The penultimate World Cup match at Kansas City Stadium, better known as Arrowhead the rest of the year, has lit up fans of Colombia and Ghana across the metro.
As with all the Kansas City matches, fans who couldn’t watch from the stadium went to the Fan Festival at the National WWI Museum and Memorial or to smaller watch parties.
Ghanaians in Greater Kansas City gathered to watch the Black Stars, as the team is known, at Distrkct Multimedia, a music and podcast studio just north of the historic 18th and Vine district that transformed from a coworking space to a party venue with food, music and small business vendors.
Fans of Colombia gathered at Chef Tito’s Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in North Kansas City, where they watched the match with a live DJ, plenty of food and “gigante” cigars.
With more than eight hours until kickoff, fans were already getting into the spirit. The Kansas City streetcar filled with song as Colombia fans made their way to the Fan Festival around noon.
It’s been a busy week for fans of the two teams, who held rallies in Kansas City ahead of the elimination match. Supporters of Los Cafeteros, as Colombia’s team is known, flocked to a “banderazo,” or large rally, at Mill Creek Park on Thursday night before heading over to the Marriott Country Club Plaza, where the team is staying, to celebrate the athletes.
Meanwhile, Black Stars fans partied at Washington Square Park. They held a “jama,” a celebration in Ghanaian culture that features traditional songs, chants and dance.
Among the soccer diehards, though, was an unwelcome guest: oppressive heat. A heat dome has brought grueling heat and humidity to the Midwest. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning through Saturday evening, with heat indexes as high as 101 degrees. The temperature is expected to be in the high 80s during the match.
The match in Kansas City, along with those played in Miami, Florida and Monterrey, Mexico, is expected to be one of the hottest and most humid at this stage in the tournament. Public health officials warned people to stay hydrated before and during the games, take breaks in the shade and take time to allow the body to acclimate to the hot and humid conditions.
The FIFA Fan Festival put up extra water misters and hydration stations throughout the day and into the evening. Pam Kramer, CEO of World Cup planning organization KC2026, said earlier this week that her team added hydration stations at shuttle stops where people catch buses to the fan festival or Kansas City Stadium. Kramer said the goal was to keep wait times to under 30 minutes to keep fans safe from the heat.
Of the Kansas City area’s four base camp teams, only two are still in the tournament. Prior to the Friday evening matchup at Arrowhead Stadium, Argentina will face Cabo Verde in another Round of 32 game in Miami. England plays Mexico on Sunday, but El Tricolor has the homefield advantage: The game kicks off at Mexico City Stadium at 7 p.m.
On Thursday, Algeria lost to Switzerland 2-0, marking the end of Les Fennecs’ World Cup run, though not the end of the love affair between Algeria and Lawrence, Kansas. The Netherlands lost to Morocco in penalty kicks on Monday, and headed back across the Atlantic on Wednesday.
The winner of the Ghana vs. Colombia matchup will play Switzerland in a Round of 16 game on July 7 in Vancouver, Canada.
