SHAWNEE, Kan. (KCTV) – A free watch party put together by Johnson County at Shawnee Mission Park was a sold-out event as Algeria and Argentina played just across the state line at Arrowhead Stadium, which is being called Kansas City Stadium for the World Cup. 2,500 people brought out their lawn chairs and blankets to watch on a big screen at JCPRD’s Theatre in the Park.
“Oh yeah, I mean it’s one time in a lifetime probably,” said Ahmed Laich, an Algeria fan. “It never happened like that before, especially Algerian team coming over here. It’s something so exciting.”
Laich says there’s a large Algerian community in Olathe, but fans have been traveling from across the world to be here. He says it’s something he didn’t expect, but it’s been fun to see.
“We’ve been fans of Lionel Messi,” said Tanya Huinh, an Argentina fan. “We grew up in Vietnam. Soccer is a big game in Vietnam. We’ve been watching him since we were little. We heard rumor has it this is the last year of Messi, so we couldn’t miss it.”…