“Absolutely electric”: Team Canada fan reacts to attending World Cup game
Posted November 24, 2022 7:08 pm.
Last Updated November 24, 2022 7:12 pm.
It was a sea of red and white at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar for Canada’s first World Cup appearance in 36 years on Wednesday.
A chant of “this is our house” was heard resounding in the stadium by fans in support of Team Canada as they faced Belgium.
Although the Canadians didn’t win the iconic game with a final score of 1-0, one fan says he was still happy to be a part of the moment.
Brain Gervais says the atmosphere in the stadium was “absolutely electric.”
“People were pretty excited to be there, and for every good reason, because the team played fantastic,” he added.
He is part of a group of Canadian soccer fans called The Voyageurs. For over 25 years, the group said on its website that they actively support teams at games across the country, and around the world.
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“We recognize and celebrate the fact that Canada is a large and diverse country so whether you’ve lived here all your life, support our teams from abroad or immigrated here and adopted Canada as one of the nations you support you will be among friends with the Voyageurs,” the group said on its website.
The group brought 1,000 custom-made World Cup flags thousands of kilometers to Qatar, to make sure the team was properly represented in the stands, including a plan of what times to raise them up as a group.
Gervais says that on top of bringing the flags with them, the stadium ran out of Canadian flags to hand out.
“They ran out of flags inside the stadium because in every game they give flags out for both teams…and they ran out of Canadian flags from what I saw,” Gervais said.
He added there was also support from non-Canadians too.
“Lots of support from other countries, which was great to see,” Gervais said.
He explained after the game some fans were, “really happy, some [were] really disappointed — depending on on who your team was.”
But he says although the outcome of the game was disappointing it was a great effort by the team.
“I think we’ve proven we can play with the second best team in the world that says something,” he explained.
Canada now needs a victory over Croatia on Sunday to avoid elimination from knockout-round contention.
