and unite over the simple love of soccer.

In the stadium car parking zone, David Arias, a Mexican American resident of Inglewood, gave a fist bump to Kam Pirouz, an Iranian fan who had traveled from Washington, D.C., to see the sport.

Mexico and Iran are “homies right now,” Arias said, referencing the fact that the Iranian gamers are commuting to the Los Angeles video games from Tijuana because of restrictions positioned on them by the Trump administration.

Fans watch the World Cup group stage match between Iran and New Zealand at SoFi Stadium on Monday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Although Arias didn’t have tickets to the match, he said he couldn’t resist the prospect to meet people from all over the world. So he determined to take his local barbershop to the car parking zone exterior the stadium and offer free haircuts to followers.

With an hour to go before Monday night time’s sport, all three seats at his pop-up store have been occupied; Pirouz, the Iranian fan, was getting a recent fade while seated next to a Mormon missionary from Utah and an Egyptian fan.

“It’s the World Cup, man, the entire world comes together, and it’s beautiful,” Pirouz said mid-haircut. “Best sport in the world.”

Times workers author Seamus Bozeman contributed to this report.