World Cup organizers expect the Algeria versus Austria match in Kansas City on Saturday to bring some of the highest local turnout, considering that residents of nearby Lawrence, Kansas, have adopted the North African team as their own.
The celebration will begin Friday night with a human Algerian flag formed by people in colored shirts, followed by a send-off parade.
U.S.-Algerian ambassador Elizabeth Aubin says the city’s overwhelming hospitality feels authentic and rare.
“Everybody in Algeria is watching this," she said.
KC2026, the local World Cup organizing committee, said it will add more buses to Kansas City for the game. There's a direct regional line from Lawrence to the bus mall, and then riders can join other Kansas City passengers on the stadium direct line to Arrowhead Stadium.
After traffic jams caused hourslong delays before Kansas City's first World Cup match, KC2026 has been adjusting its transit strategy for subsequent games, as well as urging ticket holders to leave early and budget plenty of time.
Austria doesn't have a base camp in the Kansas City region, but it's not without its own local ties.
Grünauer, just north of Union Station, is the only Austrian restaurant in Kansas City, and possibly the only place in town you can sit at a tiled bar drinking Stigel beer on tap in a big tall Stigel glass.
It's run by a man whose grandparents started a popular place of the same name in Vienna six decades ago. He put an ad in an Austrian newspaper before the World Cup hoping to lure some of his countrymen in for a beer.
The Saturday, July 27, match between Algeria and Austria kicks off at 9 p.m. at Arrowhead Stadium, renamed Kansas City Stadium for the tournament.
Some scattered thunderstorms are predicted on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. World Cup matches must be paused or delayed if there is lightning in an 8-mile radius of the stadium, and can only restart 30 minutes after the last lightning strike.
Although Thursday's match between the Netherlands and Tunisia proceeded as scheduled, storms temporarily forced fans to take shelter at the stadium. Kansas City's FIFA Fan Festival canceled all activities for the evening, disappointing many visitors.
