David Habashy and his friends were set up in their chairs on the lawn at Avaya Stadium well before the crack of dawn.
With his native Egypt set to play its first World Cup game in 28 years about 6,000 miles away in Russia, Habashy and five friends came to watch the game on the big screen at Avaya Stadium, the home of the MLS’ San Jose Earthquakes.
Even though the United States didn’t qualify for the World Cup and many of the games are played at odd hours on the West Coast because of the time difference from Russia, the Earthquakes are showing all 64 games of the tournament for free on their video screen — even those that start at 5 a.m. local time like the one Friday between Egypt and Uruguay.
“We were expecting a better atmosphere,” Habashy said. “That’s why we came here. But we’re going to make the best of it. We’re going to go crazy for every goal.”
Egypt didn’t end up scoring any in a 1-0 loss but Habashy and his friends were jumping around at every close chance for Egypt, big save and any airing of injured star Mohamed Salah on the screen.
They were among the about two dozen fans on the lawn on a crisp morning at the start of the match. The crowd grew to about 50 later in the first half with more fans coming later in the day for games at times when more people are awake.
There were several hundred fans on hand for the thrilling 11 a.m. game between powerhouses Spain and Portugal and the Earthquakes have already had more than 1,300 RSVPs for Sunday’s high-profile matchup between Mexico and defending champion Germany.
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